Ghost Destroyer “Ghostcrow” (Wolfen Hunter Class):


The Hunter class destroyers are among the most common warships in the Three Galaxies with many thousands having been build. They were the mainstay of the Wolfen military with many thousands built. In addition to serving in Wolfen and Consortium service, there are huge numbers of these destroyers serving in Independent Defense Force fleets and even quite a number in mercenary companies.


The destroyers that became the Ghostcrow’s front and rear sections however weres lost centuries ago in one of the climactic battles between the Wolfen and the Kreeghor. Occurring in a system called Blackmore, the battle was a severe loss for the Wolfen and spelled the beginning of the end in many respects of their independence. Of the destroyers, one had the who front blown off and was little more than the rear engineering portion of the ship. Nobody survived on this ship and the wreckage spun away from the battle.


Another Hunter though was holed in multiple places and was severely damage with the main drives, complete life support, and communication arrays completely wrecked. Still, a handful of the crew managed to survive. Unfortunately, with nobody able to call for help with their suit communication simply not having the range to reach any other vessels, it was thought that everybody had died and the appearance of the ship supported this. As such, when the surviving Wolfen ships retreated from the system, the wrecked destroyer was left for dead. It is quite likely that a handful of Wolfen clung to life on many of the other ships as well.


With Kreeghor ships still in system, the remaining crew of this Hunter did their very best to try and survive. As previous described, only a comparative handful were surviving as is. The hope was that they could hide the ship and patch it up enough to either call for help or escape the system. There was a relatively large ice moon orbiting around a ringed gas giant. It seemed to be good place to try to patch the ship up so the surviving crew used their navigational thrusters to reach the moon.


It was many hours to reach the moon but the wrecked Hunter was able to land on the icy surface. Already by that point, the crews protective suits were running short on air. All attempts to restore the life support systems of the ship had failed. Patching the hull was not a major problem with even sheet plastic able to do it in emergency. As one might expect, the crew tried until the end but eventually their suits all just ran out of air and they all died. Really, it was probably hopeless from the beginning.


The system was near a cosmic ley line. This line shifted into the system over intervening time. Perhaps the huge casualties from the battle, probably almost one hundred thousand total, cause the ley line to shift into the system or perhaps it was just the workings of the universe. The magical energies effected the ship more than most of the wreckage. Still, the mystical energies remained mostly dormant.


The system ended up on the Trans-Galactic Empire area of control. The Trans-Galactic Empire will shoot ships within their space at a whim and it was simply considered extremely dangerous by salvagers. On the border, the system was considered “no-mans land” by salvager within the Empire as well. As such, it is thought that no salvage was done within the system.


Centuries later however a salvage ship became interested. The wreckage of battlecruisers, carriers, cruisers, and destroyers that were rumored to be in the system was simply too enticing. The value of salvage could potentially have set the captain and crew of a salvage ship set for life.


The salvage ship appears to enter Trans-Galactic Empire space without detection. The Blackmore system is only a few light years from what is considered Consortium controlled space. Approaching cautiously, the salvage ship entered the system without detecting any other vessels. Once in system, the salvage ship began scanning and it appeared that they hit pay dirt. There appeared to be the remains of multiple ships.


In order to get a better idea what there was to salvage, the ship launched all of its shuttles to search the system. One of these found the wreckage of the destroyer that was to become the front of the Ghostcrow. Others explored the other wreckage include the wreckage of a cruiser which seemed like a great source of salvage. There was also the intact engineering section of a second Hunter class destroyer which also caught the interest of the salvage crew. Otherwise, most of the wreckage were far less intact. Even so, there was plenty to salvage in the system. There was enough to fill up the holds of the salvage ship and return multiple times.


As fate would have it, the salvage ship was detected. A Kreeghor Smasher cruiser suddenly appeared in system. It is not surprising, military sensors tend to be much more powerful than civilian class sensors. The salvage ship tried to make a run for it but was far slower than the cruiser. Fighters were launched to chase down the shuttles. While lightly armed, the salvage ship was no match for the cruiser. As well, the fighters caught all but one of the shuttles. Afterward, the fighters did a quick survey of the system but nothing in depth. The Kreeghor forces did not detect anything else and the cruiser departed the system.


