|
|
A story continuation
by Charles L. Dalmas |
|
Late in the fifth decade of the 28th century, when Alexander Kerensky saw the writing on the wall, and Amaris was collecting his power for his final surge towards power, he initiated a secret program. Unfortunately, his lack of sufficient funding and Amaris's lightning attempts to grab power altered his plans, and he immediately began planning the Exodus, and his secret project was forgotten.
Not, however, by the people who were executing this project. they went on as before, blissfully unaware that anything had changed. A group of 1000 of the best scientists in the Inner Sphere were sent to a remote, airless world in the deepest reaches of the Periphery, beyond the limits of the Magistracy of Canopus. there, they were to build a new Capital Ship class, called the Tirpitz.
This new ship was to be able to single handedly subdue any battle to which it was sent. It was immense in size, dwarfing even the SLDF McKenna and Texas Class ships. Obviously, a ship of this size and power would be beyond the cost of even the most well off Empire. so, Kerensky ordered that the ship be assembled piecemeal, a little at a time, as the parts could be afforded. This way, the ship could be built slowly, without any massive drain on the economy of the Inner Sphere.
After the Exodus, these scientists, and the 100,000 workers that were sent along, kept building, even after they learned of the Exodus, and the resulting chaos that ruled the Inner Sphere for almost 4 centuries. They saw it as their duty to continue Kerensky's secret vision indefinitely, indeed, as long as it look to build the great ship.
Technology, though, began to peter out midway through the First Succession War, and the parts they needed for most of the ship's power systems became scarce at best, and extinct, at worst. They then sputtered along as best as they could, a completely self sufficient colony whose people, and their descendants, kept up the work.
Although the technology was scarce, they managed to acquire it piecemeal through finding caches of Star League equipment and through salvaging the remnants of battles. These men and women intermingled in the Inner Sphere from their hideaway and no one was the wiser.
It took a long time for them to even approach completing the ship, since the technological equipment needed was no longer common, nor even available. Now that that technology has been available for quite some time, they have finished the project, over 400 years after Kerensky gave the order to begin the project.
Their fortune has not all been good, however. In fact, it has been disastrous. The colony became inbred after such a long separation from the Inner Sphere as a whole, even given the size of the population (which was always around 100000)...this genetic similarity spelled their doom when one of them (who was on a supply run to the Capellan Confederation) contracted a virulent substrain of the flu. He unwittingly brought it back with him to the colony, and in a matter of months, it had killed all of them.
How this frightening event was possible no one knows...perhaps it was a genetic defect in one of the members of the population some years ago that flowered in the present generation? No one knows for sure, but all of the colonists are dead, and only the intense dedication and purpose (along with the ship) remain of their legacy.
Pilots in the employ of DBX Industries were exploring the Magistracy's outskirts early in 3059 on a scouting mission for the Magistracy's government when they discovered the deserted colony and the great, massive ship that still orbited the planet. Sending a team down to the hostile world to investigate, they found what was left of the colonists' thriving society underground, and the plans for the orbiting super-dreadnought.
They also found the history of the colony notated in heart-wrenching detail. Immediately, the reported back to Headquarters by secure communication. A team of military historians, tacticians, and Naval Personnel was sent to investigate the ship, which had the designation Tirpitz stenciled in DropShip high letters on the prow.
What they found was staggering, including bits of new technology even the Clans had not found. The ship could operate at sub-light velocity indefinitely because of its radical engine design. Huge vents under the hull on the forward part of the ship sucked in great amounts of free standing hydrogen, and used it to create a fusion propulsion system. The Engines were made by Rolls Royce, and were called Kraken II's, since their design was based on the excellent, earlier model (Author's note: Basically, they made the sublight drive for the ship a series of Bussard Ramjets). The ship was so huge that fifteen of these gigantic propulsion systems were needed to move the great bulk.
The ship was immense: more than 9 kilometers long, and more than 1.4 kilometers across at the stern. It was also 850 metres high at the stern, and the hull tapered slightly to the bow, where it was about 500 metres across, and 300 metres high. The ship's other claim to fame is that it does not need a jump sail to recharge its batteries (although it does carry one as a backup recharging option). The colonists had perfected a method of using the fusion reactions created by the ramjets, along with light energy absorbed by the hull, to recharge the Jump Drives.
The ship is so large that it must carry two synchronized K-F jump drives, and 6 Lithium-Fusion Battery Systems, which give it a three jump (90 light year) range. The power needed to drive even the propulsion system is staggering. The weapons systems put even more of a drain on the power plants.
Arranged in 5 banks of twenty each on either side of the hull are 200 Heavy Naval PPC's. The blunt nose houses 10 Naval Autocannon/40's,and 10 Heavy Naval Gauss Cannon. Clustered in the rear quarter are 15 Medium Naval Gauss Cannon and 25 Naval Laser-55's. As if these Capital ship batteries were not enough, against fighters the Tirpitz is equally daunting. Spaced across the hull are 50 LB-10X Autocannon, which can fire either flak or solid slug ammunition. Supplementing these are 50 each of ER PPC and LRM 20. The Tirpitz carries 50 thousand double heat sinks to deal with the enormous amounts of heat generated by these systems. Generating the power for the systems are a cluster of 15 thousand 400 rated fusion power plants in the stern, indeed, the rear 750 metres of length of the ship are almost entirely power plants and propulsion systems. Finishing up the statistics of the ship itself, the Tirpitz is protected by 50 thousand tons of armor, which spaced out evenly across the giant form of the ship.
Besides its tremendous power, the ship carries docking rings for 24 Overlord class DropShips, enabling it to carry eight full regiments of BattleMechs. In addition to this, the ship carries 108 Aerospace fighters grouped into 18 squadrons of 6 each. the crew compliment is anywhere from 100-200 thousand, depending on the amount of troops carried. there are berths for six divisions of infantry and their belongings, and enough berths for the rest of the crew.
Acting alone, this one ship could subjugate any star system it chose, and possibly any small realm it chose. A single broadside will destroy or cripple any other capital ship in Known Space. A frontal assault from the nose will kill any other ship, without doubt. There is no more powerful vessel in the Inner Sphere, or in Clan Space.
DBX has claimed the rights to the ship in the name of the Federated Commonwealth, although this is only known to a handful of people, including Victor S.D., Anastasius Focht, Phelan Kell, jerrard Cranston, and Curaitis, along with select members of the Board of Directors for DBX Industries. It remains to be seen if the Tirpitz sees action in the Clan invasion or not. With the truce ending in a few short years, though, it is likely that the Tirpitz will spearhead a task force that might make Strana Mechty its target. |
|
|
|
|
| Next page >>> |
| Page :
1 2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
