OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Personal ship for Kaida and her posse.
Image Source: Here.
Canon Link: N/A.
Permissions: N/A.
Primary Source: N/A.
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Manufacturer: Mon Calamari Shipyards (Original Design), Asuran Star Combine (Retrofit).
Affiliation: Kaida Taldir.
Market Status: Closed-Market
Model: N/A.
Production: Unique
Material: Alusteel, Turadium, Trimantium, Durasteel, Nightshadow, Isotope-5, electronics and standard starship components.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Classification: Strike Frigate.
Length: 500 metres.
Width: 200 metres
Height: 150 metres.
Armament: Very High. Average when SLAM is activated.
- Null Burst Projectors (equivalent)
- Solar Ionization Cannons
- 2 x heavy Baradium warhead launchers
- 1x Shield-Disrupting Projector (equivalent)
- Few heavy ion cannons (prow mounted)
- Several ion and turbolaser cannon batteries
- Incinerator Plasma Railguns
- Pulse-Gravity Interdiction Minelayer
- Many quad lasers and point defence emplacements
- Cap Drain & De-Ioniser Modules
- Anti-Missile Octet
- Military Deflector Shields (Molecular, Particle, Ray Shields)
- Missile Deactivation Transmitters
- Hangar Allocations:
- Starfighters: 2 squadrons
- Support Craft: 2 squadrons
- Single Craft Hangar: No.
- Maneuverability Rating: Average
- Speed Rating: High. Extreme when SLAM is activated.
- Hyperdrive: Yes. 1.0 | Class 10 Backup
- The Ardent Duty has all the standard mix of features such as shields, communications, and systems common to a vessel of its size and class.
- HIMS
- Thrust Thrace Damper
- Spectral Diffuser
- Solid Fuel Converter
- Magnetic Clamps. Used for the ship to attach itself to a larger target, such as a bigger ship.
- Magfield Generator
- NavComputer Route Astrogation Bypass
- Hyperwave Beacon Scrambler
- Predator Interdiction Drive
- Nightshadow
- Programmable Paint
- Hyperspace Tracker
- Baffler
- Fullspectrum Transceiver
- Photonic Emitter
- Fixed Signature Tracker
- GAM
- Signature Modulator
- Sensor Jammer
- Scrambler
- Ghostwave Transmitter
- Anti-Ion Emissions Tracer
- Ion Scrambler
- Assault Tubes & Plasma-Cut Boarding Device
- VT-Refraction Sensor
- Hibridium Cloaking Device
- SLAM
- Holographic Shell
- Sensor Decoy Launcher (3 decoys)
- Eldorai Spirit Gem hosted by a BRT super computer.
- The Ardent Duty is fast and possesses powerful armaments, allowing it to punch above its weight. It is optimised for hit-and-fade attacks, rapid strikes and, let's be frank, raiding and piracy. This is enhanced by its SLAM drive, which allows it to temporarily boost its speed, at the cost of its damage output.
- With a larger than average hangar, the Ardent Duty can field two squadrons of attack craft and two squadron of support craft. This means it can deploy attack craft and Kaida can bring her posse along and boss them around when she is traversing the void. The Ardent Duty is expected to operate far from home for extended periods of time.
- The frigate has a Hibridium Cloaking Device. A Stygium one would have been better, but one had to economise somewhere. Regardless, this allows it to turn invisible and cloak it from other ships' sensors. The duration is limited though, as the device is quite power-hungry. Bit like the average Eldorai aristocrat...or revolutionary leader. Other doodads, such as a Gravitic Modulator, Thrust Thrace Damper and Nightshadow, further boost the ship's stealthiness and can make it hard to detect even when the cloak is not active. Unlike with a Stygium cloaking device, Hibridium allows the ship to fire when the cloak is active.
- A signature modulator and a holographic shell can allow it to disguise itself as another ship.
- The Ardent Duty possesses a quasi-AI. The consciousness of an Eldorai computer and robotics expert has been transferred into an Eldorai Spirit Gem. It has been put in a big computer bank where it can be managed. This results in improvements in areas such as communications, predictive ability, targeting, power distribution, hyperspace and micro jump calculations etc.
- Hibridium cloaking devices have the flaw of being double-blind. When the cloak is active, the Ardent Duty visibly cloaks and is also invisible other ships' sensors. However, this works both ways, as its sensors are blind, too. It also cannot use its communications systems while in this mode. Moreover, the cloak cannot be active when the ship enters or exits hyperspace. Otherwise it will become unstable and may cause the ship to blow up, which would not be fun for the crew. Finally, the cloak is very power-hungry. If it is active for too long, the cloak will overheat and and thus may abruptly deactivate. As mentioned above, a ship with a Hibridium cloaking device can fire while the cloak is active. However, the double-blind effect applies here. This means the shot needs to be set up just right.
- The shield disrupting projector helps facilitate boarding operations and raids, but it has considerable power-requirements. It draws power away from recycling shields and the engines, causing the ship's shields to recharge significantly slower while in use, and the SLAM drives are unable to be activated at the same time as the projector.
- In keeping with many Eldorai Star Queens, the SLAM is power-hungry. When it is activated, it consumes an immense amount of power while active, causing several weapon systems to shutdown and require a 90 second reboot once disengaged.
- The holographic shell is not without drawbacks. The systems memory only allows a single disguise, which has to be pre-programmed and canot be altered in the middle of a mission. Moreover, the disguise is only useful at short range. Close investigation or touching will unravel the illusion.
- The spirit gem in the computer bank is a boon, but it means that once the shields are down, heavy ion damage can do greater than damage because it can disrupt the quasi-AI's processing routes and risk and destroying it.
