HK-36
The Iron Lord Protector (Neutral Good)
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create massive space hulks to be used in merchant fleets
- Image Source: SP60 D2 Cargo Ship by Balance-Sheet, link here
- Canon Link: N/A
- Restricted Missions: N/A
- Primary Source: Abregado Combat Shield
- Manufacturer: The Metal Lords
- Model: Commerce-class Space Hulk Hauler
- Affiliation: The Metal Lords, Closed-Market
- Production: Mass-Produced
- Material: Quadanium Hull and Armor plates, Thick Duranium Blast Doors, Transparisteel Viewports, Electrum and Bronzium Decorations, Durasteel for everything else
- Classification: Space Hulk Hauler
- Length: 3000
- Width: 900
- Height: 500
- Armament: Very Low (Quad Laser Cannons, Enough for protection against raiding starfighters and to make boarding it somewhat difficult, for protection against bigger ships and actual fleets relies on other ships and stations)
- Defenses: Extreme
- Hangar: Very Low: 4
- Maneuverability Rating: Low
- Speed Rating: Low
- Hyperdrive Class: Very Fast: 0.3
- Abregado Combat Shield- Although civilian in nature the Commerce Hulk has been equipped with military-grade Abregado Combat Shield systems of the ship variant, giving a boost to its protection value as well as extreme resistance against ionic and electromagnetic attacks or anomalies, should such come in the path of this station.
- Cargo Space- Being a designated large scale commercial hauler, the Commerce Hulks are able to store over 25 million metric tones aboard their large chunky structures, filled with mazes of containers and cargo pods reminiscent of the ancient cargo-hauling Lucrehulk models.
- Tractor Suites- The Commerce Hulk is equipped with multiple powerful tractor suits facing front and rear of the ship, their purpose is for hauling asteroids and other vessels while in line of duty, whether it is for further cargo moving purpose, acting as a mining platform, or impromptu repairs on other vessels.
- Advanced Hyperdrives- Another feature that make these cargo haulers stand out from other commercial designs are the powerful advanced hyperdrive engines equipped on the vessel. While these hulks cannot move quickly in real-space, they can travel quite swiftly through hyperspace, making them very valuable on long distance mercantile treks.
- Drone Crew- Although not making up the entirety of the crew serving aboard the ship, the Commerce Hulks house large numbers of various drones serving the will of the Merchant Lord commanding the vessel. While their jobs are mainly as menservants or janitors, should a need arise the drones can act as security and defend the ship when boarded or aggravated.
- Cargo Space- one of the Commerce Hulk's greater strengths is the amount of cargo space the ship has aboard, able to match the hauling capabilities of ancient Lucrehulk models by adaptation of complex layering cargo container layout within the ship which relies on maximizing usable surface area for storing goods and resources aboard.
- High Hyper Space Speed- complimenting its large cargo space are the advanced hyperdrive engines installed on board, allowing it to travel through hyperlanes faster than most ships its size, and indeed faster than some smaller ships out there. This makes the Commerce Hulk stand out as a capable mercantile ship for exploiting longer routes or just getting what needs to be delivered quickly in large quantities.
- Tractor Suites- the ship has been equipped with powerful tractor beam suites on its front and rear, made even more powerful due to its size. Their primary intention is to be used during emergency hauling maneuvers, although resourceful enough captain could find other uses for them.
- High Defenses- the Commerce Hulk sports advanced Abregado Combat Shield systems augmented for a vessel its size and thick quadanium plating. As such the protection it grants to goods stored aboard is considerable, making it a very hard target to take down, which is especially beneficent when traveling through pirate-infested hyperlanes.
- Drone Garrison- the hulk contains a large number of drones aboard, while they are mostly used for menial jobs such as cleaning, repairs, or looking after the cargo, when boarded these machines can act as the ship's inner defenses.
- Low Combat Capability- while the ship is defended through layers of advanced deflectors and thick armor plating, it has little to no capability to fight back. As a civilian ship these hulks are more of a gentle giant, equipped only with scarce Quad-Laser turrets to fight off usual pirating bands of starfighters and corvettes that could try to board or harass the vessel. When faced with bigger ships, however, the Commerce Hulks would have to rely on escort from more combat worthy ships.
- Low Speed and Maneuverability- the hulks possess average speed and maneuverability of a battlecruiser, which is basically no speed or maneuverability at all. These large vessels are slow and cumbersome when they finally exit hyperspace, reflection of their nature as giant trucks of cosmos, they often rely on smaller vessels unloading their cargo rather than risking getting close to a station or planet and having to slowly maneuver around it.
- Small Hangar Space- unlike the ancient Lucrehulks these ships could be compared to, the Commerce Hulks possess relatively small hangar space, only able to contain an equivalent to 4 squadrons, which are usually in form of smaller tramp freighters or specialized cargo haulers to deliver the hulk's goods to their destination or detach various containers that it could be carried within it.
- E-War Weakness- Much like majority of Metal Lord creations, the Commerce Hulks, and their drone crew especially, are vulnerable to E-War due to their low intelligence. A skilled enough slicer could take control or destabilize the drone population and even cause trouble for more advanced droids and systems associated with these large space ships.
