Chronicles of Sol: The Fall

The Enterprise at her core was designed primarily to be a support vessel, but not just any support ship. She is far more than a simple fleet tender, she was designed to maintain, repair, and supply friendly vessels in the field. In other words, she is effectively a mobile port, and many of her internals align with this intended role. Her lower decks are given over to factories, expansive hydroponics bays, and refineries. Allowing her to process materials in the field, and produce whatever may be needed to fulfill her role. Docking pylons and extendable arms beneath the ship enable larger vessels to securely dock with the Enterprise for dock-level repairs in the field. Her hangers are large enough that some smaller ships can land inside the ship for repairs, but unlike most large repair ships she doesn’t include a dedicated frigate bay. Her forward cargo dock, however, is large enough for a single frigate to securely dock inside the protective belt of her armor.

Of course, while she is a support vessel, she is not left unprotected. The Enterprise is in fact well armored with 12 meters of battleship grade, erudite-enhanced titan alloy armor in an Overlord configuration. This armor alone is an impressive defense against a wide array of threats. Overlord armor is configured in overlapping plates, and layered with shock gel which un-augmented provides a very effective defense against kinetic impact. The armor doesn’t leave it at that, as a powerful structural field is run through the plates. This field does two things first it significantly strengthens the titan alloy that the armor is composed of. The second is that the field absorbs a portion of any incoming energy directed at the armor. The combination of these two factors can completely nullify most weapons, but to further defeat incoming weapons fire that plating has two more advantages. Those being integrated energy absorbers that absorb some of the energy of incoming weapons fire be it energy based or kinetic and shunt it back into the armor integrity field or store it for later use. The other advantage is a projected dispersion field around the hull that attempts to disperse incoming energy blasts, which often results in energy shots striking a much wider area of the hull than they would otherwise.

This dispersal effect caused by the dispersion field has a few key advantages. By forcing incoming fire to spread out, the incoming energy blast is effectively weakened. Its penetration power is dropped significantly, allowing the armor to better absorb the blast. This also allows the integrated energy absorbers to absorb more of the energy behind that shot, as more of them will be able to act upon the blast.

So what about a kinetic impact? In that case, the dispersion field has no effect. Instead, the shock gel comes into play. On impact with the armor, two components will act to prevent penetration and disperse the energy of the round. The first is the AIF which actively absorbs a portion of the energy and ensures the plates remain unharmed. At the same time, the rest of the energy is absorbed by the shock gel, which radiates the energy out across the surface of the hull and away from the interior, while energy absorbers act to convert the shock into usable energy. Of course that is assuming the round actually hit.

The traditional method of penetrating this kind of armor is in fact a torpedo. A large, heavy warhead with limited guidance intended for ship-to-ship combat. Torpedoes can bypass that dispersion field easily, and they can unleash a much more powerful burst of focused energy than any kinetic round. A single armor-piercing torpedo is sufficient to cause a localized failure of the plating. A fact well known to the designers of the Enterprise. To protect against this kind of attack the Enterprise has been equipped with an Energy Web array, which projects an AI-controlled web of high-intensity energy beams around the hull of the ship, just far enough out to detonate incoming warheads before they could do serious damage. Such beams have also been known to disrupt the integrity of plasma torpedoes causing them to lose containment.

More recently, however, human vessels have been employing sustained energy beams to carve through overlord armor. These beams work because they can resist dispersal just well enough to have a localized effect. Given enough time they can burn through even the massively strengthened plates of the Enterprise. Beyond preventing the enemy from maintaining a sustained burn at a single point, no solution to this problem yet exists. Thankfully with the exception of the Krall no such weapons exist in the hands of aliens. At least not any yet encountered by humanity.

Even in the event of a penetrating hit however, the Enterprise has a strongly reinforced superstructure. Internal plating, emergency bulkheads, blast doors, internal structural fields, and integrated internal energy absorbers. All of these work together to insure no single hit would cripple or destroy the ship. Critical areas are further protected by significant internal protections to bolster local resilience, and the ship has a high degree of system redundancy. Allowing the ship to continue to be mission functional even if over half the ship has been destroyed.

Moving on, the ship is not limited just to defense. As the Enterprise is outfitted with a fair number of ship-to-ship gun batteries, torpedoes, and missiles. Her primary weapon is two modified Star Tech Industries XPCB-222-B Mark I Heavy Cutting Beam Arrays, recently redesignated as Mark II. The heavy cutting beam is a weapon designed to slice through armor, and hull with ease, and is often used for slashing beam attacks, but it can also be used for a focused attack on a single point. The Mark II version as developed and implemented by researchers on the Enterprise features improved power, and firing cycle times, along with a powerful supercharger, that allows the ship to fire a shorter more intense burst for brief intervals. Factors that add to the flexibility of the weapon. It is also important to note that this same weapon in the mark I version was used on Earth’s Starlight class of battleships as their primary weapon as well. Cutting beams are very effective against armored, and unarmored targets, but have some difficulty with shielded targets.