A single shuttle, the one which had been exploring the wreckage of the Hunter which had crashed on the moon of the ringed gas giant. The officer in charge of the shuttle shut down all of its drives and hid behind the remnants of the destroyer. Somehow the Kreeghor forces missed the shuttle. Of course, being that the shuttle had no long range communication or faster than light drives, one might think the officer had condemned them to a slow death.


The officer had a plan though. His plan was to built an operational vessel by welding the surviving front end of a destroyer on the rear engineering section that had been found earlier. This idea was a minor miracle. Ship have been built by merging two vessels together but this usually took months in a shipyard to do with far more personnel than the single shuttle had. In addition, the anti-matter which had fueled the destroyer was long gone. Although life support on the shuttle would last for years potentially, the craft had only a few days food for the greater than a dozen survivors as well which might be stretched to a week.


All one could do was try. Food might be able to be found in the wreckage and it was possible that some kind of fusion plant might be cobbled together to power the wrecked destroyer’s drives. Probably could reach nothing like the normal speed but faster than light speed travel might be barely possible. The crew got to work for lack of something else to try. Of course, the ship would likely barely function but it might still get them out of Trans-Galactic Empire controlled space.


After dragging the remains of the two ships together, the next step was to cut the wreckage of rear off the one Hunter and the front of the wreckage of the other Hunter. Between the towing of the wreckage using the single shuttle and cutting them to fit, several days were used up. There was constant concern about another Kreeghor ship appearing in system. If the survey ship had limited sensor capabilities, the shuttles were even less capable. A few crew worked on some solid patches on the hull of the destroyer to see if they could repair the holes in the ship slightly more permanently.


The two halves were brought together. The resulting ship would be several meters longer but that was not seen as a major problem. As the crew started welding the hulls together and connecting wiring, something strange started happening. The hulls seemed to merge together on their own and the wiring connected itself on its own. At first, it just seemed easier than anybody expected but after a while it dawned on the salvage crew that the ship was doing it on its own. As it ended up, the ship is about six meters longer than a standard Hunter class destroyer.


Power was being provided by the shuttle and the patched up life support was brought online. Repair parts had been scavenged from ships around the system. While a Hunter class destroyer is quite cramped, still it had far more space. Still, even though they had plenty of air, they had only managed to find a few more days of food among the wreckage and were still racing against time.


It was decided that they would try to bring the backup fusion plant of the destroyer up. There was scant fuel available but more fuel could be breaking water down for its hydrogen. The fusion bottle went up with no problem and soon the backup fusion plant was producing power. The hope was between the ship’s fusion plan and the shuttles that they could bring the faster than light drives up. Preparing to test the faster than light drives, the crew was shocked. The main power plant suddenly came up on its own. There should have been no anti-matter remaining but still it powered up. The power seemed to be coming from nowhere.


With the strange things that were going on, many of the crew were becoming spooked but still it was decided to try to make a run for it. It was decided that they would abandon the shuttle because the warship would be faster on its own. It was able to make a clear getaway although a Kreeghor Berserker did attempt to chase them down. Several vessels were patrolling the area as a result of the salvage ship being in the system.


The shuttle crew had survived but without any real profit and even the loss of the shuttle itself. Still, many had enough and half of the survivors simply abandoned the ship on getting to a system within the Consortium of Civilized Worlds. They had been a number of weird events while they were aboard. This included dreams and visions of the original crew during the time that the original crew tried to save the ship.


Of the seven remaining crew, a few wanted to keep the ship while the others wanted to just sell it for whatever they could get. Even though by now they knew it was haunted, they wanted to get something for the loss of everything. Inquiries were made and a mercenary officer showed interest in purchasing the destroyer. While he was not informed about the fact that the ship was haunted, the ship was bought for only half the normal value usually offered for a Hunter class destroyer. Part of the deal was that those who wanted to stay aboard to be retained.


As things came to be, he only took command for a brief time. It was not long until strange occurrences aboard the ship drove him off the ship. He decided to sell the ship and it was sold by him for a loss in an effort to get rid of it as quickly as he could. Interestingly, a few of his crew decided to remain with the ship. This began what was a series of captains with each soon spooked. It took a half dozen officer until one which the ship seemed comfortable with and in turn was comfortable with the destroyer.


