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I love a good mystery story. Some of you might be surprised to hear that, but it's true; I love stories of strange happenings and unexplained disappearances. I guess that in my line of work you see enough strange things cross your desk that it starts to bleed into the rest of your life. I like everything from locked-room murder mysteries to classic tales of hard-boiled, pre-Diaspora private detectives. I love trying to work out the mystery before the final chapter, testing my wits against some often long-dead writer; helps keep my mind in shape. So yes, I have heard about Tartarus Station, although I'd bet good money that many if not most of you haven't.
If the stories are to be believed, Tartarus Station is the code-name for a secret anchorage that the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns has maintained somewhere in the Crucis March since before the fall of the original Star League, is plays home to a so-called 'Ghost Fleet' of badly damaged but possibly repairable warships that the Davion's have been hoarding down the centuries in the hopes that they might one day be repairable, as well as discarded prototypes and secret-builds.
So grab your favourite magnifying glass, pipe and deerstalker hat as we delve into yet another mystery...
-Starling
AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
VALIDATED
Class/Model/Name: Tartarus Station
Tech: Inner Sphere / 3067
Vessel Type: Space Station
Rules: Level 2, Custom design
Rules Set: AeroTech2
Mass: 1,000,000 tons
Hull: Bowie E2
Length: 2,000 meters
Sail Diameter: 1,500 meters
Power Plant: Stark Industries ARC-IV
Safe Thrust: 0
Maximum Thrust: 0
Armor Type: Bowman JK3 Improved Ferro-aluminum
Armament:
8 Defiance 1001 ER-PPC's
8 Holly LRM-20+ArtIV
8 Generation Streak SRM-6
8 BlazeFire Sweetshot ER Large Lasers
20 BlazeFire Longshot ER Medium Lasers
24 ChisComp 32 Small Lasers
4 Defiance Disintegrator LB 20-X Autocannons
Manufacturer: SLDF Engineering Corps.
Location: CLASSIFIED
Communications System: KAT 701
Targeting & Tracking System: ASTROC 4-b
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
==Overview:==
"I hear the entire place is actually jump-capable, and they move it
around from system to system, so that no one can ever find it unless they're
meant to. And, if you do happen to stumble upon it, DMI black-bag you faster
than you can say Jackalope's G-spot!"
-Unnamed senior AFFS Navy Warrant Officer
According to the legend, Tartarus Station was originally built by the
Star League Defence Force as a safe anchorage deep within the Federated Suns.
The official reason given to House Davion was that it could repair and
resupply SLDF warships taking part in the Reunification Wars without taking
yard-space away from AFFS ships. Unofficially, it was so that the Star League
had somewhere secure to base ships from should they ever need to move against
the Davions.
==Capabilities:==
Based on the hull of an Olympus class recharge station, Tartarus Station
was heavily modified down the years to include a pressurised repair bay
capable of handling even a Farragut class Battleship. This required massive
expansion of the station to include new gravity-decks, expanded crew quarters,
machine-shops, cargo space and additional DropShip docking collars. Oddly,
while the armour was extensively upgraded and expanded upon, little was done
to increase the stations defensive armament, and it remains primarily reliant
on its anonymity for protection.
Given that the crew are expected to remain on the station for years at a
time, additional quarters were added for family members, as well as vastly
expanded recreational facilities; Tartarus Station is one of the few stations
left that actually boasts its own swimming pool, as well as a regulation-size
zero-gravity rugby court. A small school tends to any children on the station,
and there are a small number of shops, a bar and even a four-star restaurant.
Despite all this, many complain that being assigned to Tartarus Station is
more of a punishment than anything else.
The station originally housed its own dedicated HPG array, but without
access to replacements parts and technical know-how, it failed centuries ago.
After that the station was reliant on a small number of highly trusted courier
ships to remain in contact with the High Command on New Avalon, but the
station has since been fitted with a Black Box, or 'K-series' transmitter
equipped with the most advanced encryption software that the Department of
Military Intelligence has ever devised.
==Battle History:==
None.
==Variants:==
None.
==Deployment==
Originally built at great expense by the SLDF, Tartarus Station fell into
Davion hands at the start of the Star League Civil War, when the commander
sort their support and protection after their supply lines to the Terran
Hegemony were cut-off. A deal was struck that saw the AFFS granted the right
to jointly garrison the station and its host system in exchange from
supplying, food, water, oxygen, parts and other necessities, as well as
pledging to defend the station from any attack by forces loyal to the Usurper.
No attack ever came; indeed, it is believed that any records attesting to the
station exact location were destroyed in the initial chaos following the
murder of the ruling Cameron family.
At the wars end, the Star League crew were ordered home, but by then many
of them had grown to see the station as their home, some even starting
relationships with locals, and about half chose to remain behind. Orders to
blow the stations scuttling charges were ignored, although false reports that
they had been detonated were sent back to Terra, along with a strongly worded
letter of complaint from the AFFS High Command and First Prince John Davion.
With the dissolution of the Star League and the start of the Succession
Wars, the future of Tartarus Station seemed bleak indeed; as an isolated
outpost of advanced technology, it would be easy prey for any raiding force.
Fortunately, help arrived in the form of a small flotilla of ex-Star League
ships looking for safe haven. Unlike the bulk of the SLDF, these units had not
followed General Kerensky into exile, but instead had decided to try and stand
their ground against the growing storm of war. Unfortunately, they had proven
to be outnumbered and unprepared for the cruel savagery of the First
Succession War. Having been forced back time after time, they had found
themselves cut-off from the now defunct Terra Hegemony, and unwilling to
submit to the new order that had arisen on Terra without first at least
testing the waters.
With little left in the way of supplies, they had made their way to
Tartarus Station, a location only known of because one of their senior
officers had been stationed there as a freshly minted Ensign. Arriving with
little hope of finding anything but spare parts, they were surprised to
discover the station intact and still manned. A deal was quickly struck with
the Federated Suns; the ships and their crews would help man and defend the
station from any outside attack, and in return they would be granted safe
haven until they could decide what to do next.
Weeks became months, months became years, and it soon became clear that
no one with the means to reach the station new of its exact location, and no
attack would be forthcoming. With the rise of ComStar and their mysticism, the
exiles chose to remain on Tartarus Station, which had gained a limited form of
autonomy from Federated Suns, who were more interested in using the system to
keep a secret stash of warships that had been badly damaged during the
fighting. While the station lacked the means to repair them, it was possible
to run at least basic maintenance, and to stop them from degrading any
further. Soon Tartarus Station became home to what was known as the Ghost
Fleet, a collection of warn-out and battle-damaged warships, held in readiness
for the day when the Federated Suns might regain the ability to repair them.
Decades passed, and Tartarus Station began to develop its own strange
culture: additional habitats were constructed to house the growing population,
many based on the transports that had brought the exiled SLDF troops and their
dependants. The systems asteroid fields were rich in raw materials, and a
number of mobile mining platforms and specialised DropShips left behind by the
Star League allowed for their easy exploitation.
Centuries passed, and as critical components wore out and failed,
replacements were crafted, the outward appearance of the station changing as
sections were remodelled or replaced. While Tartarus Station was an oasis of
advanced technology, what remained was essential to the stations continued
survival, and her inhabitants guarded their birthright jealously. It wasn't
until the renaissance made possible by the recovery and decoding of the Helm
Memory Core that Tartarus Station began to return to its former glory; long
dormant systems were reactivated, and entire sections of the station returned
to life.
With the rediscovery of the knowledge needed to construct and repair
warships, work was started at assessing the ships of the Ghost Fleet, to see
which could be salvaged and how quickly. The first to be repaired were those
that had brought the exiles to the station; while they had been technically
crewed and operational the entire time, it had been an open secret that they
had been operating at minimal power levels for centuries. Returned to fighting
trim, they remained on-guard, their crews made up almost entirely of locals
unwilling to leave their home and families undefended. Fearing that they might
resist the activation and deployment of more of the Ghost Fleet, the AFFS
assigned two warships of their own, the existence of which had been carefully
concealed through forged paperwork and redirected shipments.
The Fed-Com Civil War rocked Tartarus Station; most of the population
cared little for who sat on the First Princes throne, so long as they were
left to lives their lives in peace. Unfortunately, the Ghost Fleet represented
a prize unlike any other, and for the first time in its history, Tartarus
Station found itself under a state on near siege. While neither side in the
war was willing to risk attacking the station with its guard ships remaining
close-by, they did find other ways to try and make life difficult for them by
cutting back on the supplies that were still shipped in from outside.
Fortunately, the inhabitance of Tartarus Station were able to make do with
what they had, and saw out the war without a single shot being fired in the
entire system. It did however sour relations between Tartarus Station and New
Avalon, and work on repairing the ships of the Ghost Fleet slowed to a near
crawl. Tensions continued to rise, wit accusations flying back and forth,
until the beginning of the Jihad.
Suddenly reminded just why their ancestors had agreed to work together,
peace was made between House Davion and the citizens of Tartarus Station, and
work on making the Ghost Fleet ready for action went into top gear. While the
Word of Blake made several attempts to locate Tartarus Station throughout the
Jihad, they were never able to determine its exact location, and it remains a
closely guarded secret to this day.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name: Tartarus Station
Mass: 1,000,000 tons
Equipment: Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control: 12,000.00
Thrust: Safe Thrust: 0
Maximum Thrust: 0
Structural Integrity: 1 10,000.00
Total Heat Sinks: 220 Double 21.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps: 5,100.00
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters: 1,000.00
Fire Control Computers: .00
Food & Water: (361 days supply) 2,741.50
Armor Type: Improved Ferro-aluminum (300 total armor pts) 499.50
Capital Scale Armor Pts
Location: L / R
Fore: 50
Fore-Left/Right: 50/50
Aft-Left/Right: 50/50
Aft: 50
Cargo:
Bay 1: Press Repair Facil. (1,700,000 T Capy, 1 door) 127,500.00
Bay 2: Fighters (36) with 8 doors 5,400.00
Small Craft (12) 2,400.00
Bay 3: Cargo (1) with 10 doors 705,000.00
DropShip Capacity: 10 Docking Hardpoints 10,000.00
Grav Decks #1 - 2: (1490-meter diameter) 1,000.00
Grav Decks #3 - 6: (500-meter diameter) 2,000.00
Grav Decks #7 - 8: (100-meter diameter) 200.00
Life Boats: 300 (7 tons each) 2,100.00
Escape Pods: 300 (7 tons each) 2,100.00
Crew and Passengers:
254 Officers (210 minimum) 2,540.00
1,000 Crew (0 minimum) 7,000.00
50 Gunners (14 minimum) 350.00
84 Marines 420.00
132 Bay Personnel .00
Weapons and Equipment Loc SRV MRV LRV ERV Heat Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 ER PPC Nose 2(20) 2(20) 2(20) -- 30 14.00
2 LRM 20+ArtIV(240 rounds) Nose 3(32) 3(32) 3(32) -- 12 62.00
2 Streak SRM 6(300 rounds) Nose 2(24) -- -- -- 8 29.00
2 ER Large Laser Nose 4(36) 4(36) 2(16) -- 24 10.00
4 ER Medium Laser 20 4.00
4 Small Laser Nose 1(12) -- -- -- 4 2.00
1 ER PPC FL/R 1(10) 1(10) 1(10) -- 30 14.00
1 LRM 20+ArtIV(120 rounds) FL/R 2(16) 2(16) 2(16) -- 12 62.00
1 LB 20-X AC(100 rounds) FL/R 1(12) 1(12) -- -- 12 68.00
1 Streak SRM 6(150 rounds) FL/R 1(12) -- -- -- 8 29.00
1 ER Large Laser FL/R 2(23) 2(23) 1(8) -- 24 10.00
3 ER Medium Laser 30 6.00
4 Small Laser FL/R 1(12) -- -- -- 8 4.00
1 ER PPC AL/R 1(10) 1(10) 1(10) -- 30 14.00
1 LRM 20+ArtIV(120 rounds) AL/R 2(16) 2(16) 2(16) -- 12 62.00
1 LB 20-X AC(100 rounds) AL/R 1(12) 1(12) -- -- 12 68.00
1 Streak SRM 6(150 rounds) AL/R 1(12) -- -- -- 8 29.00
1 ER Large Laser AL/R 2(23) 2(23) 1(8) -- 24 10.00
3 ER Medium Laser 30 6.00
4 Small Laser AL/R 1(12) -- -- -- 8 4.00
2 ER PPC Aft 2(20) 2(20) 2(20) -- 30 14.00
2 LRM 20+ArtIV(240 rounds) Aft 3(32) 3(32) 3(32) -- 12 62.00
2 Streak SRM 6(300 rounds) Aft 2(24) -- -- -- 8 29.00
2 ER Large Laser Aft 4(36) 4(36) 2(16) -- 24 10.00
4 ER Medium Laser 20 4.00
4 Small Laser Aft 1(12) -- -- -- 4 2.00
1 Lot Spare Parts (10.00%) 100,000.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS: Heat: 444 1,000,000.00
Tons Left: .00
Calculated Factors:
Total Cost: 86,756,050,000 C-Bills
Battle Value: 13,510
Cost per BV: 6,421,617.32
Weapon Value: 10,974 (Ratio = .81)
Damage Factors: SRV = 534; MRV = 301; LRV = 75; ERV = 0
Maintenance: Maintenance Point Value (MPV) = 154,622
(59,350 Structure, 88,000 Life Support, 7,272 Weapons)
Support Points (SP) = 1,570,350 (1016% of MPV)
BattleForce2: Not applicable
So there you have it; the legend that is Tartarus Station. There are many who still consider it a myth, despite the fact that the Federated Suns has been able to field a number of warships of types long-considered lost. They have to be coming from somewhere, so why not Tartarus Station?