The somewhat dramatically named Ardent Duty is Kaida's strike frigate. Kaida is an officer of the Shadow Knights, a group of Eldorai rebels, dissidents and exiles. Many of them were among the Forsaken, the unfortunate souls who were left behind on Kaeshana during the Great Exodus many years ago. Now, after many calamities, invasions and incursions, Kaeshana is a desolate, uninhabited wasteland no one would want to live on. The Shadow Knights have formed a nomad fleet in search of a new home. In keeping with their more or less progressive ideals, they have allowed their cousins, the Vashyada, Qadiri and Xioquo to join. They even allow Kar'zun, since holding a grudge over a war that was fought centuries ago is a bit silly now, though this does not keep some from doing it, but this one digresses.
Regardless, after defecting from the Eldorai Matriarchy, Kaida eventually managed to gain enough trust to get her own warship. Perhaps because it was impossible for someone this icy, antisocial and laconic to be a secret royalist agitator. Kaida has her own command and is expected to operate away from the nomad fleet for extended durations. Thus she needs a ship that is able to transport her minions, pack a heavy punch and make a quick getaway when needed.
The Ardent Duty did not start out as an Eldorai ship. Centuries ago, it was designed by the Rebel Alliance and the New Republic as a fast raider, comparable to a commerce raider. Back then it went by the name Relentless-type Strike Frigate. It was meant to react to Imperial or pirate raids with firepower and soldiers. However, while on a mission far from home the frigate was hit by a pulsar. The celestial phenomena killed the crew and left it drifting in space, until centuries later the Shadow Knights discovered the husk during a salvage operation.
The renegades could always use ships, and they quickly realised it could be of use. Renamed the Ardent Duty, it was thoroughly retrofitted and modified by the engineers of Asuran Star Combine as well as Kaida's own crew. Yohara Taenasi, chief scientis of the Court of the Mind, has installed experimental technology. Thus the ship bears little resemblance to the original model, though it still follows the same tactical concept. Many of its armaments have been designed for raiding, boarding, preying on enemy supply lines and the like. Ion cannons, shield disrupting projectors and Null burst projectors help with disabling enemy ships and/or their crews.
Solar ionisation cannons give it a good deal of firepower. The combination of armaments and its ability to carry a significant number of shuttles or craft makes the frigate good for boarding operations. Its stealth systems and speed allow it to evade detection, strike fast and unexpectedly. The frigate has about a battalion's equivalent of soldiers on board for boarding operations. These can be deployed via support craft or, alternatively, the frigate can use its assault tubes, plasma-cut boarding devices and other gadgets to directly board another craft.
The Ardent Duty is not a luxury cruise though. There are no leather seats, hot tubs or silliness like that. This would clash with practicality and Kaida's own Spartan values. Besides, her employers do not have a lot of money. Keeping a worldship afloat is expensive enough. The ship does not look shiny on the outside and its interior is very utilitarian. The crew quarters are a bit cramped. But it gets the job done. Its high-powered communications equipment is capable of encrypting and decrypting communications over vast distances. The frigate has anti-emission tracers, which prevents its hyperspace travel from being tracked. A Hyperwave Inertial Momentum Sustainer can enable it to travel through interdiction fields and gravity wells.
Aside from all the standard features one would expect a hunter-killer frigate to have to accommodate its crew, there is a punishment room. There soldiers are punished for lack of discipline and other misdeeds. It is unofficially known as Kaida's Gym. The canings will continue until morale improves. There is also an actual gym with a training facility. Moreover, the ship has a meditation room for Force-Users. The Ardent Duty possesses myriad stealth systems, electronic countermeasures and high-end communications equipment. A solid fuel converter ensures fuel efficiency, as recycling is important for space nomads. In addition to accommodating Kaida's command crew, it can also carry her unit. This makes it more difficult for boarders to take over.
The ship is optimised for raids, rapid strikes and attacking enemy supply lines. It is also good for boarding operations. The Shadows are poor, so what they cannot make themselves or barter, they often acquire through raids and more or less salvage operations. They also have plenty of foes, such as Imperialists, slavers, various other elf factions and so on. This provides the Ardent Duty's captain with a target-rich environment.
Another one of the more unorthodox features is the inclusion of an Eldorai Spirit Gem, which is hosted by a big computer bank. The gem contains the soul of an Eldorai expert in computing and robotics. called. Merana Lepiarin, an Eldorai expert in computers. She was originally part of the Eldorai military. Merana in the codebreaking section, helping the Matriarchy crack codes used by the pretender Taenarys, who intended to land on Kaeshana with her mercenaries to 'reclaim her rightful throne with fire and blood'.
This allowed Queen Tirathana VI to dispatch agents to work on separating her from her sellswords. However, when she suggested a new method of codes for the Matriarchy using galaxy tech she was shunned as spurning the ways of the ancestors. Frustrated Merana resigned but was imprisoned because she might know too much. However she was too useful to be imprisoned so she was pressganged back into service, but she was able to get her revenge by sabotaging a code breaking machine she'd been given to crack, allowing her to escape the planet.
Eventually she joined the Shadows where she met and started a professional rivalry/relationship with Yohara. She was mortally wounded during an attack on the nomad fleet. At her request she was put into the spirit gem as part of this project. She is friends with Yohara, and thus got posted somewhere important where she could make an impact. She has a quirky sense of humour and can be quite bossy.
Her presence annoys Kaida, who demands that she have no access to her cabin. With the aid of the computer bank, she can aid the crew with calculations, analysis and tactical predictions, leading to significant improvements in the ship's performance. This has also helped cut down on crew size requirements.
Last edited:
