Designed in a time when commerce was not traded up for weapons power and crew capacity, the Type 124 was a common sight amongst the space trade routes. Though small in stature and cargo capacity, the Type 124 was commonly nicknamed the 'Nerimium Bullet' because of its light coat of Nerimium armor and its speed as compared to other period freighters. Years passed, and the 124 dissappeared into history. A few years passed, and a NAM consultant happened upon the schematics and liked them, putting it into production.
The original design was pioneered by a L.T Brewster, a freelance freighter in need of a ship with speed and maneuverability. Ketsuko labored day and night at the drawing board, running his house out of every paper he could find, until finally he obtained his desired design; scrawled on the back of a napkin.
The following day Brewster brought his napkin-back design before NAM who put the design in pending. Four months passed before Brewster recieved notification that his craft had begun trials, and another month before the design was approved. From there, he went on to purchase the first commercially marketed 124. The rest is history.
Organizations Using This Vessel: Civilian usage, sparse use by the Star Army of Nepleslia
Type: Freighter
Class: 120 Series of LEF (Light Escort-Freighters)
Designer: Louis Teague Brewster
Manufacturer: NAM
Production: Quota of 100 (Currently 15 completed)
Crew: Minimum 6, Maximum 30
Positions:
Comms Expert(s)
Engineer(s)
Gunner (s)
5 Ship Officers (Captain, Navigator, and the Medical, Weapons and Engineering advisors.)
Pilots: N/A
Maximum Capacity: 30 when cargo bay fully loaded; 45 when empty.
Appearance: The 124 has a distinct shape all its own; with a wide, elliptical, rounded body and double-pronged bow. Inbetween both prongs is the small, flat window that protects the cockpit, set back into the fuselage behind a retractable blast shield used to protect the cockpit and its occupants from UV radiation, incoming fire, meteorites and other nasties. The blast shield itself is the most pricy of the items- most of the time it is manufactured Yamataium alloy, but a few rare cases have seen expensive, nigh impenetrable Yarvex or even Zesuaiaum alloy blast shields. The weapons stations are located in the tip of either prong and around the already vulnerable standard engines. There is also a pair of wing-like projections which are also protected by Yamataium alloy blast shields covering six pulse-ion drive 'booster' engines built in for compensation of lack of CDD and Hyperspace fold capabilities.
Length: 400-410 feet
Width: 600-610 feet
Height: 20 Feet
Decks: 1 (2 if you count cargo containers which can be attached via magnetic clamps)
Mass: 600 tons
Speed (STL): .225c w/o IPD boosters, .275 w/ IPD boosters
Speed (CDD): n/a
Speed (Hyperspace Fold): n/a
Range: 9,000-10,000 light years (9k- w/o IPD boosters, 10k w/ IPD boosters)
Lifespan: 80 to 90 years, depending on its captain.
Refit Cycle: Once every 5-6 years
Sublight Engine: Speed (in c) x 100- 200
Ion Pulse Boosters: 50 x # of boosters- 300
Main Gun Battery: 25 x DR- 100
Secondary Guns: 10 x DR- 40
Point-Defense Guns: 1 x DR- 4
Main Generator: 400
Secondary Generators: 400 (1 in either prong)
Environmental Systems: 45
Computers: 200 (1 main, 1 backup)
Armor Plating: 200 (50 for main armor plating, extra 50 per blast door)
Sensor Array: 100
Shield System: 400 (2 shield generators, 1 as a backup for the others)
Nanotech systems: 100
Bridge
Bridge blast shield
Booster blast shield (L and R wings)
Engine blast shield
Prong tips (Secondary Generator housing)
2500 RP (rounded up from 2489- hey, you have to have taxes)
The Geographical Center of the ship is a massive pillar of wires and consoles forming the main computer and communications systems. At the stern of the ship is the engine room; where the large 'bar engine' is implanted into the ship. For easy access there are several doors. At the bow of the main fuselage is the bow which is awkwardly wedged between the two prongs. The left prong houses one secondary generator the crew quarters; the right prong houses the other secondary generator and the officer quarters. Directly outside each prong are the public bathrooms (when people are out roaming and can't make it back to their quarters), and the medical bays. From the left prong there is the mess hall and recreation room. Inbetween the med lab and the rec room is the direct access hatch to the left IPD container. On the right side, there is the armory and computer room, plus access to the cargo rooms and mag clamps which are used to store- yep, you guessed it- more cargo containers. There is the armory in each of the cargo rooms, but because of the easy access hatches on the outside of each cargo rooms, invaders can easily break into them and steal them- if they can make it through the cargo containers and survive the Induced Vacuum.
