The basic Equine is small, as far as Cargo Ships go, but sufficiently large for the needs for the average merchant. It contains two cargo bays and a living section, and that’s pretty much it. It relies upon simplistic but highly reliable technology. The Alucard expands on this, however, and turns the Equine into a basic, yet versatile, salvage vessel with limited rescue and medical capabilities.

NovaCorp (original) Yuki Toshiro (Refit) No-L1-1a No-L1-1a - Equine Small Cargo Ship Variant “Alucard”

(Based directly on Equine data and to a degree Yggdrasill data)

The Alucard was once an ordinary Equine owned by Ken Miller, a broken down old clunker given to him as a parting gift from KFY, when he met Yuki Toshiro. Toshiro gave him a job and pay, and Ken gave him the Equine, because it was simply not within his means to maintain, and he wanted a Vampire anyway. Having already refitted a Vampire into a successful salvage design, Toshiro thought about turning the Equine into a support and salvage vessel. After some salvage and work, the Alucard changed from an old clunker to an interesting and customized vessel, based on Yggdrasillian technology. While not as advanced or as powerful as the SRSS Yggdrasill, the Equine can still salvage a good deal of items, and is more agile than a normal ship in a debris field. The SRSS Yggdrasill, however, beats it hands down.

People/Organizations Using This Vessel: Yuki Toshiro Type: Small Civilian Cargo Ship Class: Cargo carrier No-L1-1a Custom Designer: Original: NovaCorp Refit: Yuki Toshiro Manufacturer: Original: NovaCorp Refit: Yuki Toshiro

Crew: 1 minimum, usually 2 in total each with a shift. Maximum Capacity: The ship could hold eight to ten people in rather cramped conditions, is made to sleep two but could sleep three. If the cargo bays carry people, a great many more can be slept. Appearance: The Alucard, like all Equines, is a large looking ship, bulky and with multiple angular points sticking out from the main body. At the back there are two large bay doors. On top is the QuickDock and Grappler. The front has a grill for easy access to various systems, and “headlight-esque” protrusions which act as sensors and boost the shielding system.

Length: 55m Width: 11m Height: 10m Decks: 2 Storage capacity: 1920 meters cubed in the two storage bays.

Speed (STL): 0.075c. Speed (FTL): 450c Speed (Aerial): Mach 3. Speed (Water): 20 knots.

Range (Distance): Two months of travel. Range (Support): Two months. Lifespan: Fifteen years before serious overhaul. Refit Cycle: It’s made to not require refits.

Cargo Bay: There are two cargo bays on the Alucard, one on each deck, each one measuring forty meters long by eight meters wide by three meters high. Unlike in a normal Equine, access to these bays is always available, even in flight.

Cockpit: At the very front of the ship lies the cockpit, where the pilot (and if it’s preferred, co-pilot too) work from. The rather small cockpit is dominated by the large screen which takes up the front wall and is used for visual displays. Each of the two fully adjustable chairs is behind a console with easy to use controls and a joystick. A basic tutorial program is loaded in to the computer. The Cockpit is in the top half of the front of the ship.

Access Hub: This is just a fancy name for the hallway. The starboard side goes to the stairs to Deck 2, and a pathway to the upper cargo bay. Port goes to the Airlock. The Quick Dock is directly above, accessible by a ladder, as well as a hydraulic lift. The Cockpit and Medbay open into this hallway.

Medbay: Across the Hall from the Cockpit, and easily accessible from both the docking port and QuickDock is the medbay, which has basic medical support for injured rescued. Working with the Environmental Control, temperature and oxygen levels are tightly regulated. The Alucard’s medical bay can be oxygenated to an extra 10% of normal air content, and it can also be dropped in temperature, to act as a makeshift morgue. This medbay, unfortunately, is relatively small.

Quarters: For the pilot, and any crew the he happens to be carrying, this is the place where both the living and the sleeping take place, a room consisting of two beds built in to the walls, a table and two chairs. To portside there is a corridor leading to a maintenance conduit, replacing the access point in the cramped restroom, and providing access to the Subdeck. To the starboard side is a set of stairs to Deck 1, and a pathway to the lower cargo bay. At the rear there are two more rooms.

Toilet: The starboard room is the toilet which is a cramp space that consists of a toilet and a hand basin built in to the wall. The door has a lock with an occupied sign.

Storage Compartment: The port room which is equal in size to the toilet which consists of a number of shelves and drawers which can be filled with whatever the crew feel likes.

Engine Crawlspace: This space is accessed from the maintenance conduit on Deck 2. It allows for Engine maintenance, but is too small to qualify as its own deck space.

Hull: This ship's armor is composed of foamed thorium-titanium to create a strong heat resistant surface.

Airlock System: The airlock lies on the side of the ship and consists of a simple compartment between two airtight doors with an extendable tube (with a section zone around the opening) on the outside.

