CJvR
Advocate
Online
Posts: 383
Scout-C Communications relay ship.
« on: March 29, 2009, 08:02:12 PM » Quote Modify Remove
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since it came up in the Megalith thread I thought about a communications relay ship.
The origin of the Scout-C class is obscured by secrecy. Even now the TRN does not want to advertice the existence of this ship. The Scout-C was built by Mitchell Vehicles Interstellar at the Titan shipyards and was apparently based on a Scout class conversion that the Department of Communication had commissioned earlier as part of their efforts to restore the Star League HPG network. When the TRN made inquiries to the various yards about manufacturing a specialized communication relay ship Mitchells swift reply strongly indicates that it had a design ready to go. Under cover of normal jumpship production the Scout-C have been built at Titan for the Republic ever since, and more recently for the Department of Communication as well.
The Scout-C was designed to give access to interstellar communications in a system with a disabled regular HPG station allowing the Republican forces to maintain communications in systems where their enemies had to rely on couriers. The Scout-C was intended to remain on station for a long time, up to a year at a time, and it was fitted with a G-deck and large fuel tanks for that purpose. To minimize the jump signature of the ship as well as reducing the risk of losing one to hostile action the ship sacrificed it's dropship capacity for a Lithium Fusion Battery system giving it a tiny jumpsignature and a quick way out if anyone detected it anyway.
Scout-Cs have been stealthily lurking along the dark edges of many occupied systems during the war listening and relaying information from the planets to the TRAS. This often priceless intel gave the Terran Republic a vital edge, particulary in the dark days at the start of the war. The ships were so successful that some doubts were eventually raised as to the actual neutrality of the chiefly "Terran" Department of Communication. This led to a major confrontation between the Department of Communication and the Terran Republic when the Department of Communication revealed the existance of relay ships in an effort to clear itself from suspicion. This have led to several incidents involving the Department of Communication's internal security branch and both the TRAS Intelligence Command and the CIB.
To make matters even worse the Department of Communication have been under growing pressure from the Great Houses to make it's own relay ships available in contested systems missing normal HPG service, so far they have refused to extend their services beyond the regular HPG net but they have also indicated that this could change - particulary if the Terran Republic were to consider reprisals for the leaking of the Scout-C secret.
Code:
SCOUT-C CLASS COMMUNICATIONS RELAYSHIP
Tech: Star League
Introduced: 2786
Mass: 90.000 tons
Length: 273 meters
Sail Diameter: 890 meters
Fuel: 400 tons (4000)
Tons/Burnday: 9,77 tons
Thrust: 0,1g (0,2 thrust)
Sail Integity: 3
KF Drive Integrity: 3
Heatsinks: 91
Structural Integrity: 1
Armor: ferro-aluminium
Fore: 10
Fore-Sides: 9
Aft-Sides: 7
Aft: 8
