Eric Brooks, reluctant pirate, upon being fired upon by the Ostara's missiles, 1711/822AS
History, overview
Name:Ostara Namesake:Ostara Builder:Unknown Red Hessian Shipyard (Hull), Evora Shipyard (Ostara Refit) Laid down:815 AS Commissioned:Unknown (Initial launch), 29/07/822AS (Bundschuh Service) Nicknames:"Spring" (By its crew); "Tarantula" (recent, by pilots operating the 'spiderweb') Fate:Currently in service
Class and Type:BU-GM493 "Ostara"-Class Light Cruiser, Hunter-Killer role (CLK) Mass:25890 tons (Hel-configuration); 31300 tons (Ostara-configuration) Length:178m Beam:65m Height45m Type:Light Cruiser, Hunter-Killer role (CLK) Decks:9 Installed power:ALG-designed custom fusion power plant Propulsion:Order-built custom engine nacelles (2) Speed:90 M/s (sublight), 350 M/s (cruise) Range:8-10 AUs (at half cruise) Complement:103 officers and enlisted personnel(VWA service); 486 officers, enlisted personnel and civilians (Frühlingswache service) Armament:3x1 heavy ship-to-ship torpedo tube (improvised) Secondary Armament:1 Cruiser Pulse cannon; multiple point defense arrangements Snubcraft carried:none (early VWA service); 20 (Geyer-Squadron assignment); 28 (15 heavy fighters, 4 bombers, 6 light fighters, 3 freighters) (Frühlingswache service)
Summary
[img float=left]https://i.imgur.com/UaZ5rTQ.png?1[/img]WGS Ostara serves as the primary base of operations as well as home or almost five hundred souls under the flag of the Frühlingswache. Formerly used as a prestige object and rarely as a military asset by the VWA, the return of the VWA's 'old guard' happened aboard this vessel. The heavily automated ship is generally crammed with people, space is rare.
Because of the high amount of 'civilian' personnel aboard, the ship tends to stay out of engagement range and send out its snub wings from afar, a process that usually takes a while because of the lack of actual launch facilities (every ship is transported on the hull, secured by the magnetic grapples of the landing gear).
If the ship is used as a weapon, it usually relies on hit-and-run tactics, and fires from afar (the improvised custom torpedo system is a tool for exactly this purpose, see 'combat tactics', below).
The cruiser operates mostly in southern Rheinland, providing long-range support to operations conducted by the Frühlingswache and her allies, as well as constantly evading tracking and detection.
Most of the Ostara's crew consists of 'civilians', people that either followed Michael Wolf on his initial flight into the Sigmas, or late-joiners, people that signed up when Nika Haupt announced her return to Rheinland's revolutionary stage. Because of this, the ship is in constant need of a steady supply of food, water and general consumer goods.
Layout and important locations
Ostara is divided into 9 decks, although not all of them stretch the entire ship's length. The decks 1 and 2 are the shortest, situated in the 'superstructure'. Decks 3, 4, 8 and 9 extend longer, and end in the taper to bow and aft. Decks 5 and 6 extend the entire length of the ship, and also are divided into sub-decks around the engine section.
Corridors inside are generally painted in a dark green and only dimly lit, the only decorations being the occasional Bundschuh eagle over doorways and graffiti on the lower decks.
As a general rule, outside of Deck 1 and the surroundings and interiors of important systems (command rooms, Drive rooms etc) everyone has to walk with their head lowered as to not hit the hammocks filled with civilians and enlisted personnel hanging overhead. Almost every corridor is constantly filled with the humming of computers as well as the white noise of civilians and people talking above and below, and getting from one area to the next becomes quite difficult when the ship isn't in combat lockdown, a time during which the civilians are all relocating towards the mess halls until the crisis is over.
Observation Bridge, Deck 1
The main observation area of the ship, located at the top of the 'conning tower'. Usually commanded and overseen by Michael Wolf and filled with personnel that oversees the goings on aboard the ship and it's surroundings. As the center of both internal and external affairs and intelligence, the Observation bridge could very well be seen as Ostara's head, with analysts constantly running around and doublechecking data before being silenced by Wolf himself. The room is one of the few that is not crammed with people that live there, and one of the largest ones at that. The frontal part of the wall is made up of a large window, which creates a structural weakness but also makes it possible to serve as the eyes and ears. Most of the sensor input gets first evaluated here, and usually, firing solutions as well as combat plans are executed almost solely relying on the data produced by the Observation Bridge (Shortened OB1 in the ship jargon)
Combat Bridge, Deck 2
Generally regarded as the secondary bridge, the CB2 is the smallest of the commanding rooms. It is an elongated, tube-like room with consoles on each side, while the commanding officer of the Ship resides at the frontmost part of it, standing in front of a large holo-targeting array. It is here that the day-to-day shipboard operations are planned and executed, and as long as the CIC isn't in use, the Combat Bridge also serves as the command center for engagements.
The nature of command aboard the ship (The Generalminister over the Kommissaroberst, and the Kommissaroberst using his political leverage to outmatch the Oberst in influence) has lead to the room being viewed as a less important place, generally leading to it's commander (The Oberst, highest ranking paramilitary officer aboard) to be frustrated with the precedence the OB1 takes over his influence. This problem has lead to a heated atmosphere in the room, with people often resorting to harsh words and a generally louder atmosphere than in the other two commanding rooms.
Officer's Quarters, Decks 1, 2
Aside from various briefing rooms and the two command rooms, the Officers Quarters take the majority of the room on the upper two decks. Oriented in pairs across long corridors, the rooms are sparsely decorated and most of the time packed full with humming servers and processing units, courtesy of the high automation that the refit was designed for. Quarters that aren't completely full with computers are still occupied by at least two officers. Due to the fact that the entire ship is crammed full with people at the moment, the name 'Officers Quarters' is more a legacy to the past, many of the enlisted personnel residing here as well. The only officers that have a room for themselves are the two Obersts and the Generalministerin, the latter residing in the only two-room Quarter that also doubles as her office.
Officer's Mess hall, Deck 3
Similar to the function of the Officer's quarters, the OMH has begun to shift it's function from Officer's mess to general crew mess, while the other mess halls on the lower decks are most of the time used by the civilians aboard.
It is a long and wide room, one of the largest aboard, dotted with rectangular tables. The kitchen is located on the stern end of the room, and works around the clock to serve the four shifts constant simple, but sufficient meals. The general paranoia aboard is mostly felt here: People eat in small groups at the max, and nobody tries to engage in casual conversation if it can be avoided. A rumour claiming that Fischer not only had cameras and microphones tapping into the room only reinforces the reluctance of people trying to speak openly here.
Crew quarters, Decks 4-7
The most narrow area of the ship, and one formerly completely filled with crew and computing equipment - now, after the refit made the majority of Deck 4 unusable as quarters even more so. The most unfortunate of the people living here have to share their hammocks and beds with at least one more person, and the mess halls are always crowded. This is also the part of the ship where the feeling of paranoia is felt the least. Sure, it's still there, but in the end the anonymity of the sheer amount of people residing in the narrow corridors makes it slightly easier and more comfortable to speak freely. This is somewhat different around the midsection of Deck 5, an area where civilians aren't even allowed and automated stun guns above the bulkheads enforce that rule - nobody that doesn't have a reason to is permitted near the CIC.
Torpedo tubes, Deck 4
The largest part of the shiplength-spanning corridors of Deck 4 have been depressurized and their frontal plating removed to improvise three large, long tubes, now internally reinforced and a control room placed at the stern section of each. The new purpose of these long corridors is to serve as torpedo tubes, always loaded with the improvised dumbfire (so far) Torpedoes used in the spiderweb attacks. The only pressurized areas here are the control rooms, small rooms filled with consoles and operated by a crew of two people each making sure that the torpedo is cooled properly, and fires up in a controlled launch as to not endanger the ship.
CIC, Deck 5
While one of the command rooms aboard, access to the CIC is probably the most restricted. Here, at least currently, is the location the Generalminister resides when she is commanding the ship. The room is much smaller than the other bridges, and organized in a concentric fashion around a central chair. Constant blue lighting gives the room a ghostly atmosphere, especially since the location of the lightsources removes any shadows from visibility. While being constantly manned (although only by specifically cleared personnel), the room is only relevant if the Ministerin uses it, able to see every man and his computer screen from the central position of her chair. If the OB1 is the ship's head, and the CB2 the heart, the CIC is Ostara's equivalent of the brains. Every piece of information is accessible here, from the internal camera feeds to targeting solution data, a fact that everyone, including the lowest ranks, are keenly aware of.
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Frühlingswache (824-present)