The next weapon in her load-out is the XDPC-347-C Heavy Directed Particle Cannon, again this weapon was developed by Star Tech Industries who was the primary contractor in the construction and development of the Enterprise. This weapon has recently been modified and redesignated as Mark II by Enterprise researchers. The Mark II version features a reduced fire rate of 2000 bolts per minute, but its yield is much improved. The significantly higher particle density allows it to deliver much more energy per shot, and if needed the weapon can be supercharged to unleash several high-intensity shots in a very short period. Unfortunately, the weapon will overheat after such a burst, and must be allowed to cool before it can fire again or damage will be incurred to the weapon.

These heavy anti-ship guns are mounted in quad-turrets, and she has eight banks of them, which gives her a total of 1600 heavy particle cannons mounted in 400 turrets. These turrets are mounted on the ventral and dorsal sides of the primary hull in a spoked wheel formation, and laid out in naturally superfiring positions. Enabling the ship to leverage a significant portion of her firepower to forward, port, and starboard positions, and maintain strong fire to dorsal and ventral targets. Each turret features both local, and central fire control, and is capable of independently firing on multiple targets or focusing its fire on one target.

The XDPC-347-C is very effective against most large starships, and capital ships. Its charged particle bursts can punch through most forms of armor with ease, and it can shred unprotected hulls in seconds. The weapon is also effective in a ground bombardment role, and can level cities in very short order. The weapon is not suited however for engaging smaller vessels such as corvettes and fighters.

The Enterprise’s secondary battery contains the XDPC-128-B Medium Directed Particle Cannon. Developed by Star Tech Industries, and found on most human vessels this weapon is quite suitable for flexible gun mounts. The weapon is mounted in dual turrets and intended as a dual-purpose gun mount. The Enterprise carries 3600 of these guns in 1800 turrets, the majority of these are mounted in a spoked wheel formation on her primary hull. Additional mounts are found on the secondary hull. No mounts are found on the nacelles. The weapons have recently been modified to a mark II configuration, and support a fire rate of 2100 bolts per minute. Rapid tracking and independent targeting are key features of these weapons. They are useful for a multitude of targets from small ships, to enemy capital ships. These cannons are also very useful for tactical ground bombardment. Like other particle weapons they are noted to struggle with energy shielding.

The next weapon in the secondary battery is the XLEPC-05 Mark I commonly called the Electro Cannon. It fires a low-temperature charged plasma stream that resembles a lightning discharge. The stream has a limited range, but is extremely effective at defeating energy shields, and disrupting subsystems. Energy shields hit by the steam have been known to overload, and unleash a powerful energy burst. It has a four-second recharge between bursts. The Enterprise carries 400 emplacements of this weapon mounted along the primary hull. Also of note is that while this weapon has little if any effect against the armored hull of a starship the beam is devastating to organic tissue.

Finally, we can cover the Enterprise’s defensive battery. These weapons are intended for defensive fire against hostile enemy ships, particularly small light vessels such as fighter craft which could pose a significant threat to the Enterprise. Especially those fighters outfitted for bomber roles and carrying high payload warheads in the form of torpedoes or bombs. In space, a bomb is a high-yield anti-capital ship weapon with no guidance or engine. Much like a traditional kinetic round, but much more powerful thanks to the warhead it is carrying. Something useless for a large ship, but something a small ship that can get in close can use. A ship that could be a threat to the Enterprise. Her secondary battery can fire on such ships, but a more effective solution is often a guided missile. To this end, the Enterprise is outfitted with a number of specialized turrets, each one fitted with three Photon Missile tubes. The Enterprise has twelve Photon Missile banks, with eight hundred strategically positioned missile turrets. Ammunition is stowed inside the hull in armored magazines. She has enough storage for almost 500,000 missiles in armored bays, not counting her torpedoes.

Speaking of her torpedoes, the Enterprise is armed with fore, and aft torpedo launchers. Each of these launchers is a triple-tubed catapult. She carries 20 forward-mounted launchers and a dozen aft. These rapid-fire launchers can fire a burst of five torpedoes per tube every six seconds. That means she can fire a volley of three hundred torpedoes with her forward launchers, every six seconds. Three thousand in a minute. Her Aft launchers can fire a volley of 180 torpedoes, for 1800 torpedoes in a minute. The ship is designed to stow munitions for up to ten minutes of sustained fire, giving her some fifty thousand warheads in armored bays. A rather small number for a ship of her size.

The launchers on the Enterprise are designed to carry the Type 57-E TRX heavy anti-ship torpedo mark I, commonly referred to as the Mark I photon torpedo, which features a laser-initiated cascade detonation fusion warhead, and supports a variable detonation yield. Also featured on the torpedo is a mark VII shield penetrator which grants a 38% shield penetration rate. The torpedo can carry fuel for up to 900,000 km and are effective against maneuvering targets for more than five times that distance. Making them the longest ranged weapon in the Enterprise’s arsenal.

