Kthon'ya Intra-System Acceleration Gates

The Kthon'ya intra-system acceleration gates are an in-system method of transportation developed for the Kingdom of Neshaten; they were first introduced in the year ER 698.

The Kthon'ya intra-system acceleration gates were developed for the facilitation of civilian and military transit between worlds within the Nesha System. Due to the disruption of FTL travel caused by the irovatʹsya_hyperspace_anomalies found within the Nesha System, ordinary sub-light travel to planets in the outer reaches of the solar system would generally take a great many hours or even days – the Kthon'ya were designed in an attempt to partially overcome the problem.

These large ring-shaped arrays temporarily lower the effective mass of starships to almost nothing by means of Higgs-field manipulation. Then ships are propelled in the direction of a receiving gate at 0.99c through the utilization of gravimetric lensing. The receiving array's catch and instantly decelerate incoming vessels whilst they are under the influence of a powerful inertial dampening effect.

Due to the forces to which starships are subjected by these gates, shielding systems and inertial dampeners must be installed and fully operational in each ship if it is intended to utilize one safely. Additionally, many ship systems like weapons, sub-light communications and close-range sensors are unable to properly perform whilst at near light-speed velocities.

Another side-effect of nearly reaching light-speed is that ships traveling by means of the Kthon'ya gates are subject to time dilation. Whilst in transit, one second experienced aboard a traveling starship would equate to seven seconds externally. In example; for a starship traveling by one gate from Nesha Prime out to the gates partner 60 AU from the systems interior, the apparent travel time for the starship from the perspective of people standing on Nesha Prime would be about 8 hours, 24 minutes. However, for the travelers the journey would seem to take only 1 hour and 11 minutes.

All existing Kthon'ya gates are periodically retrofitted with the newest technologies throughout the course of their maintenance cycle, and any newly constructed Kthon'ya come equipped with the most recent technologies as part of their design.

The original Kthon'ya were designed over the course of three years by Se'verem Haru'ka several decades after the Kingdom of Neshaten first rediscovered the means to create space-traversable ship designs – this was because the Neshaten learned about the practical impossibility of performing a Hyperspace fold within their star system due to the presence of the Irovat'sya anomalies which restricted space-travel in the region to subluminal velocities. Even with the most advanced of the Neshaten's present-day drive technologies travel time from the planet Nesha Prime to the outer solar system is typically measured in hours or days.

The main structure of the Kthon'ya resembles a giant metallic ring, about 2 kilometers in diameter. Three equally spaced armatures extend outward from the ring section. The inner track of the ring and the inward facing portions of the armatures are covered in field arrays for the purposes of inertial dampening, gravity lensing and manipulation of the local Higgs Field.

On the outer surface of one armature is the habitable section of the station, housing the operations center, living quarters of the crew and the other amenities that they generally utilize throughout the course of their duties.

Each Kthon'ya gate is a a subluminal 'accelerator' which essentially sling-shots a ship or group of ships towards its paired twin. The other gate in the pair catches and decelerates incoming ships in a reversed form of the acceleration process. The crew aboard the gates co-ordinate the traffic, deciding when or if a ship should be allowed to traverse through – primarily to avoid accidents or collisions.

The habitable upper section of the gate contains an operations center, living facilities, a hanger for transportation and most of the other general compartments you would find on any station or starship. The rest of gates interior in the ring section exists in an almost perpetual vacuum – the crew rarely venture into these areas except for the purposes of maintenance or repairs.

Class: Kthon'ya-Class Intrasystem Acceleration Gate Nomenclature: Ne-P1-A1 Type: Intra-System Subluminal Accelerator Designer: Se'verem Haru'ka Manufacturer: Se'verem Industrial Consortium Fielded by: Kingdom of Neshaten Organizations using: Kingdom of Neshaten, Shukara Volunteer Navy Production: Limited - Produced as required

Crew: 70 Emergency Capacity: In an emergency situation, the habitable sections of the Kthon'ya have enough free space to accommodate about two hundred and fifty individuals for an extended period. It should be noted, however, that doing so would tax the life-support systems to their limits and risk a critical failure unless they were closely monitored.

Length: 3,500 meters (11,480 feet) Width: 2,050 meters (6,726 feet) Height: 2,125 meters (6,972 feet) Decks:

• Total Decks: 525 (4 meters each)
• Habitable Decks: 18
• Uninhabitable Decks: 507

• Sublight Engines: .075c

Service Lifespan: Intended to last indefinably so long as they are properly maintained.

Refit Cycle: Once every 5 years.

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

Hull: 80 Structural Points (SDR) Shields: 50 Shield Points (Threshold 5)

The operations center is the command hub of the station. It is from here that the crew directs the stations systems and communicates with incoming and outgoing traffic. There about thirty terminals in total centered around a large holographic display which details the station's surroundings and the positions of all ships nearby. Access to this area is restricted to authorized personnel only.

