Harbinger-class Artillery Cruisers, Tenacity, Steadfast and Meriwether of the Unified Terran Nations Federal Navy's 1st Rapid Reaction Fleet, 63rd Artillery Division, cruising towards an unknowable enemy during the Federal Navy's first operations in the Tempest Ridge, during the early days of the Radacri Wars, circa ~4016 A.D.
The 1st RRF's 63rd Artillery Division would see extensive action during the early stages of the Radacri Wars, involved in many of the swift initial victories for the Federal Navy over the initial alien advance. Operating almost exclusively with Harbinger-class artillery cruisers, the 63AD was considered on the of most important strategic, long-range assets of the war, up until its conclusion in 4040 A.D; at which point almost the entire Division was lost in battle.
The men and women of the 63rd Artillery Division fought valiantly aboard their warships, standing as stalwart defenders of humanity in the darkest days faced by civilisation in Aquarius. The commander of the Division, Fleet Admiral (Fl.Adm) Caroline Anne Webb, heroically lead the 'Harbingers of Tempest' until the very last moments of the Federal Navy's war effort, sacrificing many of their lives to buy enough time for other Fleet divisions to withdraw.
Even though they had nothing to return to, no homes, no families, the brave warriors of the 63rd Artillery Division are remembered in Aquarian history as some of the bravest and courageous men and women to ever wear the Uniform of Freedom. With the transition to the Imperial States in 4402 A.D, the Eridonia Free Peoples' Fleet has taken on the duty of maintaining their memory true to the bastions that the Old Federation stood for, and what they fought - and died - for; Liberty and Freedom, Equality and Peace.
With the dawn of the Rebellion in Aquarius on the horizon, these bastions once again rise up and stand for the People of Aquarius, the people who endure and the people who suffer.
The 63rd Artillery Division's motto;
"War does not determine who is right, only who is left"
An ancient quote from the earliest global wars of the Old Earth, it speaks truth to the brutal reality of war and the suffering it brings. Even though the enemy they faced was not human, the Harbingers brought only death and turmoil with their weapons, symbolised in the quote upon the spinal barrel Mantle of each warship.
War is Hell.