[AUTHOR'S NOTE: I use TCB (Taurian Concordat Boat) for DropShips and other non-jump vessels of the TCN. TCS (Taurian Concordat Ship) applies only to jump-capable WarShips. TCAS (Taurian Concordat Auxilliary Ship) and TCMV (Taurian Concordat Merchant Vessel) apply to JumpShips, military and civilian, respectively.]
==Overview:==
First introduced in 2422, the Mirage class Assault DropShip was the first
Taurian homegrown Dropper designed for that role. Designated by the Taurians
as an Escort DropShip, the Mirage was originally intended to provide a heavy
escort for the Taurus class Light Cruisers and the Winchester class Heavy
Cruisers of the Fleet, with a planned production run of just 220 units (204
for active duty operations with the Fleet and 16 additional units for
training).
Those plans came unhinged only eight months after the first Mirages became
active. Cruiser skippers, divisional commodores, and squadron admirals were
impressed with the performance of the new boats, which greatly exceeded all
expectations of a 2,200-ton vessel. Acting on their own intiative, on
February 19, 2423, three Admirals, eight Commodores, and two dozen Senior
Captains of the Fleet met with the Protector of the Concordat. During this
meeting, the naval officers convinced the Protector of the value of the new
Mirage in planetary and system defense roles, in addition to its exemplery
performance in Fleet operations.
With its aerodyne hull form, the Mirage could operate with impunity both
within an atmosphere as well as the vaccum of deep space. The Naval officers
painted the Protector a vision of squadrons of Mirages deployed on all of the
planets of his realm, providing the Taurian Aerospace Corps (TAC) with heavy
support for their own planetary based aerospace and conventional fighter
craft. Up to this point in history, the TCN and TAC had never jointly
operated a design; both services, along with the ground-based Taurian Defense
Forces (TDF; primarily armor, VTOLs, and infantry at this point) had serious
cases of NIH Syndrome (Not Invented Here).
In fact, the TAC were developing two lighter (and less expensive) designs of
their own for planetary defense: the 200-ton Defiance and the 1,400-ton
Defender. Neither of the TAC units could match the Mirage in terms of
acceleration, survivability, and firepower--not even on paper. The Protector
agreed with his Admirals and ordered two dozen Mirages transferred to TAC for
testing in the planetary defense role. After a year of rigourous tests, the
Air Marshall who ran the Corps grudging admitted the design was far superior
to anything that was currently in the TAC pipeline.
Chandler Shipwrights was awarded contracts for an additional four hundred
Mirages less than five weeks later. But the versatile and rugged Mirage
production line would not close for fourteen decades, when the Harbinger was
introduced in 2561. Even then, production of the Mirage resumed in 2576 when
the Concordat found itself under assault from the newly formed Star League.
Only the Concordats surrender would permanently end production of the Mirage;
the Star League razed all production facilities on New Columbia or in orbit
above that world and destroyed the few remaining Mirages that had survived the
Wars.
According to the records of the Naval Archives on Taurus, more than three
thousand Mirages were completed and went on to serve under the Taurian flag.
Another six hundred were purchased by the Magistracy of Canopus, and two
hundred by the Outworlds Alliance.
The design itself was thought to be forever lost in the mists of the past, but
the discovery of a documents cache on New Columbia in 3014 included schematics
and blue-prints for the ancient design. It is, at this time, unknown whether
or not the Concordat is attempting to restart production of the Mirage.
==Capabilities:==
Barely three hundred tons larger than the later Leopard and Fury class
DropShips, the Mirage managed to pack a considerable punch within its compact
frame. At the heart of this exceptional assault boat were the massive
GE-Westinghouse KCG-11 maneuvering drives. This powerful engine consumed more
than a thousand tons of the Mirages mass allotment, but gave the assault boat
the ability to accelerate at an extraordinary rate of 5.5-g's. Unlike many
other aerodyne designs, the Mirage lacked seperate exhausts for space and
atmosphere operations. The 'up' orientation would always be directed toward
the crafts nose, which did present problems for the vessels when grounded.
Although theoretically capable of operations up to eighty-three days in
length, few Mirages would in fact operate independently for much longer than a
week at a time. The crews of Fleet boats would be assigned quarters on their
mothership, while system-defense boats would be given quarters on their home
space station. Ground-based Mirage crews were housed in base housing.
Accordingly, the difficulty in reconfiguring onboard crew quarters was seldom
a problem. Most Mirage crews would simply leave their quarters configured for
normal space operations.
Cargo storage presented a slightly larger problem, but the Mirage carried just
55 tons of spare parts (all in storage bins specifically designed for a
certain part) and an additional 55 tons of general cargo volume. Never
intended as a cargo vessel, the Mirages would often leave their holds empty,
using the space as a recreational area or work-out room.
At full load, fuel tankage aboard these boats was 111 tons; enough for 83 days
of operations at 1-g of acceleration, or a mere five hours at max thrust in
combat conditions. Design enigneers considered this an adequete amount,
especially considering the majority of Mirages would easily be able to refuel
from their base or mothership. To cope with the high levels of thrust these
boats could acheive, the crew couches were all designed to lie flat against
the deck; this aligned the bodies of the crewmen with the vector of the
thrust, and when combined with the acceleration couches allowed the crew to
function effectively at high-g's for short periods of time.
Forty-five tons of Jessup Composites 765 standard armor provided the Mirage
with solid armor protection--nearly the maximum that an aerodyne of her mass
and structure could theoretically carry. Indeed, many Corvettes (and some
Destroyers) of the period carried less armor than the Mirage.
Armament was concentrated towards the bow, with the nose, right wing, and left
wing having the heaviest concentration of firepower. Each of these three arcs
carried four Aurora Missiliers Deathscap LRM-15 launchers and four Hyades
Weapons Consortium Retaliation AC-10 autocannons. Magazines for each arc
carried two hundred missile salvoes and two hundred bursts of cannon fire.
These concentrated batteries could rip straight through many aerospace
fighters in service and could make impressive holes in capital scale armor as
well; albeit at short range.
The stern and both stern wing arcs carried half the guns of the forward
section: two Deathscaps and two Retaliations each. Primarily intended to
keep hostile aerospace fighters out of the six of the Mirage, these batteries
could still pack quite a wallop at close range. Contary to common practice of
the time, 144 heat sinks were fitted to the Mirages; enough to fire all
weapons simultaneously. This capability would often catch dispersed Capellan
and Davion fighter squadrons by surprise when they discovered that swarming a
Mirage was only a fast way to suicide.
Although most Mirage crews knew that they would not get much use, the TCN
insisted on using twenty-one tons of space to install three escape
pods--enough to evacuate the entire crew during an emergency. Any Mirage
damaged seriously enough to force the crew to abandon during battle was likely
to have heavy casualties; but the men of the assault boats did appreciate the
gesture.
In all, the Mirage class boats were minnows among the leviathans; but in
sufficient numbers they more often resembled piranhas to their foes.
==Battle History:==
In 2514, the 1st Charleston Defense Squadron consisting of eight Mirages
engaged a light warship belonging to 'pirates' (Taurian intelligence suspected
that the vessel was in fact a covert operations ship of the Federated Suns,
although this was never proven). The pirate corvette had apparently gained
intelligence on the Taurian colony, since it arrived two days after a division
of Stingray class Destroyer Escorts had departed the system.
Expecting little resistance from a back-water world, the intruder advanced on
the world of Charleston--a world with a population of less than two million
and little industry. As the pirate settled into orbit, eight Mirages emerged
from the lower atmosphere and rocketed towards the pirates at 5.5-g's of
acceleration. Using the bulk of the planet to shield themselves from the
pirate vessel, the assault boats shot around in a low orbit, accelerating hard
the entire way. Unlike the blissfully unaware pirate, the Taurians in their
Mirages knew exactly where their opponents vector had carried him, thanks to
the still functioning network of weather and surveillance satellites
surrounding Charleston.
Precious seconds were lost when the Mirages crossed the horizon and became
visible to the pirate, as the suprised crew rushed to action stations. The
enemy vessel did manage to launch all six of its fighters and maneuvered
around to bring its main broadside to bear on the assault boats; but it was
too little, too late.
Two Mirages died under the hammering of the corvettes guns, but the remainders
velocity was high enough to carry them into their own range before the warship
could bear on new targets. The six survivors salvoed fire from their forward
arcs against the warship as they broke past the hastily launch fighter screen.
Nearly blacking out from the 9- and 10-g turns, the pilots of those pirate
fighters faced the full fury of the stern batteries of the Mirages, engaging
them even before they completed their vector change.
But the savaging of the fighters was a mere afterthought to the main
attraction. Six Mirages poured the fire from six dozen LRM launchers and six
dozen more medium-heavy autocannon into the small warship before them; and the
warship's flank shattered under that weight of fire. Magazines and fuel tanks
aboard the pirate erupted in infernos aboard that ship, and then her core
detonated. There were no survivors.
Faced with no other option, the last four pirate fighters began to pursue the
Mirages, when the twenty-four planetary defense Taurian aerospace fighters
crossed the horizon behind them. Caught between the hammer and the anvil, all
four of the pirates died.
The intruders into Taurian space perished before they could even radio their
demands to the surface below. The crews of the Mirages were all awarded with
commendations for their valor and skill in defeating the pirates; twenty-four
of those commendations were awarded posthumously.
==Variants:==
Remarkably, there were no official variants of the Mirage ever constructed.
