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Spatium Sperma - World Ships
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Uros
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Spatium Sperma - Escort Ships
Spatium Sperma - Mechanics Intro
spatium_sperma_escort_ships.doc
Keywords short 4092, sci fi 842, lore 794, snippet 25, star ship 8, city long ship 1, void ship 1, absurd size 1
Escort Ships


Commonly referred as Void Ships in general, a fit all category for spaceships without Jump Engines capable of propelling a ship between galaxies and across dimensions to shorten travel time, the ships known as `Escorts' were more of a pipe dream than an actual serious project at first. This pipedream became a reality once it was proven that a large enough gravitational field could pull things along during a Jump, but the size required for there to not be damage would be massive when compared to regular spacecraft at the time. The result would be the ships known globally as `Escorts' outside the `Void Ship' category.

Escort ships, as a general rule, are city long ships, this length can vary wildly, but a minimum size of five kilometers in length was considered the lowest bar for structural integrity to remain at least operational during a Jump. The largest Escort Ship length, with an overall size to match, would paint a roughly forty kilometer line from one end of the ship to the other.

Monstruously long in size and partially automated, these ships were but specks when compared to the massive World Ships they were meant to protect. But it was this smaller size that allowed for their perfectly tuned engines to use the gravity of a World Ship in a similar way that regular Void Ships would use a star system's own gravity wheels to fold and appear in one particular point. With these particular modifications any Escort Ship could go from one side of a World Ship to the other within seconds, minutes at most, and a perfect defense would be achieved through almost impeccable mobility and superior firepower while risking few lives thanks to the largely autonomous ships that required few crewmembers to operate.

It was thanks to the Escort Ships that weapons designed to fight the `Predator', or at least survive within it, were also developed. An accidental discovery, yes, but monumental.

Originally many of these Escort Ships were partially made for intimidation in case dangers were to be found outside of the Milky Way. A tanker Escort, the first of its line that was to be known as `Gold Fish', had a mixture of many chemicals and internal factories designed to produce ammunition, propellants and much more. Some of these chemicals had been considered to become explosive or inert if in contact with one another, but an accident managed to mix a combination of them that was, supposedly, capable of creating an incredible explosion. Instead, the mixture created a fluid that would be known as `Eraser', though few ever use its name nowadays.

This discovery was nearly a catastrophe for the creator of the `Gold Fish', but it also made the situation take a one eighty turn. With help from the team that aided in the development, the `Gold Fish' changed its production around and quickly found a way to turn the Eraser fluid into a weapon that could literally melt, or even vaporize, nearly all organic matter.

It was even more fortuitous that this Eraser fluid was one of those substances that stay solid in many conditions, but it quickly either vaporices or turns into liquid again when in contact with organic matter. With a bit of know how and creative thinking it wasn't impossible to turn such material into anything from bullets to explosives and more. A truly marvelous, if incredibly dangerous, discovery.

With such a weapon on their hands, the creation of ways to deliver it, armor against its effect and a new form of warfare focused on a singular liquid took form. Escort Ships became weapons that could, hopefully, deter not only possible enemies, but the `Predator' too, and while the later would prove to be an unreachable dream, the Eraser fluid would have indeed stopped almost any other species in the known universe: Humanity devised so many ways to deliver the Eraser inside a hull, or unto a planet, that the Vigiles became nervous. Humanity swore they would never deploy such a thing without it being really needed, and the Vigiles knew this was true.

But what would humanity's descendants do with a weapon that could literally melt almost any living creature into bubbling sludge if so desired?

Whatever the case would have been, the Escort Ships quickly became not something to be feared, but something that could populate the nightmares of countless species. They would prove ineffective at stopping the `Predator', not that anything could have done to stop it, and many of them now sit within the massive entity after the fight; lodged all over the place, either as bastions of human resistance against the monsters within, fortresses protecting critical areas of the `Predator', or lairs full of monstrosities and forever infested with malicious macrobacteria.

There were countless variants created with various ideas over the years. Some were nearly identical to one another, while others were rather unique in design and function. Here lie a handful of descriptions for some of the most known designs that perdured until the `Predator' took over.

*The Eraser Fluid would later be perfected into a slightly similar solution. This is the chemical that will damage cells within the `Predator' without being fully indiscriminate. Its brutal effects would be toned down, but many of its functions (like remaining in solid, icy form before touching organic matter) would remain.

Gold Fish Class


Designation:

Frigate Specifications - Old Tanker Hull.

Function:

Barrage Boat.

