Galactic Rim Chronicles: SCS Liberty

[Condottiere]

The Liberty's command staff hurried to ensure that the frigate was completely prepared for her new mission; however Colbert started looking more dour with each passing day, which Lee felt seemed ominous.

It was quite possible that Security wasn't quite onboard with either the establishment of a High Commission on Jafar, or clearing up if anything unusual happened to be within the system, and that would mean, she would have been given a set of instructions and sealed orders, as to what actions to take, should something happen that Security wanted the Navy to be unaware of.

Or, close an eye to.

Two tugboats manoeuvred Jafar's new hi/port underneath the Liberty, and was clamped with a forced linkage apparatus, rated for five kilotonnes. This doubled the volume that the Liberty's jump drives had to take with them into another dimension, and halved their range. Though, that was enough to reach Jafar on one tank of gas.

The starport was a planetoid, that nominally would act as a starport, that would act as the new transition point between the planet of Jafar, and the greater universe. Despite the hull configuration, it was considered somewhat luxurious, since it had gravity tiling installed, and didn't need to have a portion, or all, of the hull, spun.

 

[Condottiere]

Since the two engineering modules were split on opposing sides, Liberty's Chief Engineer coordinating them from the engineering station in the bridge. Lieutenant Jacques Kerensky supervised the second largest department onboard.

Each engineering module had a three hundred fifteen tonne jump drive, and two thirty five tonne manoeuvre drives, which kept their acceleration safely below factor/three, which the primitive material used in the construction in some of the frigate's modules weren't supposed to exceed.

Factor two point eight naked still kept them below the standard factor five required for fleet deployment, but was sufficient to escort most convoys, and park itself over any planet, exerting presence. It wasn't enough to either pursue escaping spacecraft, nor trying to make a run from a more powerful opponent.

That was why patrol starwarships had been increased to the size of destroyers, and the destroyer's primary armament of a large bay particle accelerator, that reached out to distant range, in more or less an instance.

While the factor/one particle accelerator spinal mounts caused potentially eight times more damage, it was seven times larger, and less range. Though, nearly seventeen times more expensive, and requires more than twelve times more energy.

Considering that the usual spacecraft a patrol ship encountered was submonokilotonnes, they would be widely outmatched by the Liberty.

 

[Condottiere]

The power plants weren't quite as modern as those on the line of battle ships, or even those installed on the newer destroyers, but highly technologized improvements of basic fusion reactors, representing the optimal balance between cost and squeezing out every last power point.

For half their cost, the cheaper power plant could produce fifty six percent of the energy, so on a per power point ratio, those would be more economic, but need double the volume, which is basic determinant the performance of any given spacecraft.

For basic ship services energy requirements, the primitive material modules of the frigate only needed one twentieth of that of the modules that were manufactured using the normal materials, and with six Neapolitan turrets, the four fuel tank modules needed only thirty six power points, each.

Power plants were generously distributed throughout the hull, ensuring that the power requirements of each module was met, with the largest reactors connected directly to the manoeuvre and jump drives, and once removed, the particle accelerator.

 

[Condottiere]

The networked fusion reactors require fuel, unlike the sterling fission reactors. This is known as watering the plants, usually carried out by the Logistics branch, whose duties were ensuring that the spacecraft as a whole, functioned as intended, outside of areas that required a more specialized touch, such as the engines, sensors, and the ship's computer.

Logistics ensured that the spacecraft was supplied, that those supplies were stored correctly, and accounted for. They also maintained the appearance of the vessel, more in the sense that the cleaning droids didn't miss a spot.

During combat, they manned the turrets, pretty much like their ancestors operated anti aircraft guns, to deter the enemy from coming too close. And, if necessary, repelled boarders.

Since prize money was still a custom in the Confederation Navy, they were quite enthusiastic in boarding enemy vessels.

Logistics had acquired the nickname of merchant marines, though were not referred as such, but the actual Marines, who called them housekeeping.