Organization of the Fleet Central Command

One of the main problems that Quintus Kiner discovered during his career in the Imperial Navy, was the problem of the Imperial Admirality being a very stiff and inertia-filled institution. So, when the time came to create a Federal Navy, he remade the command structure to be more robust and flexible. The first step was to create the post of the Admiral of the Fleet, thus placing all fleet resources behind one commander. This ensures that infighting will be kept to a bare minimum, and the Fleet Central Command will function properly.

The Fleet Central Command is broadly divided into six sections:

At the top is the Admiral of the Fleet, the Executive Officer of the Admiral of the fleet and the Central Staff, with responsibility for liaison with the High Command, and including planning, technical, engineering, medical, economic, research, propaganda and personnel departments.

The Space Warfare Command lead the planning and execution of space warfare and directs the distribution of naval forces.

The Naval Intelligence Department is the intelligence arm of the navy, mostly concerned with signals intelligence and the employment of Fleet Intelligence assets in the form of recon ships.

The Weapons Department oversees the development, testing and production of naval weapons of all kinds, as well as electronic counter-measures and radio communications.

The Fleet Support Department is concerned mainly with administrative matters; it included legal, medical, economic, construction and export departments.

The Fleet Yards Department, as its name suggests this department dealt with the construction of new vessels for the navy, dealing with the design and engineering of ships, working with suppliers and shipyards, and liaising with the Ministries of Industry and Supply regarding the armaments programs.

The Keepers of the Peace: the law enforcement agencies of the Federation

The original idea that Quintus Kiner had was to relegate actual law enforcement to future member worlds and only keep a small number of federal prosecutors on hand to prosecute criminals. Since the founding of the Federal bases at Jomark, this turned out to be a non-viable approach and two organizations were founded.

The Ministry of Justice took charge of the Federal Security Bureau. Mostly staffed by former law enforcement personnel, counterintelligence officers and a few protegés of the Intelligence Director-General, it turned out to be a small but efficient civilian agency. Based on the organization used by the Imperial Security Bureau, it is now in charge of law enforcement on Federal ground and in Federal space installations. The current Bureau Director is a Rodian male, Talrath, who used to work for the Federal Intelligence Director-General.

It has a grand total of six branches, which include the Security Branch, the Investigations branch, the Enforcement branch, the Internal Affairs branch, the Federal Prosecution Service and the Corrections Committee. Security branch handles civilian-side counterintelligence and it’s the smallest of the branches. Investigations branch is along with Enforcement the traditional law enforcement and peacekeeping part of the organization, with Enforcement being the uniformed division of the FSB. Internal Affairs polices the civilian administration of the Federation. The Federal Prosecution Service is the office that handles the affairs of prosecution on behalf of the Federation as opposed to member worlds. Corrections Committee is a quasi-independent committee that reports directly to Chief Justice Joven Aarfo and will handle prisons and other forms of legal punishment. Pratt Island is the first Federal detention center.

In addition to these branches, there is also the Special Branch which handles physical security of the civilian administration on a daily basis. When push comes to shove, the Federal Fleet and Army are the ones responsible for the safety of the administration. One thing the Special Branch doesn’t do is protection of Kiner himself or Kiner’s staff: that is handled by the Federal Marine Infantry and Kiner’s personal bodyguards.

The Federal Revenue Cutter Service is the equivalent of any Customs agency. It reports to the Ministry of Trade, since space-side law enforcement is mostly concerned with collecting tariffs from traders. The FRC collects a flat rate of 3% on all imports and exports from member worlds unless special circumstances apply. Compared to Imperial tariffs, this rate is ridiculously low and with the hands-off approach the Federation takes to such things as the spice trade, many small-time traders will in the near future find Federation worlds to be attractive to them, which is what the Federation wants. The only cargo that is categorically contraband in Federal space is sentient slaves. The Revenue Cutter Service also acts as a space rescue agency and as a support component of the Federal Fleet. The ships of the FRC are not expected to fight off pirates alone, but they are expected to engage them until the cavalry arrives. The FRC is headed by Colonel Wavecrest-Navarro, the sister of the Secretary of State who earlier served in the Corellian Defense Force. As of now, the FRC consists of a small group of converted light freighters, with other ships being acquired as needed. Colonel Wavecrest-Navarro wishes to acquire patrol starfighters which is for the moment a hot topic between her and the Secretary of Defense Cal Quatrara.

Statistics for Battlestars

Liberator-class Battlestar

The Liberator-class was based on a rebuild of a Neutron Star-class Bulk Cruiser. A powerful warship in itself, but the model requires much work to adapt the old hull. It has been detailed earlier in this text.

