Class: HMS-SCM-07
Name: Pigeon
Ships of the Line: Pigeon (retired), Loveheart, et. al.
Unit Type: Scout/Courier
Manufacturer: CMH Manufactures, Second Salisbury
Operator: Grand Duchy of Great Britain
First Deployment: 2901 A.D.
Length: 156ft. (48m)
Width: 26 ft., (8m)
Height: 22ft., 9in. (7m)
Crew: 3 standard (pilot, co-pilot, navigator), 1 minimum.
Armament: Two fire-linked anti-mecha blaster cannons mounted in a dorsal turret.
Compliment: (Standard) A wheeled ATV for manned ground missions, a ship's boat for manned space missions, short-range drones for unmanned scout missions; (Loveheart) Gabriela's private car and a ship's boat or lifepod.
The noble families comprising the aristocracy of the Grand Duchy of Great Britain remain noted for their affection for the cultural traditions of their ancestral homelands, and one of them is a tradition of seamanship, including naval architecture at all scales. A preference to retain a successful design for as long as possible is one of them, and the courier vessel originally commissioned at the beginning of the 29th Century--the Pigeon class--to be a fleet scout and courier is one such example. Its armaments reflect this mission profile, with just enough gun to protect against enemy strike craft while making a run for it, and run it can.
The ship's auxiliary craft capacity is small and ordinarily forbids carrying mecha of any size, again in conformity with its mission profile. Compensating for this is a sensor suit and communications package far more effective than its small, cigar-shaped hull would seem to permit as well as a design emphasizing stealth, speed, and efficiency; Pigeons are meant to run, not fight.
To ensure a long service life, the architects at CMH Manufactures went with an adaptable and easy-to-fix naval frame; this had a deliberate secondary objective, which was to sell refit vessels to private users, especially the noble families of the Grand Duchy. They routinely acquired such vessels as couriers and yachts, and by the dawn of the 4th Millenium in 3001 A.D. many families had small fleets of older Pigeons in their hands. One of these, refit as a yacht and rechristened "Loveheart", was the personal yacht of Countess Gabriela Robin- the Songbird of Second Salisbury and the catalyst sparking the Matter of the Milky Way.
Misfortune would become the infamous mark of that name, as the Countess would go through several Pigeons over the course of the Matter, with each successor adding a numeral to its designation. The first would be lost shortly after the beginning of the Matter, when she attempted to bring to justice the instigator of her own abduction by the pirate warlord Red Eyes. Another got sunk after she lent it to Lord Roland's squire for a courier run, who arrived at the same time as the invasion fleet at the start of the Siege of New Vienna.
Pilot: Countess Gabriela Robin
First Appearance: Reavers of the Void
Original Mechanical Designer: (TBD)
No comments:
Post a Comment
No anonymous comments are allowed. Pick something, and "Unknown" doesn't count.