Ke-F8 Transport Ship

The Ke-F8 is a variant of the Fuushigi no Umi-class Escort, created in YE 30

Because of its modular design, the ship can be upgraded by removing the lower section and replacing it with another lower section such as the KS-2c (resulting in the Ki-F2 configuration). The primary component of the Ki-F8 is the KC-2mg top section.

Holding a crew of only 10, this little craft lacks any large or special weaponry. For this reason it is mainly used as a transport or base for small special operations units or diplomats. As far as the tactical strike ability of the craft, it is limited to short guerilla strikes and special operations like drop-offs, pick-ups, and moving important figures from place to place.

Part of the Fuushigi no Umi's humorous reputation comes from its small crews. The ships were sometimes staffed with one captain and three sets of clones, but more often the ships were staffed with a bunch of new recruits and/or grizzled old veterans with suspicious records. The little ships were not highly monitored and the rules of the ships all depended on the Captain. This resulted in a lot of ships turning into disorganized party yachts and harems. The Ki-F5 rarely saw other ships, and almost never stayed at port long; the occupants often lost contact with the outside world, and current events. The insides were often modified by bored starnekovalkyrja and are usually warm and slightly foggy in some areas, and often the hallways are dirty with oil and ashes (no cleaning supplies left onboard). The operating rooms have a self-cleaning and sterilization system. Larger Star Army ships use drones and sprites to clean themselves, but chances are, if the ship does not have an avatar, it is a mess.

The Fuushigi no Umi was the Star Army of Yamatai's original series of modular starship designs. The advantage of modular starships are their ease of upgrade and reconfigurability to meet a wide variety of situations. The initial production capabilities of the Geshrin starship yards were high in numbers, but not in variety; thus the result was a small series of similar configurations, including the small but notorious Ki-F5.

The Ki-F5, specifically, entered service in the Geshrin year YE 21. Ki-F5 frigates served with distinction during the battle of Kennewes and the battle of Ayenee Capital City, and the ships were expected to remain in service for a very long time–of course, political situations changed. The Ki-F5 were produced by Ketsurui Fleet Yards, Melanchol, until early YE 23.

In early YE 25, the last of the Fuushigi no Umi frigates were decommissioned from the Star Army Second Fleet, and the stockpile of ships (many of which had already been mothballed for years in Zero Fleet at Uesureyan Fields) were returned to Nataria Fleet Depot for sale to the public. The civilian modification removed the stealth systems, TTD, weapons, and original generators.

After years of neglect, however, the frigates were saved from destruction by the SMX/Yamatai war. As the resources grew stretched, designers began looking for new ways to recycle older craft. To further the needs of the growing Star Army of Yamatai in this time of war and to fight the growing problem of the SMX dividing Expeditionary Fleets from Hoshi no Iori and other colonized planets, Hakunetsu Sirin asked to utilize the older Ki-F5 light transport ships located at Nataria and refit them with heavy cloaking capabilities to get around possible blockades.

Class: Ke-F8-1a Type: Light Transport Designers: Ketsurui Fleet Yards at Aries Star Fortress Manufacturer: Ketsurui Fleet Yards Production: Around 20 Fielded by: Star Army of Yamatai

Crew: 5 operators. Maximum Capacity: There are accommodations for 10 people. About 30 people can fit aboard in an emergency, but the ship would be extremely cramped.

(Upper module only) Length: 26.5 meters (84 feet) Width: 16.5 meters (54 feet) Height: 3.4 meters (11 feet) Decks: 1 (3 meters each) Mass: 63.9 tons (58,000 kg)

Range: Unlimited Lifespan: 10 Years Refit Cycle: N/A

Although the mast majority of Star Army ships did not carry an avatar onboard, this room is still generally referred to as the avatar room. It contains the ship's core computer systems and 2 control stations for astronavigation, computer, and science functions. The center of the room is a large holographic display of the ship (or a personification of her) or star maps. The avatar room con only be entered through the bridge. Its odd lighting, telepathic radiation, and strange interior can be a most disturbing and psychoactive experience, and is known to alter consciousness. Extra generators, microwave ovens, and hooch distilleries were often added inside.

The barracks contain three triple-stacked beds, a chair, and a desk with a flexible-arm halogen lamp. Sometimes crew members also add a table for playing cards. Fore of the main barracks room is a storage area for the crew's clothing. This area also doubles as an extra sleeping area if there are no beds left available. Walls often decorated with pictures (of friends and memories), paintings (of various subjects), and sagely writing like “54,966th Starborne Infantry will lick you any day” and “Space Insertion-Assume the Position!” (often innuendo).

The control center of the ship, the bridge has five stations in it: Tactical, Defense, Navigation, Engineering, and Operations (the Captain's). indented into the floor is the pilot's pit, a totally immersive omnidirectional control environment. Pilots fly the ships using an advanced neural interface. The cockpit is usually reserved for combat situations, as the ship's computer handles most flight ops.

