Hyperspatial Travel
12-05-2006, 01:17
Well, I did a wee bit of writing last night, and got my mercenary group up to scratch.
Note: This is all backstory, for the most part, however, since this is a new (OOCly) group, their history was just part of the tapestry that is the Realm's, and won't be written in NS anywhere.
The Kazun Mercenary Fleet is a wanted group in many areas, however, is one of the finest groups of mercenaries ever to grace the stars.
Commander: Joban Ketzcka
Joban commands the Kazun mercenaries, and his skilled hand at the tiller has kept them afloat for many a'year. He is a skilled fighter, pilot, and has been both cybernetically and nanonically enhanced to increase his already numerous abilities. Under the employ of a powerful pirate lord, he razed a New Realm colony to the ground, defeated one of the League fleets in drydock under the command of of New Realm insurgents, and killed twelve men in hand-to-hand combat. He comes off as quite arrogant, however.
Subcommander: Ta'nar
Ta'nar is a human/Cynar hybrid, and she looks like a alluring, voluptuous, blue-skinned woman, a little shorter than an average human. However, her Cynar genes allow her access to both a large range of psionics, and quicker neroses, as well as her remarkable ability to take calm command of almost any situation, no matter how dreadful.
- Note: Those are the two prominent characters of the Kazun. Other characters may be introduced at need, but detailing every single one of them would hardly use space, nor time, wisely.
Kazun Fleet:
The Kazun use a mixture of vessels, all designed for specific roles. The Kazun have always been masters of espionage and quick strikes, however, are not so adept at fleet-to-fleet combat, nor defense.
Precursor-class Carrier - The heart and soul of the Kazun mercenaries, the Precursor nears seven km in length, and a third that in height, and the same again in breadth. A relic from an age gone past, this giant transport ship has been modified to carry other ships from the Kazun fleet, landing transports, and also wield the powerful Darkstorm cannon as a weapon against other capital ships. The armour exceeds that of normal ships, and the shielding systems, although somewhat large, are hard to break through. It does not use traditional measures to repair and fire, instead, it uses a complex systems of nanites and other machinery. As such, the entire ship requires only two people to make it work at full capacity, so long as they use the neural hookup.
It lacks many point-defense weapons, as the ship was converted to provide a home base for the Kazun Fleet, not to engage in combat itself. It carries large amounts of supplies, and only has fifty-two small point-defense cannons, spread evenly along the ovoid hull.
Kzun-class Destroyer - Kzun, a shortened version of the name Kazun, gained its name through a stilted local governor screaming 'It's de Kzun! Run!'. The name stuck, and these ships form the backbone of the smallish Kazun fleet.
They are only four hundred metres in length, and are approximately a third that in height and width, and are easily attatched to the hull of the Precursor when travelling massive distances.
They carry the Firestorm missiles for offense, or simple nuclear fusion weaponry, which can be used to beget a massive amount of destruction. They also use point-defense weaponry, much as the Precursor does, and two main turrets, used for capital-to-capital combat.
The Kzun use both fusion generators and antimatter drives, the first in useage constantly, the second generally only in battles, and vital situations. 60% of all the Kazun mercenaries crew these ships at most times, as they require the most repairs.
It only takes forty men to crew such a ship at the worst of times, and less outside of battle. The six Kzun destroyers also carry powerful 'Reality Field' cloaking devices, which project a normal field of reality over their current position, whilst spilling the energy into another dimension. However, after five or so minutes, the energy will coalesce at one point, and spill back into this dimension, forming a massive pinpoint at the ship's location, and disabling the cloaking device for at least ten minutes, twenty on average.
Strider-class Cruiser - Two of these form the offensive/defense part of the Kazun fleet. The Striders carry massive payloads of antimatter bombs and warheads, not to mention the progidous amount of fusion weaponry. The Striders take seventy men per ship, and generally serve as the 'cavalry', with their heavy weaponry, powerful shields, and armour.
