Low-key, unassuming, and underestimated; The Sforzando class of frigate was designed in YE 45 in part by NAMs X-tech division and its lead shipwright Adept as a modern step up and successor to the NaX-SC-01a Malchick Stealth Corvette class of corvette by providing the IPGs black fleet with a vessel able to operate with plausible deniability without the support of SMDIoN warships.

Sforzando BlackOps Frigate
Year Created:	YE 45
Faction:	Democratic Imperium of Nepleslia independent
Designer / Manufacturer:	NAM / Adept Deadweight Shipping
Role:	Stealth Frigate Tramp Freighter
DRv3 Tier:	T-11
Production:	Limited MP

Designed in the early YE 40's as a proposed modernization of the IPG's NaX-SC-01a Malchick Stealth Corvette by NAMs executive shipwright; The Lorath 'Director Ree'Lena “Adept ” Occhestan'. Who proposed an entirely new vessel as compared to a direct modernization of the technology of the Malchick.

With the coordination of NAMs X-tech division, liaisons from the IPGs Black Fleet, and considerable funding from a number of black-budget accounts of the IPG the Sforzando was kept a secret from all records and from all but a few higher-ups with NAM, the IPG, The upper admiralty of the NSN, and a few key senators required for the approval of the project.

Hidden under the guise of a civilian vessel the Sforzando was officially designed by a declining Nepleslian shipping conglomerate known as Deadweight Shipping that operated all across the sector and in many of the governments and factions within. The Company, already on the brink of bankruptcy was subtly bought out at a majority of its shares and turned into an IPG front where it still is allowed to just barely stay afloat to this day.

The Sforzando designed to almost match the profile of one of Deadweights most common light freighters and, given the cover of legitimacy, was slipped onto the companies invoice records for purchases of new ships giving the vessels legitimacy under scrutiny and virtually no paper trail back to either NAM or the IPG.

With legitimacy in place, several lesser-known military shipyards were tasked with a grant for increasing civilian infrastructure in peacetime, and amongst hundreds of other civilian vessels Fifty Sforzando frigates were produced without anyone in the sector the wiser and while in storage fell into the hands of the IPG whose crews, dressed as civilians, flew them off where they remain throughout the Kikyo Sector; Hiding IPG teams within foreign borders while completing sensitive infiltration missions where any military-looking vessel would immediately be spotted.

Disguised as a civilian vessel the Sforzando is anything but. It is, in essence, a wolf in sheeps clothing appearing as nothing more than any of the millions of Nepleslian light freighters that travel in and out of the sector's core every year. Hidden under a worn-looking hull are layers of armor and advanced systems while seeming unassuming the Sforzando has multiple hidden weapon bays that while few in number allow it to punch well above its weight class. All this mixed with powerful engines and stealth systems allow the Sforzando to perform what not even a Malchick or NAM-S1-01a Hray Class Stealth Gunship can not in foreign borders such as dock at starports and stations, or land planetside without being instantly identified as a Nepleslian military vessel.

The Sforzando has both impressive and advanced stealth systems, and several powerful hidden weapons that allow it to either casually infiltrate foriegn space or deliver a powerful sucker-punch against even much larger military vessels before fading away into the background like an assassin in a crowd.

• Stealth Infiltration
• Ambush/Hit-and-run attacks.

The Sforzando is built to look much like a standard light tramp freighter. It is boxy, robust, and simple is design. Much is hidden bellow the surface, however, as engine and thruster units often built on such vessels to compensate for full cargo holds instead hide powerful anti-ship weapons, while hidden turret bays sport the prow and spine of the vessel allowing it to reveal, fire, and then hide its teeth once more or to deploy hidden shuttles or assault craft rapidly on the move before hiding again as just one more beaten and broken down vessel hauling commercial goods and freight at cost.

Only 8 crew are required being that of the pilot, captain, cook, quartermaster, and at least four engineers or maintanence crew. The vessel itself can transport 50 in hidden cryosleeping tubes but has actual boarding for half that at least including the crew.

Likewise there are dedicated cryo pods for prisoners as well as a holding cell that together can transport and additional 10 for a total of 68-70 on the ship.

