Apocalypse Class
The Apocalypse class is the largest class of star carrier fielded by the Cobalt Protectorate. A hollow starberg capable of fielding an entire task force, including cruisers, SSTO shuttles, and combat Drones, the Apocalypse is capable of besieging entire worlds.
Like all starbergs, an Apocalypse class star carrier is assembled out of general purpose modules. When unladen with GPMs, the Apocalypse is a pair of skeletal support frames built perpendicularly outwards from a pair of central, wafer-like service hulls. A double layer of GPMs around the outer perimeter provides ample storage and protection for the vehicles and systems concealed within. The overall shape of the vessel when fully stocked is that of a single honeycomb cell, the central wafers splitting the hollow across the middle.
Power Generation
The Apocalypse class features seven fusion reactors, six of which are located in GPMs at the vertices of the central hull so that their exhausts can be used for propulsion. The seventh is located in a protective shell of GPMs at the center of the aft hollow and is primarily used for power generation. All of these reactors burn a deuterium-tritium mixture and use lithium-6 shielding jackets to recover tritium lost to natural decay.
Propulsion
The six fusion reactors at the waist of an Apocalypse have both forward- and backward-facing exhaust ports, allowing them to be used for both propulsion and maneuvering purposes at the command of the helmsman. This exhaust is primarily comprised of helium nuclei and, thus, is amenable to further manipulation by magnetic fields; magnetic coils embedded in the outer support trellises of the Apocalypse direct the exhaust streams further along the exterior of the spacecraft to improve thrust vectoring and overall specific impulse. In addition to the thrust provided by these exhaust streams, when underway, the six Tetrains docked in the aft hollow can also fire their engines to effectively double the total thrust.
Even with advanced fusion drives, the Apocalypse class is not known for its agility. Nearly a thousand GPMs and their support structures represents several megatons of mass and, thus, an impressive amont of inertia. Moreover, turning is made difficult by the large moment of inertia inherent to the vessel's long shape. Water vapor from the jackets of fuel GPMs can be injected into the exhaust streams to improve thrust, but it still takes a long time for the vessel to get speed or, especially, to change orientation in space. For this reason, as well as for defensive purposes, Apocalypse-class vessels seldom venture deep into the gravity well of a star, loitering in the outer orbit thereof unless accompanied by tugs or boosters with powerful drives of their own. At the same time, the wet/dry mass ratio of the Apocalypse in its normal configuration is also impressive, meaning that it can sustain its acceleration for long periods of time and, thus, even undertake interstellar voyages.
Weapons & Armament
The long radiator fins along the vertex frames of the Apocalypse are periodically interrupted by multispectral scope turret emplacements which, aside from serving as optical sensor and laser communications gear, also provide the star carrier with an impressive level of point defense laser output. This arrangement was to maximize the effective arcs of each turret around the hull while also minimizing the regions of those arcs taken up with the sides of the radiators. Additionally, any munitions GPMs designed for installation aboard the docked Tetrains are also available for use by the Apocalypse itself should direct fire support be required; thousands of OCC-4 "Sungazer" Torpedos can be launched simultaneously to saturate both spaceborne and planetary targets with shrapnel, particle radiation, and coherent light. Similarly, the drones meant to be attached to the Tetrains can also be employed by the Apocalypse to fend off enemy drones or (rarely) fighter craft, though the carrier will more often choose to launch its Tetrain complement to deal with these threats.
Armor and defense
The Apocalypse class is rare among spacefaring vessels in the sense that it relies on heavy monolithic armor to ward off most non-peer threats. With walls comprised of a double layer of GPMs and further encased in an exterior shell of spray-applied asteroid ice, the hollows of an Apocalypse class carrier are among the safest places to be in Protectorate space that isn't a planetary surface. Disposeable caps of heavy water ice can, in addition to serving as reserves or reaction mass and fusion fuel, provide further protection for the Tetrains docked within the hollows against kinetic and radiological threats alike.
Additional & auxiliary systems
Most of the crew of an Apocalypse class carrier resides in cryostasis for the long journey into the combat theatre. Each central wafer structure contains a habitation ring which rotates counter to the other to provide a semblance of gravity to the hundred or so crew members active and awake at a given time. Accomodations aboard the Apocalypse are comfortable, if not exactly lavish, and are rendered self-sustaining through the implementation of a Closed Ecology Life Support System (CELLSS) based on algae, exografts and genomili.
While the deadly, imposing Apocalypse class is meant to inspire dread in enemy forces, its secondary function is decidedly more humanitarian in nature. The cryostasis vaults of an Apocalypse are oversized to accomodate a non-crew population of up to 2000 individuals at a time, and the medical bay of the vessel contains all the equipment and temporary residential space required to administer cryoprotectant therapy to a population of around 100 people at a time. This is because an Apocalypse is also meant to provide on-orbit support for operations in systems where there is a risk of cultural extinction, whether as a result of natural disasters, external military threats, or even catastrophic internal geopolitical situations (i.e. nuclear war). A representative sample of the local population will be gathered on a volunteer basis to be frozen and, when the mission is complete, conducted to the Evermorn System for emergency resettlement.
Concurrently with population preservation and environmental remidiation efforts undeway, monument stones will be dropped across the surfaces of terrestrial worlds throughout the host system. These stones are actually ultra-durable vitreous data storage devices, similar in construction to vitreous vitae, containing the extent of Protectorate knowledge about the locals and a means by which any who find the stones can contact the nearest Cobalt Protectorate representative for more information. Should there be hope that the local population can be saved in-situ, rather than through immigration, the crew of the Apocalypse will signal for further resources from Evermorn, including potentially ships from the Evermorn Strategic Colony Initiative full of whatever specialists might be required. These extraordinary efforts are all in keeping with the Cobalt Knights' quasi-religious devotion to Wurth Harkin's final command to find and protect all the scattered sons and daughters of humanity throughout the Sealed Kingdoms Region.
Hangars & docked vessels
The 'consist' of an Apocalypse star carrier is highly variable, as the vessel is almost entirely modular in nature. Each 'tier' of the Apocalype's complement is comprised of a hexagon of GPMs arrayed six on a side and two layers deep. One of these tiers is constructed between the infrastructure wafers, while eight such tiers are stacked on either side of the wafers. The aft hollow contains an auxiliary fusion reactor fully encased in fuel GPMs to protect the crew from its radiation. Thus, when not accounting for additional cargo or the pre-existing consists of the Tetrains the Apocalypse carries (see below), the standard consist of an Apocalypse is 938 GPMs. The vast majority of these modules are taken up with fusion fuel, provisions, and munitions, but many are also given over to redundant ship functions.
The Apocalypse carries up to twelve Tetrain class cruisers and, with the aid of robotic service arms arranged around the inside of the hollows, is capable of refitting and restocking these vessels as required for most mission profiles from its own supply of GPMs. The carrier stocks twice the usual complement of drones required for these vessels. Surface service is provided by a fleet of four SSTO shuttles, each of which has collapsible wings for easy stowage on-orbit. A full complement of ISRU drones, along with the presence of auto-factory modules, allows the Apocalypse to provide for itself in the field, though this utility is less well-developed than it would be aboard colony ships like the ESCI Revelation.
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