-Starling
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Nice
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ver nice story, love it.
BTW from which game system is the mini?
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ver nice story, love it.
BTW from which game system is the mini?
It's thunderbird 5 lol
Awesome story
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BTW from which game system is the mini?
As Dragon Cat says, it's an old Thunderbird 5 miniature I picked up at a local second-hand toy and collectable shop:
(https://obtforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F_MXByb84VSgE%2FSa0tz4oK6dI%2FAAAAAAAACV0%2F4E6hSXdc8Cc%2Fs400%2Ftb55400.jpg&hash=cc3db856c5cc3774df124b5d368e9447f1828dde)
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The Ghost Fleet
I'm not sure if I find this next part easier or harder to believe than the existence of Tartarus Station. If the stories are limited evidence is true, then the Federated Suns has been secretly maintaining a hidden cache of warships since the fall of the Star League. While these ships were reportedly badly damaged and in no way combat capable when they were hidden away, they still represent the single largest concentration of naval fire-power in the Inner Sphere.
We know some of these ships exist; many have been seen operating during the Jihad, or were prototypes that were officially scrapped when their programs were cancelled. However, no matter how well any organisation tries to keep a secret, there's always a paper trail if you know where to look. So, just what are the Davion's keeping hidden?
-Starling
32nd Pursuit Squadron, Third Fleet, Star League Defense Force
SLS William Halsey (Texas class Battleship)
SLS Port Hope (Black Lion class Battlecruiser)
SLS River Plate (Black Lion class Battlecruiser)
Perhaps the biggest surprise supposedly hidden at Tartarus Station, the 32nd Pursuit Squadron (also known as the The Battle of Surigao Strait Squadron), was at the time the Star League fell assigned to guard the shipyards in orbit of New Rhodes III. These ships and their crews decided to remain on station even as the Star League fell, hoping to protect the critical important world in the hope that the Terran Hegemony might somehow recover and survive.
Unfortunately for them, it didn't, and the chaos and brutality of the First Succession War saw New Rhodes III attacked multiple times by the navies of the Successor States and independent, pirate factions. With the shipyards lost, the survivors of the 32nd Pursuit Squadron gathered as many JumpShips and DropShips as they could and fled the system, taking their dependants and other former SLDF personnel and civilians with them as they could.
Staging a fighting retreat, these survivors found themselves pushed out of the former Terran Hegemony and deeper into the Federated Suns, further and further away from Terra. It was then that Captain Constanza Stark of the SLS Port Hope realised that they were within a few jumps of Tartarus Station, where she had served as a young Ensign. Expecting to find little more than an abandoned station that might provide some spare parts, the 32nd Pursuit Squadron and their attendant flotilla of transports slowly made their way to the hidden system.
It is hard to say who was more surprised at their arrival; the members of the 32nd or the SLDF crew still manning Tartarus Station. There was a tense stand-off that lasted almost three days, with neither side sure if they could fully trust the other, but in the end the common bond of being former officers in the Star League Defense Force won out. The agreement between the remaining Star League personnel on Tartarus Station was extended to include the new arrivals, and they integrated with their fellow expatriates.
Part of the agreement between the crew of Tartarus Station and the Federated Suns meant that the ships of the 32nd were to be treated as units of an allied power, outside of the normal chain of command, free to operate as they saw fit. As such, none of the surviving ships has left the system in three centuries, instead limiting themselves to short in-system jumps and sub-light transits to keep their crews trained. Over the years questions have been raised by the AFFS about the true combat readiness levels of the 32nd, but given the lack of operational warships amongst any of the other Great Houses, the Davions seemed content to just accept and file away the reports they were given.
All this changed in 3050, with the arrival in the Inner Sphere of the Clans, and for the first time in over two centuries, the Federated Suns faced the very real risk of facing hostile warships invading their territory. An urgent survey of the ships in the Ghost Fleet was ordered, at the same time that questions were raised as to the loyalty of the inhabitants of Tartarus Station; if it was true that the Clans were indeed the descendants of General Kerensky's army, possible inheritors of the SLDF mantel, would the descendants of the 32nd switch their loyalties?
While fears as to the loyalty of Tartarus Station proved unfounded, fears as to the combat readiness of the 32nd were not; without access to certain key replacement parts, the engineering crews had been canonicalising many of the other ships just to keep the 32nd running. None of the ships had left the system since their arrival, and it had been almost forty years since any of them had performed even an in-system jump. The AFFS felt a certain betrayal of trust, but pledged to provide as much help and support as they could, using technology and knowledge recovered from the Helm Memory Core to start a crash-program of upgrades and repairs.
By 3055, the three surviving ships of the 32nd Pursuit Squadron were declared fully operational for the first time since the fall of the Star League. Despite their new status, and the raw concentration of naval fire-power each ship represented, their crews still refused to leave Tartarus Station. Instead they pointed to the clause in their ancestors original agreement with the Federated Suns that stated that they were to be treated as units of an allied power, outside of the normal chain of command and free to operate as they saw fit. There were some in the AFFS High Command who felt that this was a case of rules-lawyering, but were in no position to try and force the matter while Tartarus Station remained the only shipyard capable of repairing the warships stationed there.
The 32nd remained in the Tartarus System through the Clan War, and a select few AFFS officers slated to command the new warships being built were taken there to experience a real warship in operation, a rare honour that came with a strict oath of secrecy. Less than a dozen officers were allowed aboard the ships of the 32nd before the start of the FedCom Civil War.
Both Victor and Katherine Steiner-Davion attempted to sway the 32nd and Tartarus Station to their cause, but neither succeeded. Indeed, the 32nd moved to stop the reactivated warships from departing the Tartarus System out of fear that their existence and location might become more widely known. Some within both of the warring factions claimed that this was a sign of treason on the part of the 32nd, but again it was pointed out that they were neither FedCom citizens nor members of its military. Unable to sway the 32nd or amass a large enough force to take Tartarus Station, both sides in the Civil War simply did their best to impede the shipment of supplies and parts to the Tartarus System. Partly this was to limit the damage that would be done if they went over to the other side, and partly to punish the 32nd and Tartarus Station for refusing their call to arms. This in turn lead to a sowing of relations between the inhabitants of the Tartarus System and the Federated Commonwealth, which lead to an unofficial work-slow program that threatened to bring the reactivation of the ships in the Ghost Fleet to a grinding halt.
Perversely enough, it was the Word of Blake and their Jihad that remedied the situation; the officers and crew of the 32nd had all grown up on stories of the atrocities their ancestors had witnessed during the fall of the Star League, including graphic videos and first-hand testimonials of survivors. Realising that they'd be just as much at risk as the rest of the now reborn Federated Suns, the 32nd re-avowed to defend the Ghost Fleet, while work on repairing them went from almost non-existent to round-the-clock shifts. While it is true that the 32nd never left the Tartarus System through the Jihad, and indeed that their existence officially remains a secret, they did help train the command crews for the reactivated warships. There are many amongst the AFFS Navy who have spoken of working alongside crew-members who were unusually tight lipped about where they were from, spoke with an unusual accent and seemed to know a lot more about warship operations than was the norm at the time...
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Federated Suns and Rule lawyering in the same sentence... REALLY??? too good an opportunity ;)
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Federated Suns and Rule lawyering in the same sentence... REALLY??? too good an opportunity ;)
I know, but it was too good of an opportunity to pass up, something I say as a long-time Son of the Suns
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About 5 paragraphs up from bottom (Ghost Fleet section)
canonicalising should be cannibalizing if I understand the context
Last sentence, Two paragraphs up from bottom: This is turn led to a slowing of relations not sowing of relations...
edit: I really like your idea. The only problem I have is that the longer you have the Federated Suns know about Tartarus existance, the more unlikely it is this place remains a secret. And if its known of, why haven't attempts been made to seize it?
It seems like soemthing should happen here during the Jihad, rather it just continue to remain a secret.
If you continue the history into the Dark Age, you are going to have a hard time explaining why the Republic of the Sphere hasn't at least tried to seize it.
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If you continue the history into the Dark Age, you are going to have a hard time explaining why the Republic of the Sphere hasn't at least tried to seize it.
Because it's deep in the Crucis March, only a jump or two from New Avalon?
(https://obtforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sarna.net%2Fwiki%2Fimages%2F1%2F1d%2FCrucis_March_Markesan_OA.png&hash=97d836c8a2e561c2aac6fdee33fa1588f1fe9152)
I know everyone got hit around the head with the idiot bat after the Jihad to go along with the 'Mech's-into-plowshares idea, but I can't see the Federated Suns just giving up a military base that they have managed to keep hidden for centuries and is located in the very heart of their territory, within striking distance of their capital. The Star League got away with it because, well, they carried a big stick known as the Star League Defense Force, and the Great Houses were pretty much their bitches. The Republic of the Sphere? Do they even have enough warships to try and challenge the 32nd? Let alone the ships the FedSuns keep there?