Craft: Liberator-class Battlestar
Type: Battlecruiser
Length: 750 meters
Crew: 2230
Cargo Capacity: 5000 metric tons
Consumables: 24 standard months
Cost: 12 million credits
Hull: heavily armoured
Shields: eight heavy shield generators
Sensors: standard Neutron Star array
Hyperdrive: x2
Backup hyperdrive: x12

Weapons:

24 Heavy Twin Turbolaser Cannons, eight dorsal-mounted, sixteen ventral-mounted

60 Automated Point Defense Quad Laser Cannons, 30 on port flight pod, 30 on starboard flight pod

16 missile tubes, mounted dorsally, carries the FN-N-2 ship-to-ship missile or the FN-N-2B nuclear missile.

8 heavy tractor beam turrets, four on each flight pod

2 recovery tractor beams, one in each flight pods

Complement:

Normal complement is 72 starfighters, though can carry up to 102 fighters. Also carries 24 Raptor-type combat shuttles.

Troop complement: one Federal Marine Infantry Battalion

Independence-class Escort Star

The Independence-class Escort Star was built to act as a fleet escort and as a patrol ship. It essentially is a smaller version of the Emancipator-class flight pod that has been mounted on top of an array of engines.

Craft: Independence-class Battlestar
Type: Light cruiser
Length: 350 meters
Crew: 780
Cargo Capacity: 1000 metric tons
Consumables: 24 standard months
Cost: 7 million credits
Hull: heavily armoured
Shields: four heavy shield generators
Sensors: upgraded Novalex array

Weapons:

6 Heavy Turbolaser Cannons, three dorsal-mounted, three ventral-mounted

30 Automated Point Defense Quad Laser Cannons, 15 port, 15 starboard

2 missile tubes, mounted dorsally, carries the FN-N-2 ship-to-ship missile or the FN-N-2B nuclear missile.

2 heavy tractor beam turrets

1 recovery tractor beam

Complement:

Normal complement is 36 starfighters, though can carry up to 48 fighters. Also carries 5 Raptor-type combat shuttles.

Troop complement: one Federal Marine Infantry platoon, reinforced

Constellation-class Battlestar

The Constellation-class Battlestar is the first major purpose-built ship to be fielded by the Federation of Independent Worlds. At this time, the ship only exists as a concept since there is no shipyard to build one in. A Constellation-class Battlestar is built to the purpose of being able to engage two Imperial I-clas Star Destroyers alone and be able to outgun a single Imperial I-class Star Destroyer by itself.

Craft: Constellation-class Battlestar
Type: Battlecruiser
Length: 1250 meters
Crew: 5245
Cargo Capacity: 12000 metric tons
Consumables: 24 standard months
Cost: 57 million credits
Hull: heavily armoured
Shields: twelve heavy shield generators
Sensors: upgraded Novalex array
Hyperdrive: x2
Backup hyperdrive: x12

Weapons:

20 Heavy Turbolaser Cannons, ten dorsal-mounted, ten ventral-mounted

36 Heavy Twin Turbolaser Cannons, 24 dorsal, twelve ventral

40 Ion Cannon Batteries, 15 dorsal, 15 ventral, 5 on both flight pods

120 Automated Point Defense Quad Laser Cannons, 50 on port flight pod, 50 on starboard flight pod, 10 doral, 10 ventral

16 missile tubes, mounted dorsally, carries the FN-N-2 ship-to-ship missile or the FN-N-2B nuclear missile.

8 heavy tractor beam turrets

4 recovery tractor beams

Complement:

Normal complement is 144 starfighters, though can carry up to 190 fighters. Also carries 24 Raptor-type combat shuttles.

Troop complement: one Federal Marine Infantry battalion

Crime and Punishment in the Federation of Independent Worlds – Pratt Island Detention Center and the Federal Security Bureau

As the cadre for a future government was formed, the issue of law enforcement and criminal enterprises was brought up. It was eminently clear that if the Federation was to be in the near future a viable state, it needed a police force and a justice system. Kiner appointed the former Corellian prosecutor Joven Aarfo to serve as Chief Justice of the Federal State and gave him the order to write the laws for the future, mostly based on Republic-era law and the idea that in the future, most member worlds will handle most legal problems on their own.

So far, Joven Aarfo has not disappointed the Cabinet and the core of a real law and a justice system exists. Kiner doesn’t believe in having separate courts for the military, so civilian courts handle even military affairs. Also, capital punishment was abolished immediately. The enforcement of the law was handed over jointly to the military agencies of the Federation and the fledgling Federal Security Bureau, which was initially founded as a civilian counterintelligence agency to serve as a counterpart to the more military minded Federal Intelligence.

