Icaria Aetos (Eagle) class Light Carrier:

One of the wealthiest of independent star systems, Icaria is located at the crossroads of multiple important trade routes. The system itself is also material quite rich, allowing orbital industries to flourish. There have been several times where they have been offered membership in both the Human Alliance and Consortium of Civilized Worlds but has each time refused. The Trans-Galactic Empire would like a less voluntary relationship.

Even though the system has refused offers to join the Human Alliance and Consortium, the system does have strong ties to both with much of their trade being from the Consortium. Many of those who settled the planet also originally came from the Human Alliance. As a result, the Human Alliance has a defense treaty although one could argue it is as much to protect their own assets as anything. Both Human Alliance and Consortium Navy warships are allowed free passage through Icaria controlled space.

It has often been said to only trust your allies so far however. A concern by the leaders of Icaria has always been if the Human Alliance would follow their treaty obligations if there was a potential major war as a result. In the past, there have been problems where the neighbors of Icaria have reneged on treaty obligations. As a result, the system keeps an extremely powerful fleet for a small independent star system. Has a large fleet than a number of multi system entities.

The Icaria navy is divided into four fleets and when combined will contain a battlecruiser, two carriers, a number of heavy and light cruisers, as well as a much larger number destroyers. To operate its five fleets, the Icaria navy keeps ten carriers with two carriers in refit at any one time. A fifth fleet might be able to be formed temporarily by pushing back maintenance schedules and forming a fleet out of ships that are suppose to be in the yard.

The four fleets can be subdivided into smaller battle groups although unlike the battle cruisers and cruisers, the carriers virtually never operate independently. The carriers are considered too vulnerable to operate in that manner. Instead, they are usually escorted by one or more light cruisers and several destroyers.

Still with six carriers complete and four still under construction, the Aetos is the newest carrier classes in the Icaria navy and is much larger than the previous light carrier class. Four of the older Geráki (Falcon) class carriers are still in commission although one is preparing to decommission. As they have been decommissioned, the older carriers have been sold to either other system space forces or mercenary companies. These sales partially pay for the construction of the new carriers. Even though wealthy, the system does not keep a true reserve force.

While there are some examples of trying to mix the roles of cruiser with that of a carrier, the main weaponry of most carriers are their fighters. The Aetos is no exception to this with a total of eight squadrons of fighters with five squadrons of light fighters and three squadrons of medium fighters. Currently, the most common fighters are the Human Alliance Vixen light fighter and Osprey medium fighter. They have been heavily upgraded over the years to keep them current.

Even so, the Icaria military is planning to replace these fighters with newer fighter models. For the medium fighter role, the system has developed their own indigenous fighter design known as the Kopis. For the light fighter role, the Bearcat and ICE Hyena designs, both with similar performance, are currently under consideration to replace the Vixen. If possible, the system wants to manufacture the fighter under licence possibly with some minor modifications.

As with fighters, the Icaria military originally depended on mostly Human Alliance military hardware although recently the system has been developing their own systems. As with most carriers, the Aetos is armed primarily for self defense. While able to be used as anti-ship weaponry, the carrier mounts four long range missile batteries backed up with six medium range missile batteries. Around twelve hundred long range missiles and just under two thousand medium range missiles are carried for reloads.

For close range defense, the light carrier has eight variable focus particle beams and eight heavy point defense rail guns. Originally carried on the Consortium Assault Shuttle and carried by warships operated by a number of other nations, the variable focus particle beams are extremely effective against missiles. The rail guns are electromagnetic not gravity rail guns. Firing a forty millimeter round, the electromagnetic rail guns are far easier to maintain. There are some concerns that the weapon system was originally a Caramelles Kingdom weapon design.

As with most Icaria’s vessels, the Aetos light carrier are quite fast with the ability to accelerate equal to many destroyers and frigates. Even though protected by decent armor and shields, sharing the same shield generator as a heavy cruiser, the speed of the light carrier is a large part of keeping the carrier safe from enemy vessels. At six and a half light years per hour, faster than light speed allows these ships to be rapidly deployed when needed.

These ships have extensive automation and are designed to be operated by a crew of just under four hundred. While not generally considered flagships, these ships do have limited flag facilities including the ability to carry up to fifty flag personnel. Also embarked is a limited marine compliment with forty troops in light power armor and sixty troops in conventional gear.

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

Model: INF-LC-22.

Class: Light Carrier.

Crew: 480 (40 Officers, 440 enlisted).

Troops: 60 marines (40 typically stay on board for ship defense), 150 fighter pilots, and 40 power armor pilots.

Can carry up to 50 passengers in addition to troops and crew (generally flag personnel).