• Length: 110 meters (360 feet)
• Width: 31 meters (101 feet)
• Height: 27 meters (88 feet)
• Decks: 4
• Crew: 8
• Maximum Capacity: 70

While normally cruising along at much slower speeds to keep the appearence of a beaten and makeshift tramp freighter the Sforzando in actuality matches the speeds of any Nepleslian warship its size on demand, allowing the Sforzando to rapidly outpace pursuers expecting a slow and cumbersome target.

• Continuum Distortion Drive: 21,915c (2.5 ly/h)
• Hyperspace Fold Drive: 525,960c (1 ly/m
• Sublight Engines: 0.375c (112,422 km/s)

On the inside, the Sforzando drops its facade of a tramp freighter and is, in actuality, a full-fledged warship on the inside. Cooridors may seem the same when entering the vessel and the first few rooms may appear to be simple in nature for the purpose of deception while there are even passageways that lead entirely to dedicated ruse rooms but the inside beyond holds an entire warship and the trappings included as such things are too burdensome to attempt to hide. Instead, it is reliant upon the intelligence-operator crew to guard such a secret and use whatever means necessary be it coesion, bribery, or pacification to ensure outsiders never venture too deep or where they should not.

The ship contains a small, externally located bridge on the top of the ship. Its walls are lined with vidscreens and monitors, which the AI is capable of dividing into an almost infinite number of smaller screens upon request. As such, the crew stations are usually simply a desk with a semi chair set up against the station, with workspace being set aside on demand by whoever happens to be working. The floors are carpeted in the standard green of the Star Military of the Democratic Imperium of Nepleslia, with the DIoN emblem stamped in the middle of the lower section of the room.

The higher section contains the captain's seat overlooking all stations, with a posh green seat with a neural interface link similar to those found in many NAM power armors that the captain may use to more directly interface with the ship. The AI will only allow the registered captain or executive of the vessel to access this function.

The sforzando features a centralized Nepleslian Starship Brig near the armory for convenience and features a half dozen cells.

Behind the bridge are a room dedicated to the ships captain. The captains suite is the premium room on any ship. It is akin to a small suite-style apartment with two to three rooms depending on the size of the ship. These rooms come stocked with many amenities

Upon entering, one comes into the captain's private office. This is where the captain meets with crew members privately and does office work. It comes with an ornate wooden desk with several drawers, a desk lamp, a luxurious rolling chair, and two regular chairs. Simple wall hangings and decorations are provided since not every captain in Nepleslia can readily provide furniture and decorations. These can all be replaced if the officer has sufficient personal funds.

Behind this office is a door that leads to the captain's bedchamber. It is a grand room, usually lined with gaudy decorations and cheap purchased imitations of famous artwork. All bedrooms come with wooden flooring as well as a few simple rugs and carpets. The main highlight of the bedchamber is the large, four-poster bed that could easily accommodate two or more occupants.

These decorations can all be replaced at the captain's personal expense.

A small weapons locker is provided for the often expensive personal weapons and armor of a high ranking captain.

Off to one side of the bedroom, usually, the far right corner is a small private bathroom. A shower, sink, mirror, and toilet are all that is provided.

There are four cargo holds at the bottom-center of the ship, each one can hold a huge standard container's worth of cargo. This space is usually given over to food and other perishable supplies. To keep food fresh, all of these cargo holds are refrigerated and kept in vacuum until they are needed. Replacement parts and mechanical components are also stored in airtight containers.

The ship has enough crew cabins for its crew of no more than 25. an additional fifty additional souls through the use of hot bunking. Crew berths are separated between the crew and marines for discipline reasons and two officers quarters off the bridge for the CO/XO.

A crew lounge is located between the marine and naval crew's cabin berths containing a large Wardroom to act as meeting halls and recreation in the form of large attendance movie viewings and as an emergency triage.

While appearing beaten up on the outside of the vessel the Sforzando has all the service amenities to provide for its crew like any vessel. It lacks neither in its culinary nor dining apparatus and is large enough on both ends to provide for a fully-crewed vessel with all operators woken from cryo and active but not so large as to make it cumbersome to cook for the minimal set crew.

A single mess hall borders a small and spartan galley on this ship. The mess hall contains several screens showing relevant data and information transmitted by the ACE AI as well as holographic projectors to manifest the ACE in holographic form when the need arises.

