Karakoram-class Mecha Carrier

The Karakoram-class starship is Origin's second starship dedicated to carrying mecha and was designed in YE 40. It was made to handle most light- to medium-scale mecha in eight mecha handling bays and was equipped with relatively heavy defensive armaments.

The Karakoram-class Mecha Carrier is a specialized mecha-carrying craft that was designed to hold a variety of mecha - including those from companies outside of Origin Industries itself - and provide battlefield support duties such as refueling, reloading, and defensive fire and protection in the form of armored bays and heavy shielding capacity. Based on the principle of the smaller Justicar Mecha Carrier but optimized and enlarged, the Karakoram can either operate independently or as part of a fleet, carrying multiple mecha to and from battle - or, if carrying construction mecha, to and from the job site in safety.

The Karakoram-class Mecha Carrier is dedicated not only to the transport of but also the long-term support of mecha and armored frames, with expanded mecha bays, more storage and supply capacity, a greater crew compliment, and more flexibility in its fulfillable roles. Its features include, but are not limited to:

• Eight Large Mecha Bays
• Heavy Defensive Armaments
• Highly-Redundant Systems
• Flexibility in Battlefield Roles

The Karakoram is a niche spacecraft, designed solely for the transportation and support of mecha and armored frames. It carries little in the way of offensive weaponry but has a heavy arsenal of defensive weaponry to keep its enemies at bay.

• Mecha Transport
• Battlefield Support for Mecha

The Karakoram-class Mecha Carrier is a medium-sized pillar-style ship in that it is long and relatively narrow, with its height and width being nearly equal. It has a cluster of four large engines at its rear, with a box-like middle section that has four armored mecha bay doors on either side. The ship's nose section is a sloping piece of armor that has multiple turrets mounted on it; additionally, there are several turrets spread about the ship's hull and some fins near the back.

As Origin Industries noticed more companies around the Kikyo Sector producing a wide range of mecha in varying sizes (some scaling in excess of 20 meters in height) it was decided that the Justicar Mecha Carrier was simply too limited in its scale and design, as it was incapable of carrying any mecha greater than 10 meters in height and just barely held enough crew to keep those mecha in operable condition - thus it was seen as more of a liability than anything else on the modern battlefield. As the unorthodox design of the Serendipity-Class proved to be less than effective in the role, it was decided that the basic idea of the Justicar class simply needed to be scaled up and optimized - thereby leading to the creation of the Karakoram-class in YE 40. At more than three times the size of its predecessor, the Karakoram takes a similar basic layout but expands capacity and capability in every way, increasing its longevity on the battlefield without sacrificing its ability to allow the mecha to shine as the stars of the show instead of the ship itself.

The Karakoram is a general performance craft, not having exceptional speed, maneuverability, armaments, or cargo capacity. It is specialized toward the transport and support of mecha and armored frames.

• Class: OI-C2-1A
• Type: Mecha Carrier
• Designers: Origin Industries (Origin Industries Fleet Yards)
• Manufacturer: Origin Industries (Origin Industries Fleet Yards)
• Fielded by: Origin Industries, Various
• Price: 800,000 KS

• Crew: 6 operators are recommended, only 1 is required.
• Maximum Capacity: There are accommodations for 200 people. About 4,000 people can fit aboard in an emergency, but the ship would be extremely cramped.

• Length: 325 meters
• Width: 55 meters¹⁾
• Height: 60 meters
• Decks: 10 (4.5 meters each)

• Continuum Distortion Drive: 14,000 c
• Hyperspace Fold Drive: 1 ly/hour
• Sublight Engines: .30c
• Range: Six months of normal operations with a full crew of 200.
• Lifespan: 60+ years with regular maintenance.
• Refit Cycle: Resupply and maintenance every six months, refit every three years.

See Damage Rating (Version 3) for a guide to damage ratings.

• DRv3 Tier: Tier 12, Heavy Starship

The Karakoram-class Mecha Carrier is a rather spacious ship inside with plenty of room for its the crew and whatever operations they undertake. The Karakoram is mostly self-sufficient and carries enough supplies and facilities to care for its crew for a minimum of 6 months.