It was almost as hard a process to get a complete crew as getting an officer that was willing to take command. The problem was similar for the fighter pilots and the embarked marines. For every dozen or so personnel that would join the crew, only one or two would usually want to stay aboard. Those that decide to stay aboard generally love the ship but trying to figure out just why some people take to the ship while others do not has been impossible to determine. The only think in common is that they have strong wills but seems more than that. Most are quite comfortable among the supernatural but that is not so unusual in the Three Galaxies. There is a wide mixture of different races, most than on most ships.


Once a full crew was finally found, this captain finally started look for missions for the destroyer. Pretty much, the ship went mercenary although as often as not against the Trans-Galactic Empire. Somewhere from the ship comes feelings of great hatred of and anger against the Kreeghor. Some of the crew shares this hatred but not all. Some were wronged by the Trans-Galactic Empire but again not all. Although the captain has not decided to formally join their naval forces., the destroyer had often operate alongside Free Worlds Council naval forces.


It took a long time for the crew and captain of the destroyer to learn the vessel’s secrets. The most obvious is the weaponry. When the main battery was first test fired, the crew was in for a surprise. Instead of firing particle beams, the main guns fired some kind of eldritch energies. This effected the other direct fire weapon systems as well including the rail guns. Interestingly, the rail guns seem to have unlimited payload. Missile launchers are the only weaponry that operate normally. As with most non-military ships, generally fusion warheads are carried instead of the heavier warheads although sometimes carries them while serving with the Free Worlds Council forces. With the increased length of the destroyer, it can carry a greater number of warheads for the capital missile launchers.


Even though the main anti-matter or even the backup fusion plant have not been refueled, neither seems to be running out of power. As well, the ship seems to regenerate damage when it is taken although it is believed that if the ship is completely wrecked that it will no longer regenerate. In some cases, it takes a few days to completely regenerate damage. The hull of the vessel also seems quite a bit tougher than it should be naturally as well. While they otherwise function normally, the shields appear to have a similar eldritch energies as the weaponry.


Unlike some other haunted ships, the destroyer seems able to take new components. Once added, they seem to become part of the ship. The crew have replaced the main sensors with modern systems to give better range and scanning ability. In large part, the main computers have been upgraded including the fire control software to enable capital missiles to be able to be linked as a single volley instead of coming against the target individually and being much more easily shot down.


The ship itself seems to have a number of psychic abilities. It seems to have slowly have gained these abilities and slowly revealed them. The ship often uses empathy and telepathy to communicate with the crew especially the captain. Greater abilities include being able to create a telekinetic force field around the ship, especially useful if the main force field goes down, and create a group mind block to protect the entire crew. In addition, the ship has shown the ability to actually hack into other ship’s computers when close enough together.


Ghost ship design uses modified starship speed and weapon range rules. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World / Three Galaxies for more details.


Model Type: HF-75B

Vehicle Type: Ghost Frigate Combat Ship.

Crew:24 (4 officers)

Troops:10 Marines and 10 fighter pilots.

Horror Factor: 14


Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors:

Fighter Compliment:

2

Ross Aerospace MSX-128-ICE “I.C.E. Hyena” Light Starfighter

2

Vector Aerospace SF-6 "U” Super Osprey class Medium Starfighter

M.D.C. By Location:

Heavy “Balefire” Particle Beam Cannon (Front, built into hull):

1,200

Heavy “Balefire” Particle Beam Cannons (2, built into sides):

900 each

Point Defense “Balefire” Electromagnetic Rail Gun Turrets (4):

600 each

Point Defense “Balefire”Laser Turrets (4):

450 each

Cruise Missile Launcher (1, underside):

1,500

Medium Range Missile Batteries (2, Top and Underside):

650 each

[1] Bridge:

1,800

[2] Main Body:

6,500

[3] Variable Force Field:

1,500 a side (9,000 Total)

Notes:

[1] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the bridge through the ship’s armor. This ship does not have an auxiliary bridge. Even if the bridge is destroyed, the ship can still be piloted from engineering but the ship is -3 to dodge and all weapon systems will be at local control. Weapons hit near the bridge that does not penetrate the ships integrity can injure crew members on or near the bridge.

