TNO - Sussex class Military Outpost
Name - Standard Universal Space Station Experimental military outpostDesignation - S.U.S.S.Ex. military platform
Mission Profile - To provide a non-planetery based means of occupying an area of space and guarding it. To provide services for a small squadron of warships or emergency services to commerce in trouble when needed.
Dimensions -
Length - 400 meters
Width - 400 meters
Height - 800 meters
Armament -
8 Heavy Turbolaser Batteries
16 Firestorm Quad Laser Cannons
2 Heavy Ion Cannons
2 Proton Torpedo Clusters
8 Tractor Beam Projectors
Hangar Capacity -
36 vehicles total
Normal Complement -
2 Squadrons (24) of Starfighters
4 Gunboats
8 Shuttles
Docking Capacity -
4 capital ships, of 500 meters or less in length
Troop/Passenger Capacity -
500
Propulsion
8 Manuevering Sublight Drive Engines
Sublight Speed - 2.5 MGLT
Hyperdrive Rating - none
Protection -
Shield Rating: 2,500 SBD
Hull Rating: 1,000 RU
Crew - 2,500
Consumables - 1 year
Description -
The Sussex class military outpost station was designed in response to questions raised during the occupation of the Onyixian commonwealth at the end of the second Coalition - TNO conflict. The need to base troops and supplies to safeguard a planetery system, espically several systems at once, was daunting, since ships may be needed elsewhere, and supplies placed onto a planetery surface were subject to attack by gurellia troops or vulnerable to a general uprising.
A solution to this problem is the Sussex platform, a mobile space station that is small enough to be transported to a recent conflict zone by a single tug or in the belly of the larger command ships, yet is more then able to defend itself from attack from most small threats. The station appears in a rough oval, almost triangle ship, widest at it's center, smallest at either vertical end.
The station bristles with armament, with it's main offensive firepower being the heavy turbolaser batteries ringing the top and bottom of the station. The batteries are spread around so that all fields of fire are covered, with up to four batteries being able to concentrate their fire on a single spot at any one time. In addition to the turbolaser batteries, there is a proton torpedo cluster of fifteen tubes located on the station amidships, with ten reloads of torpedoes for each tube avilable. Rounding out the armament is a pair of ion cannons located on the upper or low tips of the station, and firestorm quad laser cannons to deal with starfighter or small shuttle threats. Finally, there are Phoenix laser gattling cannons and flechette launchers located adjacent to the turbolasers and laser cannons to deal with the threat of incoming missiles.
For defense, the station employs a Novaldex shield generator and projectors, plus titanium hull armor for protection. The station also can employ up to five hundred troops for defence against intruders, and also uses a less complex version of the anti-intruder systems aboard Imperial capital ships. Finally, the shield sphere can be expanded to protect the ships that are docked to the station, although this weakens the power of the shields by two hundred fifty SBD.
The Sussex does not have it's own propulsion, other than a set of manuevering engines located around it's central section that allows the station to maintain a planetery orbit or move slowly about as needed. In order to get to a system, the station must be towed to the site onboard a large destroyer or a FERAM type vessel.
Ringing it's central section, in addition to the docking platforms, are the hangar areas that store the vehicles on permament assignment to the station. Two squadrons of starfighters and several vehicles are the normal complement carried, although three squadrons of starfighters can be embarked without the support vehicles. The rest of the central section is taken up by crew quarters and the powerplant for the station.
Although the central part of the station is mostly occupied, the upper and lower parts of the station are pretty much vacant, except for the power sources and spare ammunition for the onboard weaponry. It is here that provisions for other ships can be stored, and retracble docking collars can be extended from the station to the ships docked to the station to take on provisions.
Wrapping up the description of the station, a small command center is located on the upper part of the station, with a backup command station in the lower part. These command stations cram in enough sensors and communications equipment to run a small fleet with, or help with the occupation fleet's communications as needed.
Picture Notes -
Colors -
Yellow denotes location of command centers
Dark Blue denotes location of Ion cannons
Green denotes locations of turbolaser batteries
Red denotes locations of Firestorm Quad Laser Cannons
Light Grey denotes locations of docking collars and retractable docking collars
Light Blue denotes hangar entrances
Orange denotes location of manuevering thrusters
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