Star Vengeance!

Spaceships

by Hilary Ayre
Painting by David Martin

Let's be clear. Star Vengeance! is one of the best vid dramas I've ever seen. The special effects are good enough to fool not only me, but my body guards, all of whom have seen action within the past year. Every living person /know lusts just a little after one or another of the heroes. And we all like the fight scenes.

The climactic aerospace battle that closes the vid keeps us on the edge of our seats. I'm not the only one in the theater who forgot to breathe during it. In the Federated Sun's Luxury Lottery for this year, the first 100 copies of the private-viewing tapes are hot prizes in the preChristmas lottery; that month has twice as many subscribers as any other. It's a hit equal to the 28th Century Blood and Sand series.

But it isn't real. In this, the 31st Century, you will never see these Mechs (Thank whatever Deity you please); these ships will never rend the air of Known Sphere planets. There are no Intelligent Avian Invaders. It has captured the imagination of tens of millions of people, but

IT IS NOT REAL! AND BATTLETECHNOLOGY DOES NOT WANT YOU TO THINK WE THINK IT IS!

But if they did exist .. if they did exist, what would they look like? We asked the special-effects holovid wizards at Megalo Vids Inc (a corporation registered in Oriente Province, Free Worlds League), the real stars of the Vid. Megalo Vids has given Battle Technology permission to reprint their design criteria. The use of these three ships is copyright by Megalo Vids.

For those of us who have dreamed of StarLeague technology and an unlimited budget, here are the Falconhurst and the Shrike, the ships that nearly ended the careers of David Korzinski, Mech Ace, and his sweetheart Anna Mae Halas, Aerospace Adventuress, in the year's hottest drama...

SRK-Class Shrike Aerodyne

This is the ship that drops Avian Mechs on the unsuspecting pastoral planet of Lucerne early in the vid. One of these is taken over by Anna Mae and the 3rd Black Onyx Fighter Squadron at the climax of the film.

Type: Aerodyne
Tonnage: 2070
Dimensions:
Length: 150 meters
Height: 20 meters
Width: 75 meters
Crew: 9 crew, 6 aerospace pilots
Cargo Complement: 125 tons
Small Craft Complement: 21
Armor: Alderban StarStrike-equivalent
Armament: 2 Particle Projection Cannons 4 20-shot LRM Missile Systems 5 Large Lasers 12 Medium Lasers 8 tons LRM Ammo
Drive System: Special
Communication System: ?
Targeting/Tracking System: ?
First Released-er-Introduced: June 15, 3045
Frequency of Sighting: Unique
Type: Shrike Tons
Tonnage: 2870
Engine: 1150
Thrust: 4
Overthrust: 6
Structural Integrity 7
Fuel (4 thrust points per ton) 315
Consumption: 1.84 tons/ burn day
Small Craft Cubicles: 21 210
small Craft Bay Dooes: 7 0
Bridge: 50
Heat Sinks: 100 100
Armor Factor 16 pts/ton 40
Location Armor Value
Nose 132
Right Side 122
Left Side 122
Fuselage 172
Engine 92
Weapons
Type Location
PPC Nose
LRM 20 Nose
Large Laser Nose
3 Medium Lasers Nose
Large Laser Rt Side Ft
2 Medium Laserps Rt Side Ft
LRM 20 Rt Side Ft
Large Laser Lt Side Ft
2 Medium Lasers Lt Side R
LRM 20 Lt Side Ft
Large Laser Rt Side Rear
2 Medium Lasers Rt Side Rear
Large Laser Lt Side Rear
2 Medium Lasers Lt Side Rear
PPC Rear
LRM 20 Rear
Medium Laser Rear

FST-Falconhurst Armed JumpShip

This is the mother ship whose apperpance causes the destruction of the Marik Fleet in Stop Vengeance! until the Big White Ships of the Com Guards reinforce the Free Worlds League and Anna Mae's squadron saves the Inner Sphere from annihilation.

Tonnage: 811,000 tons
Crew: 205
Kearny-Fuchida Drive System:
lnterplanetary Engines: 2
Hull: Kalleran Defense Type 0
Length: 792 meters
Sail Span: 1,352 meters
DropShip Capacity: 4
AeroSpace Fighter Capacity 18
Small Craft Complement: 9
Armor: Alderban StarStrike-equivalent
Armament: 22 Autocannons Type 20
5 Barracuda Missile Tubes
4 White Shark Missile Tubes
10 Stop Devil Naval Lasers
9 Guardian Naval Autocannons Class 30
4 Nova Naval Particle Projection Cannons
Manufacturer: Jesselan Shipyards
Communication System: Comm Center Type 3
Targeting/Tracking System: Ultpa Scan 5
First Released, er, lntroduced: June 15, 3045
Frequency of Sighting Unique
Type: Falconhurst
Tonnage: 811,000
Engine: Amer/Kepensky Star Drive
Thrust: 3
Overthrust: 5
K-F Drive lntegrity: 20
Energy Collector Sail lntegrity: 5
Structural lntegrity: 80
Docking Hard points: 4
Fuel 1 thrust points per 2 tons 650 tons
Consumption: 39.52 tons/ burn day
Small Craft Cubicles: 21
Small Craft Bay Deeps: 7
Grav Deck 2
Armor Factor10 pts/ton
LocationArmor Value
Command Section
Nose 1000
Right Side 800
Left Side 800
Middle Section
Right Side 800
Left Side 800
Engine Section
Right Side 800
Left Side 800
Aft (Engine)720
Weapons:
Nose:
2 Naval AC/20s
1 White Shark Missile
2 N L/4S
1 N AC/30
1 Medium Naval PPC
Right Side:
2 NAC/20s
1 Barracuda Missile
1 N L/4S
1 Medium Naval PPC
Left Side:
2 NAC/20s
1 Barracuda Missile
1 N L/4S
1 Medium Naval PPC

The Shrike wing, led by Anna Mae Halas, is convinced they are following an Avian flight leader. She leads them to attack their own ship, the Falconhurst, in this climactic scene from Star Vengeance, reproduced by kind permission of Megalo Vids, The Inner Sphere's prime Producers of Entertaiment


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