The Avatar of Clang is a heavily modified Hephaestus Class Industrial Vessel purchased and modified by the Shasta No Sekai corporation with the help of local Freespacers to act as a pseudo-military Q-Ship. The reasoning as to why was never truely known and the AoC acts as an ill-advised example of what not to do to a starship to improve its performance in areas it was not designed.

Originally designed as a cargo and freighter ship, it has been transformed into a formidable military vessel capable of taking on blockades and engaging in combat. The modifications made to the ship include enhanced engines, reinforced armor for ramming blockades, missile batteries replacing part of the cargo bay, and weaponized mining lasers. Additionally, the cargo modules have been replaced with deployable drop bays for launching drones or mechs planetside.

The AoC retains its massive size and industrial capabilities but now serves a dual purpose as both a cargo transport and a military vessel for the corporation. Its enhanced speed and power, along with the added weaponry, make it a formidable force in combat situations and making it just a few steps¹⁾ down from being compared to an actual military-grade cruiser.

The key features of the Hephaestus Class Uparmored Q-Ship highlight its transformation from an industrial vessel to a military powerhouse:

• Enhanced engines: The ship's engines have been modified to provide increased power and speed, although this comes with the risk of potential damage to the ships engines and structure.
• Reinforced armor: The vessel's hull has been reinforced with layers of bolted on armor to withstand damage, allowing it to break through enemy lines.
• Missile batteries: Part of the cargo bay has been repurposed to house missile batteries, providing long-range offensive capabilities.
• Weaponized mining lasers: The mining lasers have been upgraded heavily modified and repurposed as powerful weapons, capable of dealing significant damage to enemy targets.
• Deployable drop bays: The cargo modules have been replaced with drop bays, allowing for the deployment of large containers carrying drones or mechs to support ground operations.

The AoC is designed to act as the flagship of the Shasta No Sekai corporation and a supporting vessel for mercenary operations such as those performed by Strays of the Terror Wolf Project. Its capabilities include:

• Blockade penetration: The reinforced armor and enhanced engines enable the ship to ram through blockades and keep up with its accompanying tenders and escort vessels allowing it to move faster and be less predictable than a ship its size might usually be.
• Long-range engagement: The missile batteries provide the ship with the ability to engage enemy targets from a distance, neutralizing threats before they can get too close.
• Ground support: The deployable drop bays allow for the deployment of drones or mechs, providing support during ground operations and enhancing the ship's combat effectiveness.
• Manufactorum: Part of the ship has been transformed into a micro-factory to produce drones used by the Automated Army Project and to make replacement parts for corporation mecha to improve longevity.

The AoC retains the blocky design of its predecessor but now bears the markings of its military modifications. The bolted on reinforced armor plating and added weapon systems give it a more aggressive and imposing appearance.

The transformation of the Hephaestus Class into an uparmored Q-Ship took place in response to the changing needs of the corporation during a time of increased mercenary operations. Recognizing the demand for a versatile and powerful military vessel but not being ablew to afford one outright, SnS decided to repurpose an existing Hephaestus Class Industrial Vessel, leveraging their spacer allies industrial capabilities and making ill-advised modifications to serve as a combat-ready ship. The modifications allowed the AoC to become a valuable asset in mercenary operations, providing support to corporation forces and breaking through enemy blockades.

The AoC retains its massive size and but has undergone significant performance enhancements to meet its new role.

• Class: OH-L1-1A Uparmored Q-Ship
• Type: Uparmored Industrial Vessel / Q-Ship
• Designers: Osman Heavy Industries
• Manufacturer: Osman Heavy Industries
• Fielded by: Shasta No Sekai

Crew: 700 operators are recommended, 200 are required.

Maximum Capacity: There are accommodations for 500 people. About 700 people can fit aboard in an emergency, but the ship would be extremely cramped.

• Length: 1,605 meters (5,265 feet)
• Width: 250 meters (820 feet)
• Height: 233 meters (764 feet)
• Decks: 40 (5.5 meters each)

• Continuum Distortion Drive: 5,000c modified Geshrinari Continuum Distortion Drive
• Hyperspace Fold Drive: 0.15 ly/m with modified Geshrinari Hyperspace Fold Drive
• Sublight Engines: .31c
• Range: Unknown

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

DRv3 Tier: Tier 14 Hull and shields. Heavy armor.

