Ge-L3-1A - Vampire-Class Patrol Craft

Requested through Zero Fleet's offices, the ship design was made to fulfill the requirements of a potential privateer. Practically speeding through the design process, the ship still manages to fit in a few unique features of its own, including a ramp at the bottom of the ship's rear to load and unload ground vehicles. The ship's interior is somewhat Spartan, as most of the interior is taken up by a large cargo bay and shuttle loading areas.

Type: Short-Range Patrol and Cargo Craft Class: Ge-L3-1A “Vampire” Designer: Geshrinari Shipyards, Democratic Imperium of Nepleslia Manufacturer: Geshrinari Shipyards, Democratic Imperium of Nepleslia Production: Several made with plans to continue producing them for some time. Organization: Sold to various privateers and mercenaries.

Crew: 1 Pilot minimum. Recommended crew of 3. Maximum Capacity: Life support systems can support up to 100 people.

Length: 47 meters (165 feet) Width: 30 meters (105 feet) Height: 6 meters (21 feet). 7.5 meters with landing gear extended. Decks: 1 Mass: 588,500 kg

Speeds: .7c (~209,854 kilometers per second) (~130,397 miles per second) Sublight, 67,000c Hyperpulse Lifespan: With regular maintenance, the vessel is expected to last around 30 years.

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

• Hull: 10
• Shields: 10 (Threshold 1)

The primary weapon is a spinal positron cannon that ship commanders have dubbed the disintegration gun because of its devastating effects on enemy fleet formations. Using the by-product of the Quantum-Gravitic reactors of the vessel to supply tremendous amounts of anti-matter, the D-Gun excites the anti-matter into a state of plasma, ejecting it in a massive wave anti-plasma and energy that can clear an entire 30-degree arc in front of the vessel with its destructive power, which is directed along a path of pure destruction.

Primary Purpose: Anti-Warship/Anti-Planet Range: 93,000 miles Damage: 5 SDR, Destroys almost everything in its path. Vessels just outside of this radius may be destroyed or damaged by the leakage of the beam. Rate of Fire: At any given time, the vessel can fire a D-Gun blast due to the amount of anti-plasma already in the D-Gun's capacitors. However, to rebuild the amount of anti-plasma from the quantum-gravitic reactors takes approximately seven minutes. Payload Effectively Unlimited. Will function so long as the quantum-gravitic reactors are operational.

Three small openings on the hull (two on each side of the top and one on the bottom) can deploy up to 10 turrets each. It takes approximately half a second to deploy each turret and calibrate them so they don’t fly off the ship. These turrets rest on small disks about a 1 and ½ meters in diameter. Each base is kept at near absolute zero temperatures and are magnetized along with the hull keeping them a set distance from it at all times. Energy is passed to the turrets through the magnetized hull and each base can move around on the surface of the ship freely and fire.

Primary Purpose: anti-starfighter/mecha Secondary Purpose: anti-ship Damage: 3 ADR Range: 200,000 miles Rate of Fire: 4 times a second Payload Effectively unlimited, so long as the ship provides power.

Emitters under the ship's “wings” which fire pulses of and in the “sea of energy” that is space. These pulses can cause aetheric generators to overload, and confuse ZPE-based sensors. At the same time, it also produces an immense electromagnetic pulse and ion bolt. The pulse cannon is designed to cripple other vessels.

Primary Purpose: Anti-starship Secondary Purpose: Anti-mecha/Anti-fighter Damage: 3 SDR Range: 3,000 miles Rate of Fire: Twice every 15 seconds. Payload Effectively unlimited, so long as the ship provides power.

The Vampire-Class is equipped with four Ge-T1-1A - Transatmospheric Shuttles

BW-6 Battle Tank can be either parachuted from the air or driven off of the landed ship from the ramp at the back of the ship, and was provided with the ship as a bonus. Mean, virtually indestructible, and reliant on old-school technology, this tank is good for short-range combat (it lacks a computer and targeting equipment needed for long-range engagements) or for getting around downtown Ayenee Capital City safely.

The ship contains two easy to produce communications systems on each side of the hull. While not as sophisticated as those on most military vessels, they cover the basics (subspace and radio) and provide an acceptable amount of security. In a emergency the communications system can act as a low resolution sensor system by using the two receivers to pinpoint radio or subspace transmitters much in the same way that human ears pinpoint sounds.

A by-product of antigravity (repulsion) technology, the damper field has been heralded as the best defense against scalar electro=gravitational pulse weaponry, which are notorious for their ability to destroy ammunition, electronics, and organic life forms. While scalar EM waves penetrate conventional shielding because they can travel wherever gravity can go, the damper field uses a low-power antigravity field that negates the force of gravity and consequently provides an effective shielding system against scalar EM weapons systems.

The Geshrinari Graviton Beam Projector device creates a stream of gravitons which can be used to tow other spacecraft or shuttles. The projector is ineffective against ships using gravitonic shielding.

Geshrinari Continuum Distortion Drive uses layered asymmetrical peristaltic subspace fields that can envelop the entire vessel, the ship can move at superluminal velocities.

The ship is capable of projecting a powerful artificial gravitic field that disrupts the operations of FTL drives of all types in a specific area of effect (minimal effective AOE is a 1,000 meter cubic area; maximum AOE is 500,000 kilometer cubic area). This is useful in preventing enemy vessels from escaping from battle. The interdiction field also has a secondary mode that can defeat the interdiction efforts of enemy forces in a localized area roughly half the size of its normal operation.

The patrol ships are equipped with a Mercurite shielding system, which is capable of blocking most forms of electromagnetic radiation. This is useful for blocking electromagnetic pulse-type weapons.

The ship's exterior is equipped with two large rapid-launch bays, which are forcefield-contained openings in the hull. The bays make it possible for shuttles to fly out into space at their convenience.

The ship has an efficient shielding system, relying on an teardrop-shaped spatial distortion to warp space around it and alter the course of laser, missiles, etc. that are headed for the ship. A second system, called “the spike” only protects the front of the ship, acting as a giant cone. It protects the ship from collisions during high-speed space flight. Both of the shields can take a lot of damage but are not infallible, and fail after a few good hits.

Subspace mass sensors instantly detect mass readings and movement of objects up to 1 AU (93 million miles) distant from the ship. The readings are used both for early warning and navigation when traveling at sub-light speeds. The readings are not very detailed and cannot detect objects of less than 60,000 kg.

Tachyon Scanners detect the disturbances in the gravitic characteristics of normal space caused by the passage of ships traveling through hyperspace. Tachyon scanners also reduce the effectiveness of enemy missile jamming systems.

Unidirectional Gravity Plating plating on the roof emits a pseudo-gravitational field that is attracted to the plates on the floor pushing everything on the ship 'down'. This creates the false sense of gravity that permeates the ship

• Artwork by Wes.¹⁾