Forum:Schooner

"These shall be my finest weapons, a scourge upon the infidel and a blessing to the faithful."

- Eponymous Archon

The Schooner-class battleship is the capital ship of the House of Time battle fleet, and is armed with weapons not employed by other Fallen factions in the Solar system. Never before sighted until the Battle of Pluto, where the House of Time bore the brunt of the first Red Legion assault, these ships are as versatile yet more varied than their similarly sized cousins, the Barque-class battleship.

Before the Battle of Pluto, sightings of these gargantuan, circular vessels were relatively rare, often dismissed as Hunter tales or Warlock ramblings; not even the Wolves possessed them. They now fight on behalf of the Solar Coalition against the Shadowkeepers in the Apocalypse and later, several hostile forces of extradimensional aliens in the Battle of Verses.

Dimensions
At over three kilometers in diameter, these enormous vessels resemble a donut-shape missing a section of its circumference, and has a central sphere which contained the ship's bridge and reactor assemblies. The front void of the craft held two mammoth docking bays on either side, which were lined with forward docking claws. Housed in the stern of the main body were the main reactors, each connected to one of the three main engines, as well as to secondary engines and each other. The central sphere housed its own reactor/power generator assemblies. Owing to the complexities of maintaining such a vessel, ten Pilot Servitors are attached to the ship, along with Controller Servitors for additional support.

Offensive and defensive systems
Lining the equatorial bands in batteries of three were quad turbolaser cannons capable of rotating inwards when not in use. In addition to powerful shield generators capable of tanking raw paracasual blasts—for momentary intervals—each Schooner has a defensive complement of five thousand Proa-class vessels. When coordinating with other Schooners they can create potent defensive screens none but the most determined of foes can penetrate, with great loss.

Propulsion
Powering the Schooner are twenty main engine units, including ECE Evader-GT ion engines, and can accelerate to speeds of up to 975 kph. The primary power generator on board the ship is large enough relative to the rest of the craft to protrude with a ventral bulb. In order to jump to light-speed and enter hyperspace the Schooner-class was equipped with a Class 2 hyperdrive.

Crew requirements
Schooners had over 85,000 crew on board—5,000 officers and 80,000 enlisted personnel. The complement of 10,000 fighting Eliksni added to a total of 95,000 crew and passengers. The bridge was located in the central spherical portion of the ship's hull, and the officer's quarters were located in its rear. To complement its impressive crew size, every Schooner-class vessel carried consumables for 2 years, with its liquid stores and holds for raw materials being located near its bow. Amidships, crew barracks, gunnery crew quarters, meeting rooms, training areas, and cell blocks were located in the vessel's starboard arm; vehicles and starships were serviced in the port arm. On the side of the ship existed the port lateral umbilical restocking vestibule.

To serve as its unique role as troop transport, ship support, and arsenal for all weaponry, Internal Affairs officers were stationed aboard the ship to scan the crew for signs of disloyalty and sedition, as well as interrogate any captured prisoners. As most ships in Time's forces, it employs Sekris-series repair Shanks to serve as messenger, repair and custodial assistants.

Complement
For their role as support ships, Schooners can carry up to ten Ketches and any number of lesser vessels within its cavernous holds, and features repair facilities for Barques. They are seldom seen alone without an escort fleet, and is actually rare to see them deployed anywhere. Unlike Barques, which are deployed en mass despite being generational ships, Schooners are held in reserve to safeguard the enormous Time fleets from external attack.