A sizable and impressive kitchen is present in this ship for its size and is able to house individuals trained in the culinary field at numbers no more than five. Large island tables for work surfaces, Entire walls of ovens, steamers, kettles, tilt skillets, fryers, stoves, and other such culinary devices are present with dishwashing and sanitary spaces enough for a number of washers to keep up with the pace of a half hundred hungry souls daily. As well as the utensils required to cook and prepare them.

In addition, several freezers and coolers are present and labeled for their purposes from deep freezing perishable rations to coolers and produce chillers to even a wine cooler for officers and enlisted alcohols.

Finally, a deep berthing space is allotted under the kitchen for emergency rations and storage and is temperature-controlled. In case of disaster or emergency, this space and those of the other temperature-controlled spaces in the galley can be used to store the dead until they can be cloned in the medical bay.

The ship features a large engineering section located in the rear of the ship behind the bridge but with quick and easy access to all parts of the ship's main corridors and thoroughfares through passageways and elevators. The ship's engineers are responsible for the maintenance of the ship's mechanical and electrical systems as well as the AI. Damage control teams also congregate here for assignments during battle.

Maintenance conduits run through the ship and are only accessible through sealable bulkheads. These conduits can either be really hot and stuffy or extremely cold and possibly airless. As a result, most crewmen wear EVA suits where possible into the cold areas. However, for access to the hot and humid areas, most crewmen choose to strip down.

The ships medbay is located in the center of the ship for the convenience of the crew. It borders on the main mess-hall in case of emergencies to hold and triage wounded and use the tables for operating theaters.

Two Twinmaker cloning vats are adjacent on either side of the medbay to allow dedicated cloning of deceased marines or personnel.

The ship features standard hallways. These can be sealed off in sections with airtight doors.

On the lowest levels of the ship, positioned alongside the Power Armor bays in the lower decks on the ship. It contains enough firepower to arm a significant force for several engagements and scenarios. Here is where operators gather to maintain, service and store their weapons assisted by junker drones.

The Armory would contain the following:

The armory also contains multiple utility weapons such as grenades, knives, and axes as well as armor enough for every marine onboard and suits for the tank crew and corona crew.

Powered armor weapons are stocked on a case by case basis.

See NAM Plasma Lance Cannon On the top spine of the ship, the ship carries one forward PLC in a covered and hidden bay that can fire in a 270-degree arc anywhere inftont of or to the sides of the ship.

• Amount: One
• Primary Purpose: Anti-Ship, anti armor
• Damage: T-12 heavy Anti-starship
• Range: 800,000 +/- kilometers
• Rate of Fire: 20 Second Beam, 'Lance' 12 Rounds Per Minute/Every 5 Seconds

The ship contains two Curbstomper bays with one on each upper flank of the ship with six torpedo tubes each allowing for one consecutive torpedoes before requiring a reload.

see NAM Na-LRMS-XX "Curbstomper" Long-Ranged Missile System

• Amount: Two (1×6 torpedo tubes)
• Primary Purpose: Anti-ship
• Damage: T-8/T-9
• Range: limited only by speed (18,000c)

The ship contains four tubes for the harder-hitting Suplex cruise missiles hidden in one of the false secondary engines for when the Curbstompers simply aren't enough to cripple or kill its target.

See NAM 'Suplex' Joint Strike Cruise Missile JScM-01a

• Amount: Four (1×4 torpedo tubes)
• Primary Purpose: Anti-ship
• Damage: T-11
• Range: 23,383,811 kilometers.

In the false-engine opposite the hidden torpedo tubes in a single deployable anti-ship mass driver allow the Sforzando to punch above its weight briefly for surprise attacks. Being locked in place and forward facing it is not a reliable weapon for a firefight and is only intended for surprise attacks against other vessels.

See NAM "Svarog" Anti-Ship Mass Driver AShMD-01a

• Amount: One
• Primary Purpose: Anti-ship
• Damage: T11-13
• Range: .5 AU

see NAM Na-DSA-XX Directed Scalar Array

Mounted at the font of the ship, A directed scalar array helps protect the ship from incoming threats like approaching fighters. The scalar array targets detected craft or munitions en route to the ship and can be used to fry unprotected technology like targeting sensors on munitions on or fired by a fighter or enemy craft that may otherwise be unprotected by any protective sensors on the craft.

