After the events of the Ghost Bear-Draconis Combine War, the Nova Cats decided they needed new designs in their touman to help defend the clan against a variety of new threats.
They came up with a powerful second line design that could take on almost all comers in combat. The first Herald walked off the production lines on Irece in 3067.

The Herald is an awesome long range combatant, with a gauss rifle, two large pulse lasers, and an ATM rack with three tons of ammunition.
As if that was not enough, the gauss rifle and large pulse lasers are tied into a targeting computer, which enables the Herald to pick out weak spost on an enemy mech. Coupled with the natural ability possessed by most Nova Cat warriors, this makes the Herald almost invincible.
A medium laser seems almost superfluous at close range, while two machine guns defend against infantry attacks, obviously with Inner Sphere enemies in mind.
The Herald has near maximum armor coverage, but the mech's slow speed is a flaw only in offensive operations. Since the Nova Cats have no intention of using the Herald in offensive operations, this is not as big a problem as it seems.

During the Black Dragon Rebellion, the Nova Cats on Teniente in the Irece Prefecture came under Black Dragon assault as some rogue DCMS units tried to claim the world for their movement.
The Heralds of the Nova Cats marched out, and promptly proceeded to thrash the Black Dragons silly, even when outnumbered by 40%.

Star Commander Secorra
A solahma warrior in the Nova Cat touman, and in his sixties, Secorra was never meant to head back into the cockpit of a mech. He was assigned to the guard unit at the Nova Cat embassy on Luthien, where he would expect to serve out the rest of his career.
Insetad, the Black Dragon Rebellion erupted, and Secorra, in a twist of fate, met up with his former trainee Descartin Winters. The two warriors made their way to the Imperial Palace, where Secorra was thrown into a mech to help in the desperate defense.
Though eventually badly wounded, he was evacuated in the scape from Luthien, and took part in the battles to retake Avon.
On arriving on Irece, Khan Santin West gifted the solahma warrior a brand new Herald, and a place in a second line cluster.
Secorra is grateful for his second chance, and is a staunch defender of the Khan's Warden views.

Heralds have been sent to all Nova Cat garrison clusters, and even a few front line clusters deploy the hard-hitting design. Several Heralds have been sent to Hohiro Kurita's forces as well, which has directly contributed to massive gains by loyalist forces against the Black Dragons.