Cargo Airlock: Unlike normal Equines, the Alucard possesses an airlock at the Cargo Bay entry points. This allows the Alucard to load and unload in space, deploy power armors, etc. The airlock has ceiling tracks built in to support internal overhead industrial grapplers.

Yggdrasillian Grappler: The Alucard has affixed to it a single Yggdrasill-style grappler, with three armature joints, five omni-directional and rotary digits, electrodes in each digit, and a Pulser and Graviton Beam Projector in the palm. The grappler can reach past the front, back, and sides of the vessel, and also reach above and below. 360 degree by 360 degree coverage is possible. the Grappler takes up one hardpoint. While traditionally on the top of the Alucard, it can be attached to any one of the twelve hardpoints, though changing the location is a major endeavor..

The Grappler is controlled by a simple computer system added to the pilot's station, and is largely automated. Manual override is achieved by slipping on a sensory glove onto the hand to grab, punch, shock, push, pull, or pulse. Often, this feature is used to insult nearby ships when Yuki Toshiro isn't watching the pilot's actions too closely…possessing a ship that can make obscene gestures to other vessels at the spaceport occasionally grants bragging rights in certain circles. However, the Alucard, only having one grappler can't manage the “double deuce” that is within the Yggdrasill's power.

Grappler Digit Electrodes (5): Each finger on the Alucard’s grappler possesses an electrode which appears as a claw. These are used to power damaged devices that may have their own thrusters and be too large to store, or to weld damaged components, such as ship hulls or circuitry, even those of the ship they are equipped on. The Alucard, with the grappler, can do a respectable deal of repair work in a relatively swift amount of time…as long as it is done manually. Usually, Power Armors are more prudent. Due to various welding needs, current and voltage can also be calibrated dynamically by computer or tactile control. The grappler computer system can communicate with the ship’s sensors for this task, and if repairing the Alucard itself, it can access the ship’s own schematics and internal sensor system, even polling affected systems to determine status and engaging automated repairs.

The electrode “claws” can also be used as a mecha disabling feature or weapon. If an electrode is used on a Mecha or Power Armor not designed to protect against excessive electrical voltage or current, the electrodes can damage or fry the control system of a mecha. If the pilot is using a sort of neural interface, such as SLICS or SPINE, the nervous system of the pilot can be critically damaged. However, most Mechas with a type of neural interface are military-made, and likely of a high enough quality to properly shield their pilots’ nervous systems from electrical attack. It is still a dangerous system, in any regard.

Grappler Pulser (1): The grappler arm has a Pulser in the digit armature, where the “palm” would be in a hand. This can be used for applying wide pulses of energy to push larger debris chunks or asteroids, be it for searching for materials, carrying an object of larger mass than the ship itself to a nearby location in the same star system, or more narrow blasts used to crack or blast apart large targets. This is good for mining purposes, as well as clearing wreckage for larger ships in a rescue effort. Of course, this can also be used in a weapons capacity, as omni-directional blasters to protect the ship, which can redirect their position and angle rapidly by allowing the grappler computer to communicate with the targeting system (This is the only way the grapplers can be used as a weapon while the Alucard’s shields are engaged). Also, if the grapplers manage to grab a mecha in battle, and the electrodes do not paralyze the mecha, a point-blank blast could deal considerable damage. Like the other YGS parts, this has several dynamic attributes, such as intensity, frequency, and focus/beam width, and is controlled manually by a tactile system, or much more often by the grappler computer system.

It has been determined that the “pushing” action of the Pulser can also become a makeshift shield that defends the digits and “palm” assembly of the grappler. However, while engaged in pushing/shield mode, no electrode or melee functions can take place. The Pulser, however, can switch frequencies, focus, and energy output relatively quickly, switching the Pulser from pulse mode to blast mode very quickly. The result is a shielding system which can block an attack and fire a blast literally as soon as the attack has been halted, possibly with a physical reaction time on the order of microseconds when controlled by the grappler computer system. In addition, in emergencies where conventional communications systems are jammed, the Pulser can be used on maximum focus arc, low energy amplitude to send out a frequency modulated signal, capable of encryption, not dissimilar to FM radio. However, this is a not a faster-than-light communications system, and at this time, is almost unique to vessels with Yggdrasillian technology. This communications system is called YEPCS (Yggdrasill Emergency Pulser Communications System, pronounced “yep-kiss”).

Dynamic Thruster Drive: Due to the nature of debris field and asteroid belt navigation, the Alucard has been fitted with a network of small front, rear, lateral, dorsal, and ventral thrusters. These thrusters permit very swift and erratic, yet calculated movement both on the job and in battle. The Alucard, as such, can move in a somewhat unpredictable manner. In addition, if ever needed, the ventral thrusters can be used to achieve vertical landing and take-off. The grappler is also fitted with DTD thrusters to add to its speed, though it is not its sole means of movement.