The scalar array is a directed weapon and can not target more than one craft at a time.

• Amount: One
• Primary Purpose: Anti-fighter
• Secondary Purpose: Sensor disruption
• Damage: Destroys electronics, kills animals, and detonates ordinance.
• Range: 1 AU

On the back and spine of the ship, several countermeasure dispensers are present in the case of missile or guidance based attacks threaten the ship. Each belonging to the Na-V6-M3700 "AEGIS" Active Missile Guardian/Interception Suite. The ship uses the Hyperspace fuel tap flare and Anti-radar chaff systems from the Aegis countermeasure suite.

• Range: 325 meters (~0.202 miles)
• Rate of Fire: 2 charges/second
• Payload 12 charges/launcher

• Range: 325 meters (~0.202 miles)
• Rate of Fire: 2 charges/second
• Payload 12 charges/launcher

The ship contains very easy-to-produce communications systems on the front hull that cover the basics (subspace and radio) and provide an acceptable amount of security. In an emergency, the communications system can act as a low-resolution sensor system by using the receiver to pinpoint radio or subspace transmitters much in the same way that human ears pinpoint sounds.

The ship has an efficient shielding system, relying on a 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 flight. Both of the shields can take a lot of damage but are not infallible, and fail after a few good hits.

The gunship is 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.

A by-product of antigravity (repulsion) technology, the damper shield has been heralded as the best defense against scalar electro-gravitational pulse weaponry, which is notorious for its 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.

A Black Veil is installed on the ship to help with its electronic protection and detection from hostile ships and forces.

see Na-M/V-E4100 Black Veil Electronic Warfare Suite

The underside of the ship contains a loud sound system with three speakers hooked directly into the cockpit’s communication system and radio. The speakers are operated by a dial in the cockpit that allows the pilot to change the input settings.

Designed for a quick inspection of ships the multi-dimensional density scanner takes precise gravitational readings at various points in space using a combination of a gravity sensor and the ship’s own hyper pulse drive. The result is a quick 3d mapping of an object or planet surface with density measurements displayed.

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 sublight 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.

The ship contains a massive collection of different types of massed sensors that when combined help it detect seemingly hidden vessels and craft in the ship's proximity for up to 150,000km with more accuracy and detection capability the closer the ship is to a hidden target. The system works much in the same purpose as ancient sonar and is directed around the ship in all directions and resounds back results to the ship in an active or passive sensor mode with the former being considerably more effective, but disrupting other nearby ships sensors while the passive is simply always scanning but at the reduced range and effect.

The sensors are tuned to include such things as extremely specific vibrations from most types of known stealth materials as well as pockets of no resistance where smart materials allow sensors to effortlessly glide over them, low aetheric signatures, low-frequency band communications, areas of high-processing and low yield like that of a passive or active AI, engine or power source vibration, thermal and weapon signatures from powered weapons and shields, electrostatic fields, InterNep and Megami links, groups of telepathic-electric signals, etc.¹⁾

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 a false sense of gravity that permeates the ship.

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 powered armor to fly out into space at their convenience. The bays also open out which slope down and touch the ground when the ship is landed, allowing troops to disembark.

The ship features a small array of NSMC use power armors for marine use, Attached to the shuttle bay and elevator bay. It is easily accessible by any marine as the frames are each locked in a small bay locked to the bulkhead of the ship and doesn't hinder the marines in any way such as being bottlenecked to enter a dedicated armory.

The power armor bay contains the following to outfit its marine detail:

The ship contains two sheltered shuttle bays hidden on the side of the ship that can rapidly open and deploy or recover a shuttle, fighter, or simular craft and is protected by armored doors and shields. The shuttle contains each one shuttle or fighter the size of a Na-S/Sh-01 Zachitnik-class Shuttle and comes with two per ship unless alternatives are desired.

The ship can carry two of any of the following:

• Na-S/Sh-01 Zachitnik-class Shuttle
• Na-F/A-6(b) "Sabre" Multirole Fighter/interceptor
• Corona Heavy Gunship

Or similarly purchased or designed craft.

Charmaylarg created this article on 2023/03/20 07:36.

approved here by wes.