The armory houses weapons, ammunition and armor intended to be used by the crew to fend off any potential boarding actions. It doesn't possess as large an arsenal as those armories based upon active warships as the equipment is intended more for defense that offense.

The Kthon'ya class possesses forty Neshatan Enlisted Crew Cabins in total.

The Stationmasters quarters are the largest and most luxurious cabin on the station. It features a private bathroom, a bed, and a desk with computer access for the stationmaster to utilize in monitoring any of the stations systems or crew as needed. A small kitchen is also present should the stationmaster feel the need for some private dining.

The station's lounge is intended for the crew's recreational use. There are tables that crewmen can utilize to play a variety of games, as well as computers that can also be used to engage in a number of recreational programs or entertainments. Should crew wish for a meal, it is also just a short walk to the cafeteria nearby.

Located in proximity to the crew cabins is the stations Cafeteria. The Cafeteria is segregated into two sections, the kitchen, and eating area. There is also a food replicator located near the dining area, where the stations crew can speedily grab a quickly manufactured meal from a small menu of choices.

The dining area has several large tables with chairs surrounding them, plus a more ornate and provisioned table for the stations senior officers.

The stations utilizes a quantum computer mainframe. The mainframe is accessible only to the stations commanding officers and senior engineering crew, and can be reached via a maintenance shaft from the operations center.

The stations modest shuttle bay is large enough to house several large enough to house four shuttle-craft with room to spare, but is intended to see little use other than to receive the occasional supply shipment or transfer crew on or off the station as needed.

Main Engineering is located at the base of the habitable section. This area provides access to the fabrication equipment and tools the crew might need to maintain the station, as well as the habitable sections life-support systems. However, the reactors, drive systems, shields and arrays are spread throughout the uninhabitable ring section and armatures. These areas can be reached via the maintenance access points inside the Main Engineering Bay, though protective vacuum-sealed work clothes will be required to traverse the uninhabitable section.

Throughout every section of the station there exists a network of maintenance conduits and shafts used to access the stations various systems, including primary, secondary, and tertiary. The conduits are small tunnels that a person must crawl through in order to move. Outside the habitable section of the station, these conduits exist in a perpetual vacuum and zero-G. The shafts are long vertical tunnels where the stations artificial gravity is suspended, which allows maintenance technicians to move up and down between decks in the uninhabitable section with greater ease.

In several sections within the stations armatures there exist the stations massive shield generators, which work in unison to provide a protective energy field that protects the station from physical harm. Each chamber is three decks in height, and can only by accessed by means of the maintenance conduit system.

Located directly in the center of the ship is the ships shield room, which houses the shield generator that is needed to protect the ship. The shield room takes up one deck, but the massive shield generator itself actually takes up two decks, with the lower half being accessible only by maintenance conduits or by a ladder.

A medical facility is located in the habitable section of the station. It possesses a fairly wide range of medical diagnostic and treatment tools, as well as several beds both for both patient recovery and surgical procedures. One section of the med-bay can be sealed off for patient quarantine or to make a much more sterile environment.

In proximity to the shuttle bay is the stations cargo hold. The hold is very large and is typically used to store the vast majority of the stations food supplies, non-military equipment and spare parts needed for station maintenance.

Whilst not specifically designed for combat, most Kthon'ya have been retrofitted with 20 Mark 1 'Rok'truvance' Anti-fighter Turrets. These are intended to provide at least some minimal defense against hostile actions directed towards the station.

Like most stations, the Kthon'ya has a variety of emergency support systems for use in emergency situations, including fire suppressant systems and backup life support systems.

The station is equipped with a quantum based computer mainframe. The computer is augmented with a Neshaten Scanner Array Suite to provide the station with both passive and active sensors, spatial, gravimetric, and scientific sensor systems. The sensors are mainly utilized for the co-coordination of incoming and outgoing ship traffic through the gate.

Air and water recycling systems allow the station to continually use the same water for several years, while the air filtration system gives the ship the ability to support its crew complement for almost two decades without resupply.

Artificial gravity and life-support systems exists only in habitable section of the station. The majority of the station exists in a vacuum and perpetual zero-G.

The station supplies power to the majority of its systems through use of several Lunebaren reactors, there's also a set of back-up fusion plants utilized to assist in providing emergency power in unlikely event that the main reactors become non-functional.

The Kthon'ya has only one form of propulsion – several Crena Energy Engine's periodical placed across the hull to allow the station to maintain alignment with is paired gate, keep position relative to planets or move throughout a star system as required.

Originally Kthon'ya gates were built almost entirely from titanium. More recently the design has been augmented with Crynatorium – essentially all existing stations have been retrofitted with the substance for increased protection.

The inner track of the ring and the inward facing portions of the armatures are covered in massive field arrays for the purposes of inertial dampening, gravity lensing and manipulation of the local Higgs Field. These systems are designed to accelerate ships up to .99c in a straight line, as well as catch and decelerate incoming ships.