The Karakoram has ten crew decks, each of which serves a different function. These decks are connected by both elevators and a stairwell, allowing for the crew to move between them effectively at any given time even if the ship were to lose power; additionally, there are a number of maintenance passageways in the non-crew areas of the ship that grant technicians and other maintenance personnel access to the ship's vital systems and components. The crew decks are numbered from top to bottom and organized as follows:

The Recreation Deck is essentially an expansive gym located on Deck 1. It contains numerous facilities for playing sports and practicing martial arts and has a track running its outside diameter to provide the crew with a means of getting in more cardiovascular exercise.

The Entertainment Deck contains a single-screen theater with 100 seats, 10 simulator pods, and a full-immersion virtual reality chamber. additionally, it contains a mini-mart, which sells snacks, drinks, and basic necessities such as hygiene products, undergarments, shirts, and Socks, as well as small knick-knacks and other non-essential items.

The Garden Deck contains an expansive hydroponics garden that provides a bit of relief from the utilitarian decks found elsewhere on the ship and acts as a source of fresh vegetables. It has a relaxing atmosphere, is lit in a way that mimics natural sunlight, and is kept at a temperature conducive to plant growth.

The Medical Deck is essentially a small hospital. The reception area is in the center and is directly accessible by the elevators and stairwell.

The Command and Control Deck contains the Karakoram's armory, bridge, captain's suite, and executive officer's suite. This part of the ship controls its overall function and direction and additionally includes the security office and the brig in order to keep control over the crew if necessary.

The Engineering Deck contains the main engineering and repair spaces and has a research and development lab for creating new mecha-related technologies and finding solutions to any problems found on pre-existing mecha. There is also a large fabrication area where parts can be made from raw materials.

The Ready Deck contains the ship's kitchen and wardroom and also contains several meeting rooms and small office compartments for non-commissioned officers and anyone that's in charge of a specific section or program, as well as locker rooms for pilots. During duty times, the Ready Deck is the busiest deck aside from the Command and Control Deck and is also the deck where most of the personnel and information processing takes place.

Deck 8, also known as the Pilot and Officer Deck, is the section of the ship dedicated to providing housing for officers, pilots, and some senior enlisted crew. It contains both larger apartment-style crew cabins and is arranged similarly to the enlisted crew deck immediately below it.

Deck 9, also known as the Enlisted Crew Deck, includes all of the cabins - organized into three banks - for the enlisted crew. There are two major hallways spanning the length of the ship and a communal area in the middle of the deck that is set up similarly to a Lounge.

Known as the Cargo Handling Deck, Deck 10 is the lowermost deck on the Karakoram. It contains the drop-out style hangar (which is situated in the center of the ship's belly and is large enough to fit two Porter-class Short-Haul Transports), a number of cargo handling and storage rooms, and a large cargo passageway that allows access to additional cargo storage in the carrier's nose via a large cargo elevator.

There are numerous compartments on the Karakoram which serve various functions. Everything on the ship is designed to either allow for the function of the ship during missions or allow for the crew to live in relative comfort when out of battle or off-duty.

The Karakoram-class has a medium-sized Armory that is located on the Command and Control Deck; additionally, there is a small weapons locker on each deck that grants the crew access to weapons from any deck in the event the ship is boarded. The weapons lockers can only open with an order from the highest-ranking officer on the ship and come stocked full of Origin Industries equipment.

• Origin-type Armory
  • 20x Standard Energy Pistol IIs
  • 10x SmAR/Fatboys
  • 5x Standard General Assault Rifles
  • 100x Standard Interchangeable High-Volume Capacitors
  • 30x ODM 10mm Pistols (four magazines per gun)
• Weapons Locker (each)
  • 10x Standard Energy Pistol IIs
  • 20x Standard Interchangeable High-Volume Capacitors
  • 10x ODM 10mm Pistols (four magazines per gun)

The Karakoram includes a Deluxe Bridge with an additional multi-use station, giving it a total of six stations.

The Karakoram has four Captain's Suites; two located on the same deck as the bridge - for the Captain and Executive Officer - and one is located each of the two crew decks.

There are multiple cargo storage areas on the Karakoram-class Mecha Carrier, including a number of large rooms on the Cargo Handling Deck and several storage areas within the nose of the ship. These storage areas have enough room to keep a full complement of two hundred crew supplied for at least six months.

The Karakoram has a large number of crew cabins in order to support the ship's normal crew, mecha pilots, and support personnel needed to maintain the ship's systems and maintain and repair the mecha carried by the Karakoram. These rooms include:

• 100x Rooms for junior enlisted crew.
• 50x Suites for senior enlisted crew and non-commissioned officers.
• 45x Deluxe Cabins for mecha pilots, officers, and senior non-commissioned officers.