The interior of the AoC is not unlike that of the Hephaestus class with the exception of certain interior modifications to the ship including cramming portions of crew berthing and the cargo hold with aftermarket origin missile bays, the conversion of parts of the ships interior to act as makeshift workshops, etc.

Much of the stock Hephaestus class vessel still remains while some like the former ore bays and parts of the living and cargo arrangements as well as the mining scanner operations have been converted.

Of the three armories to the Hephaestus, each of those on the AoC have been crammed full of weaponry and ordinance and even extended into the frame of the ship and adjacent rooms to support a mercenary operation. They are not nearly as secure and are ill-located for their purposes but can support the often several-hundred drones the corporation might field as well as personal weaponry and trophy/captured arms.

The Bridge of a Hephaestus class is only one of several parts of the ship that are in the tower complex in the fore of the ship. Like the rest of the ship it is utilitarian, with stations for the Captain, section chiefs, and a few other crewmembers. Stations found on the Bridge include the Captain's console, the senior mining officer's console, the navigator's console, and the chief of engineering's console. These consoles allow section chiefs to communicate with their sections of the ship to give commands to their subordinates, or take direct control of certain systems.

The Captain's Suite is large, but not especially lavish. The size of a large apartment, it includes several amenities that the rest of the crew does not enjoy, such as a private bathroom, a full kitchen, an office, and a separate bedroom.

The main cargo storage area for the Hephaestus class is located at the front of the ship. While the Hephaestus class is not a cargo hauler in its base layout, there is ample space for storage in the 200m long by 50m tall by 40m wide cargo bay.

Of the cargo bays to the AoC, some have been converted to act as additonal makeshift workshops and assembly lines with entire walls of fabricators such as Honeycomb Fabricator or even larger are arrayed to build not only the corporations drones but also its weapons, parts for their mechs, and more to support mercenary operations.

Crew cabins on the Hephaestus class are specially designed to offer comfort on long mining voyages. Each houses 2 crew members in a miniature apartment style housing. Each has a common room with a kitchenette, a small bathroom, and two bedrooms.

There are several small recreation rooms throughout the ship They house board games, gaming systems, and projectors for playing media. In addition to this, there is a decently sized gym near the crew quarters. However, most of the large scale recreation facilities are in the ship's tower, including a small movie theater, with four different showrooms, an arcade, and a commissary.

While there are wardrooms along the length of the Hephaestus class, primarily near the crew quarters, but the primary cafeteria on the ship are located in the tower so as to provide the crew with a view of space while they eat and to alleviate feelings of isolation. There are fully stocked kitchens at the main cafeteria, and food is shipped to the wardrooms at the beginning of each 'day' cycle.

The primary engineering space of the Hephaestus class is located near the engine cluster at the rear of the ship. It includes a machine shop inspired by Freespacers automanufactories to create replacement parts for the ship.

Maintenance conduits snake throughout the ship, allowing mechanics and technicians to access and repair systems all across the ship.

The ship's hospital Is a part of the tower, taking up several decks worth of space in the structure. It has the facilities to treat most injuries and diseases but cannot treat anything requiring extremely specialized equipment.

Passageways on the Hephaestus class are fairly large, allowing unrestricted walking even with many people moving through the passages. Special cargo movement passageways exist, connecting locations where large equipment may need to be moved.

A large 55m long by 50m wide by 21m tall shuttle bay sits on the underside of the ship, allowing it to carry shuttles equipped to ferry crew around or mine. In this bay, shuttles are held in adjustable racks while they are being worked on, and each shuttle is given an allowance of space²⁾ to allow for easier maintenance and traffic throughout the bay. The shuttle bay is kept in Zero Gravity.

Once housing the ore module bays, the AoC has been modified to carry six identicle but differently purposed bays on it that match roughly the same diamiter if a bit larger, but use the same hookups and serve different purposed.