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1st Independent Security Squadron, AFFS Navy
FSS St. George (Avalon class Cruiser)
FSS Morgan Hasek-Davion (Longbow class Cruiser)
FSS Lionheart (Lionheart class Destroyer)
FSS Nikolai Rostov (Fox class Corvette)
Officially put in place to supplement the 32nd, many claim that the true purpose of the 1st Independent Security Squadron is to keep an eye on the 32nd and Tartarus Station. The first ship to arrive was the Fox class Corvette Nikolai Rostov, built in secret at the Port Simon Naval Shipyards in orbit of Galax. The Department of Military Intelligence managed to keep her existence hidden even from most who worked on building her, by playing a complicated shell game that involved moving ships around between different parts of the Galax Megaplex, changing hull-number, falsifying paperwork and ultimately having the ship removed from the yards and jumped out of the system by way of a secure pirate point during a public holiday, when all non-essential staff at the shipyard had the day off. DMI remains very proud of this fact, and a similar ruse was used to cover the Avalon class St. George, which serves as the Squadrons flagship.
The prototype Lionheart class Destroyer Lionheart was officially disassembled when the project was cancelled in favour of the ultimately defunct Durendal class. In truth, DMI had the ships sub-light and KF Drive completed and moved her amid the uppermost secrecy to Tartarus Station, where she was completed and fitted with Lithium Fusion Batteries at the expense of some of her cargo space. While declared operational, the Lionheart remains untested in actual combat.
Much like the Lionheart, the Longbow class Cruiser Morgan Hasek-Davion was a prototype from a program that was ultimately cancelled. However, unlike the Lionheart, the work to complete the Morgan Hasek-Davion was official and public, only halting when the still incomplete ship was damaged during the FedCom Civil War. Damaged further during an emergency in-system FTL jump, the Morgan Hasek-Davion sat out the remained of the Civil War while the New Syrtis Shipyards worked to make her operational. She was almost completed at the start of the Jihad, but her weapons systems were still off-line. Given the risk posed to New Syrtis and the shipyards there by the Capellan Confederation and the Word of Blake, the High Command decided to move her to Tartarus Station to undergo her final outfitting and acceptance trials. Upon completion she was assigned to the 1st Independent Security Squadron.
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1st Battle Fleet, AFFS Navy
FSS Pegasus (Columbia class Battleship)
FSS Liberator (Federation class Battlecruiser)
FSS Ascendant (Covenant class Cruiser)
FSS Nicolas Davion (Nike class Cruiser)
FSS Sulaco (Conestoga class Light Cruiser)
FSS Cynthia Davion (Davion II class Destroyer)
FSS John Gordon (Davion II class Destroyer)
Representing the bulk of the ships recovered from the Ghost Fleet to date, the 1st Battle Fleet represents perhaps the single largest concentration of naval fire-power in the entire Inner Sphere. Which is odd, as despite its size, only a handful of its units have been actively deployed to date, and always on solo operations or at most paired with a second warship. The first ships to make their public début did so dramatically, to say the least.
With the capital world of New Avalon under effective siege by Blakist warships, the AFFS was forced to try and run in fresh troops and supplies in from pirate points, often losing several to enemy ships. Then, in February 3070, they allowed word to leak out of a convoy of JumpShips bring in the equivalent of an entire RCT, including the rough area where they would be jumping in. believing that they had the opportunity to deal the Davions a crushing blow, the Blakists deployed a number of pocket-warships and a pair of Pinto class Corvettes to intercept.
To their great surprise, far from facing lightly armed transports, the ambushers where themselves the ambushed in what became known as the Second St. Valentine's Day Massacre. The Columbia class Battleship Pegasus and the Federation class Battlecruiser Liberator jumped in and immediately deployed seven Overlord A3A class pocket-warships before turning their guns on the Blakist ships. Massively out-gunned, the Blakist's were immediately routed and thrown into disarray. Both of the Pinto's and a number of pocket-warships were taken out within minutes, swarmed by fighters and pounded by the far larger guns of the massive battle wagons. Having decimated the supposed ambushers, the two Davion ships and their attendant DropShips then burned hard for New Avalon, performing the same slingshot manoeuvre that the Liberator had famously pulled off back during the First Succession War, firing upon several Blakist ships before heading back out system for a second pirate point and jumping back out.
While overall damage done to the blockading forces was limited, the raid had a massive physiological impact on both sides, helping to remind the people defending the besieged capital that they hadn't been forgotten, and that the Blakists weren't the only ones with a surprise or two up their sleeves. Both the Pegasus and the Liberator would continue to carry out similar boom-and-zoom attacks through the Jihad, often acting as heavy escorts for relief or raiding forces. The Liberator gained additional fame on the Capellan front, where both Capellan and Blakist propaganda reported her destroyed more than once, only for her to show up again safe days latter. This earned her the nickname The Galloping Ghost of the Capellan Coast.
Another famous, or some might say infamous member of 1st Battle Fleet is the Covenant class Cruiser Ascendant. Along with the gifting of the Kirishima class Cruiser that became known as the FSS Covenant to the Federated Commonwealth, the DCMS also handed over the classes full design specifications to the New Syrtis Shipyards to allow them to maintain the vessel. It should be of no surprise that the Department of Military Intelligence was a potential advantage at building a secret Covenant class warship that could be potentially used in False Flag operations. Thus the Ascendant was commissioned at one of the more isolated satellite yards attached to the New Syrtis Shipyards. The Ascendant had a somewhat troubled birth; the need for secrecy meant that DMI had to go to extraordinary lengths to cover their tracks in acquiring the parts needed, and the ship took twice as long the build as a standard Kirishima. Indeed, the Ascendant had been launched just days before the start of the Jihad, and was still undergoing top secret acceptance trials in the outer system when the fighting started. Deciding that New Syrtis was too exposed, the Ascendant joined the Morgan Hasek-Davion on its journey to Tartarus Station for completion and commissioning.
What followed remains highly contentious to this day, at least in part because the Federated Suns has never openly admitted it happened: Operation BLUE DRAGON.
Realising that they had in their hands a warship of a type designed and used by the Draconis Combine, and with open hostility along their boarder with that nation, DMI devised a series of False Flag raids to be carried out against Clan Snow Raven forces in the Outworlds Alliance. The Ascendant was repainted in DCMS colours and markings, her transponder reprogrammed to broadcast DCMS codes. Her fighter bays were loaded with aerospace fights commonly used by the DCMS, and she was assigned a trio of Achilles class Assault DropShip that had been acquired from the Combine during Operation: BULLDOG. Thus equipped, the Ascendant was moved to the boarder world of Haynesville, which was selected as a forward staging ground. From there the Ascendant stuck at Crestoblus, Dormandaine and Ramora, attacking merchant shipping and military transports, before crossing over into the Draconis Combine at Niles.
The second phase of Operation: BLUE DRAGON saw them strike at shipping around Kinkaid II and Sevon, before attempting to strike at Mitchella in a bid to make it look like the Combine was aiming to attack Alpheratz itself. Unfortunately they encountered much stiffer resistance than expected, and two of the Achilles' were lost. Unable to pick up survivors, and under strict order to not allow anyone to be taken prisoner, the Ascendant was forced to fire upon the handful of escape pods that had managed to get away before the Snow Raves could pick them up. Having helped to stir up tension between the Draconis Combine and the Snow Raven forces in the Outworlds Alliance, the battle damaged Ascendant returned to Haynesville before making the journey back to Tartarus Station for repair and refit.
The Ascendant continued to be operated by DMI through out most of the Jihad, making several False Flag attacks to keep the DCMS off balance, before the 'newly built' cruiser was unveiled during the lead-up to the Liberation of Terra in 3078. While the Ascendant did take part in the assault on the Sol system itself, it did take part in taking the Blakist fleet anchorage Ross 248 and the second attack on Luyten 68-28. She suffered extensive damage during the assault on Luyten 68-28, and withdrew back to Tartarus Station for an extensive period of and refit. It was during this time that the DCMS and Raven Alliance started making enquiries into the ships origins and exact date of completion.
TBC
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1st Battle Fleet, AFFS Navy (Cont.)
In contrast, the FSS Nicolas Davion has a far less impressive battle record. Work on designing the Nike class cruiser had started just before the fall of the Star League, but the Nicolas Davion didn't launch until after the start of the First Succession War. Ordered away from the New Avalon Shipyards to conduct its acceptance trials, the Nicolas Davion narrowly avoided getting caught by a massive attack force sent by the Draconis Combine with the aim of taking the Federated Suns out of the war by taking out the First Prince and the High Command. This raid saw the destruction of the New Avalon Shipyards, meaning that no further Nike class cruisers could be built.
Ordered to head for Robinson to take part in fighting along the boarder with the Combine, the Nicolas Davion got as far as Croydon before running into the Admiral Perry, a Congress class Frigate formally of the Star League Defence Force, but turned pirate in the chaos following the fall of the Star League and the departure of General Kerensky and the bulk of the surviving SLDF units. While the Nicolas Davion out-gunned the Admiral Perry by a not insignificant margin, her crew was green, untested in actual combat. The crew of the Admiral Perry was quick to press this advantage, getting in close where their Naval Autocannons were of more effect than the Nicolas Davion's missile-heavy armament.
The Nicolas Davion attempted to use their superior acceleration to open the range, but several hits to their sub-light drive all but crippled them. Sensing easy pray, the Admiral Perry backed off and prepared to deploy DropShips and assault shuttles, intent on taking their prize intact. Unfortunately for them, this was just the opportunity the captain of the Nicolas Davion was waiting for; with the range to the Admiral Perry opening, she gave the order to load two of their White Shark missiles with Alamo nuclear warheads. It is not known if the crew of the Admiral Perry failed to detect the radiological signature of the warheads, or if their point-defences were badly damaged. Either way, they were unable to shoot down either missile, and both struck the frigate amidships, detonating on impact.
After-action examination of gun-camera footage and sensor logs from the Nicolas Davion show that while the first missile, which stuck the Admiral Perry on the port side, did extensive damage, it was the second missile, that hit further forward on the starboard side, that ended the fight. Secondary explosions ripped through the frigate, following the path of the thruster fuel lines, before reaching the magazines for the forward naval autocannons. The resulting explosion utterly destroyed the forward third of the Admiral Perry, and the resulting stress on the hull blew out several bulkheads further back, exposing much of the ship to the vacuum of space. One of the two DropShips that had been attached to the frigate was also caught in the second nuclear detonation and was utterly destroyed, along with three of the four shuttles. The captain of the Nicolas Davion issued an immediate call for any survivors to surrender, or face further nuclear strikes. Records indicate that this was a bluff, as the Nicolas Davion had only been carrying two Alamo warheads at the time.
All survivors of the Admiral Perry were transferred to Croydon, while the Nicolas Davion, her sub-light drive damaged beyond her crews ability to repair, was ordered to Tartarus Station, shipwrights there discovered that she had suffered extensive damage to both her hull and her keel, something they leaked the specialist equipment to repair. There was talk of scrapping the Nicolas Davion outright, but in the end it was decided to mothball her in the hopes that she could be taken to a better equipped facility after the war ended. Unfortunately, no such facility within the Federated Suns survived the First Succession War.
With the recovery of the Helm Memory Core, the Federated Suns regained the knowledge and technology needed to repair the Nicolas Davion. She was declared operational in 3065, but stopped from leaving the Tartarus System by the 32nd Pursuit Squadron, who did not want to risk the sudden an unexpected appearance of the supposedly long destroyed cruiser from tipping people of to the existence of their haven. Given that he only had a skeleton crew aboard, the new captain of the Nicolas Davion decided that it was not worth risking the ship, and agreed to remain on station with their weapons locked down.
