Chronicles of Sol: The Fall

When the 1200 series of space vehicles was proposed alongside Earth’s warp development program, it was only natural that a new combat shuttle would be created along with that program. While her immediate predecessor was by no means obsolete, it was sometimes not quite up to the tasks demanded of it during the war with the Cathamari. As such the idea of putting forth a more mission flexible shuttle to replace it was put forth for the 1200 series of spaceship designs. However, she was also selected as a testbed for certain experimental technologies, specifically those being developed by the most ambitious arm of Earth’s warp program. Given the fall of Earth, that project is no longer in the works, but it is possible that it would be revisited later.

The requirements put forth when the X-1205 was first put on the drawing board was for a highly durable but mission flexible shuttle capable of performing a wide array of roles. Allowing a capital ship to consolidate most of her auxiliary craft needs into a single vessel.

In order to achieve those requirements, a highly modular hull would be required. As such, the hull of the 1205 was structured so that she could be easily reconfigured. The use of a modular hull was also projected to ease the cost of refits and extended the longevity of the class. This modular hull was also reinforced so that it could withstand not only the rigors of combat, but the stresses of star travel.

While there is no way such a small ship could traverse the immense distances between stars. There is no reason it would not be able to travel at faster than light velocities, and such a drive would vastly extend its mission radius. As such it was little wonder that a project to develop a shuttle-sized warp drive was in the works, but as stated above that ambitious project wasn’t even in the prototype phase when the fall of Earth occurred. Regardless the shuttle’s hull was designed with such a drive in mind.

Her robust hull is reinforced by four primary heavy-duty structural field generators giving her incredible hull endurance. This hull is further protected by third generation Mark III Overlord hull plating fifty-five centimeters thick. This plating could be thickened if the mission requires it. The shuttle also features an energy web grid providing her additional protection from missiles, and torpedoes.

Being modular the ship is designed for quite a few different mission loadouts. From armored transport to medium bomber to gunship she can be outfitted to suit a wide variety of mission profiles. The ship by default typically carries four forward-mounted particle cannons, and two dual turrets mounted port and starboard. The ship can be outfitted to carry missiles, torpedoes, bombs, and additional turrets depending on the requirements of the mission. The ship has several mounting hardpoints for these turrets, and the hull plating is designed to be easily displaced to allow a turret to be mounted on these hardpoints.

These extra mountings are located on the ship's dorsal, and ventral. With two of them on the dorsal, and the last one located to the far rear on the ventral. That ventral mounting is also compatible with a mag tractor projector and is typically used to mount a mag tractor rather than a full turret. If used to mount a turret, it is worth noting that the turret would thanks to its position not be able to fire on targets in front or above the craft, but it could fire on ships below, behind, and to port or starboard.

As for the dorsal turrets, they are positioned on the centerline of the hull. Thanks to the contours of the hull, they are naturally superfiring, but only the rear turret can fire on aft targets. If all turret positions are filled, she can fire four turrets forwards, four aft, four port, and starboard. Along with four towards targets above the ship, but only three can fire on targets below the ship. This gives it a really good set of gun arcs when configured as a gunship.

Her rear bay is particularly important for her modularity. By default, the rear bay is designed to safely house troops and vehicles for ground insertion, or troops waiting to be inserted to an enemy vessel. There is even a special airlock on the ship’s ventral complete with an integrated plasma cutter to allow the ship to insert troops into a hostile alien vessel. Making it quite useful for boarding actions, even when no convenient entry points are available. Naturally and for obvious reasons, if a convenient entrance point already exists for insertion it would be preferred to use that over cutting into the hull. As it would be faster, still experience has shown that having the option to cut into the hull is better than not having it at all.

Being a fairly large shuttle, the 1205 actually has room to transport twenty soldiers and a tank. Specifically, when configured as a transport her rear bay was designed to house the Raptor class tank, but it could carry other vehicles in her rear bay. It could not however transport a Scorpion, those massive walkers were too large to be transported via standard shuttlecraft and required a specialized dropship to be deployed to the surface. That was especially true on planets lacking in significant seas or oceans. It was also why the Scorpion was designed to double as a submarine. As a water landing was much preferred for those heavy ground weapons. Even with the limitation of not being able to carry scorpions, the 1205 remains an effective and versatile space to ground transport. That meets her ambitious design requirements while proving able to match her immediate predecessor in all areas, and even exceeding it in some areas. It was even capable of tasks that her predecessor simply couldn’t handle. Making the ship a welcome addition to humanity’s arsenal of vehicles.