HK-36
The Iron Lord Protector (Neutral Good)
Intent: To repair the Ranator-Class Star Destroyer known as the Dread Lord, captured by HK during the battle of Silken Asteroids from the Horde where it was used as their flagship, and provide a naval academy of fighter combat for the Protectorate.
Development Thread: War, What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing! (Iron Company and Moross boarding forces capture the ship with little resistance while Siobhan and HK conducted a flanking maneuver by Sio telekinetically punching a hole in the side of the ship)
Pay-Day (Amorella of the Moross Crusade agrees for HK to take the Star Destroyer Dread Lord as part of his payment for his involvement and do with it as he wishes)
Manufacturer: Subach-Innes, repairs by Abregado-Rae Guild of Hammers with help from Fondor Shipyards
Model: Modified Star Destroyer, Carrier-based
Affiliation: Omega Protectorate
Modularity: Yes
Production: Unique
Material: Durasteel(hull), Quadanium Steel(frame), Turadium(bridge tower reinforcements) [Taken from original Ranator-class Star Destroyer]
Description: Description of un-modified Ranator-Class Star Destroyer available below,
Description: With the submission of their Star Dreadnaught design, the ship-builders at Subach-Innes were growing ever more ambitious. Observation of the Gorgon, the Tulak Hord under the command of the Sith Knight known as Pandeima, combined with disassembly and reverse-engineering of a Venator hulk on Raxus Prime, resulted in the initial plans for the new Ranator-class Star Destroyer. Similar to the combination of a Tulak Hord and a Venator, the vessel displays rather aesthetically pleasing lines, with a well-defended bridge tower similar to that of the Tulak Hord, but lower and less projecting.
Being a Star Destroyer, the Ranator carries a significant amount of firepower, but is admittedly weaker armament-wise than its comparative brother, the Tulak Hord. It does have superior point-defense weapons, however, particularly due to its need to defend from fighters. Like the Star Dreadnaught developed for the Empire, all Raynators feature a 2:1 ratio Matter-Antimatter Reactor(reducible to 5:1 in the event of instability) and a pair of backup hyperdrives, the latter of which has an independent power source for use in the event that the ship is caught without power. This makes the vessel far more retrievable than its fellow Star Destroyer peers, reducing overall casualty rate in the event of major damage.
The primary reason to utilize the Ranator, however, its its increased fighter capacity. Sacrificing the majority of the Tulak Hord's guns, the Ranator's hangar bay features a definitive increase in capacity over the Tulak Hord, living up to its identity as a supercarrier. A forward launch path and two side-mounted hangar doors allow for the quick launch of fighters and bombers in the event of an attack. More ground forces can be carried as well, including the Ranator's most significant capacity increase over the Tulak Hord: a prefabricated garrison base. The result is that less Raynators can successfully output the same number of ground forces, plus prefab bases, as a greater number of Tulak Hords.
Whether to utilize a Tulak Hord or a Ranator as a frontline combatant depends on the preference of the commander. Similar to the dichotomy between the Venator and the Victory, the Ranator has been designed predominantly with fighter capacity in mind, while the Tulak Hord has been designed with ship-to-ship combat as the foremost preference. Whether the Ranator will regain the predominance of tactical use of fighters over full-scale warships remains to be seen.
Being a Star Destroyer, the Ranator carries a significant amount of firepower, but is admittedly weaker armament-wise than its comparative brother, the Tulak Hord. It does have superior point-defense weapons, however, particularly due to its need to defend from fighters. Like the Star Dreadnaught developed for the Empire, all Raynators feature a 2:1 ratio Matter-Antimatter Reactor(reducible to 5:1 in the event of instability) and a pair of backup hyperdrives, the latter of which has an independent power source for use in the event that the ship is caught without power. This makes the vessel far more retrievable than its fellow Star Destroyer peers, reducing overall casualty rate in the event of major damage.
The primary reason to utilize the Ranator, however, its its increased fighter capacity. Sacrificing the majority of the Tulak Hord's guns, the Ranator's hangar bay features a definitive increase in capacity over the Tulak Hord, living up to its identity as a supercarrier. A forward launch path and two side-mounted hangar doors allow for the quick launch of fighters and bombers in the event of an attack. More ground forces can be carried as well, including the Ranator's most significant capacity increase over the Tulak Hord: a prefabricated garrison base. The result is that less Raynators can successfully output the same number of ground forces, plus prefab bases, as a greater number of Tulak Hords.
Whether to utilize a Tulak Hord or a Ranator as a frontline combatant depends on the preference of the commander. Similar to the dichotomy between the Venator and the Victory, the Ranator has been designed predominantly with fighter capacity in mind, while the Tulak Hord has been designed with ship-to-ship combat as the foremost preference. Whether the Ranator will regain the predominance of tactical use of fighters over full-scale warships remains to be seen.
This particular Ranator Star Destroyer was fielded during the Battle of Silken Asteroids as the Dread Lord, flagship of the Horde opposition and the Vong Overlord himself. At the end of the battle, HK and his partner-in-crime, Siobhan Kerrigan led a boarding charge against the Star Destroyer. The demoralized Vong and Horde forces put up less resistance than expect, their Overlord seemingly already gone from the battlefield. The Iron Company and Moross forces had little difficulty in taking the Super-Carrier. Part of it was due to Kerrigan's idea of conducting a flanking-maneuver by punching a hole in the side of the ship with her telekinetic powers and allow the dropships of Iron Company to land and board.