The Striders use a form of FTL shielding, coupled with a layer of abative shielding, one of which absorbs most forms of energy, the other simply sends objects hurtling at it out the other side of the Strider. These ships are seven hundred metres in length, and about the same proportions as the other ships. The Striders are used for planetary bombardment, and ship-to-ship combat.
Kiryet-class Combat Frigate - The nine Kiryet ships form the remaining amount of capital ships the Kazun fleet has. These combat frigates are a mere one hundred and fifty metres long, (same proportions) and contain about twelve men. These ships carry four fighters on the underside, and a single repair station sunk into the top. This repair station is shielded, and repairs damaged fighters using nanowelding techniques and surplus supplies of metals.
The Kiryets also carry twin linked cannons (connecting to the same power source), and sixteen missiles. They have light shielding, and both a long-range FTL engine, and a 'skip' form, which allows them to move small distances near-instantly, which is useful for escaping combat.
They are generally used as support, despite their somewhat misleading name, and can harry larger ships, and support their fighter fleets from afar.
Samhael-class Adaptive Fighter - The ship housed on the undersides of the Kiryet, and the one hundred and thirty-two in the Precursor, makes for one sixty-eight fighters in total in the fleet, however, they are used sparingly. Since fighters are easily destroyed, they are only manned when necessary, and are generally only used for scouting purposes, or raids on undefended colonies.
The Samhael carries two weak cannons, as well as a single fusion missile, and is generally not used in combat. It is quick, however, and the 'skip' FTL engine allows it to dodge incoming blows with relative ease. Not many Kazun mercenaries are trained as fighter pilots, however, as they see that as grunt work, and near-suicidal. A mere fifteen metres long, it crumples under light blows, and only the shielding, which must be activated at the right time, as it drains energy progidously, can save it from a heavy one.
Unit 9973 - Probe/Drone - A Unit bought from a race of starfaring traders, Unit 9973 is quite powerful, for a drone (or probe), and possesses a single cannon (As per the Samhael), and can also occasionally carry a fusion or fission warhead, or a missile, if fitted to do so.
Six hundred of these five metre by five metre drones are packed tightly into the Precursor, and, like the Samhael, are not used lightly. As they are expensive, and easily destroyed, they are generally used as advance scouts for the Kazun, or combatants in desperate situations.
Checkmate-class Transport - The Checkmate is the only craft capable of planetary landing the Kazun have, and they are quite large. As large as the Kiryet-class ships, the four of these ships carry Kazun forces to the surface when they have need.
They are shielded, and carry a single frontal fusion gun, used to clear landing areas. These craft are almost as wide as they are long, however, making them a fair bit larger than the Kiryet-class ships.
Kazun Ground Forces:
Although not as numerous the Kazun Fleet, the ground forces of the Kazun are quite powerful in terms of mercenaries, and are oft used to faciliate quick strikes on generators and the like.
Striker-class hybrid unit
The Striker is used to attack enemies quickly and painfully, using maximum force in a minimum of time. Carrying a single fission/fusion warhead each, and twin pulse guns, these quick, floating craft are used to approach with a minimum of fuss, and disable vital targets.
Strikers carry little armour, literally so little that infantry weaponry can still damage it severely, and no shielding. They carry cloaking devices, ones that emit a small amount of energy, but can generally creep up on all but the strongest areas to deliver powerful attacks.
They travel in speeds well in excess of the sound barrier, often approaching 10,000 km an hour, depending on friction, and other factors. Their immense speed is rarely used, as they are made to sneak up, attack, and leave, all in secrecy. They also carry a single high-powered depleted uranium gun.
Melkhan-class Infantry Suit - The only sole-combat suit among the Kazun, this suit is one-size fits all, literally. It contains basic components, but the powerful exoskeleton is moulded to the user through two to three hours of nanonic activity. This suit contains a self-destruct fission explosive, when explodes when the suit is tampered with, (this is set to off during combat, but, after death of the user, is automatically set to on, unless another suit gives it a command) and enhances the strength of the user tenfold. (assuming the user is human) These suits contain several types of view, from thermal to ultraviolet, infrared, and other useful views. It contains information about energy readings in the area, and can also fly for a limited amount of time, using the suit's battery. It can support a user in extreme temperatures, and high pressure. Overall, the suit is almost always used on planetside and space-bound combat.