Over the last half year, the system proved to work after dealing with minor problems relating to affairs with the local population of Jomark, mostly concerning rowdy soldiers of the Federation on leave. However, the Federal Fleet has caught a few pirates and slavers doing business on the trade routes nearby and has interfered with their operations. As a solution to their incarceration, a prison was set up on the southern half of Jomark on the Pratt Islands. The Pratt Island Detention Center will be expanded in the near future, since it is more than likely that the Federation will have to deal with the issue of Imperial POW’s. The facility has four camps: one for Federal citizens, one for non-citizens, one for Imperial POW’s and one for high-risk POW’s like stormtroopers and the like.

There is a focus on rehabilitation for all involved, since Joven Aarfo and Kiner agreed on the basic principle of recruiting among Imperial POW’s. Slavers and pirates face long sentences, and while Pratt Island isn’t Despayre, it’s not a vacation spot either. All prisoners have to work either in the agricultural or the industrial facilities there, except for a minority paroled out to other duties. Good behavior earns time shaved off the sentence. General education is also made available to prisoners, and future Imperial POW’s will be offered a chance to join the Federal military in a special program. Federal Intelligence and the Security Bureau will vet the new recruits to stop possible Imperial infiltration attempts. There will also be a general amnesty program for Imperials joining Federal forces: any previous crimes they admit to will not be prosecuted. Corporal punishment is not practiced in the Federal incarceration system. Privileges to prisoners are handed out on a communal basis: a barrack that handles itself well receives allotments of sweets, meat, ale and holovids. Also barracks can be offered a higher leeway in deciding what they want to work with. On the civilian side of affairs, this seems to work: pirate crews that are currently held prisoner have stayed orderly and calm. Chief Justice Aarfo thinks that the honest and upright system does this: prisoners actually know they’ll get out sooner or later, compared to the Imperial system where a prisoner has no rights and there is no guarantee that they’ll ever be released. Lately, Aarfo has began a trial program to allow civilian prisoners to join the Federal forces too: some of the pirates are more than willing to work for a professional military and many of them have significant combat experience. Vetting them for the Federal forces will be as strict as for the Imperials, though: Aarfo has no illusion that some will attempt to use this as a quick way out of Pratt.

Security of Pratt Island is handled jointly by the Security Bureau and the Federal Army. Pratt Island has a small Army training facility which doubles as a garrison for the prison. So far, the troops haven’t been used at all except as warm bodies to back up Security Bureau personnel.

Plan Zerek – expansion of the Federal Naval Forces

Plan Zerek is the future groundwork for what is to be the permanent organization for the Indie Navy. Essentially it will be the equivalent of an Imperial systems force of the force superiority type, named the 1st Heavy Battlegroup. It will contain four full squadrons, three of them battle squadrons and one fully reinforced light squadron. It’s worth noting that the Federal Navy uses “Group” instead of “Line” and “Battlegroup” instead of “Systems Force”.

The battle squadrons will most likely contain Battlestars instead of Imperial-class Star Destroyers, unless the Federal military gets their hands on captured Star Destroyers. The Liberation-class Battlestars will be relegated to independent duty and the new Constellation-class will take their place as lead ships of the fleet, once Dr. Cassell finishes the work on the new model.

Order of battle follows.

1st Battle Squadron:
-Battlestar or Imperial-class Star Destroyer, flagship of the Battlegroup.
-3rd Attack Group, containing at least three heavy cruisers
-4th Attack Group, containing at least six light cruisers or frigates
-2nd Pursuit Group, containing at least eight destroyers or corvettes and the flagship of the Squadron
-1st Recon Group, containing at least two recon corvettes

2nd Battle Squadron:
-Battlestar or Imperial-class Star Destroyer, flagship of the Squadron
-5th Attack Group, containing at least 4 heavy cruisers
-6th Attack Group, containing at least six light cruisers or frigates
-7th Pursuit Group, containing at least two light cruisers and four destroyers
-8th Recon Group, containing at least two recon corvettes

3rd Battle Squadron:
–Battlestar or Imperial-class Star Destroyer, flagship of the Squadron
-9th Attack Group, containing at least 4 heavy cruisers
-10th Attack Group, containing at least six light cruisers or frigates
-12rd Pursuit Group, containing at least two light cruisers and four destroyers

4th Light Squadron
-13th Attack Group, containing at least 3 cruisers
-14th Attack Group, containing at least 6 light cruisers
-15th Skirmish Group, containing at least 12 corvettes
-16th Recon Group, containing at least 3 recon corvettes
-17th Pursuit Group, containing at least 8 corvettes and destroyers
-18th Attack Group, containing at least 4 cruisers
-19th Attack Group, containing at least 8 light cruisers
-20th Skirmish Group, containing at least 15 corvettes

The forces not present in the 1st Heavy Battlegroup are as follows. Sizes in units vary so these are not mentioned.