Each bay is converted by a large cargo-container like baypod that can house up to five of the corporations sub-heavy mecha and/or a large compliment of drones and/or supporting vehicles.

Each pod is coated with an Boreanium Alloy alloy and have limited manuevering thrusters. They are disconnected from the ship and hurled at a planet, station, asteroid, etc. And can survive re-entry and guide themselves with some limited accuracy to a target area while not shaking or slamming their occupants overmuch in their cradles before their altitude thrusters burn all of their fuel to slow their descent and their armored bottom and frame allow them a rough but surviveable entry before disgourging their occupants groundside.

The pods are not able to fly once grounded but are recoverable later.

Once the portion of the ship is dedicated to the operation of the mining pods, it has now been converted to a makeshift command center to coordinate the corporations Mercenary operations to the degree that parts of the adjacent rooms have been expanded into for all the required equipment.

Walls upon walls of screens, tactical displays, and readouts are present while a cliche but iconic holographic table takes up the center of the room. Most of all this part of the ship houses a The Fae uplink that connects all the way back to the Fae itself on freehold and acts as a beacon for the fae to then transmit to other corporation assets within a system. So long as the AoC is present in a system there is still a connection to the main Fae on freehold.

The Hephaestus is a rugged ship, and has many redundant systems.

The hull of the Hephaestus class is rugged, composed of a 2-meter thick honeycombed structure filled with hardening gel that can seal small to medium-sized hull breaches. The hull structure was developed to make it resistant to hull impacts while mining. The hull has been further reinforced with bolted on Durandium Alloy plating over sensitive areas and heavily on the front and prow of the ship.

The Hephaestus class has a main computer that handles the basic running of life support systems, as well as basic navigational tasks. It has advanced mining sensors that allow it to detect the mineral content of asteroids and planetoids from several AU away. While it does not have combat targeting systems, it does have sensors that can track the mass, heading, velocity, and other characteristics of thousands of low velocity objects such as asteroids, meteors and the like.

The AoC has a dedicated Fairy Ai to run its operations. Her name is Lamda-alpha-alpha-sierra, but she often goes by Lachesis. Lachesis acts as not only the ships dedicated AI but also its captain and even has comendeered the captains quarters for herself despite having a body made entirely up of Mirage Nanites she sometimes takes a Commander-Type drone body much like her elder sister Alpha-Beta to pretend to enjoy the imagined luxury.

The Hephaestus class has emergency damage control systems that can account for impact damage, engine failures, fires and loss of atmospheric pressure through various measures. These measures include bulkhead doors, automated Fire Extinguisher 🧯s and hull sealant gel amongst others.

The life support system of the Hephaestus class is not especially sophisticated, but it is more than capable enough to sustain a 1000 person crew for a year.

Power for the Hephaestus class is provided by two class three and one class four Hyperspace Fuel Taps linked to individual reactors for the sake of redundancy, rather than one large powerplant.

The Hephaestus class uses five class five Vortex Plasma Thrusters to provide its propulsion. Similar to the ship's powerplant, this was done in the name of redundancy.

The Hephaestus has many redundant shield systems, with two emitters each for Electromagnetic shields and Gravitic shields located in the fore, aft, and middle of the starship. This helps to relieve the risk of failure due to impacts. and to share the load of protecting the ships between many emitters, reducing wear.

The Hephaestus has, stock, two large sized Multistruct miners on every industrial module, each of which feeds into ore holds in those modules. The Hephaestus class also has four massive versions of the multistruct, designed especially for mounting only on the Hephaestus class.

While the Hephaestus class has no weapons, its mining beams can be used in an emergency to protect the ship.

• Massive Custom MultiStruct Multitool: 4, Tier 13
• Large MultiStruct Multitool: 16, Tier 7
• 16 Variable Launch Tube each loaded with a OI-Z1b Anti-Ship Cruise Missile (Refit)
• x4 Origin Heavy Laser Turret, forward facing, T-10.

The Hephaestus class carries a shuttle complement, to assist it with mining tasks and with transferring materials and crew.

• x5 Corona Heavy Gunship
• 10 Starbryte

Charmaylarg created this article on 2023/05/17 12:43.