Paradox Class Battlecruiser

very first schematic draft

Very big ship. Lots of guns.

Plans

• Normal
• Aquatic-enabled. (I think I said somewhere how many of these there were in relation to the normal types, in Who is Willing, I should look that up.) (If it's in Who is Willing I haven't found it? All I've found is that few ships in the Fleet have water environments. - Badger)

Complement

The Captain of the vessel is considered the head of the Tactical department, and the First Commander the head of Logistics.

Department	Total	Ensigns	Lieutenants	Lt. Commanders	Commanders
Engineering	100	75	8	2	1
Tactical	100	75	8	1	*
Science	120	110	8	2	1
Security	30	20	3	2	1
Logistics	35	25	5	2	1
Medical	35	25	3	1	1
ALL TOTAL	400	350	35	9	5

Technically the ship can be crewed with 25 people and fought with 50, but not well. Most of the complement is science-based, and redundancy.

Layout

Command

Bridge

Bridge

The battlecruiser is the first ship type in the Fleet line-up to have a bi-level bridge. (Smaller ships have a single compartment.) The lower compartment has the various departmental stations, with room for training officers and oversight; the upper compartment is a "loft" that overlooks the lower and has stations for the First and Second Commanders, plus two spares. The captain sits in the middle. The bridge's main display is a holographic projection that fills the entire wall from the floor of the bottom compartment to the ceiling of the loft.

Loft

There are two rooms immediately on either side of the lift when exiting on the loft level, used for senior staff conferences, and a head.

Main Compartment

There are three breakout rooms immediately on either side of the lift when exiting on the main compartment level, and a head.

Auxiliary Control

• There is a navigation board on the Auxiliary Bridge; it has a sidebar to information from the water environments on battlecruisers with aquatics. The sidebar can display running text translation of comments from the Naysha and optional viseo or solidigraphic displays for direct signing.

Security

A security-triggered alert disables intraship Pad access in addition to deploying extra bulkheads to cut off access.

Armory

The armories are not large because there is no centralized facility; instead many smaller armories are scattered throughout the ship. Typically contains light armor and weapons (including swords).

Brig

There are single-person cells with no features, and the last wall is a halo-arch, not intended for long-term lock-up. Guards are not wasted outside each individual cell. There is a station at the end of the corridor of cells, leading to the only exit, and one person will be assigned there. That person has access to surveillance on all occupied cells and can control their disposition.

Alert Types

There's a klaxon, and flashing red lights.

Environmental

An environmental alert does not curtail use of intraship Pads.

Engineering

The engineering compartment is several levels tall and contains the Well drive housing and capsule. Well Drives apparently have a bleed-off system. There are several additional compartments within it, but the power plant needs a lot of space so it occupies the center in a cleared-off area. The core control panels can be used to initiate a mass ejection routine (this is ejection of the antimatter mass, not "mass" as in large numbers of something); this removes the antimatter and the batteries will drain eventually, depriving the ship of power. The section can also be blown entirely (suggesting its near the back or one of the exterior bulkheads).

• Well drive
• sensor arrays
• halo emitters
• some hydroponic things and gardens
• shuttle bays
• shuttles to put in the bays
• a bridge
• observation deck

Mechanical and Hydroponics

This section encompasses all the hydroponics parts, since the battlecruiser is the smallest ship class that uses its hydroponics sections to do the majority of its air filtration/re-conditioning.

• Ships are not set up to 'gas' people. There's no way to block ventilation. Any sort of dangerous chemical leak is taken care of with a vacuum system; it doesn't trap air in place, it sucks it out.

Crew Care

Medplex

A battlecruiser is the first ship type in the Fleet to have a sickbay large enough to be called a Medplex. (Smaller ship types have clinics.)

Shuttle Bays

Apparently have force fields over them that are permeable only to shuttles when the bay doors are open.

Personal Quarters and Bunks

• Ensigns bunk somewhere between four and eight to a room.
• Lieutenants are implied to have at least one roommate under normal circumstances.
• The alien liaison's quarters on ships with water environments seems very large for an individual lieutenant, but it is in fact shared: the Flitzbe clod has a floor pillow with a bank of adjustable lamps, and there is a floor-to-ceiling window through which the Naysha and Platies can see the liaison (and vice versa).

Water Environments

Not all battlecruisers have water environments, but those that do are designed around the accommodations for the aquatics. Where other battlecruisers have plants, those with aquatic environments have windows into the water environment, allowing vistas of both the aquatic inhabitants and fish.

Water Environment Areas

Outside the Currentlock

• Bridging Chamber: leads into the aquatic environment through a pool with a ramp. The ingress underwater has a mechanical closure. If the water starts pushing toward it, it shuts. Entrances into it are logged. The water is dense and soupy, reminiscent of that on the Platy homeworld. There are multiple areas where the water environment intersects with the dry.

• Machine Room: The machine room houses the machinery that pumps water into and through the water environment and over sees the filtration and maintenance of currents. This room used to be submerged so it could be serviced by aquatic aliens, but it is now kept dry. Because it can be flooded for use by aquatics, both the doors leading into the water environment and into the rest of the ship are airlocks.

Outside the Currentlock

• Currentlock: The navigation chamber has current strong enough to be dangerous to non-Platies; as a security feature, there is a currentlock (analogous to an airlock) between the main water environment and the high-current area. The currentlock has emergency harnesses that can hold non-Platies in place if the lock is opened while they're present. These consist of harnesses into which crew members can be manually buckled.
• Navigation chamber: Occupied by the mature male Platy navigator on the ship. The currents are strong enough to be deadly to drylanders (and thus off-limits), unless the chamber in it are in maintenance mode. The currentlock connects the navigation chamber to the main water environment. The navigation chamber's current is strong enough to smash a non-Platy against the back of the chamber, or shred them through the vents.
• Pumps and Vacuums: These circulate and evacuate the water in the water environment, during normal operation and when the ship is undergoing refits or the water supply is being flushed and refreshed.
• Rooms for sleeping, recreation, and meeting space. They are "wound through with colored ropes from which floated banners and hammock-like pouches. There were computer displays projected along one wall, currently dim, and hand-holds were built into the bulkheads with emergency equipment lockers."

Battlecruisers with Water Environments

• UAV Songlance
• UAV Scattersky

Known Battlecruisers

UAV Diamondwing

UAV Moonsinger

UAV Scattersky

UAV Songlance

UAV Stardancer

Gallery

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