-10 Independent Recon Groups.
-An anti-shipping force consisting of a heavy attack group, two recon groups and three skirmish groups.
-Various troop transports acting as independent vessels, with enough lift capacity to carry two divisions.
-Independent warships of frigate or corvette size.
-Various tenders, ammunition ships, cargo ships and such.

The Struggle For Freedom Makes For Strange Bedfellows

– Admiral, what I am saying is that we have three major deficits at the moment: manufacturing, viable bases and manpower. The anti-shipping raids net us lots of supplies, but we have to consider the fact that the Imperials are not willing to take requests according to what we need.
– Agreed, Mr. Barr. So, your suggestion would be?
– Take in everyone we can, especially those who have any of these to offer. Not everyone wants to support the Rebellion. The Mandalorians are already making an approach to us, and frankly, they aren’t afraid of Imperial reprisals. They might be willing to cut a deal with us.
– Better have the Mandalorians inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in, hmm?
– You could say that.

-Secretary of Supply Slue Barr and Admiral Kiner conversing in the smoking lounge of the Liberator

The Mandalorian Government-in-Exile

Too proud to admit it, the Mandalorians are in quite a bad position. Their homeworld is under Imperial occupation and the people enslaved by the Imperials and the Suprema. Mandalore Fenn Shysa and his brothers-in-arms want nothing more than to drive away the Imperials, but there are a couple of cold hard fact that makes this impossible for the moment. First of all, the Mandalorians might win on the ground but lose in space. It takes more than courage and fighting skills to drive away the Imperial fleet, it takes ships to do that. Second, most of the galaxy doesn’t give a damn about the plight of the Mandalorians, which leaves Fenn Shysa without allies. The three million Mandalorians currently spread throughout the galaxy are willing to stand up and be counted if Shysa asks, but without ships and allies, there can be no decisive victory.

So, about four months before the Battle of Yavin, Shysa heard rumors about someone recruiting soldiers for something that clearly wasn’t the usual mercenary kind of deal. Following up on the leads, he found one of the Office of Special Acquisitions recruitment officers and sent word: The Mandalore wants to talk to whoever is in charge. He had a short meeting on the Jubilee Wheel space station with the Federal Secretary of State Aldis Tempest-Navarro, which convinced the Federal cabinet of the honest intentions of the Mandalorians.

Shortly after that, Fenn Shysa, Tempest-Navarro and admiral Kiner met on Jomark for two days worth of talks. What those talks resulted in was that the Mandalorian government-in-exile joined the Federation as a founding member. The Jomark paper signed by Kiner and Shysa outlined the general principles for the future. Shysa would represent the Mandalorian sector as head of state in the not-yet founded Federal Senate. The government-in-exile would turn over manpower and requested industrial resources to the Federal military. For this, the Federation would make liberation of Mandalore one of their long-term goals and give military aid for the Mandalore whenever there would be an opportunity to free Mandalorian slaves.

The talks were quite Mandalorian in nature, as Tempest-Navarro later said. It was perfectly clear for both parties that the Federation could not help with liberating Mandalore for a long time. However, for the short term, the Federation could help out Shysa with intel, arms and possibly transport. The Mandalorians could order some of their people to directly work for the Federal military and carry out a project to turn over Mandalmotors equipment and machine tools for Federal use. Of course, this equipment would have to be smuggled out from Mandalore under the noses of the Imperials. Shysa is quite confident that his people can do that.

With the equipment and machine tools from Mandalmotors, the Federation could jumpstart their own starfighter production. With Mandalorian soldiers, the Federation would have a true ace up their sleeve.

The Omwat Liberation Front

Omwat was occupied by Governor Tarkin’s forces and subject to forced recruitment into Imperial government services and the military, mostly to use the extraordinary talents of the Omwati for engineering and technical design. Klana Cax, a former Omwati public official, joined the gathering Federal forces due to his distrust of the Rebel Alliance. Cax is convinced that with military advisors and Federal aid, Omwat can be liberated without any great difficulty, since the Imperial garrisons on the planet have been stripped of most heavy equipment and the Imperial Fleet has withdrawn most of the occupation fleet. The main problem is that Omwat is on the other side of the galaxy, far away from any current Federal military facility to support large-scale operations. Two Imperial lines are based in the Omwat system, a skirmish line and an attack line, consisting of five Assassin-class corvettes, two Lianna-class Corvettes, six Tartan-class Patrol Ships and four Corellian Gunships for the skirmish line. The attack line consists of two Victory-class Star Destroyers and a brand new Immobilizer 418-class cruiser acting as flagship. While the force is large, for the most time only one ship of the attack line and a few from the skirmish line are present in the system. The rest are frequently out for patrols and supporting operations in the sector.