Originally designed as a tanker and mobile factory, the Gold Fish is the original Escort Ship, at least when it comes to the modern design that could fight (theoretically) against the `Predator'. While it would show itself to be an extremely poor choice when it came to a fight (although no one would ever say it didn't put up a fight), its original design as a fluid transport being much more fitting despite the extensive changes done to its prototype, the relatively small (for one of the Escort Ships anyway) frigate became a mainstay. It was cheap to make and had a simple enough structure that made the Gold Fish a popular Escort Ship for those World Ships that had difficulty with procuring maintenance.

It didn't hurt its fame a little bit that the original Gold Fish was the place where the Eraser Fluid was created. Considering the name had to do more with its creator's airheadedness, the woman living to the stereotype of a ditzy bimbo even in a future where genetic manipulation made sure that the lowest scores in IQ were around the hundred ten mark, thee Gold Fish' prototype's failures were the perfect accident to catapult it to stardom (and earn enough grants to fix its many problems).

Weapons wise, the Gold Fish consisted of dozens of small turrets on every side, both topside and on the underside, with four capital sized canons on the top and bottom row. Designed primarily for broadsides and with a mostly frontal facing, reinforced hull, this ship would have been a tank in any regular engagement. With the smallest turret firing solidified Eraser rounds roughly a hundred fifty meters in diameter, while the larger main cannons easily triple the size of the round.

Incredibly basic as far as highly futuristic ships go for those in the early ages of Science Fiction, the truth was this: Simplicity bore great possibilities. That, and the Gold Fish proved the very basic design for future ships: Most of its internals were made to create, process and store Eraser fluid that would freeze within the gun and then be fired. It pioneered the weapon design and the later backpack operated handheld weaponry.

While it was a crude, simple thing when compared to others, the simple turrets would have had such high fire rate and precision that they could have destroyed conventional fleets with a relatively small number while suffering relatively low casualties. They were also very spacious after their purpose had been altered, and so common that many groups of civilians found themselves stored within these hulls after they were quickly modified during humanity's attempt to escape. Unsuccessful as this all was, the Gold Fish ended up saving far more people than anyone ever thought a simple fluid transport could.

Forgotten Class


Designation:

Frigate Specifications - Torpedo Hull.

Function:

Long Range Light Torpedo Boat.

A design crafted by an old Earth enthusiast, born on a desert planet. The man was particularly fond of underwater vessels, specifically submarines, but found success in space instead, cracking large asteroids. The Forgotten Class was a small Escort Ship that the man designed to hopefully use his passion and job in a perfect mix that would aid everyone after they escaped the `Predator'. While the escape plan never really took off, the Forgotten did come in handy as the basic hull that would inspire much more powerful and larger sized vessels capable of deploying a brutal payload into the monster that was to come.

The Forgotten got its name thanks to the way it was intended to be used originally: Aim a large plasma torpedo at an incoming asteroid the size of a mountain, move away, have the munitions drill deep enough thanks to its mining drill attached to the tip instead of the standard bomb arming system activated on contact, and wait until the sensors determined the charge was deep enough. Once there? Make everything blow sky high and forget about it.

Old explosive warheads were thought to be highly ineffective with an Eraser payload: They would work, but not really deliver what was needed of them. These weapons wouldn't be discarded of course, but a drilling missile was found to be just as tempting, if not more, although many guessed (and guessed correctly) that the `Predator' would find a way to counter many of these attacks. However, when compared to regular ordinance? One of these could do incredible damage that a regular explosive could not, and in fact it would inspire a way to use the ancient bow design within the `Predator's' body as an effective weapon.

Sadly for the Forgotten, the complex drill missile manufacturing and equally bothersome procedure to ensure the Eraser fluid was constantly in liquid form instead of solid. The Forgotten's payload was meant to be partially injected once it had penetrated the `Predator', or sprayed in aerosol form, as the drill type projectile from the forgotten had to be modified extensively to load Eraser instead of plasma, and detonating the fluid with standard means would simply nullify its effectiveness against organic matter. This made the Forgotten a rarely used ship, but its contributions would be noted and many models of this design would see battle in the end.

Irondome Class


Designation:

Destroyer Specifications - Automated Infantry Assault Ship.

Function:

Troop Transport.

The idea of a troop transport, considering the World Ship's size and the idea of being dissolved or worse if the `Predator' caught anyone alive, was as close to nightmarish as you could get. An old military buff obsessed with automated technology didn't find it quite as bad of an idea. By supplanting the body of a person with a remotely controlled metal husk, one that was meant to be connected to the mind of a trained boarding professional, the risk would be minimized. True that the Irondome wasn't the first design to use remotely controlled bodies, but it was the first to not give such feedback that the person would need to be brought back after having their brain fried.

