Largely regarded as a joke by Word of Blake engineers when the idea was first proposed over several cartons of beer and spoilt pizza, the Blue Shift has since proven itself as a capable combat machine.
It was in 3067 when Precentor Cluny Draves invited several of his colleagues in the R&D department to celebrate the recent revampment of almost all Word of Blake designs with the new C3i system in his modest house in London. It was to be three day binge of doing nothing but 'vegging out'.
When talk went around of the Red Shift, inevitably some joker proposed the idea of a Blue Shift, as slow as the Red Shift was fast. Between jokes of hysochromic and bathochromic influences, and their own drunkenness, the engineers tried to come up with a design that was slow yet, in the words of the joker, 'able to paint its enemies red'. The binge went on for several days, and the engineers slowly contributed to the 'joke' while watching sitcoms and monster movies.
After the party, a badly hungover Cluny went over the hastily scribbled plans plastered all over his home, and decided that it might actually be a good idea. It hadn't entirely been a waste of time.
And thus the Blue Shift was born.

Meant as a cheap and durable design with heavy armor and good maneuverability, the Blue Shift is not heavily armed, but does pack a hefty punch with the weapons it does have.
Meant to serve in a variety of roles like protecting Sphinx and Padilla artillery units, as well as frontline spotting for other mechs in C3i Level IIs, the Blue Shift does its duties admirably.
An MRM rack licensed from Shigunga provides the bulk of its firepower. While not very accurate, the rack works well at close range, or with other units providing telemetry for the C3i module.
A Kinslaughter H-class PPC serves as a backup weapon. A highly effective weapon, the H-class uses a special cooling jacket that improves the efficiency of the heat removal system.
At close ranges, two extended range medium lasers supply reliable, if insufficient, firepower.
4 Rawlings jump jets and an almost maximum armor protection help the Blue Shift to close in on its enemies, while the TAG laser is linked to an excellent Scope targeting program.

Blue Shifts were used during the jihad like all other Word of Blake mechs, but due to their newness, were not present in any real numbers to affect the outcome.
However, during the long guerilla war on Terra, there was one notable action involving the Blue Shift.
A rebel unit had been trying to infiltrate a Word of Blake weapons research facility situated in Mt. Pompeii, Italy. Ambushed by Blakist units as they left the vicinity, the rebels were caught flat footed by the jump capable Blue Shift as the facility self destructed, which in turn set off the long dormant volcano.
Fighting amongst the lava flows and rocks being thrown down by the volcano, the commited Blue Shifts all survived the battle, and accounted for two whole lances of enemy machines in the brutal battle.

After the liberation of Terra, Blue Shifts have been sent to SLDF and DCMS units bordering the clans. Some Blue Shifts have also been sent to the Lyran Commonwealth, though it has placed them on worlds bordering the Periphery.