Vehicle, Robots, and Power Armors:

Power Armors:

Light Power Armors

Fighter Compliment:

	60	Light Starfighters (SF-109 Stríngla Light Fighter in Icaria service)
	36	Medium Starfighters (SF-106 Psaraetós or SF-1 Kopis Medium Fighter in Icaria service)

M.D.C. By Location:

	Variable Focus Particle Beam Cannon Turrets (8):	150 each
	Point Defense Electromagnetic Rail Gun Turrets (8):	200 each
	Long Range Missile Batteries (4):	800 each
	Medium Range Missile Launchers (6):	500 each
	Outer Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area):	200
	Inner Hull (40 ft/ 12.2 m Area):	150
	[1] Bridge:	10,000
	[1] Auxiliary Bridge:	10,000
	Hanger Doors (16):	5,000 each
	[2] Main Engines (4):	8,000 each
	[3] Main Body:	55,000
	[4] Variable Force Field:	6,000 per side (36,000 Total)

Notes:

[1] In reality this is how much damage needs to be done for a weapon to hit the bridge. This ship does have an auxiliary bridge. The ship can still be piloted from engineering but ship is -3 to dodge. All weapon systems will be at local control. Weapon hits near the bridge can injure crew members near the bridge.

[2] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the ship 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] Destroying the main engines means that the ship’s faster than light systems are destroyed and maximum sublight speed is reduced by half.

[4] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (1,800 M.D.C.) per melee round.

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 1.0 percent of light per melee.

Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 400 mph (644 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 6.5 light-years per hour.

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

Statistical Data:

Length: 984.3 feet (300 meters).

Height: 311.7 feet (95 meters).

Width: 410.1 feet (125 meters).

Mass/Weight: 358,250 tons (325,000 metric tons).

Power System: Anti-Matter with a 40 year life span. The ship normally only goes 10 years between refueling and refitting. Backed up with emergency fusion plants.

Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 22,046 tons (20,000 metric tons) of cargo in addition to standard compliment of supplies and ammunition. 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 ship’s spaces are taken up by extra ammunition, armor, fighter compliment, troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.

Market Cost: Costs approximately 7.5 billion each to construct not including fighter compliment and missiles. At present Icaria system does not sell these ships. Older light carrier classes may be available although are extremely rare.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Eight (8) Variable Focus Particle Beam Mounts: These particle beams are copied from those carried on the CAF Assault Shuttle and will fire a very powerful narrow beam and can fire a scatter effect that is less powerful but is capable of striking multiple targets. The weapon system is quite useful against missiles although the cone is not as wide as Tachyon cannon sprays are (Gives +2 bonus vs fast moving targets such as missiles.) Weapons are mounted in turrets that can rotate 360 and have a 180 arc of fire. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities. Each mount can be operated by a gunner or a gunner program (+2 to strike, 3 Attacks per melee).

Maximum Effective Range: 300 miles (480 km) in space and 3 miles (4.8 km) in an atmosphere.

Mega Damage: Single Target: 4D6x10 per blast. Wide Beam: 5D6 to all targets within a 5,000 foot (1,524 meter) diameter area. When fired as a wide beam, the cannon cannot be used on targets closer than 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) away.

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

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Eight (8) 40 mm Electromagnetic Point Defense Rail Guns: Unlike most of the rail guns used on Phase World / Three Galaxies starships, these are standard electromagnetic rail guns. Comparatively heavy weapons, the rail guns fire a heavy 40 mm high density projectile and have excellent range. Each turret can rotate 360 and has a 180 arc of fire. Weapons are mounted around the ship for point defense. The rail gun still fires projectiles at incredible velocities compared to rail guns on Rifts Earth and projectiles are fired by rail guns at a significant fraction of the speed of light. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.

Maximum Effective Range: Rail guns have a range of 12 miles (19.3 km) through atmosphere and 1,200 miles (1,930 km) in space.

Mega-Damage: Rail Cannon inflicts 3D6x10+30 M.D.C. for a 10 round burst.

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

Payload: Rail Cannon has 2,000 Rounds (200 Bursts) each cannon.
Four (4) Long Range Missile Batteries: Missile has a top speed of Mach 20 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 8% of light per turn (faster than any starship.) Whether weapons can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launcher, and missile. When drive goes dead, missile 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 target does not move and missile, when unpowered, is at -25% to be detected.) Long range missiles do not have penalties to hit small targets, unlike cruise missiles, and are all considered smart missiles. Batteries can launch on multiple targets each at the same time.

Maximum Effective Range: Long Range Missile range is 3,400 miles (5,470 km) in an atmosphere and 1,800,000 miles (2,897,000 km/9.7 light seconds) in space.

Mega-Damage & Properties: See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details (Fusion warheads inflict 2D4x100 M.D.C. each.)

Rate of Fire: Can fire long range missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), eight (8), sixteen (16), or thirty-two (32) long range missiles per launcher, per melee attack.

Payload: 1,280 total, 320 long range missiles per launcher.
Six (6) 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. Missile has 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 range 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 (Multi-warhead heavy warheads inflict 5D6x10 M.D.C. each - See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details.)

Rate of Fire: Can fire medium range missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), four (4), eight (8), or sixteen (16) missiles per launcher.

Payload: 1,920 total, 320 medium range missiles per launcher.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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