During the Jihad, the Nicolas Davion was primarily assigned to the Pleiades Cluster and the boarder with the Taurian Concordat. She saw little action, with few Taurian units willing to stand and fight a cruiser, and covered the eventual Davion withdraw from the Cluster in 3075. She later saw action against Blakist holdouts in the former Chaos March, and joined the Ascendant in retaking the fleet anchorage at Ross 248. As with most ships assigned to the 1st Battle Fleet, after the Jihad she was returned to Tartarus Station for rest, repair and refit.
Unlike the Nicolas Davion, the Conestoga class Light Cruiser FSS Sulaco saw plenty of action during the First Succession War, taking heavy damage while fighting against the Capellan Confederation. She survived the war, but was badly damaged shortly after by a commando raid that crippled the dockyard where she was being repaired. With no way of repairing the already badly damaged ship, the Sulaco was officially listed as destroyed in the attack and covertly moved to Tartarus Station, a journey that took a considerable length of time due to damage to her Lithium-Fusion batteries.
One of the more lightly armed and armoured ships in the Ghost Fleet, the Sulaco would have likely been overlooked if not for the fact that her damage, while extensive, was quick and easy to repair. She was ready for action in 3061, but held in the Tartarus System while the Department of Military Intelligence worked on a cover story to explain where the ship had been for almost three centuries. This delay led to her being detained in the Tartarus System by the 32nd Pursuit Squadron upon the outbreak of the FedCom Civil War.
The AFFS was about to unveil the reactivated Sulaco when the Jihad started. Her light armament made her ill-suited for front-line combat, and instead she was used as a high speed transport for senior officers and dignitaries, her high acceleration rate allowing her to outrun most true warships and many pocket-warships. More than once the Sulaco managed to evade pursuers, running blockades and bypassing ambushes thanks to her fully rebuilt sensor and electronics suites that put her on a par with the Conestoga's that had served with the Star League Defence Force. To supplement this, it was common for the Sulaco to carry a pair of Overlord A3's, a Leopard CV and a Titan class DropShip that had been salvaged by the 32nd Pursuit Squadron during the fall of the Star League. This turned the Sulaco into a mini-carrier and advanced scout.
The Block II Davion class Destroyers Cynthia Davion and John Gordon were brought to Tartarus Station towards the end of the First Succession War, having suffered extensive damage in combat. While not the only Davions held in the Ghost Fleet, they were the only two considered repairable, a process that took an extended period of time. It was not until 3062, when a small engineering team, disguised as naval historians, were allowed on-board the ISS Fire Fang, a captured Whirlwind class destroyer, that any real progress was made. Based upon their observations and technical data they were able to recover, work on the Cynthia Davion and John Gordon was renewed, and both ships were declared fully operational and battle ready in early 3070. Their crews, having already trained on other ships held at Tartarus Station, were immediately sent to the front lines. The addition of Lithium-Fusion batteries at the expense of some of their cargo space made them more strategical mobile, and they spent much of the Jihad acting in support of the Liberator and the Pegasus, although the latter was actually faster than either of the destroyers.
Both ships took part in the assault on Terra, acting as part of a distraction force aimed at asteroid mines and other isolated targets in the outer system. Unfortunately, this forced them to face the Caspar II System that the Word of Blake had put in place. The Cynthia Davion was ambushed by a swarm of Aeshna drone AeroSpace Fighters and suffered extensive damage. It was only the intervention of the John Gordon that stopped the Cynthia Davion from being totally destroyed, and her crew was forced to abandon her when her life support systems failed.
This in turn lead to a bitter and long drawn-out legal dispute between the Federated Suns and the newly born Republic of the Sphere: both sides wanted to recover the Cynthia Davion in order to bolster their diminished fleets. The Republic claimed that, as she had been abandoned in the Sol system, which they now controlled, she was rightfully theirs by the laws of salvage. The Federated Suns counter-argued that, as they had never officially declared her as abandoned, but merely disabled, that she was still a commissioned warship in their fleet. It wasn't until 3082 that the case was finally settled in favour of the Federated Suns, and they worked to recover the Cynthia Davion.
It was during this time that they discovered a number of concealed transmitters and beacons hidden on the Cynthia Davion, apparently placed there by the Republic of the Sphere in a bid to determine the location of the Tartarus system. This caused a fresh round of not-so-diplomatic accusations and complaints by the Federated Suns. In the end of the Cynthia Davion was taken to the Kathil Shipworks for preliminary repairs and a in-depth sweep for further hidden surprises before being returned to Tartarus Station for final repair.
The John Gordon was returned to active service in 3083, but it was 3089 before the Cynthia Davion was able to rejoin her sister-ship.
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The cheek of the Republic!
The 32nd have quite a pull detaining Federated Suns ships within their own borders.
I like the story of the Rogue Congress I'd have liked to hear a canon one like it maybe if we ever get a First Succession War sourcebook
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Very Very Cool
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love it :)
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Independent Units:
FSS Lloyd-George (Chamberlain class Frigate)
FSS de Gaulle (Chamberlain class Frigate)
FSS Ajax (Ajax class Destroyer)
FSS Achilles (Ajax class Destroyer)
FSS Apollo (Ajax class Destroyer)
FSS Bulwark (Renown II class Assault Carrier)
FSS Majestic (Renown II class Assault Carrier)
FSS Bangor (Belfast class Corvette)
Tartarus Station is also home to a number of ships not permanently assigned to any duty or formation. These include the Chamberlain class Frigates Lloyd-George and de Gaulle; originally built for the Star League, they were sold to the Federated Suns after the Reunification War. They severed for many years, primarily as armoured transports and patrol ships. Badly damaged during the First Succession War, they were withdrawn to Tartarus Station and mothballed. Reactivated during the Jihad, they once again served as armoured transports for high value cargoes and dignitaries, only ever seeing sporadic action. While not an uncommon sight around New Avalon or other important worlds, Tartarus Station is still considered their home port.
The Ajax class destroyers Ajax, Achilles and Apollo had long been withdrawn from active service and converted to training ships when the Star League fell. However, after the loss of six of their sister-ships to Draconis raiders in the Rochester system in the early days of the First Succession War, it was decided that, as desperate as the situation might be, they were not worth using as front-line units. Instead they were withdrawn to Tartarus Station and quickly stripped for parts. With the technological renascence triggered by the recovery of the Helm Memory Core, it was decided to return the three surviving Ajax's to their former status as training ships. This took far longer than anticipated, but by 3060 they were at least able to move under their own power. By the end of the FedCom Civil War, they had been fully restored to their original configuration, and served as training ships for Davion crews through the Jihad and afterwards.
Originally Renown class Battle Carriers, the FSS Bulwark and FSS Majestic were badly damaged during fighting over New Avalon during the First Succession War and withdrawn to Tartarus Station for repair. This proved to be impossible at the time due to the loss of key manufacturing plants and knowledge, so they were mothballed. When the technology to reactivate them was regained in the 3050's, it was decided to instead convert them to the proposed Assault Carrier configuration. This work took almost twenty years, but both ships were operational by the end of the FedCom Civil War. They would not see action until 3069, when they took part in Operation: WINGATE against the Capellan Confederation. While they proved to be much more successful in their new role, both ships were damaged during the operation, and were withdrawn to Tartarus Station for repair. They continued to serve throughout the remainder of the Jihad, including the liberation of Terra itself. The newly born Republic of the Sphere enquired into the possibility of purchasing the two ships, but the Federated Suns declined the offer, instead retaining them for use by their own forces.
The Belfast class Corvette Bangor is operated by the Department of Military Intelligence as an electronics surveillance vessel and as a transport for covert forces. While she saw no combat during the Jihad, she did partake in many military operations, always operating under the utmost security. There are rumours that she was fitted with then same level of surveillance equipment as a Star League ere Bug-Eye, something the Federated Suns has been quick to deny. For security reasons, the Bangor is based out of Tartarus Station.
Other vessels of note:
FSS Rycon (Columbia class Battleship)
While there are a number of derelict and partly dismantled warships still held at Tartarus Station, perhaps the most important is the Columbia class Battleship Rycon. Sister-ship to the Pegasus, the Rycon suffered extensive damage during the First Succession War, to the point where she only had one operational sub-light drive to provide power when she limped into Tartarus Station. When it became possible to begin work reactivating ships held in the Tartarus system, it was decided that the best use of the Rycon was as a source of spare parts to repair the less badly damaged Pegasus. This required the partial dismantling of the Rycon, with large areas of the outer hull completely removed, exposing several compartments to vacuum.
During the Jihad, a full inspection of the Rycon was conducted to see if it would be possible to bring the ship back to fighting condition, but in the end it was decided that it would not be an efficient use of the limited resources available at the time. Instead massive plates of sheet metal were placed over the hull, allowing the interior to be re-pressurised and turned over to storage.
As of this time there are no plans to reactivate the Rycon, but the AFFS has put a hold on removing any more critical components from the ship.
So, there you have it; a run-down of the ships known or suspected to be held at Tartarus Station, assuming that it does indeed exist. I, for one, remain to be fully convinced. Yes, it is true that the Federated Suns has been pulling previously long thought warships out of somewhere, and yes, the list of ships presented here does seem to match those ships. But there is still no hard evidence that they have some secret Star League outpost that they've managed to keep under warps for so long.
Show me hard evidence of that, and we'll talk again.
-Starling
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Mystery of the Rycon is solved - in one universe at least
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Mystery of the Rycon is solved - in one universe at least
I'm still waiting to see what you have in store for her :-)
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I'm not normally prone to passing on information gained from only one source, but in this case the information is too good and from too reliable a source not to bring to the attention of our little band of rumour-mongers, conspiracy theorists and information brokers. You'll remember, I'm sure, my thoughts on the almost mythical Tartarus Station, and the hidden cache of warships it supposedly plays home to from my last dispatch. Well, it seems that the Federated Suns wasn't the only group keeping some of their toys in that particular box.
Before we continue, it is important to remember two key pieces of information.
Firstly, that Tartarus Station was founded and originally operated by the Terran Hegemony, not the Federated suns.
Second, while the arrival of the 32nd Pursuit Squadron is perhaps the first thought that comes to mind when one thinks of the survival of the station after the fall of the Star League, they were not alone.
With this information fresh in our minds, lets take a look at this latest nugget of information.
-Starling
Star League Defense Force ships held at Tartarus Station:
SLS Brooklyn (Farragut class Battleship)
SLS Marko Ramius (Cameron class Battlecruiser)
SLS Norfolk (Sovetskii Soyuz class Heavy Cruiser)
SLS Anchorage (Congress class Frigate)
SLS Terence Gilliam (Quixote class Frigate)
SLS John Paul Jones (Essex class Destroyer)
SLS Mahan (Essex class Destroyer)
SLS Rio Grande (Naga class Light Destroyer)
SLS Rubicon (Naga class Light Destroyer)
The anchorage and repair facility that is to day known as Tartarus Station was first built by the Star League Corps. of Engineers at some point between 2577 and 2597. Officially, it was intended to serve as a forward repair, rest and refit base for SLDF warships taking part in operations against the Taurian Concordat, the Outworlds Alliance and other, smaller Periphery states. And while it indeed served this purpose well, it also acted as none-too-subtle knife held at the throat of House Davion, a heavily fortified naval base at the very heart of the Federated Suns, should the Hegemony ever feel the need to impose its will upon them.