The Karakoram-class Mecha Carrier comes with many options for crew recreation, including:

• A Recreational Facility.
• A Lounge.
• A garden deck with ambient lighting and an expansive hydroponics garden.
• A full-immersion virtual reality room.
• Numerous simulator pods.
• A single-screen movie theater with a small stage in front of it.

The Karakoram's engineering section contains a large number of facilities essential to maintaining the ship itself and supporting the compliment of mecha the ship carries. It contains a control center which can be used to control the ship in case of an emergency, multiple shops for different manufacturing and machining tasks, and a small materials and products research lab to improve the quality of components used in the field and supplement the larger research and development lab located on the same deck. The engineering section contains the following:

• Secondary Control Center
• Machine Shop
• Fabrication Bay
• Materials and Products Lab
• Tool and Equipment Storage
• Primary Access Panels and Hatches

Standard Access Tunnels branch off from the crew areas, giving the engineering crew access to the ship's generators, subsystems, and any internal parts of the ship that may potentially need maintenance. These tunnels do not necessarily connect to any particular deck of the ship and may be used as an alternative - albeit cramped - means of ascending or descending in between locations.

The Karakoram is the first Origin starship to include Medium Mecha Bays for storing, maintaining, and launching mecha. The Karakoram-class Mecha Carrier comes with eight of these bays, each of which is capable of holding a maximum of four ten-meter-tall mecha (for a maximum capacity of thirty-two); typically, however, the Karakoram only carries eight mecha. By default, the Karakoram comes with eight M1-1c Oban Mecha, however, these may be upgraded to other Origin mecha for an additional fee, depending on the type of mecha requested; additionally, these bays are capable of handling a single mecha up to twenty-five meters tall from other manufacturers.

Each Mecha bay has multiple access ports from inside the ship, with Access being capable on decks three through nine. Most of these access ports are simply small blast-shielded personnel-sized doors, but Deck 6's engineering bay has much larger access doors to allow the movement of parts and weapons from engineering into the bays to facilitate the armament and maintenance of the mecha carried on the ship.

Each of the mecha bays on the Karakoram class has a small locker room adjacent to them on the ready deck, used primarily by pilots who need to change into and out of their Origin Armored Pilot Suit. Each locker room contains eight lockers, one per pilot, and these lockers are used to hold their piloting gear. Each locker room also has standard amenities, such as several showers, for pilots to wash off after sorties, as well as benches, sinks, and towels.

The ready rooms can be accessed either directly from the mecha bays, or from the ready deck

The Karakoram has a Professional Medical Bay, giving it top-notch medical facilities comparable to a small hospital. This medical bay takes up one entire deck of the ship to ensure that there is enough room to care for the crew of the ship and others should the need arise.

Hallways are used to travel around the Karakoram, allowing access between normally occupied areas of the ship such as crew accommodations, the wardroom, the bridge, and engineering.

The Karakoram lacks any traditional shuttle bays - instead, shuttles can dock with or board the ship in one of two ways: via standard escape pod plugs or the drop-out style cargo bay located in the ship's belly.

The Karakoram's Wardroom is located on Deck 7, is large enough to feed up to two hundred people at a time, and has direct access to the ship's Kitchen - which is itself large enough to prepare food for 200 people at a time.

Numerous systems work together to ensure that the Karakoram functions properly and completes its assigned duties.

The hull of the Karakoram-class Mecha Carrier is made from Endurium that has been placed over a Durandium shell. The Durandium shell itself supported by a Durandium framework that has been reinforced in key areas with Nerimium; aside from the outermost layer, however, the ship mostly consists of Durandium.

Integrated into the hull are four Nerimium armored doorways which cover air locked access hatches, there are two doorways on each side in the midline of the ship, which pass between the mecha bays. Two of the doors access deck one, one on each side, and two of the doors access deck ten, one on each side. These airlocks are normally used when docking the craft, as attachment points for gantry passageways to allow the boarding and disembarkment of crew, as well as the loading and unloading of smaller supplies.

The Karakoram uses Origin's Destiny AI 'Queen' Suite for computing, processing, sensors, navigation, and every other electronic function of the ship. The system is integrated into the construction of the ship, however, the major components are modular in nature and can be easily repaired or replaced.