[2] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the destroyer out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck.

[3] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (450 M.D.C.) per melee. Magic, fire, lightning, and cold all inflict one-half damage to the force field.

Note: The ship will regenerate at 20% of the hit locations M.D.C. per day, meaning all damage will be restored within 5 days of being damaged. Even if a hit location is completely destroyed, it will slowly regenerate until completely restored. If a section is destroyed, it will not be operational until 20% of the M.D.C. is restored.


Speed:

Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.

Sublight: Has a special sublight engine that allows the ship to travel up to 60 percent of the speed of light. Star Ship can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.95 percent of light per melee.

Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is Mach 1 (670 mph / 1080 kph), can enter an atmosphere and can leave but is not designed for atmospheric flight.

Stardrive: Uses a Gravitonic Drive system that allows the ship to reach a maximum of 4.5 light years per hour.

Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. Carries about one year worth of supplies on board.


Statistical Data:

Length: 320 feet (97.5 meters).

Height: 70 feet (21.3 meters).

Width: 80 feet (24.4 meters).

Weight / Mass: 6,300 tons (5,715 metric tons)

Power System: Magic, systems seem to work as if run by magic. Originally was powered by an Anti-Matter plant with a 50 year life span.

Cargo: Due to the increased length, can carry slightly greater cargo than a standard Hunter class destroyer. The cargo hold can carry 100 ton (544 metric tons) of cargo not including standard compliment of supplies and ammunition. Hold is 20 x 40 x 50 feet in dimensions (6.1 x 12.2 x 15.2 meter). Each enlisted crew member has a small locker for personal items and uniforms. Ship’s officers have more space for personal items. Most of the ships spaces are taken up by extra ammunition, armor, troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.

Market Cost: Not for sale. Due to the haunted nature of the vessel, it is almost impossible to calculate the value of the ship. Standard Hunter class destroyers tend to cost around 320 million credits.


WEAPON SYSTEMS:

  1. Three (3) “Balefire” Heavy Particle Beam Cannons: They can often devastate another destroyer in just a few shots and usually all three are concentrated on a single target. The weapons have good range although not useful against fighters and has standard penalties to hit small targets. One cannon is in the nose and the other two are on the sides mostly in the hull and are extremely well protected. Instead of firing particle beams, the cannons fire magical “Balefire.” The magic has an effect similar to the spell of “Havoc” and disrupts the crew when it hits. The weapon also inflicts double damage against force fields.

    Maximum Effective Range: 10,000 miles (16,000 km) in space and 20 miles (32 km) in an atmosphere.

    Mega-Damage: Magical Energy inflicts 2D4x100 M.D. each (6D4x100 Maximum for all three.) Weapons inflict double damage against non-magical force fields. Havoc effects are inflicts 1D6 Direct to hit points per melee (Inflicts double M.D.C. to Supernatural Creatures) to the crew and the target also needs to save vs. magic or are -3 to initiative, strike, parry, and dodge. (Has no sense of direction or time.) Secondary effect goes direct through power armor and vehicles (including other starships).

    Rate of Fire: Each one can be fired up to one time in a melee.

    Payload: Effectively Unlimited.

  2. Four (4) “Balefire” Electromagnetic point Defense Rail Guns: While the rail guns inflict the same range and inflict the same damage as the did before they were changed, they fire beams of magical energy instead of standard rounds. The also appear to be a burst of rounds instead of a beam. Each “Balefire” Rail Gun is in a turret that can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. Unlike the main battery and secondary battery, the weapons do not inflict the secondary havoc effects but do inflict double damage against none magical force fields.

    Maximum Effective Range: 16 miles (26 km) through atmosphere and 800 miles (1,290 km) in space.

    Mega-Damage: Magical Energy burst inflicts 3D6x10 M.D. each. Weapons inflict double damage against non-magical force fields.

    Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).

    Payload: Effectively Unlimited.

  3. Four (4) Point Defense Lasers in Ball Turrets: Instead of firing laser beams, these weapons appear to fire magical “Balefire” energies. They retain the same range and approximate damage as the lasers. While they don’t inflict the havoc effect of the heavy batteries, the weapons do inflict double damage against non-magical force fields. Original purpose was as an anti-starfighter and missile weapon. Each “Balefire” laser turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire.