As such, it was always host to a number of warships, both in transit between the Hegemony and the front lines, and a standing garrison out in place to ensure the stations security. Again, this standing guard force was a double edged sword; while it was officially in place to free up units of the far smaller AFFS Navy, it also insured that the Federated Suns never moved against the station. Despite this duality, it was still considered a low-priority posting, and was often staffed by older ships no-longer considered fit for front-line duty, but no ready for the breakers yard. Given the distances and costs involved, it was often considered more cost effective to simply mothball the oldest ships in the Tartarus system, rather than return them to the Hegemony for decommissioning, and over the years, the system became home to a second ghost fleet.
With the fall of the Star League and the arrive of the 32nd Pursuit Squadron, many of these ships were decommissioned; the refuges simply lacked the manpower and support base to operate so many ships, and the 32nd was still relatively combat ready. With this in mind, the last of the guard ships, along with a handful of other ships that had found their way to Tartarus, were mothballed along side, but distinctly separate from, the Federated Suns ships held there.
The most impressive, and from an historical perspective, the most important Star League ship still held in the Tartarus system is the Farragut class Battleship SLS Brooklyn. An original Block I Farragut, the Brooklyn served as part of the 174th Line Squadron of the Seventeenth Fleet for over a century. After several tours of the Free Worlds League, the Brooklyn was transferred to convoy escort and patrol duty in the near Periphery as part of the 194th Line Squadron, Nineteenth Fleet.
Towards the end of the Reunification War, the Brooklyn was badly damaged by a 500-kiloton nuclear mine, believed to have been a re-purposed warhead from a Peacemaker missile, an attack that the Taurian Concordat claimed responsibility for. The damage was bad enough that the Brooklyn was ordered to return to the Terran Hegemony for repairs, but it soon became clear that there was unseen damage to her Kearny-Fuchida drive, causing unpredictable power spikes and drops, drastically increasing the risk of a miss-jump. One of the SLDF's Newgrange class YardShips was dispatched to perform emergency repairs, but even then, the Brooklyn's KF-drive proved to be temperamental at best. Unable to make it back to the Hegemony safely, the Brooklyn was instead ordered to Tartarus Station for more extensive work.
Unfortunately for the Brooklyn, the engineers at Tartarus Station found a series of small but growing fractures in the germanium core of the ships KF-drive; short of ripping the entire drive out and replacing it entirely, there was no way to ensure that the Brooklyn would not suffer a catastrophic accident the next time she attempted to jump. Unfortunately, this would require effectively dismantling the entire ship, and it was decided that it was quicker, cheaper and easier to simply build a replacement from scratch. However, while her jump-drive was too badly damaged to be of use, it was a relatively simple job to repair the rest of the damage the mine had done, and could easily be done using the spare parts and equipment already on hand at Tartarus Station. Thus, as a cost saving measure, the Brooklyn was permanently reassigned as the command ship for the garrison squadron.
The Brooklyn served in this role long after the bulk of of contemporaries had been withdrawn from service and mothballed, protected by her unique situation. However, it was the fall of the Star League that saw her decline. While she wasn't scuttled, as per the orders from General Kerensky, the cutting off of any and all spare parts from the Hegemony meant that it was impossible to keep her operational as parts started to ware out and fail.
The arrival of the 32nd Pursuit Squadron was the final nail in the coffin, yet also oddly her salvation
With the William Halsey to replace her as command-ship of the garrison, the engineering staff remaining on Tartarus Station were able to mothball the Brooklyn, protecting her from further decay. Every care was taken to preserve her exactly as she was, a process that took almost a year to complete. There were some complaints from the Federated Suns, who had hoped to make use of the Brooklyn herself if Tartarus Station no longer had need of her, but yet again, the treaty that covered the stations unique as an enclave of an allied foreign power (even a defunct one) meant that they were unable to press the issue.
Centuries passed, and with the technological renaissance of the 3050's, it once again became possible to produce, on a limited scale, parts compatible with the Brooklyn. The Department of Military Intelligence carefully sourced these parts from across the Federated Commonwealth, using shell companies and cut-outs to stop anyone from realising just what was being manufactured. While repairing the damage to the ships jump-drive remains an improbability, the Brooklyn has been partly reactivated, acting as a combination academy and system-defence unit, normally maintaining a close position relative to Tartarus Station. She is, in essence, a massive monitor, capable of in-system transit, but unable to safely leave. While it is theoretically possible for the Brooklyn to make a jump, the risk of the KF drive suffering a catastrophic failure that could destroy the ship is considered too great at this time.
TBC...
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Unlike the Brooklyn, the Cameron class Battlecruiser SLS Marko Ramius suffered considerable damage before arriving at Tartarus. One of the ships that refused to follow Kerensky into exile, her crew instead attempted to start a new life as mercenaries. Working first for the Free Worlds League, and they saw a reasonable period of success against the Lyran Commonwealth until they were tracked down and confronted by the LCS Indefatigable, a Tharkad class Battlecruiser, in the Dixie system. With unrepairable damage from previous engagements, the Marko Ramius soon found itself on the losing end of the fight, losing most of its starboard weapons and armour before a lucky hit to the Indefatigable's sub-light engines allowed it to finally break contract and retreat from the system.
While the Free Worlds League offered to repair the damage, the terms offered amounted to little more than a thinly veiled Company Store gambit. Unwilling to accept this, the crew of the Marko Ramius decided to try making it to one of the few shipyards still operational in the former Terran Hegemony, in the hopes that their supply of otherwise worthless Hegemony script might still be accepted there. Unfortunately, by the time they reached the former League/Hegemony boarder, every shipyard outside of the Sol system had been destroyed as the Successor States fought each other over the bones of the Hegemony. The crew tried to then make the their way towards Terra with the intent of trying to join up with the newly formed ComStar, but fell afoul of a squadron of destroyers from the Draconis Combine that were conducting raids deep within the former Hegemony. Normally no match for a Battlecruiser, the destroyers took note of the damage already done to the Marko Ramius and decided to try and capture the larger ship. Falling upon her like wolves fighting a bear, the destroyers attempted to cripple the Marko Ramius in prelude to sending over prize crews.
And they may well have succeeded, if not for the intervention of the Sovetskii Soyuz class Heavy Cruiser SLS Norfolk and the Essex class Destroyer SLS Mahan, both formally of the Star League's Nineteenth Fleet, that jumped in almost on top of the battle. Given that the Marko Ramius had been broadcasting a SLDF IFF code while travailing through former Hegemony territory, the two newcomers saw her as an ally under attack and immediately moved to engage the Combine squadron. The Norfolk opened fire at extrema range with her capital missiles while the Mahan moved in closer to try and free the Marko Ramius from the fight. One of the Combine ships was destroyed outright by massed naval autocannon fire, and finding themselves the ones out-gunned, the remaining raiders broke contact and scattered.
While the Marko Ramius survived the battle, she had lost almost all her remaining armour and armament. One of the two Pentagon class Assault DropShips she had been carrying had also been lost, badly damaging the docking collar it had been attached to. While the crews of the Norfolk and the Mahan offered what help they could, it was clear that there little they could do to do more than perform emergency repairs: the Marko Ramius desperately needed a fully equipped and supplied shipyard. Her were still intent on reaching Terra, but the captains of the Norfolk and the Mahan managed to talk them around with stories of Star League ships regrouping somewhere in the Federated Suns. While they had little more than vague reports of the 32nd Pursuit Squadron being seen crossing over into Davion space and hearsay of a surviving base hidden somewhere in the Crucis March. But with ComStar still an unknown entity, a slim hope was better than no hope at all, and the three ships set off together.
Managing to reach the Federated Suns boarder without further incident, they got as far as the Rosamond system before being challenged. While maintaining a defensive posture, they transmitted their identification codes and asked about other Star League units that might be operating within Davion space. There was a period of rapid communication between Rosamond and New Avalon, before the three Star League ships were told to head for O'Fallon, deeper within the Crucis March. This voyage took almost two months, during which the crew of the Marko Ramius continued to work towards repairing their ship. Arriving at a pirate point far out in the O'Fallon system, they were surprised to find the Quixote class Frigate SLS Terence Gilliam waiting for them. After confirming their identities and intent, captain of the Terence Gilliam made the newcomers an offer; safe haven, in exchange for swearing to help protect that haven from outside attack.
The crew of the Marko Ramius were quick to accept the offer: despite their best efforts, their ship was nearing the point of massive systems failure that would leave it a drifting, lifeless wreck. It took longer to convince the crews of the Norfolk and the Mahan, many of whom still held on to the slim hope of somehow returning to the former Terran Hegemony and salvaging at least part of their homeland. But the choice was simple; sign up with the still unproven ComStar, continue on without support, or accept exile in the Federated Suns. In the end, all three ships accepted the offer, and the Terence Gilliam led them to Tartarus Station.
Upon arrival, the Marko Ramius was moved to the stations repair facility, where the engineers worked to repair what damage they could. While they were able to replace some damaged or destroyed components from stocks, and fabricate others using the equipment they had to hand, they simply lacked several key components. While they were able to repair the ships key systems and hull, they were unable to replace the lost or damaged weapons due to ComStars refusal to export any from Terra. The Federated Suns were unable help, as they needed their dwindling supply of capital scale weapons to keep their own fleet operational. In the end the decision was made to strip the Marko Ramius of all remaining weapons, redistributing them other ships. With her life support systems once again running at full capacity, the Marko Ramius was converted into extra living space. It served in this role for years, before purpose built habitats were completed to house the civilian population, and the Marko Ramius was ultimately decommissioned and mothballed.
With the rediscovery of the technology and knowledge needed to build warships in the 3050's came the opportunity to reactivate several of the ships held at Tartarus Station. The Marko Ramius was a prime candidate for this, as all the structural damage had already been repaired; all that was needed was to source and fit new weapons. This, however, proved to be easier said than done: while the by then Federated Commonwealth was able to build certain capital-scale weapons and other much-needed components, they were unable to replace others, such as the massive Super Rand Heavy Naval PPC's that made up much of the Cameron class' weaponry. ComStar was willing to offer some assistance, but they made careful note of every piece of equipment that they sold, making it impossible to redirect anything as conspicuous as a capital-scale particle cannon.
In the end, it was the destruction of Clan Smoke Jaguar that help solve this problem; with the bulk of the Clans naval strength destroyed during Operation Bulldog, the Department of Military Intelligence launched a secretive recovery mission codenamed Operation Clarions Call, aimed at locating and stripping disabled Smoke Jaguar Warships of any usable components. While not as great a success as many had hoped, in that it failed to locate any salvageable vessels, Clarions Call did manage to recover a number of damaged but repairable weapons. It also, inadvertently, resulted in the location and capture of a number of former Smoke Jaguar technicians with practical experience at repairing and maintaining warships. Given that all such prisoners were supposed to be registered with the Star League, an act that would have blow Clarions Call wide open, DMI instead accepted the technicians, a large number of their support workers and their dependants as Bondsman. This caused a certain amount of tension with Tartarus Station, as the Terran Hegemony had had some very strict rules governing slave labour and indentured servitude, in that it was strictly outlawed and punishable by death. It took some time to explain to the isolated community of Tartarus Station that being Bondsmen was part of Clan culture and the easiest way of assimilating the new arrivals, and in a single massive ceremony, every single bondcord was cut at the same time.
With replacement weapons and first-hand experience on repairing and fitting them to call on, Tartarus Station was able to make short work of repairing the Marko Ramius, and she was declared fully operational in 3070, even if they were unable to provide a full crew for another two years.