Next up, small craft. The Enterprise has a number of hangars, and support for its own dedicated fighter wing. However, for a ship of its size class, the number of fighters she carries is actually rather limited. She has a complement of a mere sixty fighters, along with a fair number of shuttles. 340 assault shuttles, which are modular, and can be adapted for gunship, and light bomber roles as needed. Along with twenty light personnel shuttles, ten armored personnel shuttles, fifty heavy cargo shuttles, and twenty dropships. A total of five hundred ships. Which is rather small. The Starlight class battleship is a little over half the size of the Enterprise and has a fighter complement of eight hundred and fifty, and she has more than double the total auxiliary fleet. Although that ship class does carry significantly fewer heavy cargo shuttles.

Regardless the Enterprise was never intended to fight alone, but rather as the centerpiece of a battlegroup. Her vast industrial capacity would allow her to maintain a small battlegroup indefinitely. While her armament and defenses mean there was no need for her to stay on the sidelines during a battle. Ships like the Enterprise even include a CIC, allowing them to serve as a flagship for a fleet.

Now that we have covered her armaments, and defenses, there is one last tactical aspect to cover. The ship’s main drives. The Enterprise like most modern vessels employs Particle Pulse Wave engines to achieve thrust. These drives are reactionless, and therefore do not need external thruster ports or mountings to function. As such they are located deep within the armored hull of the Enterprise where they not only function better, but also do not compromise the ship’s defenses. Being reactionless also means the drives can vector their full output in any direction. A factor that allows the ship to change directions quickly, and effortlessly. Pulse waves are a spatio-gravitic phenomenon and have a mass canceling effect as a result of their inherent characteristics. As a result, the Enterprise has an effective mass equal to about one-third of her actual mass. What this means is that she has a significantly better thrust-to-weight ratio than her engines would otherwise be able to provide.

This reduced effective mass is also responsible for the apparent agility of most Earth vessels, which are very agile in the field of battle. To further enhance this impressive agility, the Enterprise is equipped with a pulse detonation drive. The PDD is roughly equivalent to an afterburner and achieves much the same function. It allows the ship to utilize short powerful bursts of thrust on demand. Allowing for incredible bursts of acceleration. A PDD allows any equipped vessel to effectively teleport in a straight line in any direction. This apparent teleportation is achieved by instantly jumping to a relativistic velocity and then decelerating, using a pulse detonation. Without the use of inertial dampers, such a maneuver would not be possible. It must be noted however that such a maneuver is not fuel efficient and can burn through fuel reserves quickly. In addition, the stresses on equipment are somewhat severe. Factors that result in a certain reluctance to use the drive in this manner. The PDD is typically used to get a boost to acceleration when needed, and is not often used for this powerful maneuver.

The PDD is very useful for combat maneuvers but is useless without the ship’s main engines. The majority of the Enterprise’s propulsive power is supplied by five primary pulse wave engines. These main engines each feature three Rydium cores, which are designed to work in concert. If one core fails the whole engine fails, at least until a new core has been installed. These Rydium cores are critical to the function of the engine since through particle beam stimulation these cores generate the very pulse waves upon which the engines generate thrust. Careful manipulation of the drive chamber modulates these waves to vector that thrust in the desired fashion. The use of multiple cores allows for more powerful pulse waves, and when working in concert with multiple more drive power is achieved. Why then do the main engines use, three and not nine cores? The answer lies in the fact that extra cores do reduce the overall efficiency of the engine. Three is considered to be an optimal balance between power, and fuel efficiency. Another factor to consider is that too many cores results in an unstable engine. The largest most powerful engines have no more than five. No such engine is present on the Enterprise, however.

She does have a few quad-core engines, designed to provide additional thrust during combat maneuvers. These are the five pairs of sub-engines paired with the main drives. They are high-thrust low-efficiency engines. Useful when the ship needs a little extra engine power.

Next in the list of engines the Enterprise is equipped with are the forty maneuvering drives located in her nacelles. These small engines are designed for precision thrust, and are used to aid the ship in maneuvers. They are not meant to be the primary vector of thrust. Each one has three cores, but are much smaller than the main drives and produce much less thrust. In a pinch they can also be used to vector additional thrust where needed.

The inclusion of all those drives covers the full list of the ship’s sublight engines, which comes up to a total of fifty-five sublight engines. If you count her four warp engines, the ship has a total of 59 engines. A number that falls in line with what is required to give a capital ship like the Enterprise the agility she is known for. Thanks to these drives the Enterprise is remarkably fast, and agile able to outrun, and outmaneuver opponents many times smaller than herself. An impressive feat for a ship over five thousand meters long. That speed underscores a bit of the design philosophy behind the Enterprise. She balances the firepower of a heavy cruiser with the protection of a battleship which she combines with an agilty more in line with a ship much smaller than herself. Exactly how much smaller depends on whose ships you compare her to, but with other human vessels, her agility is in line with a fast cruiser. A factor she can use to her advantage both defensively and offensively