The Rebel Faction

Starstreak Class Escort Frigate

Starstreak Class Escort Frigate

Name/Type: Starstreak Class Escort Frigate
Designer/Manufacturer: Stellar Enterprises
Combat Role: Escort Frigate
Personnel: 350 + 65 Gunners
Size: Main Body: 275m
Height/Beam: 85/60m
Speed: 58 MGLT
Shield Rating: 2,650 SBD
Hull: 2,100 RU
Weapons: 4 Repeater Turbolaser Batteries, 10 Dual Turbolaser Turrets, 4 Ion Cannons, 6 Repeater Heavy Laser Cannons, 6 Dual Warhead Launchers (60 warheads)
Fighter Complement: 2 Squadrons
Troops: 50 Marines+250 Defense Droids

Description: The Starstreak escort frigate was started as a technology testbed project by Stellar Enterprises. It was constructed to test and evaluate new and future technologies that were being developed. As such, the ship utilizes the newest in the forms of hull contruction, interior design, materials used, sensor equipment, and weaponry. The ship also contains a one of a kind hanger/fighter launch system.

Unlike many other ships, the Starstreak contains an internal bridge. This bridge is mostly automated and can to run by five trained crew membered and one commanding officer. This bridge is fully surrounded with displays allowing the crew to see everything that's happening around the ship. These displays are feed from hundreds of holocams all over the ship's hull. The cam images go through a high speed computer, which assembles the many feeds into one 360 degree view, that is then projected along the bridge walls as if it was a view from viewports.

Unlike a true viewport, however, each display can be commanded to zoom in on targets or color code different ships. There are also many other functions that this sophisticated display system contains within it, all of which allow the command crew to operate with the utmost efficiency. This all is done with the knowledge that the crew is well protected inside the ship's hull

The ship's fighter compliment is contained with two specially designed side hanger/launch systems. These hangrs extende out form the ship's sides, but are open only at the bottom. The fighters are all kept along the hangers length, but inside the ship's hull. Each fighter is secured on a movable deck plate by graplers and once loaded and manned is moved into position for launch.

This movement is unique in that the deck plate moves forward and rotates down to nessel along the Starstreaks side, but still inside the hanger bay armor covering. Their exit would now be directly in front and they would launch vertically straight down, emerging almost level with the bottom of the ship. Before the fighters launch, they fire their engines and only then are the graplers disengaged, causing the fighters to rocket out of hanger at hit speeds.

The method of keeping the fighters side by side has other advantaged as well. It allows the whole squadron to launch as one unit without the need of waiting for flights to launch separately. This way, the full compliment of 24 fighters is able to launch at the same time and attack the enemy as complete group almost instantly.

Another advanged is the massive internal space that is freed up. Since there is only one fighter per holding bay, designers could make the bays slimer and shorter. Each fighter bay only extended into the ship a little over the length of the fighter it holds. In return this freed up internal space could be used to house other systems, like power generators and largers engines.

The frames and bulkheads of the ship are made from high strength, yet lightweight metal alloys. These are suplemented by high compression carbon-composite structures, which are both strong as steel and much lighter. They reinforce and make up the compartmentalized interior of the Starstreak, allowing the ship to take much damage yet still hold together to protect the crews inside.

Carbon Matrix Sandwiched Armor: This newly developed armor system is a major breakthrough in armor design. It creates strength without using heavy and expensive metals. It is designed as a sandwich type armor that is manufactured right over the hull of the ship, making it all one piece.

The top and bottom layers of this armor are made from bonding carbon atoms into a matrix like structure which has the same proporties as diamond. This makes it both strong, greatly resistant to pressures, and also great at thermal conductivity. Having diamond like properties the layers are capable of dissipating tremendous amounts of heats, while still staying cool. This makes it a great armor against lasers and turbolasers, allowing it to reflect, refract, or just plain shatter turbolaser shots. It also makes the ship's hull dissipate ion cannon blasts by trapping and channeling these ions through the ship's hull and away from internal systems.