-
The history of the SLS Norfolk and the SLS Mahan are intertwined: both had been assigned to the Nineteenth Fleet prior to the fall of the Star League, with the Norfolk part of the 192nd Escort Squadron (Poseidon's Trident) and the Mahan the 195th Reconnaissance Squadron (Shadow Hunters). When General Kerensky gave the order for the Exodus, there were many within the Nineteenth Fleet who felt that they should stand and fight for the Terran Hegemony, and in the end these officers and crew took the Norfolk and Mahan and stayed behind while the other surviving ships of the Nineteenth left with the Exodus Fleet. The two ships spent the next couple of years running back and forth across the fragmented remains of the Hegemony, doing their best to try and keep the wheels from totally coming off.
Unfortunately, they were just two ships, and every attack they staved off and factory they stopped getting destroyed meant that they weren't there to stop a dozen others. While the two crews remained dedicated to the ideals of the Star League, a certain amount of fatalistic pessimism started to take root, and there were several suicides. Then, just when all hope seemed lost, word started to be passed around the remaining SLDF units that someone was attempting to gather sufficient forces to take and hold at least some former Hegemony worlds in a bid to keep the nation alive in some form or another. It remains unclear to this day just where these stories came from: some say that they originate in the rumours that had been circulating at the time as to Jerome Blake's true intentions after he seized Terra. Others that it steps from a number of Star League governors and senior officials who attempted to carve out their own little nations, only to get steam-rolled by the Successor States. There is certainly evidence that reports of the 32nd Pursuit Squadron and the flotilla under their protection crossing into the Federated Suns were circulated at the time, but mostly put down to misidentification or were part of a rear guard for General Kerensky's fleet.
Whatever the origins, the crews of the Norfolk and Mahan decided to make for Davion space. Along the way they encountered and saved the Marko Ramius from attack as already recorded. However, unlike the battlecruiser, neither the Norfolk nor the Mahan has suffered major damage prior to arriving at Tartarus Station, and what they had sustained was quickly repaired. They were then assigned to assist the 32nd in defending Tartarus Station from any possible outside attack, including by the Federated Suns. While moral on the two ships did improve, there remained a certain amount of discontent over the fact that there were no plans to return to Hegemony space. This lead to friction between those who simply wanted to stay out of the war, seeing the Hegemony as a lost cause, and those who still clung to the dream of saving it.
This animosity continued throughout the First Succession War, until it became clear that there was no chance left of saving the Hegemony. There was some talk amongst the two crews of leaving Tartarus Station to join with ComStar, who they saw as the closest thing to a neutral party in the savagery that had followed the fall of the Star League, or maybe even trying to track down the fleet that had departed under General Kerensky. In the end, however, pragmatism won out, along with a certain amount of seeing the strange colony that was forming in the Tartarus system as home. The Norfolk and the Mahan remained part of the system garrison until the end of the Second Succession war when it decided that no one had the naval strength left to challenge the 32nd Squadron. Unable to support so many warships with such a small population, all active warships other than the 32nd were mothballed to save money and resources better used elsewhere.
Due to their general good condition, the Norfolk and the Mahan were the first two mothballed Star League ships to be reactivated by Tartarus Station in 3065, and served as training ships to help the newly expanded System Defence Force, allowing officers and crew trained on the Brooklyn to actually plot an execute a hyperspace jump for the first time. They later acted as a OPFOR for Davion crews training on the Ghost Fleet during the Jihad, but like the other Star League ships from Tartarus, saw no actual combat.
There was talk, after the Jihad ended of handing the two ships over to the Republic of the Sphere in honour of their previous crews dreams of seeing the Hegemony reborn. But this would have required explaining just where they had been kept throughout the long centuries of their exile, so the idea was quickly dismissed, especially after the incident with the Cynthia Davion made it clear that the Republic was intent on tracking down Tartarus Station by any means necessary.
-
In comparison, the Congress class SLS Anchorage had a far darker journey to Tartarus Station.
Previously assigned to the Seventeenth Fleet as part of the 172nd Interdiction Squadron (The Young Knives), the Anchorage had been operating in the Periphery in support of General Kerensky's campaign to bring the worlds there under Star League rule. She had the misfortune to be called back to the Terran Hegemony for a refit two years before the Stefan Amaris struck. While she had completed her upgrades, she had been undergoing a shakedown cruise within the Hegemony, and found herself cornered by a trio of ships loyal to the Usurper in the New Rhodes system in early May of 2767. While the Anchorage was outnumbered and out-gunned, her crew was far more experienced and battle tested, and managed to destroy one the two destroyers sent against them, and seriously damage the other and the cruiser leading the attack before being run down in the systems outer reaches.
Apparently enraged that the crew of the Anchorage had refused the order to stand down and submit to the rule of House Amaris, the two hostile ships refused all offers to surrender, and continued to fire upon the Anchorage until she lost main power. With both of her DropShips disabled and her launch bays badly damaged, the crew of the Anchorage found themselves trapped too far from New Rhodes to make the journey by escape pod, even if there had been enough to carry all of the survivors. The Amaris warships then withdrew, broadcasting a system-wide warning promising a similar fate to anyone who sort to aid the stricken ship.
Fortunately for the Star League crew, not everyone in the system was overly concerned about this warning. The independent merchant DropShip Firefly covertly made her way out to the Anchorage, and while unable to dock, was able to send over a medical and engineering teams to offer what assistance they could. Taking on the most critical casualties, the captain of the Firefly promised to return with help. Making their way to a pirate point, they met up with a smugglers ship that made its living running goods back and forth across the Hegemony/Suns boarder, avoiding the heavy customs dues on luxury goods. While unwilling to risk helping the Anchorage directly, the smugglers were willing to take the Firefly with them to Caselton, where they were able to contact the AFFS Admiralty.
A rescue ship was quickly dispatched, with the Firefly guiding them back to the disabled Anchorage, arriving just in time to save the crew. Working around the clock, and under the constant threat of being discovered by the Usurpers forces, the salvage crew was able to repair the Anchorage enough to get her jump-drive working, and both ships returned to the Caselton system with their would-be executioners none the wiser.
Some questions were asked about just how the captain of the Firefly knew where he could find the smugglers ship, but never officially, and her crew was duly paid a third of the Anchorages value under the universal laws of salvage, and thanked for saving the frigate and her surviving crew.
With the Usurper watching the Great Houses closely, it was impossible to take the Anchorage to Challenge Systems of Galax, the only Davion shipyard that had the resources to repair the damage. They were, however, able to nurse her to the Tartarus system, where the engineers examined the Anchorage and reported that the damage to her inter-system drive and fusion reactor was so extensive that they would have to be replaced. Given the prohibitive cost of such a massive undertaking, it would actually be slightly cheaper to order a replacement frigate from Dekirk Aerospace. As such the Anchorage was officially consigned to the scrapheap. But with the eventual fall of the Star League and the destruction of the Dekirk Aerospace shipyards, the option of simply replacing the Anchorage was lost. Yet Tartarus station still lacked the means to repair the crippled ship, and without a replacement fusion reactor or inter-system drive, she would be little more than target practice for any enemy.
Fate, however, had other plans, and in 2785, the FFS Nicolas Davion was attacked by the former SLS Admiral Perry, which had turned pirate, in the Croydon system. While the nuclear strike from the Davion cruiser that ended the battle effectively destroyed the forward third of the renegade frigate, her stern survived relatively unscathed. A salvage mission was quickly launched, under the protection of the SLS Terence Gilliam, and managed to recover the much needed fusion reactor and inter-system drive. Returning to Tartarus Station, work on fitting them to the Anchorage started.
It was 2801, a full fifteen years later, before the work on the Anchorage was completed, by which time the First Succession War had ended with no clear winner. With the Terran Hegemony swallowed up in the chaos, and the treaty between Tartarus Station and the Federated Suns insuring their independence, the Anchorage was mothballed in 2810.
The Clan Invasion and the technological renaissance that followed saw the reactivation of many of the ships held in the Tartarus system, but the Anchorage was not one of them. It was felt by many that, given the damage the ship had suffered, and the somewhat hodgepodge nature of the repairs done to her two centuries before, that it would be better to concentrate on less damaged ships. While this took time, an engineering team was sent over to the Anchorage to reassess the work already done. Their report concluded that, while some corners had been cut to get the frigate back to operational status as quickly as possible, the ship was still space-worthy and capable of operating under her own power. Some work would be needed on her offensive and defensive systems, but otherwise, it wouldn't take much to reactivate her.
With this new policy in mind, the Anchorage was placed on the list of ships to be worked on, but the relatively low population of the Tartarus system, and their unwillingness to hand ships over to the Federated Commonwealth after the outbreak of the FedCom Civil War, meant that she remained inactive until the later years of the Jihad, and even then only had a skeleton crew manning her engineering and weapons stations in case she was needed to help defend the system from outside attack. With the Jihad over, and the general wind-down of military forces, the Anchorage has been placed on reserve, with only a basic maintenance crew permanently assigned.
-
AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
VALIDATED
Class/Model/Name: Brahma class Foundry Ship SLS Brahma
Tech: Inner Sphere / 2850
Vessel Type: WarShip
Rules: Level 2, Modified design
Rules Set: AeroTech2
Mass: 2,300,000 tons
Hull: Galadin SYN
K-F Drive System: KF King I
Length: 2,680 meters
Sail Diameter: 3,000 meters
Power Plant: Rolls Royce Kraken
Safe Thrust: 2
Maximum Thrust: 3
Armor Type: Panthex YM1 Ferro-carbide
Armament:
16 RAMTech 1200X ER Large Lasers
40 McArthur AMS
6 Barracuda Missile Launchers
8 Rand PPC's
16 Maxell-45 Series Naval Lasers
Manufacturer: O'Neil Yards
Location: Terra
Communications System: Pathfinder 43CD
Targeting & Tracking System: MORSAT
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
==Overview:==
Recovered during Operation Clarions Call, the Brahma is a mobile ore
processing plant and armour foundry built upon the core of a Star League
vintage Newgrange class YardShip.
==Capabilities:==
Taking one of the Newgrange's that had accompanied the Exodus Fleet to
the Pentagon Worlds, the Smoke Jaguars struck a deal with the Snow Ravens to
turn the ship into a mobile ore refinery and smelting works that could turn an
asteroid into much needed raw materials and highly specialised products such
as Endo Steel, Ferro-Fibrous, Ferro-Aluminum, Ferro-Carbide and even Lamellor
Ferro-Carbide Armor. Stripping the yard ship down to the jump-core and
sub-light drives, the Snow Ravens rebuilt the superstructure into something
much more basic.
With so much space and tonnage to work with, the Snow Ravens set to work
adding the much needed anti-gravity furnaces and smelters, highly advanced
pieces of machinery lost to the Inner Sphere during the First Succession War.
These were supplemented by expansive cargo bays to house supplies and finished
products. An unfortunate limitation of the original Newgrange meant that it
was impossible to add extra DropShip docking collars without extensive
reworking of the KF core, so the extensive Small Craft and WorkMechs bays were
kept. However, with security in mind, some of these bays were converted to
Aerospace Fighter and BattleMech facilities, while room was made for a marine
detachment, later expanded to hold a full Star of armoured Elementals.
When the work was finished, the vessel looked almost nothing like its
predecessor, except in mass and length. After consulting with the Smoke
Jaguars, the Snow Ravens christened it the Brahma class Foundry Ship, after
the Hindu god of creation.
