Griffin: stealth flagship of the Covert Ops Crew

The Griffin was an advanced stealth starship formerly employed by the Terran Dominion. Emperor Valerian Mengsk gave the vessel to Ghost Agent Nova Terra in exchange for her loyalty during the Defenders of Man Insurgency, and it served thereafter as the mobile base of operations for her Covert Ops Crew. Equipped with the most advanced technology in the Dominion, the Griffin carried Nova across the Koprulu sector on her hunt for the Defenders of Man, sheltered her crew when they became fugitives, and was even stolen out from under them by rogue spectres before being recovered.

Design and capabilities#

The Griffin was built around stealth. The ship carried a functioning personal cloak, and while its faster than light drive produced a distinct signature, that signature was highly masked. It employed two configurations, a "travel mode" and a "flight mode" in which its wings folded out, and it was capable of operating in both space and atmosphere as well as engaging in inter-system travel. The vessel could apparently be controlled remotely.

Despite its covert purpose the Griffin was no mere courier. It was capable of performing airstrikes on terrestrial targets, and it deployed and supported ground forces on numerous worlds. Internally the ship possessed a medical bay, multiple engineering decks, and a small mess hall, allowing it to function as a self-contained home and headquarters for the Covert Ops Crew, who enjoyed access to the most advanced technology the Dominion could supply.

A gift from the emperor#

After Nova Terra escaped from the Defenders of Man with no memory of her time among them, Admiral Matt Horner brought her to Emperor Valerian Mengsk aboard the Bucephalus. Valerian asked her to get to the bottom of the conspiracy surrounding the Defenders of Man, and promised her the Griffin and his own covert ops team, previously under his personal command, in return for her loyalty. She accepted, and Valerian assigned his chief weapons and technology specialist Reigel to her service.

Reigel used a device to recover some of Nova's lost memories, and the trail led the new crew to Tarsonis. There the Griffin deployed Nova and her forces outside a Defenders of Man base, allowing them to garrison the structures surrounding the facility while Nova infiltrated it herself.

Tyrador IX and the Highlord's bargain#

Nova's investigation uncovered the Defenders of Man's plan to stage a feral zerg attack on Tyrador IX. She took the Griffin through the zerg forces in orbit of the world and established a base near their hatcheries. After fighting through both the zerg and the Tal'darim, Nova and her crew escaped the planet, but the Griffin was boarded by Highlord Alarak of the Tal'darim. Nova raised her rifle to fire on him, but Reigel stopped her, saying that the Highlord had come as a guest.

Alarak told Nova of the Defenders of Man's attack on his people and of the vengeance he sought, and he offered her a bargain. He led the Griffin to the planet Jarban Minor, where Nova was to gather terrazine to undo her mind wipe. During the conflict there between infested Umojans and the forces of First Ascendant Ji'nara, Nova used the Griffin to retrieve canisters of terrazine harvested from the native Jarban gliders, securing a sufficient amount before the extraction devices were destroyed and departing the planet.

The hunt for Carolina Davis#

With her memories slowly returning, Nova took the Griffin to the site of the last operation she could remember performing for the Defenders of Man, the city of New Andasar on Antiga Prime. The ship descended to the surface and dropped her forces to establish a forward base. There Nova recovered her memories in full and identified the leader of the Defenders of Man as General Carolina Davis. She left Antiga and contacted Emperor Valerian from aboard the Griffin.

The ship next deployed Nova to Vardona, where she was to capture Davis while Valerian gave a public address. The operation succeeded, but soon after Davis was taken the Tal'darim Death Fleet attacked the city. Nova's forces rushed from the Griffin to its defense, and together with the Dominion military and the low ranking Defenders of Man they pushed the Tal'darim back and inflicted heavy casualties. In the chaos of the battle, however, Davis escaped aboard the battlecruiser Medusa, and the Griffin gave chase. Alarak contacted Nova to tell her she had made a powerful enemy by breaking their bargain. She replied that he had too, and cut the channel.

Cerros Shipyards and flight from the Dominion#

The Griffin soon lost the Medusa's trail, and the crew spent hours chasing leads before word came that the Cerros Shipyards were under attack by a lone Dominion vessel. The Griffin was sent to the shipyards and deployed Nova's forces to reinforce the defenders. Her crew fought through the Defenders of Man lines and brought down the experimental Xanthos war machine. Valerian had ordered that Davis be taken alive, but after the Xanthos fell Nova violated those orders, infiltrated the machine's hull, and assassinated the general.

Branded fugitives, Nova and Reigel spoke in the Griffin's cargo bay. Reigel told her that the ship's crew were loyal to her alone and would follow wherever she ordered. Nova answered that the Dominion would always have enemies, and that her crew would defeat them their own way. The Griffin ran for an asteroid belt, and though Admiral Horner tracked the ship from the Bucephalus, Valerian ordered him to let her go, for now. In the period that followed, the resocialized agents Stone and Delta Emblock were both brought aboard the Griffin, where the crew worked to undo the false memories the Defenders of Man had implanted in them.

Stolen by the spectres#

At some point after the Battle of Adena, the Griffin arrived in orbit of the planet Tartarus, where Nova intended to recover stockpiles of jorium. She and Reigel landed on the surface, leaving the ship in orbit, but encountered a large force of zerg along with a number of spectres left over from the reign of Arcturus Mengsk. Reigel hacked the planet's security systems and brought the Griffin down to land on the facility's roof, but when Nova insisted on killing the spectres, Reigel defied her orders and released them, hoping they could be turned to the Dominion's good. The spectres instead turned on him, knocked him out, kidnapped the reporter Donny Vermillion, and stole the Griffin.

Using the ship, the spectres conducted a campaign of terror across the Dominion, intent on carrying out Arcturus Mengsk's last wishes by removing his enemies. Nova allied with a Daelaam force under Matriarch Vorazun, and together they psionically influenced Vermillion into making a broadcast that gave away the Griffin's location. Nova confronted the spectres, and after a brief fight convinced them to surrender. She traveled with them to Aiur to help them recover from the treatment they had endured, while Reigel took the Griffin around the sector to aid those in need. After a time, Reigel brought the ship to Aiur to reunite with Nova and the spectres.