Ge-L7-1a Ekitai-Class Liquid Freighter Ship

The Ge-L7 is a heavy size freighter, designed to large quantities of liquids as cargo as possible with some consideration for passengers. It became available in YE 34. The version of this ship re-designed for disaster recovery operations is the RDRS Ge-L7-2a - Ekitai-Class Liquid Freighter Ship

The Ekitai was originally designed to gather and transport large quantities of water. During the development phase, its capabilities were expanded to allow it to gather other liquids such as those found in the atmospheres of gas giants. The Ekitai has the ability to filter the liquids it gathers while traveling. The Ekitai has storage for up to 2.5 billion liters of liquids.

After the development of the Ge-L4-1a - Sessou-Class Medium Freighter with its Liquid Storage Tank on the top, the corporation realized that there was an unexplored niche in the starship business. They came up with a series of specifications that they felt would be needed to make a liquid hauler a profitable venture. During the design phase, the number of tanks was increased from three to five to provide maximum capacity.

The Ekitai has two manned sections the forward and aft. The fore section is teardrop shaped and structural reinforcements can be seen on the hull. Four structural segments run from the fore section to the aft. They run between the liquid tanks. The tanks are readily visible. The tanks themselves are long cylinders, that are capped with domes than contain support equipment for the tanks.

Class: Ekitai-class Nomenclature: Ge-L7-1a Type: Freighter, Liquid Designers: Tamahagane Corporation R&D Manufacturer: Geshrinari Shipyards Price: 300,000 KS (Without customization)

Crew: 60 Passengers: 35 Maximum Capacity: There are accommodations for 260 personnel with double occupancy. Emergency Capacity: 100 people can fit aboard in an emergency, but the ship would be extremely cramped.

The Ekitai is not built for agility.

• Atmospheric: 2,4250 km/h, or 1,522.4 mph (Mach 2)

• Combined Field System/Continuum Distortion Drive:
  • Minimum: Resting motionless
  • Sublight: .3c (~89,937 kilometers per second) (~55,884 miles per second)
  • Maximum Speed: 18,750c (~2.14 ly/h)
• Hyperspace Drive: 394,470c (0.75 ly/m)

Service Lifespan: Estimated 20 years of constant use, possibly longer with refits.

Refit Cycle: Frequent minor updates through refits once every four to five years.

See Damage Rating (Version 3) for an explanation of the damage system.

• Tier 13, Light Capital Ship
• Shields: Tier 13

Overall Length: 800 meters (2,624 ft) Height: 50 meters (164 ft) Width: 380 meters (1,246 ft) (Overall) Width: 240 meters (787.2 ft) (Fuselage) Decks: 12 (4 meters)

Note: Due to the size of the ship, the forward section has a redundant Life support and Engineering. This is in case the connections between the two main sections is damaged, the forward section will survive.

There are four segments which run from the fore section to the aft section. They have four meter wide concourse that connect to decks 2, 4, 6, 8. There are isolation doors at multiple points that can seal them if part of one is damaged. The corridors are typically kept at zero-g, so to facilitate movement, there is the carousel as the designers called it. Mounted in the ceiling is a track that hand grips can be attached to. At each end of the passage hand grips are stored. A person wanting to traverse the passage, takes one, holds it up along the cable and latches it. They are then pulled down the hall. The carousel moves at a speed equal to a brisk walk for safety. Releasing the hand grip causes it to release the track so that a person can get off along the concourse to perform maintenance inspections on the tanks and systems and effect repairs.

The cargo hold spans three decks in the aft section. The working interior dimensions are 160m x 120m x12m which gives it a total space of 230,400m³. It is capable of carrying the following number of Standard Starship Cargo Containers.

The Ekitai uses a Ge-Y2-E3300 - Hogosha Quantum Computer System for all its computation needs.

Communications on the Ekitai uses the Ge-Y1-E3103 - Intercom System for internal, and Ge-Y2-E3302 - Communications Suite for external.

The life support requirements for the Ekitai are supplied by a pair Ge-Y1-V3100 - Life Support System.

The Ekitai features the following emergency systems.

