defy the tyrannous stars
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create a limited line of deep space frontier spaceports, a civilian structure that can nonetheless hold its own long enough for help to conceivably arrive.
- Manufacturer: SoroSuub Corporation (in partnership with the Galactic Alliance)
- Model: Starfort-class Spaceport series
- Affiliation: Galactic Alliance, SoroSuub Corporation
- Production: Semi-Unique
- Material: Durasteel, Plasteel, Solarium glasteel, Doonium reinforcements
- Classification: Civilian Spaceport
- Length: 5000 meters
- Width: 5000 meters
- Height: 10000 meters
- Armament: Very High
- Defenses: Very High
- Hangar: Docking Bays of multiple varieties for ships of all classes, attached customs office for travel in and out of Alliance territory.
- Maneuverability Rating: None
- Speed Rating: Very Low
- Hyperdrive Class: Very Slow: 10
- Turbolaser Batteries
- MC1006 Sturgeon-class Point Defense Batteries
- Proton Torpedo Launchers
- MC1013 Delphus.3 Standard Mon Calamari Shielding
- Escape Pods
- Exterior Docking Rings
- Long-range Communications Array
- Holonet Transceiver
- Standard Detention Cells
- Standard Entertainment Systems
- Standard Life Support Systems
- Standard Navigational Systems
- Enhanced Sensor Array
- Standard Targeting Array
- Tractor Beams (x30)
- Inhouse Alliance Military Outpost
Strengths:
- Significantly more durable and defensible than the average civilian station
- Reserved space for Alliance military personnel
- Efficient recycling systems and expanded supply storage for indefinite deep space operations
- Extremely limited movement, as a space station the Starfort series is "anchored" to its orbital body
- No starfighter complement, space requirements for the Starfort's additional systems and storage as well as Alliance personnel limits its space for armaments to the point of non-military classification
- Extremely cost prohibitive, inefficient and time consuming to manufacture (very few entities outside of major factions would even possess the resources to bother)
Perhaps one of the most spectacularly controversial research and development projects in the known history of SoroSuub Corporation, the Starfort line of orbital spaceports began as a dream shared by Commodore Zark Pulsar, then privateer captain of the independent vessel Dawntreader and one of his colleagues, now Deputy Director of Public Relations for SoroSuub Nathanos Darksword. Intended to take steps to redress the limits of the Galactic Alliance's political and military reach on the distant frontiers of the Federation's border and even in neutral space, the Starfort-class is part deep space colony, part orbital starport. Lacking the true self sufficiency to qualify for "colony" status, the Starfort is nonetheless designed to operate independently of outside support for extended periods of time, receiving Alliance resupply in staggering bulk at longer intervals.
The series is not without its flaws, however, for accomplishing such versatility in roles puts space at a serious premium, and unfortunately sacrifices have to be made. The Starfort holds no fighter complement, and while its weapons systems would be the envy of most other comparable civilian structures, it is by no means designed to fend off serious firepower single-handedly in the way a military station might. While the in house GA military base enhances the Starfort's anti-boarding capabilities, it is because of these limitations that the intention was for the starport to operate in conjunction with a permanently assigned military carrier of at least medium length. Unfortunately this attached starship does take up already highly valuable docking space, but the station's access to the vessel's fighter complement makes this protocol critical for the Starfort's effective operation. The complexity of the station's systems and their relative difficulty to quickly repair also make the Starfort particularly susceptible to raking fire.
Perhaps the main drawback, however, is the cost. Extremely expensive to produce, the Starfort series was conceived of and approved in a much more optimistic, peaceful, and economically stable time for the Galactic Alliance. Finally emerging from the shadow of the war with the One Sith, the project was pitched as much as a PR stunt as a bold new direction for Alliance space operations. Constantly in a state of redesign and long overdue, the shadows of war were already looming as the prototype was finally put into what would be a very long production process. As the Federation Navy's losses mounted across multiple campaigns, the project itself was killed and the prototype would have been scrapped had it not been so close to completion (as well as due to the intervention of Commodore Pulsar, a public hero for his actions at Atrisia and Kaeshana).
Instead, the first and most likely only Starfort-class Spaceport was ever produced, built in multiple sections and attached around the foundation of an older, smaller civilian station of approximately 2000 kilometers that had been serving a similar function on a much smaller scale on the border of Alliance territory and the Kathol region, near Elrood. Inheriting the original station's moniker of Fort Dawn, the Starfort stands as a both a waystation and sentinel against the constantly encroaching dangers of the wild, independent space beyond.
Author's Note: For all the description fluff about the Starfort-class being a hybrid civilian military station, the rules distinction between the two are clear and the space station's armament and defenses are in the upper range of the civilian category.