Beyond the innovation of the R.C Body initiative, which would sadly become obsolete (and largely impossible) within the `Predator', the Irondome was not exactly the most innovative creation. It was, however, a solid and foolproof design when compared to almost any newer ship:

Extremely thick hull that was perfectly made for not only traditional combat if needed, but the overall weight was almost made to balance the Jump when the time came. Its name as `Irondome' came as the idea of naming it `Ironclad' seemed somewhat disrespectful to the creator when it came to the original Ironclad ship.

An array of hundreds of very small turrets was designed as a perfect counter boarding defense, even if the elongated, almost beak shaped ship, was thus ineffective against other large vessels. Against fighters or smaller threats however? The brutal assault of Eraser ice bullets, bigger than a human in size on average, would shred armor just as if you were using traditional ammunition.

Its insides were spacious and perfectly arranged for constant R.C Bodies, ammo and weapons for them, as well as the creation of vast quantities of Eraser Fluid, all the while leaving an insane level of space for people if it was ever required.

Even the engines were juiced up for speed and maneuverability. Although this was mostly a necessity since the only way to deliver the R.C Bodies was a relatively short range mining torpedo that would board the enemy, requiring for the Irondome to be mobile at all times.

It was a solid workhorse, relatively simple, cheap and still larger than other Escort Ships of its size. The only downside to this model was the larger requirement of crew, as every R.C Body needed another person aboard, which was one of the greatest downsides that any other Troop Transport would suffer after the Irondome opened the doors for safe boarding combat.

Exterminatus Class


Designation:

Cruiser Specifications - World Destroyer.

Function:

Massive Payload Delivery/Orbital Bombardment.

A literal homage to a by then long dead board game and sci-fi universe, but a fitting one considering the bleak possibilities ahead of humanity. Despite this, the creator of the Exterminatus Class did not really intend for this ship to ever be used to the, quote, joke, unquote, designation that had been given to the Exterminatus.

Even if nearly everyone present during the unveiling of the prototype considered it was a perfect possibility and the furthest thing from a joke.

The Exterminatus Class was a gun attached to a ship roughly the size of thirty four kilometers in length, with another four kilometers occupied by support systems and the engine. This titanic factory for Eraser Fluid would deliver a massive, if not downright obscene, ice bullet made from Eraser Fluid with a combination designed to aerosolize on impact, a warhead lodged within would then spread the mixture, designed to survive the blast, at supersonic speeds. The tests showed both catastrophic concussive damage from the blast and what would amount to a bioweapon spreading across something the length of the United Kingdom within mere seconds.

Do ignore the fact that this would also leave a massive, icy wound on the surface of the planet it impacted, or how the estimated area of effect was estimated to be much larger once further analysis were conducted.

Further perfection of the design, the size of the payload, the shape of the Eraser ice bullet and touchups to the  massive gun would create an even more dangerous weapon. An impressive display of engineering when the first models were rolling around, and a truly frightening weapon that would see the `Predator' lose massive chunks every time an Exterminatus Class fired a single round. They would never be enough to even dent the monster threatening the Milky Way, but by all that is holy did they make a splash.

On the massive negative size, these ships were large, slow, resource intensive and were exactly what they put on their own tin: A massive world ending ship. They barely had any space for crew, even the necessary people to keep it running, and that barely amounted to two dozen souls at most! The fear of someone misusing them if humanity escaped was so high that the ship ended up garnering a horrid reputation, paired with their otherwise dreadful capabilities beyond warfare, this saw them number only the low thousands.

While underwhelming in so many areas, the Exterminatus got a reputation within the humans of Spatium Sperma long after they were absorbed by the `Predator'. There were many reasons for this, not least of which was the fact that the `Predator' had the gall to use some of the surviving ships it did not just melt away to protect certain spots within itself where some of the most dangerous rifts that allowed for parasites to invade its insides were located. While collateral is expected whenever using this massive weapon of mass destruction, it says a lot to think that the beast is willing to endure some mild discomfort instead of withstanding whatever may be able to come from the other side, as such the Exterminatus, originally a joke and a last resort, became a slightly mythified beast inside the beast.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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by Uros
Spatium Sperma - World Ships
Spatium Sperma - Mechanics Intro
Far more numerous in function, variants and make, the Escort Ships were massive void vessels that could rival cities from Earth. The longest of these massive contraptions could easily reach forty kilometers in lenght, and most of them were perfectly capable of waging a small war on their own, as the smallest needed at least five kilometers long hulls to be qualified for the purpose of defending the titanic World Ships. Of course the number of these ships was simply ridiculous, and covering them all would be an exercise in stupidity unless one was a fan of self punishment, but a here you have a handful of descriptions for some famous designs that saw the most action before the 'Predator' overtook humanity.
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Published: 3 months, 3 weeks ago
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