Cax signed the Omwat Liberation Front as a member nation in the Federation. The Federal Cabinet ruled that since there is no independent Omwat government in existence, the OLF is allowed to form a provisional government and represent itself in the Federation, provided that independent elections are arranged no later than a year after Omwat is liberated.

So far, two hundred and fifty-eight Omwatians have joined the Federal forces. A few ended up working in the Department of Supply, a handful in the Departments of Trade and Industry. Most however work in Intelligence, because the Omwati already are operating an underground intelligence network on Omwat and several Imperial centers of ship and war materiel production like Kuat, Fondor and Corellia. The OLF is also running an underground railroad for escaped Omwati laborers and slaves. Previously, most Omwati have been funneled into the Corporate Sector and the Tion Hegemony. The underground railroad will probably be redirected to deliver the Omwati to Jomark and various other Federal sites. However, the provisional government of Omwat only wants temporary settlements as of now to keep up the hopes for liberation.

The Antarian Rangers

One of the earliest groups to join up with the Federation was what Federal Marine Major Bearson Fermata called “the last pitiful scraps of the greatest military ever”, the Antarian Rangers. Lt. Colonel Vassa Hool had since his time in the Imperial Fleet kept up contacts with the Rangers, since the Rangers kept safe houses on Moltok.

Initially, both Kiner and Tempest-Navarro were of two minds regarding the Antarian Rangers: sure, the veteran rangers and their families would be a great military asset, but the high profile of the Antarian Rangers also makes them a high-profile target for the Imperial Security Bureau and the Imperial Inquisitors. Secretary of Supply Slue Barr and a number of Intelligence officers lobbied for them, and in the end Kiner and Tempest-Navarro were brought over to their side.

When the Antarian negotiators heard of this decision, they turned over a package to Tempest-Navarro. The package contained the collected intelligence files of the Rangers, and information on bases and supply dumps they have been setting up for the last 30 years. Most of them are small in size, but information on unexplored worlds known only to the Rangers is worth its weight in credits.

The main problem is that the council of the Rangers has no easy way to communicate with most Ranger groups: communication is handled mostly by dead drops. A few Ranger groups have been contacted and have received new communications gear, but over 90% of them are still out of touch. There is not even a full list of all Rangers and all bases. It will probably take at least a full year to get all Rangers integrated.

Ship classification in the Federal Fleet

Both the Empire and the Rebel Alliance have rather non-standardized ways of referring to ships: for instance, both call the Sienar Fleet Systems-built Guardian-class patrol ship a cruiser, despite the fact that the term is mostly used for referring to large capital ships.

The Federal Fleet introduced a new system, based on the roles that the ships have. For ordinary ships, they either are meant for independent patrol or being a component of a main battle fleet. These roles can overlap from time to time, though, but for the sake of simplicity, it’s capability for independent patrol that counts, since mostly ships that have a capability of operating independently also have a capacity for operating in a fleet.

The class for the smallest capital ships in the fleet is the corvette class. Corvettes typically serve as short-range patrol ships or as fleet pickets, gunships and escorts. Typical ships in the corvette class are the CEC CR90-type corvettes and the Republic Sienar Systems Marauder-class corvette. DP-20-type Gunboats are also classified as corvettes by the Federal Fleet.

It’s worth noting that the corvette class is neither an independent patrol vessel class or a main battle line class. Corvettes in general are used as the smallest warship to carry out any duties at all: they are perhaps the most flexible class.

Destroyers are the smallest main battle line-rated ships, like the Recusant-class light destroyers, that are very focused on their role as an anti-capital ship platform. Bayonet-class light cruisers were also reclassed by the Federal Fleet as destroyers, due to their small size and arms loadout. Lancer-class frigates were also classified as destroyers, due to their tight focus and inability to operate independently.

Frigates are the smallest independent patrol vessels used. Frigates typically have an arms loadout that enables independent operation (like both anti-capital ship and anti-starfighter weaponry). The most typical of the frigate class is the Nebulon-B frigate , which was initially designed as a convoy escort but can be used for many different purposes. Another example is the Munificent-class frigate used by the separatists during the Clone Wars.