• Ge-Y1-E3104 - Automatic Fire Suppression System
• Geshrinari Blast Shutters
• 19 Ge-X3300 - Type 33 Escape Pod
• Chemical extinguishers - These are present for manual use on electrical and metal fires.
• Geshrinari Damage Control Stations

The Ekitai has the following standard security features.

• Geshrinari Standard Door
• Geshrinari Psionic Signal Controller

The Ekitai uses the Ge-Y2-E3301 - Standard Starship Sensors for its sensor requirements.

The weapon systems of the Taishita are controlled by a Ge-Y2-E3306 - Fire Control System. They protect the ship from those who would attempt to prey upon it. They are arranged in pairs in twelve locations.

• 24 Ge-E1-W3400 - Dual Plasma Array Single: 3 ADR / Paired 1 SDR / 5 ADR

While not a true weapon the Ekitai is equipped with a pair of Geshrinari Graviton Beam Projectors, they are each mounted amidships on the side.

The Ekitai has a variety of engines to help it operate safely.

It uses 12 Geshrinari Graviton Engine which are used for landing and lift off and lower level atmospheric travel.

It has clusters of Geshrinari Maneuvering Thrusters located along the hull on the ship's axises. These are used for docking maneuvers and station keeping.

It is equipped with four Geshrinari Turbo Plasma Drive mounted on the atmospheric wings, they are for in system travel.

It is equipped with a Geshrinari Continuum Distortion Drive and a Geshrinari Hyperspace Fold Drive for FTL travel. Typically the fold is used for long distance travel, and the CDD is for shorter distances.

The Ekitai equipped with two power systems. Primary power is supplied by a Geshrinari Aether Generator. In the event of a failure or the ship is on the ground without external power, the uses a Geshrinari Anti-Matter Generator. The Ekitai is equipped with Geshrinari Matter Collection System to refuel.

For defense the Ekitai is outfitted with a Geshrinari Combined Field System for protecting the ship from hazards.

The Ekitai can be equipped with the Ge-L7-S3400 - Gravity Shield if it going to be used to commercially harvest gas giants.

Because of the size of the Ekitai the company chose to use their strongest structure for the hull GE-V1-H3302 - Spacecraft (OO) Hull Construction.

The Ekitai was designed for planetary landing, so it is equipped with sixteen pneumatically driven landing gears. Each landing gear is independently controlled, and working in concert they can level the ship to compensate for uneven terrain.

The Ekitai can be outfitted with the Geshrinari Matter Collection System to gather specific interstellar material.

The Ekitai is equipped five storage tanks, that measure 420 meters by 20 meters. Each tank has a capacity of 502,857,000 liters of liquid. The tank is compartmentalized into four sections each 105 meters long. This is done so that should a tank be ruptured the entire contents are not lost.

Located at both of the ends of each tank is the tank support dome. These consist of a series of pumps, filters and thermal control systems. These include the ports that is used to fill the inner tank. The filter system is used to purify impurities from water. The thermal system is intended to keep the contents from freezing which could damage the tanks.

The Ekitai can fill its tanks in a variety of methods depending on how it is configured. These in the support domes. The primary port is high volume hose couplings. Water can be pumped from a facility into the tanks, or the ship can put hoses into a water supply and use suction to acquire the water. It is also possible to land the ship in the water and use the pumps as well. The other ports that the Ekitai is equipped with are scoops which are attached to the Matter Collection System.

If the Ekitai is going to be hauling corrosive liquids, the tanks and circulating pumps may require treatment to protect them from the caustic fluids. Since the tanks and piping are made of Osmiridium only the most dangerous corrosives have a chance to damage them.

If the Ekitai is harvesting from Gas Giants, the tanks are fitted with retractable scoops to assist with gathering gases. The filter system is used to separate the different chemicals. This is done by cooling the contents to the temperature that the chemical becomes a liquid. The unwanted chemicals can either be vented, or transferred to one of the other tanks.

• 4 Ge-E1-1a - Tenba-Class Transporter
• 8 Ge-T4-1a - Kumo-Class CTU

The redesigned Disaster Recovery version of this ship is the RDRS Ge-L7-2a - Ekitai-Class Liquid Freighter Ship, pictured below.

• Artwork by Nashoba.