Once the battle was concluded, HK has called in a meeting with the Moross leaders to discuss the payment he was to receive for his service in the battle. HK has asked for regular shipments of phrik for saving their god's life and the Dread Lord Ranator-Class Star Destroyer as payment for his troops and ship aiding them in battle. The Moross gods agreed, letting HK take control of the Ranator and due what he wished with the loot aboard the vessel, including the ships and armory left behind.
Presumably, the droid sold most of the loot and fighters he has found aboard the ship to add to the credits he received for the mission, something to help paying off replacing lost troops, any damage equipment, and the repairs to the ship itself. After all, Sio punched a hole in the hull and that was something he needed to take care of. After initial repairs to get the ship into traveling conditions, HK brought the vessel into Protectorate territory, to Fondor, where it was agreed with Lord Protector he could set up offices of the Guild of Hammers in case he needed contact with the shipyards. Of course, it was agreed he could not use it to build new ships for himself, but there wasn't anything said about repairing and retrofitting already built ships!
And so, with the help of Fondor Shipyards and his Guild of Hammers, HK would repair the Star Destroyer, brand it the Dancing Queen, a purposefully mocking name considering the ship's past as the Dread Lord, and outfit it for its new purpose.
Becoming Protectorate's first Mobile Naval Academy.
First on HK's list was replacing the Sith fighter load-out with Protectorate one, keeping numbers more of less equal with few exceptions. Mainly, he replaced the drones Sith had aboard the ship with a some Protectorate Guardian starfighters. They were older fighters, replaced by the Knight series, but he meant them to serve for training and lesson purpose while the Knights backed the ship in combat. If something would happen to a Guardian starfighter, they would be cheaper to replace than a more-advanced Knight. HK also replaced the 50 Walker Barges he found aboard the Star Destroyer with 20 Raven-Class Heavy Dropships, for landing with any vehicles or mechanized infantry he would take aboard, and 30 Illria-Class Dropships, to help with boarding operations and landing of troops themselves. He left the Prefabricated Base he found on the ship, thinking it was a good enough idea, however, he re-fitted it with Protectorate markings.
Speaking of Protectorate markings, he had the ship re-colored to fit the markings of the Protectorate and the color-scheme of the Iron Company, even slapping his own personal emblem on the ship. While the droid would not take the whole Star Destroyer as his personal vessel, he would donate it to the Protectorate like he did with his Military Academy, he still wanted there to be a sign who was the one to capture the ship, a bit of ego-stroking. The Protectorate could always just remove the emblem if they wanted to.
Next, HK added the Classrooms and Dorms aboard the ship, it was something that cut back on the overall cargo capacity of the vessel by 5,000 metric tons, but in turn allowed them to host a bigger passenger capacity by 600 people (Decrease in cargo capacity by 25% for increase in passenger capacity by 25%) allowing the ship to take in more students and interns for training. HK ordered the ship to have, at all times, trained and experienced crew of 3,500, the minimum crew number recommended for the ship, and additional crew of 6,500 interns and students who were studying and learning about the fine workings of crewing, or captaining, a capital ship. This did brought up the number of crewmen up to 10,000, a recommended amount, but it often left the ship bit struggling in battles, as only 3,500 of them really knew what they were doing, less than half. As such, it was recommended that the ship did not strayed too far from the protection of Omega's territory, and in battles was always provided with an escort.
Maximum space reserved for additional students and teachers was 1,550, half of the ship's maximum passenger capacity, with recommended garrison of 250 experienced pilots who would provide cover and escort for the ship, should it come under attack, often more than enough. That still left 1,300 spots open for any additional students and teachers who wanted to enroll aboard the Mobile Academy, often more than enough. The other half of the ship's passenger capacity, 1,550, was to be reserved for any troops who would be aboard the ship for boarding actions, planetary invasions, or security reasons, with a recommended minimum garrison of 250 security troops aboard in case the ship would be boarded, last thing HK wanted was for the ship to fall into enemy hands as easy as he has gotten it from the Horde. That still left 1,300 spots open for additional army units, more than enough.
The Dancing Queen, just like HK's Military Academy of Abregado-Rae, is designed to provide academic excellence and hands-on training for the future generations of Omega's pilots, captains, and commanders. While the presence of students and interns as part of its crew does take away from the ship's efficiency in battles, the on-board garrison of security units, veteran fighter pilots, and experienced crew-men, should be able to provide some buffer against ship's destruction in combat.
Classification: Capital Ship
Role: Supercarrier, Training New Pilots and Crews
Height: 450 m
Width: 600 m
Length: 2000 m
Power Core Generator/Reactor: 2:1 Ratio Matter-Antimatter Reactor, Fusion Reactor(for secondary backup hyperdrive)
Hyperdrive Rating: Class 1, Class 7 Primary Backup, Class 13 Secondary Backup
Minimum Crew: 3,500
Optimal Crew: 10,000
Armaments:
10 Heavy Turbolaser Batteries
10 Ion Cannon Batteries
10 Tractor Beams
50 Point Defense Cannon Batteries
20 Quad Laser Cannons
Hangar:
60 OS-G2 Knight-class Starfighters
48 OS-B2 Crusader-class Bombers
36 OS-I2 Inquisitor-class Interceptors
48 Inimica-class Heavy Gunships
20 M59 Raven-Class Heavy Dropships
30 M47 Illria-Class Dropships
36 OS-G1 Guardian-class Starfighters
1 Prefabricated Garrison Base
Non-Combative Attachments:
Sensors, Shields, Classrooms and Dorms.
Passenger Capacity: 3,100 (600 more than original)
Cargo Capacity: 15,000 metric tons (5,000 tons less than original due to addition of classrooms and dorms)
Consumables: 1 year
Sublight Speed and Maneuverability: Class 8