==Notable Vessels & Crews:==
SLS Brahma (formaly CSJ Brahma)
==Deployment==
The Brahma served Clan Smoke Jaguar for centuries, moving around the
asteroid fields of the Clans holdings, processing ore and producing Endo Steel
and Ferro-Fibrous Armor for the Clans Touman. A few attempts were made by
Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon to acquire the Brahma by way of Trials of
Possession, but the Smoke Jaguars were staunch in their defence of the
vessel.
Later, with the build up to Operation Revival, the Brahma became
increasingly important, as her ability to move to the richest mineral deposits
rather than having to wait for the ore to be brought to her cut down the tame
it took to produce finished materials. This in turn forced the Brahma further
out into deep space, looking for untapped asteroid fields that had not already
been claimed by another Clan. Over time, as the war against the Inner Sphere
continued, much of her security force was transferred to other units and
replaced with Solahma warriors, a general indication that, while the Smoke
Jaguars were unwilling to see her completely defenceless, they considered her
a low priority.
Then came Operation Bulldog and the destruction of Clan Smoke Jaguar as
an entity. The Brahma had been approximately two months out from the Kerensky
Cluster when Task Force Serpent his Huntress, and her crew were unaware of the
destruction of their Clan until they suddenly lost contact with the deep-range
outpost that had been acting as a relay for the ships HPG. Standing orders
were for the Brahma to run silent if contact was lost, and await further
instructions. But with their Clan destroyed, there were no further
instructions, and even with tight rationing, the crew of the Brahma started to
run low on supplies after little more than a year. Risking a jump back to the
silent relay station, they found it deserted, having been picked clean by Dark
Cast raiders. A second jump took them to the former Smoke Jaguar world that
had been the Brahma's base of operations, and the crew was shocked to see that
their families and support staff were safe, but leaderless and subject to
repeated raids by the Dark Cast and other opportunists.
In many ways it was a godsend to them when a ship taking part in
Operation Clarions Call arrived in-system. There was a tense stand-off, with
the few remaining warriors on the Brahma unwilling to simply hand the ship
over. Fortunately, the Davion commander was able to get them to agree to a
Trials of Possession, not just for the ship, but her crew and everything on
the colony. The Trial was clearly rigged, with the Smoke Jaguars realising
that their only chance for survival was to be absorbed by a faction strong
enough to protect them, and it was easily won by the Davions. More ships were
sent for, and the task of transporting the Brahma, all the usable equipment in
the Colony and its inhabitants to the Inner Sphere began. Unlike smaller finds
made as part of Operation Clarions Call, it was impossible for the Brahma and
the attached Bondsmen to be hidden amongst the spoils of war taken during
Operation Bulldog and the subsequent clean-up, so it was instead decided to
take them directly to the Tartarus system, where they could be put to use
without questions being asked. There was some controversy, with the
descendants of the systems original Star League inhabitants finding the idea
of slavery aberrant, but that was soothed by explaining that it was simply the
easiest way for the newcomers to deal with their new situation, and every
single bondcord was cut in a mass ceremony to mark their acceptance as part of
the hidden outpost. Many of the newcomers took some comfort in the fact that
there had been absorbed into a remnant of the original Star League, rather
than one of the Successor States, and this further eased the transition.
Soon the Brahma was put to work mining ore and producing much needed
materials to repair the ships held at Tartarus, but not before her HPG
transmitter was removed to replace the one original fitted to Tartarus Station
itself, that had long fallen into disrepair without access to replacement
parts from Terra. It was replaced with the latest K-6 Series 'Black Box'
transmitter, allowing her to remain in contact with Tartarus Station while
working the systems extensive asteroid belts alongside the existing fleet of
specialist DropShips and small craft.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name: Brahma class Foundry Ship SLS Brahma
Mass: 2,300,000 tons
Equipment: Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control: 276,000.00
Thrust: Safe Thrust: 2
Maximum Thrust: 3
Kearny-Fuchida Hyperdrive: Compact (Integrity = 44) 1,040,750.00
Jump Sail: (Integrity = 8) 145.00
Structural Integrity: 25 57,500.00
Total Heat Sinks: 787 Double .00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps: 10,200.00
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters: 5,750.00
Fire Control Computers: .00
Food & Water: (635 days supply) 17,468.00
Hyperpulse Generator: 50.00
Armor Type: Ferro-carbide (499 total armor pts) 601.00
Capital Scale Armor Pts
Location: L / R
Fore: 92
Fore-Left/Right: 83/83
Aft-Left/Right: 83/83
Aft: 75
Cargo:
Bay 1: Small Craft (60) with 3 doors 12,000.00
Fighters (10) with 5 doors 1,500.00
Bay 2: Ore Processing Equipment (4) with 2 doors 80,000.00
Bay 3: WorkMechs (20) with 4 doors 2,000.00
BattleMechs (15) with 3 doors 2,250.00
Bay 4: Zero-Gravity Foundry (4) with 2 doors 80,000.00
Bay 5: Cargo (2) with 2 doors 400,000.00
DropShip Capacity: 4 Docking Hardpoints 4,000.00
Grav Decks #1 - 4: (500-meter diameter) 2,000.00
Life Boats: 400 (7 tons each) 2,800.00
Escape Pods: 400 (7 tons each) 2,800.00
Crew and Passengers:
1,000 Officers (825 minimum) 10,000.00
4,000 Crew (0 minimum) 28,000.00
125 Gunners (33 minimum) 875.00
25 Marine Battle Armor Troopers/Elementals 175.00
350 Bay Personnel .00
Weapons and Equipment Loc SRV MRV LRV ERV Heat Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4 ER Large Laser Nose 3(32) 3(32) 3(32) -- 48 20.00
5 AMS(60 rounds) Nose -- -- -- -- 5 7.50
2 Barracuda(200 msls) Nose 4 4 4 4 20 6,180.00
2 PPC FL/R 2(20) 2(20) -- -- 40 28.00
5 AMS(60 rounds) FL/R -- -- -- -- 10 15.00
2 NL45 FL/R 9 9 9 9 280 3,600.00
4 ER Large Laser L/RBS 3(32) 3(32) 3(32) -- 96 40.00
5 AMS(60 rounds) L/RBS -- -- -- -- 10 15.00
2 Barracuda(200 msls) L/RBS 4 4 4 4 40 12,360.00
4 NL45 L/RBS 18 18 18 18 560 7,200.00
2 PPC AL/R 2(20) 2(20) -- -- 40 28.00
5 AMS(60 rounds) AL/R -- -- -- -- 10 15.00
2 NL45 AL/R 9 9 9 9 280 3,600.00
4 ER Large Laser Aft 3(32) 3(32) 3(32) -- 48 20.00
5 AMS(60 rounds) Aft -- -- -- -- 5 7.50
1 Lot Spare Parts (10.00%) 230,000.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS: Heat: 1,492 2,300,000.00
Tons Left: .00
Calculated Factors:
Total Cost: 8,175,228,000 C-Bills
Battle Value: 38,461
Cost per BV: 212,558.9
Weapon Value: 24,287 (Ratio = .63)
Damage Factors: SRV = 1,081; MRV = 930; LRV = 666; ERV = 274
Maintenance: Maintenance Point Value (MPV) = 795,064
(105,451 Structure, 655,075 Life Support, 34,538 Weapons)
Support Points (SP) = 6,175,500 (777% of MPV)
BattleForce2: Not applicable
-
AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
VALIDATED
Class/Model/Name: Argo class Shipyard
Tech: Inner Sphere / 3049
Vessel Type: Space Station
Rules: Level 2, Custom design
Rules Set: AeroTech2
Mass: 1,000,000 tons
Hull: Cortex UltraBond
Length: 3,500 meters
Sail Diameter: 4,000 meters
Power Plant: Goliath LV9 Standard
Safe Thrust: 0
Maximum Thrust: 0
Armor Type: Ulston C5-A Standard
Armament:
12 Diverse Optics Type 10 Small Lasers
12 Diverse Optics Type 10P Small Pulse Lasers
12 Defiance Killer Type T Autocannons
12 Defiance Type J Autocannons
12 Diverse Optics Type 30X ER Large Lasers
12 Diverse Optics Type 20X ER Medium Lasers
24 Defiance 1001 ER-PPC's
12 Barracuda Missile Launchers
Manufacturer: AFFS Corps. Of Engineers
Location: Tartarus
Communications System: Mercury TY60
Targeting & Tracking System: Communal V-1a
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
==Overview:==
Argo Station was the brainchild of First Prince Hanse Davion, who with
the gradual rediscovery of technology and knowledge lost during the Succession
Wars, realised that it would one day be possible to repair the ships held at
Tartarus system. Given that few of the ships were capable leaving the system
under their own power, and the limitations of Tartarus Station itself, it was
clear to him that a new shipyard would have to be built, one capable of
handling any of the ships held in reserve, as well as possible new builds.
The project was as expensive as it was audacious; it took two years just
to work out just how to hide the vast amount of money, equipment and highly
skilled personnel needed to construct the station. The native inhabitants of
Tartarus Station could provide some assistance, especially with some of the
more technically advanced systems, but there was still the need to bring in
hundreds of experienced zero and micro-gravity construction engineers and
technicians, as well as all the support staff needed.
In a bid to try and maintain the security around Tartarus, the workers
were all required to sign of the Official Secrets Act, with stiff penalties
for any who broke it. They were then fed a number of cover stories, including
one that said it was a top-secret joint project with ComStar, or that they
were working to repair a rediscovered Star League station. With the utmost
security in place, they were then taken to Tartarus, the construction sight
selected located far, far away from any of the other stations or the
mothballed fleet.
Work started on Argo Station in 3049, the first work crews under the
impression that they were building a remote stellar observatory for the New
Avalon Institute of Science, a ruse assisted by regular visits by the
enigmatic scientific genius and elite MechWarrior, Dr. B. Banzai, who was
aware of the projects true purpose, but never officially told the complete
truth about the Tartarus system. What he may have worked out for himself is
conjecture.
The core of the station was completed in 3052, sadly just a few shorts
weeks after the death of Hanse Davion, but his son and heir Victor
Steiner-Davion made his first visit to Tartarus to attend the ceremony to make
the activation of the primary reactor. Work continued for the next ten years,
several parts of the station undergoing complete redesign and renovation as
they went, turning what should have been a perfectly symmetrical structure in
what has been described by one observe as 'a slug perching on a branch'.
Argo station was finally declared fully operational on December 6th 3062,
just two days before the start of the FedCom Civil War.
==Capabilities:==
The single most important feature of Argo Station is the cavernous
pressurised construction and repair bay that takes up most of the forward half
of the station, and accounted for more than half the cost of the station.
While a masterpiece of engineering, the bay is also incredibly complex, with a
massive, clamshell door that almost failed the first time the bay was fully
pressurised. This lead to an extensive and expensive redesign of the bracing
and locking mechanism that many claim added an extra two years to construction
time, and even now, it is rare that the bay is fully pressurised to minimise
the risk of catastrophic failure. Indeed, workers are often required to wear
pressure suits and breathing masks, which while an improvement over full EVA
suits, is still a cumbersome and uncomfortable hassle.
Still, the bay is the single largest example known to exist in the Inner
Sphere, at it does allow any ship ever built, aside from the Clan Leviathans
or the Star League Newgrange class YardShip.