While electronics and sensors were constantly upgraded to the latest standard,
no serious attempt at changing the basic weapons layout was ever made.
==Deployment==
Taurian Light Cruisers would normally deploy with a flight of two attached
Mirages; Heavy Cruisers with a full division of four. Battleships (the few
that did use Mirage class boats) could carry a reinforced division of six.
For system- and planetary-defence, Mirages were assembled in squadrons of
eight boats; two divisions of four each. Two squadrons would form a group;
three groups a wing of forty-eight--the largest formation of Mirages normally
found under the command of a line officer.
The majority of the worlds of the Concordat would be home to a squadron of
Mirages, but core worlds of the Hyades and highly industrialized systems like
New Vandenberg and the Pleaides would often have multiple wings. Four wings
of Mirages (192 assault boats!) were permanently stationed at Gateway Point,
assisting the SAFS in defending the only known entrance into the Nebula.
The Mirages served many of the roles undertook by torpedo boats and gunboats
(such as the PT and E-boat) of Terra's Second World War. Operating in defense
of Taurian worlds and vital jump points, shoals of these craft would throw
themselves against any invader, using their own hulls to literally absorb
damage and buy time for their comrades to reach attack range. While
casualties among the men and women assigned to the Mirages were horrendous
during the Reunification Wars, volunteers would always come forward whenever a
boat needed a crew. Although supplanted in service by the later Harbingers (a
much larger, more powerful assault boat), the Mirages and their crews would
serve with both distinction and valor in the defense of the Taurian Concordat.
AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
VALIDATED
Class/Model/Name: Mirage
Tech: Inner Sphere / 2422
Vessel Type: Aerodyne DropShip
Rules: Level 1, Custom design
Rules Set: AeroTech2
Mass: 2,200 tons
Hull: Chandler Ultra Light 22
Length: 85 meters
Power Plant: GE-Westinghouse KCG-11 Standard
Safe Thrust: 7
Maximum Thrust: 11
Armor Type: Jessup Composites Defender 764 Standard
Armament:
18 Aurora Missiliers Deathscap LRM 15
18 Hyades Weapons Consortium Retaliation Autocannon/10
Manufacturer: Chandler Shipwrights
Location: New Columbia
Communications System: Wintershaven Comm Mark 8
Targeting & Tracking System: Berringer Systems SPQ-11d
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name: Mirage
Mass: 2,200 tons
Equipment: Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control: 1,001.00
Thrust: Safe Thrust: 7
Maximum Thrust: 11
Structural Integrity: 11 121.00
Total Heat Sinks: 144 Single 94.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps: 157.00
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters: 17.00
Fire Control Computers: .00
Food & Water: (83 days supply) 5.00
Armor Type: Standard (764 total armor pts) 45.00
Standard Scale Armor Pts
Location: L / R
Fore: 210
Left/Right Wings: 210/210
Aft: 134
Cargo:
Bay 1: Cargo (1) with 2 doors 55.00
Escape Pods: 2 (7 tons each) 14.00
Crew and Passengers:
2 Officers (2 minimum) 20.00
4 Crew (2 minimum) 28.00
6 Gunners (6 minimum) 42.00
Weapons and Equipment Loc SRV MRV LRV ERV Heat Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4 LRM 15(200 rounds) Nose 4(36) 4(36) 4(36) -- 20 53.00
4 Autocannon/10(200 rounds)Nose 4(40) 4(40) -- -- 12 68.00
4 LRM 15(200 rounds) L/RW 4(36) 4(36) 4(36) -- 40 106.00
4 Autocannon/10(200 rounds)L/RW 4(40) 4(40) -- -- 24 136.00
2 LRM 15(104 rounds) L/RW(A) 2(18) 2(18) 2(18) -- 20 54.00
2 Autocannon/10(100 rounds)L/RW(A) 2(20) 2(20) -- -- 12 68.00
2 LRM 15(104 rounds) Aft 2(18) 2(18) 2(18) -- 10 27.00
2 Autocannon/10(100 rounds)Aft 2(20) 2(20) -- -- 6 34.00
1 Lot Spare Parts (2.50%) 55.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS: Heat: 144 2,200.00
Tons Left: .00
Calculated Factors:
Total Cost: 520,171,632 C-Bills
Battle Value: 11,445
Cost per BV: 45,449.68
Weapon Value: 8,522 (Ratio = .74)
Damage Factors: SRV = 314; MRV = 247; LRV = 45; ERV = 0
Maintenance: Maintenance Point Value (MPV) = 27,624
(12,316 Structure, 10,610 Life Support, 4,698 Weapons)
Support Points (SP) = 26,550 (96% of MPV)
BattleForce2: MP: 7, Armor/Structure: 13 / 12
Damage PB/M/L: 23/23/11, Overheat: 0
Class: DM; Point Value: 114
Specials: if