The deck is built to conserve the most amount of space for cargo storage while keeping the crew comfortable. Meaning there are many stretches of wide open hallways and only a few enclosed spaces and hatches. However, the hallways have very little carpeting, so it makes footsteps a lot louder, which is both a blessing and a curse.
The compartments all have at least one rounded wall and are smaller than normal, with the biggest parts of the craft being the cargo holds and the mess halls.
The armory comes stocked with the bare necesseties for defending the ship for those who don't carry weapons with them- namely solid-round pistols, light rifles and grenades, and at least 5 of each. Whoever doesn't get a weapon fast enough either has to scramble through corpses or fend for themselves.
The bridge is a long, white-washed, crescent moon-shaped structure placed into the crotch of the two prongs. The bridge, remarkably, does not house the main computer; however, all computers in the bridge rout to the primary and secondary computers. The captain sits in the center of the room on a slightly elevated platform where, if needed, there is a manual over-ride console for the whole of the ship's vehicle controls. Also, direct control of lockdown protocol and blast shield extension/retraction. There is a specific arrangement of everything there. In the center of the room, just in front of the captain's chair on the floor is a projector and a map of the galaxy showing all known trade routes and planets.
The captain's suite is the epitome of opulence, decorated with antique hardwood walls, plush carpeted floors, and a fully-stocked mini-bar. The whole room exhorts an air of richness.
The cargo storage areas are located on either side of the engine room. They are the two largest rooms in the ship, with shining silver walls and an echo copied only by a canyon or large palace. it is bare except for the small lockers that serve as the armory.
Each crewman's quarters has a small closet which uses hydraulics to slip into the floor, a one-bunk bed, a television set and a small viewport. Obviously, there is a little room to place personal belongings where-ever they need to be placed.
Officer compartments are more opulent, with a mini-fridge and a small bar stocked with a few types of alcohol. The walls of all cabins contain small fold-out shelves to provide extra storage.
The Rec room is located to the left of the mess hall and contains ping-pong tables, video game players, a large TV screen used for movies and TV, and a fully-stocked bar.
Engineering is fully stocked and contains MIG welders, TIG welders, plasma torches, wrenches, screwdrivers, WD-40, duct tape, pliers and other things necessary for repairing this piece of machinery.
Maintenance Conduits are located on every node on the fuel cells in the crawlspace below the floor which supplies fuel to the engines, at the rear of the ship where the bar engine meets the inner hull and on each IPD booster where the fusion chamber attaches to the ion charger.
The medical center comes fully stocked with any types of equipment used to reattach lost limbs, treat 1st-3rd degree burns, and practically (though not really) bring the dead back to life. The laboratory is equipped with an electron microscope and a host of machines used for making discoveries while preserving a lot of space.
The passageways are bare and barren, with only polished steel floors and foreboding silver walls passing through. In some hallways, namely the ones towards the center of the ship, wires run un-enclosed along the upper edges of the hallways.
N/A
There are no shuttle bays, only small docking bays on the IPD booster nodules and escape pod launchers on the underside of the craft accessible by a hole in the crawlspace.
The wardroom is also the bridge; though the only 'war' thing about it is the large holographic map.
The shield generator and comms mast are built into the hull but protected by thick armor with a lot of ventilation. The armor is thickest here and only the most powerful weapons can blow through it. The hull itself isn't much- made of Neridium polished to a nickle-esque shine, though most of the time ships have been painted greys, whites and blacks to blend in with the rest of space while saving the money it would take to install stealth panels.
Computers come equipped with an automatically-updating ship's log and auto-pilot function; and an automatic self-destruct sequence for when the hull is compromised in most places. The electronics are often somewhat strange when it comes to lighting, but there is a manually-activated sequence for total shutdown of the ship, with only life support systems online.
The emergency systems included with the 124 are small, tin can-shaped escape pods with no engines and life support for a day, give or take a few seconds, and a parachute for atmospheric entry. The vehicle is designed to fall apart upon entry.
Life support is located on the left prong below the cabin closest to the front of the prong. It supplies oxygen via large tubes running through the space between the inner and outer hulls of the ship.
The propulsion system is one large pulse-ion 'bar' engine, nicknamed because of the shape- a long, flat bar, much like a neon light in a classroom.
The shields are light enough to keep defended for most weapons systems but not enough to defend from heavy weapons.
The 124 mounts 4 point defense weapons, mainly rapid fire machine guns mounted at the tip of each prong, with two at each tip. It also mounts four secondary weapons- light missile launchers and chainguns serving as the secondary defense grid- at the base of each prong. Finally, it mounts four heavy uranium 'slug guns' as main weapons on the main body of the ship.
-4 rapid fire machine guns (two at the tip of each prong)
-4 chaingun/missile launchers (two at the base of each prong, near the bridge)
-4 uranium 'slug guns' (two near the bow, one at the gap between the 'wings' and the hull)