    Maximum Effective Range: 200 miles (320 km) in space and has a range of 4 miles (6.4 km) in an atmosphere.

    Mega Damage: Magical Energy burst inflicts 2D6x10 M.D.C. each. Weapons inflict double damage against non-magical force fields.

    Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).

    Payload: Effectively Unlimited.

  4. One (1) Cruise Missile Launchers: Missiles have a top speed of Mach 25 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 10% of light per turn (far faster than any starship.) Whether weapons can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launcher, and missile. When drive goes dead, missiles will continue to travel in a straight line unless set to self destruct but has very low odds of hitting star ships (Great for hitting bases and planets because the target does not move and missile, when unpowered, is at -25% to be detected.) Cruise missiles have minuses to hit small targets but are all considered smart missiles. While missiles are only launched at the rate of one at a time, the ship’s computer has special software that allows all the missiles to hit a target at the same time for the purpose to make point defense of a target more easily overwhelmed. This is done by slowing down the acceleration of missiles and by setting some for delayed activation and target must be at least 30 seconds away. Missiles are then considered to only have an acceleration of 5% of light for the first turn. These launchers can also be combined with pepper box launchers.

    Maximum Effective Range: Cruise missile range is 8,000 miles (12,875 km) in an atmosphere and 4,000,000 miles (6,437,376 km/ 21.5 light seconds) in space.

    Mega-Damage & Properties: See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables. (Fusion Multi-Warhead inflict 3D6x100 M.D.C. each / extra-heavy gravity warheads inflict 4D4x100 each.)

    Rate of Fire: One cruise missile per melee attack (special software allows 4 to 8 missiles to be launched as one volley depending on gunners hand to hand attacks).

    Payload: 60 cruise missiles total (40 Fusion Multi-Warhead, 15 Extra-Heavy Gravity Warheads, and 5 Decoys are normally carried.)

  5. Two (2) Medium Range Missile Batteries: Weapon system is used for hitting enemy robots, fighters, and against incoming cruise missiles. Like other Phase world systems, weapon system range and speed has been greatly increased compared to Rifts Earth systems. Missiles have a top speed of Mach 15 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 6% of light per turn. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time.

    Maximum Effective Range: Medium Range missile is 160 miles (257.5 km) in an atmosphere and 80,000 miles (128,750 km/0.43 light seconds) in space.

    Mega-Damage: Varies with medium range missile type (See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables - multi-warhead heavy inflict 5D6x10 each)

    Rate of Fire: Can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), four (4), or eight (8) missiles per battery.

    Payload: 240 per launcher for a total of 480 medium range missiles.


Special Abilities as a Haunted Vehicle:


Quirks:


[ Altara TM, Brodkil TM, Bushido Industries TM, CAF TM, Catyr TM, CCW TM, Consortium of Civilized Worlds TM, Coyles TM, Free Worlds Council TM, Gene Splicers TM, K-Hex TM, Kankoran TM, Kittani TM, Kreeghor TM, Kydian TM, Machine People TM, M.D.C. TM, Mega-Damage TM, Metzla TM, M’Kri Hardware TM, Monro TM, Mutants in Orbit TM, Naruni Enterprises TM, Noro TM, Paradise Federation TM, Phase World TM, Psylite TM, Rifter TM, SAMAS TM, S.D.C. TM, Seljuks TM, Splugorth TM, Sunaj TM, Trans-Galactic Empire TM, Tri-Galactic Military Service TM, United Worlds Warlock TM, U.W.W. TM, Wolfen TM, and Zembahk TM are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]

[ Beyond the Supernatural®, Heroes Unlimited®, Nightbane®, Ninjas & Superspies®, Palladium Fantasy®, and Rifts® are registered trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]


Image drawn and copyrighted by Roman Kochnev (r_kochnev@hotmail.com) .

More Roman Kochnev artwork at The Science Fiction Art and Design Portfolio of Roman Kochnev


Special Credit to Talis D. Merrill (taalismn@pop.tiac.net) for many of the concepts and enchantments / powers for Ghost / Haunted vehicles.


Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).


Copyright © 2013, Kitsune. All rights reserved.


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