Gladius Class Recon Craft

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by Lig

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So here we have my own take on a ship for the Star Trek universe. Now having been a long time fan of Mass Effect I got thinking. "What would the Federation's equivalent to the Normandy be?" Doing a bit of research I found a few vessels in that size range like the Raven and the Marquis Raider. So i went ahead and drew something taking a lil inspiration from the later and channeling some heavy influences from the Defiant class to make this small swift vessel. ^^ And now of course as always a lil blurb to go with it done in a bit of a Codex style. ^^

"The Gladius Class Recon Craft was first purposed in the twilight days of the Dominion war as the Federation continued to see vessels that could lend them advantages in the War. It was meant to be a small craft with a limited crew with a low profile. The idea being that this small craft would warp into an area perform recon or carry out a quick assault before jumping back to Warp. With cooperation from both the Klingon and Romulan Empires the vessel was to be equipped with a top of the line cloaking device to allow it to better perform it's recon missions. However with the end of the Dominion war and Focus on larger vessels. More Escorts, lager cruisers, and long range vessels this tiny craft's designs laid in languish unfinished for nearly 3 decades. However that changed when in 2405 with the start of a new War with the Klingon Empire. Once again the Federation was forced to tap it's creativity for battle and this ship was pulled out of the archives. With some modernization implemented the Gladius quickly became a favorite design for use with StarFleet intelligence. It is effectively a set of Warp Engines surrounded by weapons and hidden with cloaking technology. While it's shielding is hardy and can stand up or a few hard hits from capital ships though more than that is more than this little ship can take. It's saving grace is it's size. At it's small scale typically the size of a Marquis Raider or Captain's Yat it is exceptionally maneuverable and with top of the line cloaking technology included is a target hard to hit if you can even spot it in the first place. For all these reasons it has also become a favorite craft for Section 31. Able to deploy their operatives in all manner of locations with relative stealth and small enough that resources re-directed for one's construction can be more easily hidden."

Well that's the Gladius Class Recon Craft. Hope you guys like it. ^^

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