It carries no real weapon, apart from a electromagnetic pulse which can be rigged for combat if needed desperately, and it can also fire pellets of excess exoskeleton using force, but this is dangerous to the suit, and can only be used in extreme circumstances.
DIGG - Dynamic Infiltration Devilish Digger, the DIGG is the heart and soul of long-term operations. It was named by Joban, who rather liked the acronym the computer presented him with, although adding an extra 'D' with devilish. It can go beneath the crust of any planet, and, since it is manned only by an AI, it can be used in suicide missions. The DIGG can carry a fair few units of weaponry, but a common Kazun tactic is to load it up with antimatter weaponry and a containment field, dig up under something vital, and explode it. This generally annihilates whatever it's attacking, and is so seen to be immensely useful. Digging is a slow process, however, so the DIGG needs to be deployed days in advance, and is generally used to signal the start of an assault.
Whiplash-class Jetsuit - A simple device, famous for the aerial assault, led by Joban in his earlier days, is a Melkhan suit, with less armour, no nuclear explosive, and a devilishly annoying flying part. This suit actually utilizes a form of near-FTL travel, allowing the user to be whiplashed, so to speak, over a kilometre, with a minor expenditure of energy. Although this cannot penetrate solid matter, nor energy shielding, it is quite useful in combat which involves running away, or going past enemy forces. The Whiplash, however, is tremendously expensive, and only sixteen are owned by the Kazun, three of which are somewhat damage. The Whiplash carries very little protection, and no weaponry, and is so only used for the vital strikes which are so common to the Kazun.
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Total Kazun Numbers: 1207
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Combat (General) Kazun Numbers: 800
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Other Kazun Numbers: 307
Fighter Pilots: 67
Saboteurs: 10
Combat Specialists: 17
Nanoengineers:6 (
Technicians/Engineers: 67
Non-vital staff: 33
Captains: 22
Assorted command staff: 37
Explosives experts: 3
Communication specialists: 15
Xeno scientists: 1
Genetic scientists: 2
Scanning specialists: 2
Weaponry specialists: 12
Shielding specialists: 6
Professional Assassins: 11
Propaganda Specialists: 1
Tacticians: 4
Programmers: 11
Zero-gee fighters: 54
Probe constructors: 6
Suit engineers: 14
Archaeologists: 2
Molecular scientists: 4
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The Kazun generally charge the price of their ships per campaign as a guarantee, (as losing parties are not often able to pay for such things) which is given back on cessation of the contract, minus the ships lost.
Johan has notably given a minor speech to a blustering planetary governor, in which the governor told him to defend the planet against vastly superior forces.
"We're mercenaries, and damn good ones, at that. We fight for money. We don't die for money. Am I getting through?"
This is quite simply part of the Kazun's hiring rules, in which, of course, they do not demand a lack of risk, but any suicidal or near-suicidal missions are not to be taken on.
They also tend to take resources in payment, but prefer to be paid for each individual mission, rather than up-front in a campaign. They also demand up to an extra 100% on missions that involve high risk, and replacement of any equipment that will be lost, (as a result of the mission's objectives, not as a result of Kazun ineptitude) to boot.
They are rather demanding mercenaries, but, as Johan said "We're the best. We don't stay that way by being kind to everyone out there and letting them hire us for 10 creds a day."
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Kazun Weaponry -
The Kazun use a variety of hand-to-hand and ranged weaponry, but tend to specialise in explosives.
Fission Grenade - One of the most insane weapons ever created, this device is a nuclear fission bomb, almost powerful enough to level a city, coupled with a very weak arming saefguard, and range which, to quote 'how good's your throwing arm?'. As such, it tends to be a weapon of last resort, as it is almost inevitably suicidal to use.