Heavy cruisers are the medium-sized ships that are meant to operate in a battle line. Typical ships in this category are Loronar Strike Cruisers, Immobilizer 418-class cruisers and Victory II-class Star Destroyers. To be classified as a heavy cruiser, arms loadout matters more than size. When talking about the larger ships, like the Victory II-class, there is a thin line between cruisers and battleships.

Light cruisers are independent patrol ships of considerable size, like the Carrack-class light cruiser, Acclamator-class assault ship and the Victory I-class Star Destroyer.

The largest ships are divided into two categories, namely battlecruisers and battleships. Current Federal Fleet doctrine makes no difference to tactical use between the two classes, the only difference that is actually present is that battlecruisers are somewhat more flexible and economical to use for independent patrol. The Liberation-class Battlestar is a typical example of a battlecruiser. The Imperial I-class Star Destroyer is called a battleship even if in practice, it can act in the same role as a Battlestar. The difference here is mostly that a Liberation-class Battlestar is more lightly armed and has a smaller crew, which makes it more economical for independent use.

For the sake of completeness, it’s worth to mention two other non-capital ship classes: starfighters and fast attack craft. Starfighters refer to small vessels, which have a limited fuel and consumables capacity. Fast attack craft are ships like the Guardian-class and the Skipray Blastboat. Fast attack craft are more suited for solo patrol operations than starfighters, due to their larger crews and longer endurance.

Battlestars, a new take on an old concept

When Tirdan Cassell joined the Federal cabinet, he presented an idea that he had been fiddling with for a long time when he worked at Sienar Fleet Systems. Namely, the conversion of obsolete ships to battlecruisers. Essentially he had figured out that old Bulk Cruisers, which were still in plentiful supply, could be rebuilt into something far more powerful than the regular conversions did. The most common way to use bulk cruisers was to turn them into carriers, and while the idea was workable, they pretty much stayed undergunned and weak. Secretary of Defense Quatrara backed him, since Quatrara was well aware of the fact that capital ships would be hard to acquire in sufficient numbers.

The main problem of conversion had always been the fact that the outdated engines on the Bulk Cruisers required too much power. However, there was a new Rendili update package available for the engines, which made them much more efficient. This freed up a significant amount of reactor power to divert to new weapon systems and shield generators.

Another problem was the shape of the hull. It had too much exposed superstructure and the general shape of it was cluttered and untidy. Rebuilding the engine housing which was overengineered anyway allowed Cassell to draw up a new outer hull, which made it more durable in combat and allow for better firing arcs for the new dorsal and ventral guns.

The last major touch was the fact that the Bulk Cruiser had insufficient hangar bay space, and even with the new outer hull, space was quite limited. Digging up an old concept of flight pods for the ship, Cassell increased the hangar capacity to over two times what a converted Bulk Cruiser could normally carry. The end result was named “Battlestar”, which is a portmanteau of “Battlecruiser” and “Neutron Star”.

From this:

To this:

Both the cabinet and the Fleet were very impressed by the rebuilding plans, after seeing a simulation of how it would look. Cassell got the go-ahead on a prototype ship, named the Liberator. The project was successful, although Cassell himself considered the first ship flawed: the structure that extends and withdraws the flight pods has been unreliable due to hull stresses, the computerized gunnery systems needed rebuilding and the hyperdrives have been finicky. The second Battlestar which is currently under construction, has been constructed using a new set of plans which should address the flaws of the prototype.

One of the major design philosophy shifts that Cassell has been lobbying for is the fact that modern warships should no longer have a command bridge, but a maneuvering bridge and a Combat Information Center. The Liberator follows this philosophy, and as a result, the CIC is located deep within the ship’s bow. The maneuvering bridge is located on top of the bow and is not manned except when the ship docks.

The CIC of the Liberator, notice 2nd Skirmish Group insignias above doorways.

View from the second level of the CIC while underway for Operation CASTAWAY

The weapons control station

The tactical station

The communications station

The main armament for the Liberator is 24 heavy twin turbolaser batteries, eight on the dorsal hull and sixteen on the ventral hull. In addition to the big guns, it has sixty point-defense laser emplacement, thirty on each flight pod, for a total of 240 barrels. Liberation-class ships also carry sixteen missile tubes, primarily used for launching FN-N-2 ship-to-ship missiles. Normally, these tubes are not reloaded during combat, for which reason two to four tubes are always carrying FN-N-2B nuclear missiles. It has four medium tractor beam emplacements, two on the dorsal and two one the ventral hull.

