Special Operations Transport (Light Consortium Design):

Special Operations often has to perform the various dirty work which the military does not want to get involved with. As well, such operations involve stealth and subterfuge which normal military operations are not trained for. Because of that, fleet carriers, heavy assault ships, and battleships are not applicable to such operations. As a result, Special Operations ships are generally either converted merchant classes or ships built to appear to be merchant vessels. Most are relatively small vessels, usually of the "Tramp Freighter" size class. Such ships usually raise little attention in the system. Such ships are usually not used for planetary operations due to planetary assaults often needing tens of thousands to hundreds of thousand of troops to secure a planet. Instead. These ships are usually used for more limited operations. Capturing starships, space stations, and orbital habits are common missions. Often anti-terrorist roles are performed by special operations.

While these ships are not combat vessels, they are comparatively well defended. Still they do not carry the weaponry of a true warship. As a result, these ships are often escorted by Q-Ships. Such ships are often used for both any ship to ship combat as well as being used for fire support roles. The Consortium Military itself is not believed to operate many of these ships but some are operated by Independent Defense Forces and outside parties who use Consortium type designs. The Human Alliance is believed to operate a number of these ships for anti-terrorist operations. Still, none are believed to operate these ships in as large a number as the Trans-Galactic Empire. This appears to also be the case with Q-Ships.

The hull of these ships are slightly larger than most tramp freighters although still within the standard range for such designs. This allows the ships to carry both two assault shuttles in concealed hangers with a large troop compliment embarked for a ship of its size. Depending on who built these ships, some are converted from already existing hulls while others are built as special operation transports. These are better constructed generally and can withstand more damage than a converted hull.

These ships are not armed for ship to ship combat like Q-Ships are and do not have any cruise missile launchers or heavy energy weaponry. Instead, they are armed with defensive batteries. These include eight visible weapon mounts including four laser mounts and four medium range missile batteries. The missile batteries are modified for both a greater rate of fire and larger payload. Their payload is lighter than those carried on most Q-Ship designs. In addition, the ship has six mounts which retract and are concealed when not in use. They are variable focus particle beams similar to what is carried on the Consortium Assault Shuttle.

Propulsion systems are civilian designs. While these are much less expensive to operate, the primary reason for the systems is due to cost. It has the advantage also that the ship’s captain is much less likely to have the ship make maneuvers which it should not be capable of as a civilian cargo ship. Sensors are military class and shields are also military class and are similar to those carried on destroyers. This allows the ship to survive far more effectively in a hostile environment. To cloak military systems and embarked craft and troops, these ships carry a special cloaking device designed to conceal the inside to most sensors and instead project what appears to be the inside of a standard cargo vessel.

For Special Operations, upgraded versions of the Consortium Assault Shuttle are more common than in regular service. Sometimes, a variety of modified civilian shuttles are carried. They can often approach their target without any notice being given to them. Most often the shuttles are configured to carry troops or power armors instead of tanks or heavy robots. If tanks are carried, they must already be embarked on the shuttles when the ship is loaded. If troops are carried, a normal compliment of six hundred troops or four hundred and fifty in power armor are carried. This can be doubled but half of the personnel or power armors must remain onboard the shuttles due to limitations of berthing spaces. This limits endurance and makes for extremely cramped conditions. Troops embarked are often special forces personnel specially trained for such roles. Automation allows these ships to be operated by a comparatively small crew. No fighters are embarked onboard the ship but instead ships such as Q-Ships will usually provide a limited number of fighters.

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

Model Type: CML-1600-ST
Vehicle Type: Special Operations Transport (Built on a Merchantman type hull)
Crew: 45 (5 Officers and 40 enlisted)

Troops:	Normal:	600 Marines (450 in power armor) and 14 Shuttle Crew
	Overload:	1,200 Marines (900 in power armor) and 14 Shuttle Crew

Vehicles:
Standard Power Armor Compliment:

	125	SH-CCW100 Silver Hawk Power Armors
	325	CAF-PA-10 “Ground Pounder” Power Armors

Overload Power Armor Compliment:

	250	SH-CCW100 Silver Hawk Power Armors
	650	CAF-PA-10 “Ground Pounder” Power Armors

Shuttle Compliment:

SAS-12 and SAS-12-D CAF Assault Shuttles (Modified Civilian Shuttles may be carried)

M.D.C. By Location:

Rebuilt Vessel:

New Construction:

Laser Batteries (4):	500 each	500 each
Concealed Variable Focus Particle Beam (6):	200 each	300 each
Medium Range Missile Batteries (4):	300 each	450 each
Concealed Shuttle Hangers (2):	1,000 each	1,200 each
[1] Contra-Grav Engines (2):	2,000 each	2,500 each
[2] Bridge:	1,500	2,000
[3] Main Body:	5,000	6,000
[4] Variable Force Field:	1,000 side (6,000 total)	1,000 side (6,000 total)

Notes:
[1] Destroying the main engines means that the ship’s faster than light systems are destroyed and maximum sublight speed is reduced by half.
[2] 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 ship is -3 to dodge and all weapon systems will be at local control. Weapon hits near the bridge that do not penetrate the ships integrity can injure crew members on or near the bridge.
[3] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the Q-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.
[4] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (300 M.D.C.) per melee

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 0.7 percent of light per melee. Ship has had the merchant radiation and particle shields replaced with military ones.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is 300 mph ( 482 kph), can enter an atmosphere because flight system is using contra grav.
Stardrive: Uses a Gravitonic Drive system that allows the ship to reach a maximum of 3 light years per hour.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. Carries about four months worth of supplies on board. Limit endurance to one month if carrying a maximum compliment of troops.

Statistical Data:
Length: 660 feet (201.2 meters)
Height: 90 feet (27.4 meters)
Width: 110 feet (33.5 meters)
Mass/ Weight: 17,200 tons (15,600 metric tons)
Power System: Fusion with a 20 year life span. The ship normally only goes 5 years between refueling and refitting.
Cargo: Cargo holds are scattered about the ship that allows for carrying up to 2,000 tons (1,815 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 take up by extra ammunition, armor, troops, weapons, engine, and other equipment.
Market Cost: 240 million credits for a rebuilt ship and 300 million credits for a new built vessel. Most builders will only sell starship to allied governments (To keep out of the hands of Pirates) although many still find their way into other's hands.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Four (4) Laser Batteries: Weapon system is part of the original design and are used as an anti-missile, anti-power armor, and anti-star fighter. Weapons system has no penalties to hit fighters and small targets and can be operated by a gunner or a gunner program (+2 to strike, 3 Attacks per melee). The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.
Maximum Effective Range: 200 miles (322 km) in space and 4 miles (6.4 km) in an atmosphere.
Mega Damage: 3D6x10 M.D.C. each.
Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).
Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Six (6) Concealed Variable Focus Particle Beam Mounts: Mounted in concealed 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. 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.
Four (4) Medium Range Missile Batteries: A slightly modified version of the medium range missile batteries carried on a normal Merchantman. They can fire larger volleys and have a much larger payload than the launchers originally carried. Missile has a top speed of Mach 15 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 6% of light per turn. Normally used for anti-fighter and point defense. 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 (See revised Phase World / Three Galaxies missile tables for details.)
Rate of Fire: Can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys of two (2), four (4), eight (8), or sixteen (16) missiles per battery.
Payload: 80 per battery for a total of 320 medium range missiles.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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