After the main bay, the most striking feature of Argo Station is the
massive 1,500 meter gravity deck that holds the crew quarters, medical
facility and many of the recreational areas. Unlike most gravity decks, this
one is outside the main station, connected to the outer hull by a highly
complex mechanism arrangement of sliding connectors and a central structural
brace. Originally there were plans for a a second, counter-rotating ring to
counteract the torque, but this proved too difficult, so extra thrusters were
added to the main hull that must maintain a constant, lower power
counter-thrust to keep the station stable.
This, however, can affect some of the equipment in the construction bay,
so the gravity deck must occasionally be spun-down and locked in place, a
process that can take over an hour.
Weapons wise, Argo Station is extremely limited in its defensive
capabilities, mainly geared towards dealing with space debris and the like.
Indeed, standing orders are for the station to declare its neutrality should
any hostile force ever find the Tartarus system and at all costs avoid direct
conflict expect in self defence. Despite this, the Argo does have the
capability to carry an entire wing of fighters, and has her own Marine
detachment, primarily to act as an internal security force, given the fact
that she is home to some five thousand people.
==Variants:==
A variant of the Ago has been proposed that would do replace the overly
complex and temperamental pressurised bay with a non-pressurised bay of equal
size, a move that wouldefectivly half the cost of the station.
==Notable Vessels & Crews:==
Argo Station, Tartarus system
==Deployment==
As it standards, Argo Station is unique. Original there was talk of
building to supplement at pre-existing shipyards in orbit of Kathil, Galax and
Alarion, but due to the extremely high cost and the added difficulty to
constructing extra yards without the much needed technical assistance provided
by the inhabitants of the Tartarus system, that plan was shelved.
Deciding to sit out the FedCom Civil War, the crew of Argo Station
instead spent their time working to repair and reactivate many of the ships
held in the Ghost Fleet, starting with the Columbia class Battleship Pegasus,
which required the exclusive use of the repair bay. After she was removed, it
proved possible to work on multiple smaller vessels at a time, speeding up the
work.
The near total destruction of all other shipyards within the Federated
Suns during the years of the Jihad made Argo Station all the more important,
and surviving workers from the other yards were brought in to allow the repair
bay to run around the clock. This, unfortunately, led to several accidents,
including a major fire than left over two hundred dead when the station
commander was forced to open the bay doors, explosively decompressing the bay
before he fire reached the fuel bunkers of the ship being worked on, despite
the fact that having a ship in the bay with even partly filled bunkers being a
massive breach of safety regulations. While the station survived, it took
almost a full year to return it to fully operational status.
In the wake of the Jihad, the tempo of work at Argo Station was slowed as
the entire galaxy seemed to take a deep breath, no one willing to engage in a
major conflict again so soon. The station was mainly used to repair ships
damaged during the fighting, while also continuing to reactivate ships taken
from the Ghost Fleet. But then in 3082, the order was given to clear the
scheduled for a new project coming down from New Avalon...
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Class/Model/Name: Argo class Shipyard
Mass: 1,000,000 tons
Equipment: Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control: 12,000.00
Thrust: Safe Thrust: 0
Maximum Thrust: 0
Structural Integrity: 1 10,000.00
Total Heat Sinks: 385 Double 186.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps: 10,200.00
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters: 1,000.00
Fire Control Computers: .00
Food & Water: (320 days supply) 8,000.00
Armor Type: Standard (78 total armor pts) 196.00
Capital Scale Armor Pts
Location: L / R
Fore: 13
Fore-Left/Right: 13/13
Aft-Left/Right: 13/13
Aft: 13
Cargo:
Bay 1: Press Repair Facil. (2,000,000 T Capy, 2 doors) 150,000.00
Bay 2: Fighters (20) with 4 doors 3,000.00
Small Craft (40) with 4 doors 8,000.00
Bay 3: Cargo (3) with 4 doors 660,000.00
DropShip Capacity: 20 Docking Hardpoints 20,000.00
Grav Deck #1: (1500-meter diameter) 500.00
Grav Decks #2 - 6: (100-meter diameter) 500.00
Life Boats: 400 (7 tons each) 2,800.00
Escape Pods: 400 (7 tons each) 2,800.00
Crew and Passengers:
820 Officers (730 minimum) 12,300.00
3,600 Crew (0 minimum) 36,000.00
50 Gunners (28 minimum) 500.00
50 1st Class Passengers 750.00
200 2nd Class Passengers 2,000.00
28 Marines 280.00
12 Marine Battle Armor Troopers/Elementals 120.00
240 Bay Personnel .00
Weapons and Equipment Loc SRV MRV LRV ERV Heat Mass
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2 Small Laser Nose 1(12) -- -- -- 2 1.00
2 Small Pulse Laser 4 2.00
2 Autocannon/10(100 rounds)Nose 3(30) 3(30) -- -- 6 34.00
2 Autocannon/5(100 rounds) 2 21.00
2 ER Large Laser Nose 3(26) 3(26) 2(16) -- 24 10.00
2 ER Medium Laser 10 2.00
4 ER PPC Nose 4(40) 4(40) 4(40) -- 60 28.00
2 Barracuda(40 msls) Nose 4 4 4 4 20 1,380.00
2 Small Laser FL/R 1(12) -- -- -- 4 2.00
2 Small Pulse Laser 8 4.00
2 Autocannon/10(100 rounds)FL/R 3(30) 3(30) -- -- 12 68.00
2 Autocannon/5(100 rounds) 4 42.00
2 ER Large Laser FL/R 3(26) 3(26) 2(16) -- 48 20.00
2 ER Medium Laser 20 4.00
4 ER PPC FL/R 4(40) 4(40) 4(40) -- 120 56.00
2 Barracuda(40 msls) FL/R 4 4 4 4 40 2,760.00
2 Small Laser AL/R 1(12) -- -- -- 4 2.00
2 Small Pulse Laser 8 4.00
2 Autocannon/10(100 rounds)AL/R 3(30) 3(30) -- -- 12 68.00
2 Autocannon/5(100 rounds) 4 42.00
2 ER Large Laser AL/R 3(26) 3(26) 2(16) -- 48 20.00
2 ER Medium Laser 20 4.00
4 ER PPC AL/R 4(40) 4(40) 4(40) -- 120 56.00
2 Barracuda(40 msls) AL/R 4 4 4 4 40 2,760.00
2 Small Laser Aft 1(12) -- -- -- 2 1.00
2 Small Pulse Laser 4 2.00
2 Autocannon/10(100 rounds)Aft 3(30) 3(30) -- -- 6 34.00
2 Autocannon/5(100 rounds) 2 21.00
2 ER Large Laser Aft 3(26) 3(26) 2(16) -- 24 10.00
2 ER Medium Laser 10 2.00
4 ER PPC Aft 4(40) 4(40) 4(40) -- 60 28.00
2 Barracuda(40 msls) Aft 4 4 4 4 20 1,380.00
1 Lot Spare Parts (5.00%) 50,000.00
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TOTALS: Heat: 768 1,000,000.00
Tons Left: .00
Calculated Factors:
Total Cost: 100,852,860,000 C-Bills
Battle Value: 19,635
Cost per BV: 5,136,381.97
Weapon Value: 8,401 (Ratio = .43)
Damage Factors: SRV = 837; MRV = 656; LRV = 313; ERV = 132
Maintenance: Maintenance Point Value (MPV) = 321,886
(40,796 Structure, 262,000 Life Support, 19,090 Weapons)
Support Points (SP) = 5,274,700 (1639% of MPV)
BattleForce2: Not applicable
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Where is that miniature from?
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Where is that miniature from?
Main body is a Star Wars Spaceship Battles Commerce Guild Destroyer (really using a lot of Spaceship Battles stuff right now), which I cut in two to add the large gravity deck, which is a K'NEX wheel that I drilled out and filed down to have just the spokes. She needs a little touch up, here and there, but all in all, I'm happy with how she came out
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Project SPARTA
Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum
(If You Want Peace, Prepare For War)
If the Republic of the Sphere had been built on a single premise, it was the idea of turning swords into ploughshares; the decommissioning of military hardware and the retooling of armaments factories for peaceful, civilian use. Unfortunately for the Republic, this ideal was not fully embraced by their neighbours. Spurned on by the massive investment in Naval forces that had seen the Federated Suns gain the predominant fleet in the Inner Sphere (and possibly beyond), both the Capellan Confederation and the Draconis Combine began their own rearmament process, with the intent of at least being able to provide a limited deterrent to the Davion Navy.
But the still hidden Tartarus System and the shipyards it hosted gave the Federated Suns an edge that would be hard for anyone to overcome, even with the full might of a Successor State behind them. In contrast, the Republic had no shipyards capable of building or maintaining warships, with their handful of inherited of Faslane and Newgrange class Yardships proving incapable of restoring either the O'Neil Yards or Titan Yards. Even with earlier help from the Federated Suns, it was clear to all that the Republic Navy was in immanent danger of being outclassed by their potentially hostile neighbours.
However, the Republic did have a single advantage over the Confederation and Combine: Paladin Victor Steiner-Davion, elder brother of Regent Yvonne Steiner-Davion. While their relationship had been strained over threats by Victor to reveal the location of Tartarus to the Republic, they were still family, and provided the Republic with a direct line of communication to New Avalon that only the Lyran Commonwealth could surpass. In a desperate bid to find some way of gaining a deterrent against possible attacks by Houses Liao and Kurita.
Fate seemed to be smiling upon the Republic, because Victor arrived on New Avalon just as his sister was trying to justify the cost of the proposed “Silk Road†chain of recharge stations that was intended to link key industrial worlds across the Federated Suns in a bid to boost their economy while also keeping their shipbuilding industry in work during their reluctantly agreed upon hiatus in warship construction. Quickly conferring with Terra, Victor was able to secure investment in the planed trade network, along with a proposal to extend it to the Republic boarders where it could be extended all the way to Terra and beyond. While it would be hyperbolic to say that this one act mended relations between New Avalon and Terra (or even between Victor and Yvonne), it did show that the two states were still able to work together.
Representatives of the council that ruled Tartarus Station clandestinely arrived on New Avalon to continue the talks, bring with them a long list of demands before they were willing to sign off on helping the Republic. Victor spent many days smoothing ruffled feathers and alleviating fears before they were willing to talk about what they could offer, but what they were willing to offer was far beyond anything that the Republic delegation had dared to dream. The ultimate result of these negotiations was a plan to rebuild the Titan shipyards with the help of both the Federated Suns and Tartarus Station, then use them build an new fleet of warships to secure the boarders of the Republic from outside aggression. This plan would become known as Project SPARTA.
Resurgent class Battleship
Daedalus class Battlecruiser
Star Knight II class Cruiser
Ulysses class Carrier
Janus class Destroyer
Amazon class Corvette
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Sounds good. I think Vic's threat to reveal Tartarus was a bit empty he's still a Davion and I don't think I could ever see him do something that could cost lives in the Federated Suns or Lyran Commonwealth.
At the same time sending Vic as the negotiator was a perfect play as he's the one person who could bring the Federated Suns and by extension Tartarus in to assist the Republic before the Confederation made its move. The two nations I'd actually think would be concerned now are the Lyrans and Free Worlds League with the Confederation and Combine making moves and the Republic propping up its own defences...
Looking forward to future designs though.
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The two nations I'd actually think would be concerned now are the Lyrans and Free Worlds League with the Confederation and Combine making moves and the Republic propping up its own defences...
(cough)Project MISTLETOE(cough)
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The two nations I'd actually think would be concerned now are the Lyrans and Free Worlds League with the Confederation and Combine making moves and the Republic propping up its own defences...
(cough)Project MISTLETOE(cough)
cool