Shuttle QuickDock (1): Also on the ship is a self-resizing docking hatch and a generic anchoring mechanism. This is for the fast docking of shuttles and smaller vessels, and connects right above the rear of the bridge. Using this, the Equine can carry a shuttle of its own, but should the shields fall; the shuttle is exposed and unprotected…though close to the grappler.

In the event of a boarding through the QuickDock, the QuickDock can be depressurized or completely jettisoned. The QuickDock takes up one hardpoint and one pre-installed hatch. It is above the rear of the bridge and is fixed in location.

QuickDock in use with a Forin Shuttle, the SRSS-001-1 “Helsing”

Unidirectional Gravitational 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 the false sense of gravity that permeates the ship. While this is even more important with the added thrusters and the dynamic nature of the ship’s navigation, it is not as carefully regulated or controlled as that of the Yggdrasill. Due to the added thruster systems which permit the Alucard to navigate asteroid belts and debris, acceleration and jerk forces sometimes comes into play. Due to this, the UGP system has been designed with this in mind, a simpler mirroring of the Yggdrasill’s, including a dynamic range of force in multiple sections of the Alucard to counteract the movement of the ship. The cargo bays, which can contain all manner of cargo, have an interesting grid-like system implemented where several Gs of force can be applied to a specific object in the bay to fix it in place, though the grid is not as fine as the Yggdrasill’s. Gravity can be lessened in a localized area as well as increased, assisting the moving of cargo. Due to the need of the UGP to operate effectively, and nearly simultaneously, with the ship’s Dynamic Thruster Drive, the interface between the UGP computer and the DTD computer is perhaps the most bandwidth-intensive on the entire ship. The Grappler also possesses components directed by both the DTD and the UGP system, allowing the movement of the ship to assist, rather than hinder, the movement of the grapplers. The results are above adequate.

Cargo Bay Grapplers: A smaller and simpler version of the grappler exists in the cargo bay, allowing the ship to automatically sort cargo and obtain weight data on the cargo, even shifting loads and sending such data to the DTS and UGP systems for thrust and gravity calculations. The armatures lack the combat abilities of their external cousin, but are not on a fixed point, either. Aided by antigravity devices, they travel by following rails on the ceiling, with altitude adjustment possible as needed. This is also the system used to compute the weight of cargo, and permits loading to be done by the ship’s computer autonomously. The grapplers are three-digit, omni-opposable, with three digit joints and two armature joints. They can also transfer over to the shuttle bays as needed. There are four such cargo grapplers, two in each bay, which can work independently or together. They can lift up to 2,000kg unassisted, 4,000kg in pairs.

Subspace Mass Sensors: 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.

Environmental Systems: The environmental systems are rather simple, basically just taking the air out of circulation, recycling it a little and feeding more in from the stored air supply. There are also options for injecting additional gasses from alternate takes in specific areas, but this requires the authorization of the Captain and/or XO.

This is a recess in the wall of the quarters which dispenses food and water, if the crew didn’t bring food independent of that. The food is a form of tasty and highly nutritious soup, and the water is near ice cold water. They’re served in to stored bowls and cups – placing them back in the recess has them taken away into a sliding panel and cleaned.

Sensor and Computer Systems: The sensors and computer systems on the Equine are extremely simple, consisting of basically a navigation computer and radar.

Energy Shield: This relatively simple shield is designed to defend the ship against interstellar dust and also defend against the possible pirates and enemy fire. Normal Equines can only absorb 800 gigawatts per square meter. This has been successfully fine-tuned to produce 1 terawatt of output in the Alucard.

Computer System: The computer system of the Equine is not made to be brilliant; it is a non-quantum sub-AI which is very good at navigation but little else.

Radar: Works simply upon sending out radio signals and relying upon their bouncing off an object to tell the ship where it is. The range is limited to the speed of light.

Subspace radar: Pretty much the same thing, but in subspace. The range is one light year.

Graviton Beam Projector (1): This device creates a stream of gravitons which can be used to tow other spacecraft or shuttles. The projector is ineffective against ships using gravitonic shielding.

Radio: Limited to light speed.

Laser: Good for covert signaling. Limited to light speed.

Subspace: Good for Faster than Light communication. The range is ten light years.

YEPCS: Good for point-to-point or omni-directional signaling. Limited to light speed and Yggdrasillian vessels with Pulsers. As such, it is largely non-standard and not easy to decode.

Laser Turrets (2): Basic laser turrets mounted one per side, close to the front of the vessel. Each takes one hardpoint.

There are eight remaining hardpoints to which weapons could be attached if wished.

Hull: 3 Shields: 4 Grappler: 1 Electrodes: 2 Pulser: 3 Laser Turrets: 3 Item Capacity: 60 Items

This article was created by Toshiro. It was approved by Wes on November 22, 2006: Approval Thread