Project: Akhetaten - Phase One

[Akhetaten]

"With the ship's most sophisticated part optimally functioning, I don't think there's anything holding us back from moving on," Uhmen commented as she turned to face the operative, "you have my clearance to proceed, I'll be forming a report on the splendid work you've done so far to be sent to the Admiralty through Nova. I should have all the blueprints and related data stored on my data-pad - if I require anything extra I'll get in touch."

The Captain would take one more glance at what would be the Akhetaten's drive section before walking away, assumingly headed to her office in order to properly organize Cobra's blueprints and forward them to Nova.

"Congratulations, Cobra, you've made me - and I am sure the Admiralty as well - proud."


Upon arriving at her office, Uhmen would spend the next few hours working on the blueprints she had been given by Cobra. With the technical side of things being outside her field of operations, the Captain would refrain from making any significant changes to Cobra's writing - she instead opted to combine all separate blueprints into one large entry, reformatting what was necessary to make sure that the final version of the file was at a presentable and easy-to-follow state.

With that out of the way, she would record a message that she'd send to Nova regarding the blueprints and the project's progress.

"Operative Nova, Rear Admiral, this is Uhmen speaking, project Akhetaten is continuing on schedule and as planned. The progress is steady with Cobra's work being flawless. Testing of the rear drive section of the ship - real scale - has been completed. The drive shows no signs of instability and performed as well as expected. I've taken the time to combine all the separate blueprints provided to me by Cobra into one large file that I have attached in this message as "Akhetaten Specifications". The file is to be forwarded to the Admiralty upon approval by you, that is all."

Uhmen made sure the file was attached before sending the message to Rear Admiral Nicole Prower, awaiting for a response.

Message Attachment - Akhetaten Specifications

Drive Systems

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The Akhetaten drive systems consist of:

• One (1) primary fusion power core with magnetic containment.
  
• One (1) standby drive system based on the Defiant-class' drive system.
  
• Eight (8) front mounted custom built low efficiency drive units designed for combat maneuvers (CMS).
  
• Standard RCS system complement for standard low speed maneuvers.

Detailed analysis to follow.

Primary Power Core

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--The primary power-core (attachment BP001) is a new design based off of the Overlord type drive system. The drive itself consists of a fusion drive located in the center which is space cooled, effectively reducing the weight of the drive system. The four panels located around the core contain electromagnets which create an electric field to control the fusion reaction. The rotation of those panels is to keep the magnetic field charged.
--The rear component of the drive system (referred to as the primary engine) is capable of converting up to 80% of the power-core’s output into forward momentum. This is achieved through the use of standard engine principles. The Akhetaten-class is capable of achieving the same cruise speed as other craft in her weight class.
--The forward part of the drive system is an energy storage system (referred to as primary capacitor). The primary capacitor stores energy generated by the power-core for use in powering the ships primary systems.

--The protection of the exposed drive core is achieved through the a secondary shielding system. This shield is generated by the drive fins positioned at 90 degree angles around the core. Any shot which hits the drive core is dissipated by this backup system. This does however, still cause damage to the ship through shock stresses.

Standby Drive System

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--The standby drive system (highlighted, attachment BP002A) is a standalone system located in the central section. This engine is capable of moving the ship at low speeds if the primary drive system sustains battle damage.
--Due to the nature of the standby drive system's placement, the exhaust of the engine is pointing directly at the ship's rear main hull. In order to prevent overheating of the hull, an advanced heat dissipation system (highlighted, attachment BP002B) has been installed in the appropriate area to prevent any external hull damage.
--The standby drive system is the Akhetaten-class' emergency engine and is only to be used as a means of propulsion for the vessel to safely reach the nearest shipyard for immediate repairs should the primary drive fail during battle.

Combat Maneuver System – CMS

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--While in combat the CMS will dynamically adjust the thrust output to the 6 minified drives (highlighted, attachment BP003A) positioned at the rear of each of the two skids located on the battleship's nose.
--The purpose of these drives is to compliment the ship's maneuvering during combat and are not designed to be the ship's primary propulsion method. Should the primary drive fail, the CMS will work alongside the standby drive to drive the vessel to the nearest repair station.

--The CMS additionally includes two more engines (highlighted, attachment BP003B), each located at the sides of the skids, to provide additional acceleration during turns and other complex maneuvers, as well as increased strafing performance. It is to be noted that the Akhetaten-class does not gain any speed advantage over other standard battleships of it's size. The additional maneuvering engines and thrusters are a necessity due to the ship's structure being based on the heavier Overlord-class battleship.

--It is to be noted that the nose is the primary section of the ship, with all other connected sections being modules that have the capability of being custom built in order to meet specific mission parameters. For that reason, the CMS' secondary role is to act as a means of propulsion for the nose section of the ship should it ever be detached for standard movement.

Reaction Control System – RCS

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--The RCS and CMS work in conjunction during strafing and turning maneuvers, the former being used primarily in sharp turns. The RCS consists of a total of 8 thrusters, 4 of which are located at the nose of the ship (highlighted, attachment BP004A) while the other 4 are located at the very rear of the primary engine (highlighted, attachment BP004B).

Protection systems

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The Akhetaten protection systems consist of:

• One (1) standard light battleship shield generator.
  
• Four (4) dedicated shield arrays.
  
• Rated eight (8) armor plating.
  