The flight pods are large enough to carry a total of six squadrons worth of fighters, and four squadrons can be launched simultaneously using the launch tubes on the sides of the flight pods. By launching one squadron from each hangar, the battlestar can launch it’s entire complement of starfighters in less than a minute. It also carries ten Raptor combat shuttles, which are launched from the flight pod upper deck.

The Battlestar is approximately 20% slower in sublight flight than the original Neutron Star-class cruiser, but somewhat more maneuverable. Armor has been increased by about 30% and shields by 200%. While the Battlestar cannot alone defeat an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, with a full starfighter complement it can hold off one without taking serious damage.

There are plans to build larger-size Battlestars in the near future, Cassell uses the working name “Constellation-class” regarding his early sketches. These would be completely original designs instead of refits. Future large ships will carry more heavy guns and more starfighters.

Project RED BRUALLKI

What led to project RED BRUALLKI was a combination of a near-magical stroke of luck and a near-genius command decision by Commander Laz Moehner, who was the CO of the CR90 Corvette Longprobe. The Longprobe is part of the 1st Recon Group, and together with it’s sister ship Farseer, was conducting deep-space recon and signals gathering near Phindar.

Stationed about 5 light years away from Phindar, the Longprobe was operating on normal intelligence mission principles, namely a communications blackout, when it started receiving signals sent in the clear without any encryption whatsoever. The messages came from an Imperial salvage vessel operating near Anteevy. The messages mentioned beginning salvage operations on a Star Destroyer found earlier by a Space Rescue Corps ship, and that they were assessing damages currently.

Moehner got a strange feeling that he should investigate this despite having other orders. So, he ordered the Longprobe to reel in the towed sensor arrays and took the ship to hyperspace, about 5 lightminutes away from the originating site of the signals. What he found was an Imperial salvage ship in the process of working on an Imperial-I class Star Destroyer that had apparently suffered horrendous damage, since over half of the hull superstructure was gone. He set up an intercept-jam on all their frequencies and set back to listen.

It didn’t take long until Moehner realized he had hit paydirt. The salvagers inside the Star Destroyer were transmitting to their ship that the computer core of the Star Destroyer (later identified as ISD Gnisnal) was still on, operational and had not been wiped. Moehner waited until the salvagers on board the Star Destroyer made it back to their ship, and then gave orders.

The Longprobe executed a microjump and fired a grand total of two shots from it’s turbolasers. One took out the communications antenna on the salvage ship and the other took out the hyperdrive. After this, crewmen of the Longprobe boarded the salvage vessel. The crew, who were in fact not even Imperial Navy personnel, but KDY subcontractors, offered no resistance. Moehner ordered them to salvage the computer core, which was done over a period of two standard days, but finally, the computer core was aboard the salvage ship. For a while, Moehner considered if the Gnisnal could be salvaged as a whole, but he needed to cover his tracks and anyway, he didn’t have enough men for such an effort.

An auxiliary hyperreactor on the Star Destroyer was found to be in operable shape, so the salvagers were ordered to pull off the safety valves on it and set the reactor to run at low power, giving them time to evacuate. The salvage ship and the Longprobe pulled away from the Star Destroyer to a safe distance, and watched the fireworks. What was left of the Star Destroyer quickly broke into hundreds of pieces, when the already damaged hull could not endure the explosion of the auxiliary reactor and fuel cells.

The salvage vessel and Longprobe jumped back to Jomark, where Moehner might have faced a court martial for directly disobeying orders. In a short while, the computer core started yielding it’s secrets to Intelligence Analysis branch teams. It had a full codebook, all current Imperial official frequencies, tables of organization for all branches of Imperial military forces and government organizations, technical schematics, survey data, practically everything one would want.

A short meeting later, Moehner faced the music: he would not be punished, and he would receive a staff position in the next Group to become active whenever one would be made available. Moehner however refused this and instead asked to remain in command of the Longprobe. His wish was granted, and Admiral Kiner rewarded him with a medal of Excellency in Service, the first of it’s kind.

The Imperial salvage crew was sent to an internment camp on the southern hemisphere of Jomark. Their ship was converted into Intelligence Facility RED BRUALLKI, and sent to the uninhabited star system of Blinnar. There the ship was hidden into a large asteroid, and Intelligence teams started to shift through the information.

The Use Of Weapons: Nukes, Missiles, Combat Shuttles and Defense Guns

– Huh, looks like our new friends mean business, Captain.
– How so?
– Every radiological alarm I have just went off. They’re launching nuclear weapons at that ImpStar.