- Large Target- the ship's large size makes it an easy target for large caliber weapons like planetary anti-capital ion cannons, large mount turbolaser barrages, or hypervelocity guns. As such, even though its defensive capabilities are impressive, these ships tend to flee when faced with large amount of hostile ships and stations designed to take down capital ships at long range, as their defenses will not hold out indefinitely.
Introduction: One of the major reasons why a portion of the Metal Lords laid claim on Denon and Corellian sectors and set up a sedimentary base of operation, as opposed to continuing their nomadic ways, was a need for creation of larger ships and lack of means to do so. It was no surprise then that around the time construction of various stations around Denon begun, so were large ships made in its orbit. One of the first ships to be produced by collective Metal Lord efforts, supported by their newfound planetary resources, were the Commerce-class Space Hulk Haulers.
Description: The Commerce-class Space Hulks are giant 3000 meter long chunky and somewhat rectangular cargo ships, up close they seemed to have been made just from masses of containers and cargo pods fused together into one titanic vessel. This appearance only reflects the complex layout found within the ships, as although these hulks lack the large cargo ring utilized by Lucrehulks, they instead rely on a multilayered maze like formation to maximize the usable surface area in an efficient pattern that could have only been designed and easily navigated by a droid. All of this is hidden behind thick quadanium hull and protective layers of armored plating. Most of the ship's inner working are draconian and utilitarian, grey, black, fairly ugly and simple, focusing on practical approach, that is outside of the command bridge and the crew-centered section of the ship. Where the vessel's workers, especially the usually wealthy merchants who managed to get a hold of this vessel, are expected to spend most of the time the floors and walls are fashioned out of polished light colored durasteel, adorned with all manners of electrum and bronzium etchings and decorations on the walls, and soft velvet and silk covering the furnishings. It's fairly clear that these ships are not meant to be used in combat, they are either all industry or all showing-off.
Special Features: The special features prominent aboard this ship are the Abregado Combat Shields, military class deflector systems which grant this civilian vessel a significant boost to defensive capabilities. There is also the special droid-designed layout in which the cargo containers and pods of the ship are arranged on board, allowing it to rival with its cargo space the capacities of a Lucrehulk without the use of its large cargo ring. The Commerce Hulks also possess potent tractor suites on front and rear of the vessel, made even more powerful by the sheer size and mass of these ships, advanced hyperdrive engines which allow it to travel through hyperlanes faster than most ships out there, and drone crew, which acts as complement to the droid and organic components that run the ship while the drones clean, repair, conduct other menial tasks, and in times of trouble act as security garrison.
Strengths: The strengths of the ship are mostly related to its special features. The distinctive layout allows large amounts of cargo to be transported aboard the vessel, when combined with it advanced hyperdrive engines making the ship a very reliable model to quickly move large amounts of goods and resources between planets while they are protected beneath thick layers of quadanium hull and armor and outer layers projected by the Abregado Combat Shields. In case of boarding the good aboard can be further protected by the drone crew who can act as sentries, when not in state of emergency the drones perform any task set to them by the ship's captain and crew members, making their lives much more comfortable in the process. The tractor suites on the Commerce Hulk also increase their utility value, able to perform a variety of tasks including hauling other ships and celestial bodies or aiding in mining operations.
Weaknesses: The weaknesses of the Commerce Hulk, on the other hand, are connected to its industrial and civilian design and the shortcomings that naturally come with its large size. As a civilian vessel a Commerce Hulk has minimal amount of weapons, sporting only scarce quad-laser turrets which allow it to defend against any pirate starfighters or corvettes that could possibly harass one of these giant ships while traveling down a trade route, however the Commerce Hulks are unable to properly fight back against any larger vessels, relying on warship escorts for protection when encountering proper fleets. The gargantuan size of a Commerce Hulk really cripples its ability to maneuver within real-space, limiting its maneuverability and speed as most of its engines' power is designed for hyperspace journeys. Another drawback which comes from the large size of the vessel is how easy it is to target it, making it vulnerable against long-ranged anti-capital ship barrages from artillery vessels. The price for the large cargo hold within the ship was cutting back on the space allotted towards hangar bays, as such the room for smallcraft complements aboard these ships is minimal, allowing only 4 starfighter squadrons or their equivalent, usually in form of supporting tramp freighters and smaller industrial shuttles used to unload the large Commerce hulk once it reaches its destination. Finally, much like a lot of other Metal Lord constructs and ships, the Commerce Hulks are vulnerable to E-War, especially their drone components which could be relatively easily sliced and disrupted by skilled enough slicers due to their low intelligence and usual reliance on centralized command components like master droid brains or the ship's communication consoles.
Conclusion: In conclusion, the Commerce Hulks produced by the Metal Lords are large civilian space hulks meant to serve mainly as cargo haulers and reliable goods transports to be sent on long distance voyages, in a way they are the ship-equivalent to the Bazaar of Denon, the first space station designed by Metal Lords. They are large and grandiose, designed to generate more wealth in the end for the Metal Lords and promote commercial focus the droid collective is placing on their space, at least for now as possibility of using the same designs which now promote peace and prosperity into future machines of war is clear.