• Six (6) torpedo Bulges.

Detailed analysis to follow.

Primary Shield Generator

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--The Akhetaten-class' primary defensive system is a standard battleship shield generator, powered directly from the primary power core.
--The shield generated (attachment BP005) is capable of absorbing both incoming kinetic and energy-based fire and will continue to regenerate itself until completely depleted, rendering the battleship susceptible to damage.
--Once depleted, overheating safety measures prevent the shield generator from reactivating and the shield from regenerating. When the safety cooldown has passed, the shield generator will begin to redeploy the defensive barrier around the vessel.


--Should the primary power core sustain unrepairable damage and is rendered useless, the shield generator will instead begin drawing power from the secondary capacitor located at the nose (highlighted, attachment BP011). It will however operate with decreased efficiency.

Dedicated Shield Arrays

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--The Akhetaten-class battleship, much like it's predecessor, the Overlord-class, features an exposed reactor core. To avoid the primary reactor's destruction and render it completely immune to any direct attack, the primary power core has been equipped with 4 dedicated shield arrays (highlighted, attachment BP006) located at the rear of the primary capacitor drawing power directly from that capacitor.
--The drive core is permanently covered by a rotating, segmented ring of reinforced armor panels, along with a dedicated shield. This is constantly replenished each time a ring segment passes a shield array contact point and remains powered as long as the primary power core is functional. It is important to note that hits from heavier weaponry will be absorbed by the shield, possibly causing concussive damage to the hull around the fusion core.

Armor

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--The Akhetaten's armor plating has a rating of eight. The hull integrity of the battleship matches the integrity of other ships belonging to the same weight class. The Akhetaten-class' armor and hull employ lightweight, reinforced materials to achieve greater maneuverability compared to the Overlord without compromising on hull integrity.

Torpedo Bulges

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--The use of lightweight materials in the ship's hull along with the hull thickness on specific areas of the ship being less than ideal, vital and high risk areas of the Akhetaten-class are protected by torpedo bulges (attachment BP007). These are sacrificial armor sections designed to detonate incoming fire safely away from the mentioned vital areas, such as the hangar or munitions storage sections.

Auxiliary Craft

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The Akhetaten's primary hangar is capable of carrying:

• Two (2) flights of fighters - Flight ready (Naval variant).
  
• One (1) flight of bombers - Flight ready (Naval variant).
  
• One (1) fighter (parts).
  
• One (1) bomber (parts).

--The Akhetaten can also moor with two large craft using in-built mooring points (highlighted, attachment BP008) on the port and starboard side to take on supplies or render aid. These mooring points are also used when mooring at smaller stations or orbital mooring fixtures.
--Additionally, due to the hangar's location, ships docking or undocking from the Akhetaten-class would normally be exposed to incoming fire from both the port and starboard sides of the warship. To alleviate this, a method of passive hull protection (highlighted, attachment BP009) was implemented, consisting of two extrusions in the hull to either side of the docking bay that are capable of absorbing incoming fire, should the primary shield be offline while a snub-craft is in its docking or undocking sequence from the battleship.
--Lastly, it is recognized that during combat it may be hard for less experienced pilots to hastily undock from the Akhetaten-class due to the nose's geometry in front of the docking bay's exit. To prevent docking or undocking snub-craft from colliding with the ship's hull during maneuvers or times of emergency, several secondary shields (highlighted, attachment BP010) have been installed around the primary hangar doors. These power up during docking and undocking sequences and are sufficiently powerful to safely deflect an oncoming snub-craft away from the hull.

Weapons Systems

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The Akhetaten-class' A-0 prototype is armed as follows:

• Artillery batteries.
  
• Main battery.
  
• Torpedo launchers.
  
• Secondary batteries.
  
• Anti-missile systems.

Detailed analysis to follow.

Artillery Batteries

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--2x [CLASSIFIED]
All information regarding this weapon is classified under level 5 security clearance.

Main Battery

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--4x [CLASSIFIED]
All information regarding this weapon is classified under level 5 security clearance.

Torpedo Launchers

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--6x [CLASSIFIED]
All information regarding this weapon is classified under level 5 security clearance.

Secondary Batteries

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--8x [CLASSIFIED]
All information regarding this weapon is classified under level 5 security clearance.

Anti-missile Batteries

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--2x [CLASSIFIED]
All information regarding this weapon is classified under level 5 security clearance.

Additional Advancements

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--The Akhetaten-class is built with a modular design to allow for rapid replacement of damaged sections and to accommodate reconfiguration for additional mission roles. The warship consists of 4 main parts; the nose, the center, the rear and the drive. These parts can be constructed individually at different shipyards and can be then transported to the main shipyard for final assembly of the warship. The mentioned construction process significantly cuts down on production costs and time, and renders the Akhetaten-class an affordable and quick vessel to produce. Non-military sections (such as cargo and crew areas) can be built in civilian shipyards to reduce the load on military shipyards.
--Additionally, the Akhetaten-class comes equipped with a capacitor located at the nose (highlighted, attachment BP011), which is used to power the weapons systems of the ship during normal use. In the emergency event of the primary power core being shut down, the capacitor takes the role of a secondary power core, able to deliver enough energy to sustain the ship's secondary armaments as well as one fourth of the normal propulsion speed using the CMS and the standby drive system as the ship's functional engine system.