The Karakoram was designed with crew safety in mind and has multiple systems and devices in place to ensure such, ranging from fire suppression to normal suits to a means of escape if the ship is no longer able to function.

• Survival Lockers: There are two lockers on each deck which when combined contain enough Armored Pilot Suits for the entire crew.²⁾
• Airtight Bulkheads: Most junctions in the Karakoram can be closed off by bulkheads which act as airlocks between sections with and without an atmosphere, allowing for properly-equipped crew members to pass between atmosphere-containing and vented sections.
• Fire Sprinklers: The Karakoram has a ship-wide system of sprinklers that spray dry chemicals in order to put out fires as quickly as possible.
• Halon Fire Suppression System: The eight mecha bays each contain a halon-based fire suppression system that works by displacing and removing oxygen from a fire, thereby smothering it and removing its ability to oxidize; when the halon system activates, however, the crew must evacuate the bays - as they will not be able to breathe until the halon has been removed from the air.

The Karakoram is designed to make its crew feel like they are living on a normal planet, with a Yamatai (Planet)-like atmosphere and a one-g gravitational pull toward the bottom of the ship; additionally, there are temperature control units in many rooms and compartments to ensure that their occupants feel comfortable. There are several systems responsible for providing this comfortable environment, there are several systems present, including:

• Environmental Recycling System (ERS): A simple yet effective filtration system that filters water and air by purifying them so that they can be reused. The filters must be replaced after one year of continuous operation.
• AC System: A simple climate control system that allows for rooms to be kept at a specific temperature. Controls are located in each room.
• Unidirectional Gravitational Plating: Plating located on the ceiling of each compartment emits a pseudo-gravitational field that is attracted to plating on the floor, thusly pushing everything on the ship 'down'. This creates the false sense of gravity that permeates the ship.

The Karakoram-class Mecha Carrier uses a complex and redundant system of eighty HONEY SLAM fusion generators arranged in four sets of twenty; each set of generators is linked together in series-parallel and feeds into the ship's heavy fusion thrusters, thereby providing the bulk of the ship's slower-then-light propulsion. These generators also feed a series of vernier nozzles located about the hull of the ship - allowing it to maneuver at sublight speeds - and the systems' redundancy allows for the ship to remain operational even in the event of damage to multiple generators, as units can be easily isolated from the rest of the ship if they are malfunctioning (or missing completely).

The Karakoram uses Origin's typical three kinds of shielding; each shield is generated from its own emitter on either side of the ship (aside from the navigational shielding, which is contained in the nose of the ship) and works in tandem with the others - allowing for the Karakoram to survive impacts from many types of weapons.

• Port Shield Generator: Electromagnetic Shields are housed in the port-side shield generator, creating a protective bubble which encompasses the entire ship.

• Starboard Shield Generator: Gravitic Shielding is used on the starboard side; similar to its counterpart on the other side of the ship's hull, this shield emitter creates a protective bubble which encompasses the entire ship.

• Nose: The nose of the Karakoram generates simple navigational shielding that allows for the ship to run with a smaller sensor signature. This shielding system, however, does not help much against weapons.

The Karakoram-class Mecha Carrier does not have much offensive armament and instead relies on its heavy defensive armament.

• Ionic Pulse Cannon: 2, Tier 10 (Light Anti-Starship)
• Origin Heavy Laser Turret: 32, Tier 9 (Heavy Anti-Mecha)
• Plasma Flak Cannon: 24, Tier 7 (Light Anti-Mecha)
• Origin Point Defense Weapons: 30, Tier 7 (Light Anti-Mecha)

The Karakoram-class Mecha Carrier is a specialized ship meant to carry mecha into combat. While it lacks traditional hangar bays, it does carry a compliment of microshuttles, two cargo handling craft, and a number of mecha, the last of which is dependent on the type of mission the ship is faced with.

The Karakoram-class Mecha Carrier has ten escape pod plugs - which allow for the docking and launching of microshuttles - and a cargo hangar in the belly of the ship. It comes with the following:

• 10x Escape Shuttles
• 2x Porter-class Short-Haul Transports

The Karakoram has eight mecha handling bays; each can hold up to four mecha - if they are ten meters tall or less - and a single twenty-five meter tall mecha. The ship comes with eight M1-1c Oban mecha, however, other Origin mecha can be substituted for an additional fee.

• 8x M1-1c Oban

Kai created this article on 2018/08/12 17:23; approved it (using the checklist) on 2018/08/21 12:51.