These rooms in the stern of the ship are used for storing perishable supplies for the ship, and for small cargoes the ship may be assigned to get from point A to point B (like mail).

There is a little alcove in which reside two escape pods. Across is a closet with various survival items and spacesuits. If you are leaving the ship and are likely to be out for a long time, it would be a good idea to grab something out of here.

The galley is labeled as M12 on the map above. It contains a refrigerator, a freezer, a modest electric stove and oven, a Coffee maker, and a food replication device for making food from recycled materials if the stores are depleted. The ship has enough room to carry about two weeks worth of food, and is often supplemented by extra food being stashed around the ship.

Contains 5 beds and tables, separated by hung curtains. Each bed has under it, a large selection of advanced medical equipment.

The ship contains a well-equipped lab capable of biochemistry of xenobiology.

The latrine contains 6 stalls, each with a toilet inside. The toilets also convert into showers (the bowl lowers into the floor and a grating is placed over it), there is also a sink over each unit. An additional large sink is in the center of the latrine, for laundry and heavy washing purposes. The stalls are often another spot where the crew would get creative and decorate the walls.

These two rooms are designed primarily for saving lives, but have many other uses as well, such as other medical procedures, torture, and experimentation. However, most of the time they remain empty. The rooms can clean themselves and sterilize their equipment automatically.

The new module, taking up the lower deck. Contains hyperspace drive, CDD engines (on pylons), a cargo area with a rear loading ramp, landing gear, and aether generators.

There are two stasis rooms, each containing four tubes and racks for OW storage. The tubes are each capable of maintaining a body in stasis indefinitely. These same tubes also have hemosynthetic functions, and can also be used instead for creating people or objects.

Hold 3 torpedoes, on either side of the torpedo tubes, and another three on one side behind, for a total of nine torpedo spots in each. The tubes have trays for “quick loading” (lol, it is manual).

A small room with a series of weapons racks on the walls. The ships usually contained ten GP-5 MASER rifles, 5 energy machine guns, 5 conventional automatic rifles, and heavier equipment, such as mortars, missile launchers and grenades. The armory also carries radio sets, body armor, and helmets, as well as about 50 pistols and 18 bayonets. The armory is protected by an armored door, and cannot be opened by anyone but the Captain. Some civilianized ships were sold with some of the weapons still aboard.

ADN Device: The ADN (A carryover from the Alpha/Delta wave Neutralizer) is a form of psionic protection, capable of nullifying all such activity.

Escape Pods: Four escape pods, each able to hold up to three people, are located onboard, near the engine docks. They are capable of sustaining life for 48 hours and contain 18 standard Star Army rations, a survival kit, a medical kit, and usually some weaponry. The pods also have a stasis function, and can support it occupants in stasis for over a century. The pod contains a homing device, but it must be manually activated.

Lift: The lift is generally for transporting crew from one deck to another, but since the Ke-F8 only has one floor, the lift shaft has no car, and is used instead as the ship's airlock (airlocks are found in bottom decks, which the F8 lacks. The lift is still capable of supporting lift cars, and this ability is used when ships link together (most Star Army ships have standard gauges of lift systems, allowing lift cars to move from ship to ship).

Shield Systems: The Ke-F8 has an good shielding system for its size, relying on an elliptical 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 spaceflight. A third system, the GDF (ground defense field) protects the ship in the atmosphere, using the KEDS-08 Distributed Hull Inertial Redirection System's field to shield the craft from projectile weapons and rain and the like. Everything that comes in contact with the GDF is forced along the shield downward, until it is on the ground. The GDF performs poorly, but noteably, against energy attacks. All of the the shields can take a lot of damage, able to withstand hits from multiple dimensions and types and but are not infallible, and fail after a few good hits.

Torpedo Tubes (2): The only fixed weapons systems of the Ki-F5 are two forward torpedo tubes. The railgun-like tubes are manually loaded, and don't carry a lot of ammunition. Later models were supposed to see replacement of these weapons with energy weapons, but attention was diverted to add-on sections, and the torpedoes were usually teleported, resulting in increased effectiveness. This is not so much of a problem except on the Ki-F5, which lacks both a directed fold cannon and true bottom section.

• Primary Purpose: Anti-starship
• Secondary Purpose: Assault
• Damage: Usually pretty heavy.
• Range: Depends on the torpedo used.
• Warheads: (None provided)
• Rate of Fire: Manually loaded, usually about 15 sec. to reload (with 2 trained crewmen)
• Payload: Up to 9 torpedoes each for a total of 18. Sometimes a few extra were stashed around the ships, but this can be dangerous.

Star Army Weapons Pods: 12 The ship's hull has 7 panels on the upper hull and 5 on the lower hull that can open to reveal small pulse beam pods. The pods are attached to the ship via cables but can float up and down and side to side to increase their range of fire, and to stay out of each other's way. The civilian weapons pods have a maximum output of 500 TeraWatts, and are not specially shield-penetrating. These weapons replaced the original variable weapons turret.