This does not protect the systems on the outside of the ship. The weapons and sensor arrays are still effected by the ion cannons as always. Even though the gunner station inside the ship might be protected, if the weapon itself is ionized, it would become useless.

This heat/energy is transfered throughout the whole hull to keep each section of the ship from getting too hot. This energy is just dissipated and not in any way used inside the ship. The capability of it to take hits does not cause this armor to go unharmed, however. Over time the energy being absorbed by this carbon matrix whelms the bonds between them, causing fractures to occur or even the shattering of whole sections of armor. This shattering also happens from warhead impacts since the carbon matrix layers are not elastic enough to bend.

To help with impact forces an extreme heat capable polymer is sandwiched between the carbon matrix layers. This flexible polymer is bound to the layers and keep them glued together. They also help the structure bend and if fractured to stay connected. It keeps one fracture from expanding into other sections of the hull.

If multiple impacts occure in the same place, it makes that sections of the hull very succeptable to damage from other strikes. To help keep the hull layers together and strengthen it further, a honeycomb type layer is fitted between the upper and lower layers of carbon matrix. This layer is also manfuctured from carbon and uses the honeycombs own structural properties to provide a low weight, yet strong support structure that is good as absorbing impact forces. It spreads these impact forces over a wider area, while keeping surrounding structures free from damage. This allowes the undamaged sections of the hull to stay stronge even if sections nearby are heavily damaged.

The space inside these honeycombs are filled with a specially designed inert gel. This gel, when exposed to air and heat, as from a hull rupture, instantly foams up to seal the whole that was just punctured in the hull. With the coldness of space, this foam becomes instant hard, but stays brittle. If something were to impact that section once more, it would shatter. This Gel/foam is there to allow the crews to evacuate the hit area and seal off all blastdoors to prevent more decompression.

This strong armor is very light compared to metal armor types and allows the ship to reach higher speeds than normal with even faster acceleration. The decrease in weight allows for smaller engines to get the ship upto full speed. It also allows for heavier shields or power systems to be put onboard the ship without the loss of speed associated with the increase in weight.

Spectorgraphic Sensor Array: This is a new form of detection and tracking system designed and built at Stellar Enterprises labs. It uses the property of light to detect shields and other objects in space even if they are stealthed or cloaked. The system gathers information from detectors arranged all around the hull and does not give off any pulses itself. Do it this fact, the system is passive and can not be detected by other ships.

It locates its targets by analyzing all light that hits the ship. Since light gets reflected in all directions, a ship in space can be seen by the light that reflects off of it. This light travels through space and hits the Starstreaks sensor arrays where it is checked against the light radiating from the background. The light that is given off by a ship in space would be different from the surrounding light since it would contain shades of light that are not found in the surrounding areas.

For example, a grey ship would give off light only that single spectum, while the light around it would have a mixed spectrum completely different from the ship's. These differences will be seen by the sensor computers and the targets location will be displayed.

Since light travels great distances, the system can detect ships at ranges beyond normal. It could also detect cloaked ships and abjects by just seeing them bend the light around them. The system would see these bends in what otherwise should be a straight line spectrum and alert the crews to something in the area or at least get them to send out a fighter to investigate and stay out of the objects weapon range.

Repeater Turbolasers: These are similar to repeater laser cannons, but contain multiple barrels. They consist of four barrels that rotate with the capacitors and allow the weapon to have a high rate of fire for around twenty seconds. After this period of time, the weapons need to cool down. These 20 seconds, however, second out so many laser blasts into a relatively small section of the enemy ship's shields that they weaken it severly or sometimes even take the shields down completely. This allows the Starstreak's other turbolasers to finish the job or hold the shields from recharging quickly. This would give the repeater Turbolasers the 30-40 needed seconds of cool down before they could unleash their fury against the enemy once more.

A drawback to these weapons is their tremendous use of power and their large size. The weapons use so much power that the frigates speed must be cut in half in order to support them. More power generators always need to carried, but this is possible do to the ships heavily automated systems, cutting down on the internal space needed for crew accomidations. As a result, almost the whole rear of the ship is filled with power generators and engines.

The ship will be finished IC here