-Two Alliance officers observing the 2nd Battle of Stilgan

The math on combat is simple. More force wins. However, the equation can always be changed. That is what Secretary of Defense Quatrara and Dr Tirdan Cassell have been doing for the past months. What was one of the first things they discovered is that the Federation can do things differently. The Empire has taken a large number of weapon systems out of use for the simple reason of scale: exotic weapons may be efficient but they are probably more expensive than using just turbolasers and concussion missiles. Especially when you have millions of ships.

Item one on the list was nuclear weapons. The Imperial Ordnance and Supply still keeps nuclear weapons around for planetary bombardment, but in general, Imperial forces don’t have much use for them. One of the main reasons is that the use of nuclear weapons tends to flood space with particles that wreak havoc on sensor systems and communications, both of which are vital for TIE fighters. Baradium charges are cleaner but have less general effect.

Item two was ship-to-ship missiles. Long-range ship-to-ship missiles have in the past been popular, but they fell out of use some time before the Clone Wars for the sake of cheaper, shorter range missiles. Long-range missiles need to have a much larger amount of fuel to be worth something in combat, so they can maneuver and track moving targets, which reduce the amount of explosives they can carry. And most likely, they will have to be large enough to hurt capital ships which means that they can easily be shot down. The realization which lead to the creation of the FN-N-2 ship to ship missile was the fact that no Imperial warship carries standoff weapons at all anymore. So, if Federation ships and combat shuttles (because the FN-N-2 is too large to be carried by any fighter) can launch a wave of standoff weapons at the Imperials, it will probably surprise them badly and more importantly, possibly break their formation before the Federation warships enter their engagment range. The FN-N-2 carries conventional baradium explosives, but there is a modified version called FN-N-2B which has slightly shorter range but carries a nuclear warhead.

Item three on the list was combat shuttles. Combat shuttles is the official Federation Military term, referring to shuttles which have a support role in combat and are capable of CAS roles for ground assaults. The FSY Raptor is designed for this in mind. In addition to a pilot and an ECO/Weapons Officer, it can carry ten fully-equipped soldiers in it’s passenger space for either ground assaults or boarding operations, and has five weapons hardpoints for either twin-barrelled auto-blasters, FN-N-2 ship-to-ship missiles or other ordnance. For scouting purposes, it carries a recon package, messenger pods and sensor drones. It’s well-equipped for electronic warfare, being able to jam targeting sensors and communications better than any current ship of it’s size and launching decoy drones in support of fleet operations. In this role, it can also relay targeting data to other ships. The cabin is pressurized but capable of depressurization under flight, which is feeded if the Raptor is used for search and rescue operations in space.

Picture of Raptor

Raptor Squadron 12, approaching Flitter and preparing to launch FN-N-2 ship-to-ship missiles against Imperial forces

Raptor on the flight deck of the Liberator

Raptors are frequently called Bricks due to their lack of fast maneuvering. In flight, they are as fast as a Y-wing and approximately as maneuverable. Due to thicker hull armor, various decoys, countermeasures and electronic warfare equipment, they can survive in combat better than comparable starfighters.

Compared to the Imperial Gamma-class assault shuttle, the Raptor is inferior in most way, except for speed and maneuverability, but compared to most boarding shuttles, the Raptor is about equivalent, apart from the limited amount of troops it can carry. This is actually a design decision: A Raptor boarding operation can use more ships to breach the enemy ship in many places instead of one or two airlocks.

The last major technical development used by the Federation in ship design is semi-automated point-defense guns. Currently, only the Liberation-class Battlestars carry the guns designed by Tirdan Cassell, but tests indicate that the software and machinery can be adapted to other ships as well. The Liberation-class Battlestars carry a total of sixty modified AG-2G quad laser cannons on the side of their flight pods. Major modifications include shorter barrels, new targeting software and automated micro-motivators to move them automatically. These guns fire approximately 3200 blaster bolts per minute, using a computerized pattern-following system to create a perimeter of fire. The suppression barrage achieved thus creates an area of space where anything starfighter-sized will statistically be hit inside five standard seconds. Tests also indicate that suppression fire has an effect on turbolasers too: turbolaser bolts hit by the low-power blasts dissipate to a certain degree. In addition to suppressive fire, the point-defense guns can be linked with the sensor systems of the Battlestar and used to shoot down incoming ordnance. The heavy turbolasers of the Battlestars are partially linked to this system, but are not designed to be used in an anti-starfighter role.

Automation of the guns means that there is less need for a large amount of gunners and gunners can instead pick and choose their targets efficiently, using sensor data and threat evaluation systems. This system is one of the reasons why a single Battlestar can engage anything up to an Imperial-I class Star Destroyer in combat and hold it’s own.