UNSC Punic

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The UNSC Punic was the lead ship of her class of supercarriers, and the last flagship of the . For decades, it was considered the pinnacle of human engineering, outmassing and outgunning almost any other vessel introduced during the and the , and had a notable stubbornness to remain intact even following crippling damage. However, its prestige and capabilities saw it living a life of constant action, rarely receiving the modernisations that were given to its sisters.
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==Operational History==
===Construction===
Built at the purpose-built Special Assembly Plant Zeus that orbited the remote industrial center of Steinhold, the Punic and its sister Jupiter were laid down on March 13, 2482 in a special ceremony overseen by the brass of the CMA Navy and its designers. Designed over the course of several years, it owed its existence purely to the ongoing arms race with the UNSC Navy. Indeed, it was a response to the UNSC's procurement of the 100-million metric ton supercarrier Sovereign. Its fabrication was overseen under the capable hands of Senior Engineer Marián Cinege, SinoViet's most experienced naval architect who had a long history of delivering ships on time and under budget.
Regardless, the Punic's construction would not be easy. Not only was its size rivaled only by the legendary colony ship ,And even the Odyssey was an easier ship to build, thanks to civilian build standards and its disposable nature. but it was necessary to maintain secrecy behind the project to prevent the UNSC from responding with their own rival project. More pressingly, despite the CMA's investment into building up Steinhold's shipbuilding industry to handle the behemoths, much of this was still not ready by the time the supercarrier was laid down, requiring critical components and hull blocks to be imported from elsewhere. As a result, it was decided early on to prioritise finishing Punic first; the Jupiter would be long behind schedule, but at least it could avoid problems that were discovered with its sister.
Construction of the Punic proceeded at a steadily-increasing pace up, even as setbacks began to mount. Beginning in 2485 - just over a year after it had been laid down - the CMA implemented the first design revisions. This included the replacement of the light missile arsenal with naval coilguns, and substitution of her hydrogen fuel refinery with a more advanced and reliable model. Fortunately, this was early enough to require only minimal rebuilding and was incorporated after only a month of work stoppage. This was only a prelude, however, for what was to come. In 2487, despite building to specs, testing showed that the ship's frame was far too weak, with concerns that the wings would warp under high-G manoeuvres. This delayed its launch until August 11, 2488, to clear the drydock for work to begin on the future CMA Jutland. It was also at this time that the CMA added in their last change - the fitment of the experimental and a new SURVOS-IX exploration & navigation suite. The CMA investigated the possibility of replacing her winged plating with a full shroud structure, but this would've delayed her completion by upwards of a year and so was not incorporated.The Punic had originally been built with frigate-esque wing plating on each side of the ship, providing the same effective doubling of the protection system but without the weight of a full shroud structure. However, testing on cruisers revealed that the shroud had, among other things, also greatly simplified refits by allocating space for future reactors and engines that was still protected by armour. Punic would not receive this innovation until her midlife refit during the Human-Covenant War.
Unfortunately, it was also at this time that the became aware of the supercarriers' existence, and the location of their primary production plant. Concerned about the sheer size and power of the upcoming supercapital warships, and by now convinced that the CMA had secessionist tendencies, the UNSC admiralty instructed ONI to do whatever they could to delay its completion while they underwent an accelerated development of a counter, which would result in the . The Punic's high state of completion meant that it would not suffer the drawn-out delays that all of its later sisters suffered, but it wasn't for a lack of trying. In 2488, ONI succeeded in intercepting multiple shipments of advanced computer and sensor systems meant for the supercarrier. This was easily mitigated by simply using the parts meant for the other supercarriers. An attempt to cause a general strike among the workforce also failed, being unable to garner enough interest. In desperation, ONI even smuggled a bomb onto the ship with the hope to disguise it as a reactor overload. The man responsible for this, agent Lei Zhang, was discovered, detained, and interrogated, and it had the opposite outcome by redoubling Cinege's efforts to complete the ship before schedule.
The Punic was indeed delivered to the CMA on June 4, 2490, and was commissioned in a very public ceremony above the CMA's headquarter-world of Kingston. Much of this timeframe was only allowed for by a risky choice to complete all trials while the supercarrier was working up in the CMA Navy.
===Peacetime career===
Although inducted into service, the Punic would not depart on any large-scale voyages from Kingston for the first six months of her service. The CMA openly addressed this to a desire to properly familiarise the crew with their ship and conduct some exercises and tests on it, although in private they already noticed problems that needed to be rectified in drydock. To keep up with appearances, the CMA Navy organised "Operation: DAVID AND GOLIATH", a one-versus-one hundred naval exercise where the Punic had to make its way alone across the system, fending off attacks by frigates and corvettes commanded by the gereatric Vice Admiral Bernadett Arnesen. Between these, the CMA also conducted tests of the supercarrier's protection system by detonating specialised charges on pre-determined points on the ship's hull. While this generally passed without incident, it was found that a few areas on the aft portion could be buckled and some frames were positioned too close to provide adequate flexibility. What could be fixed was, and the data would be used to refine the construction of future supercarriers of its type.
After Odyssey Day on April 9th, 2491, the Punic departed with a squadron of the CMA's newest ships on a grand tour of the Mid-Rim colonies of the Human Sphere. Painted in stunning khaki-and-white, starred banding representing the colours of the , it was really the latest in a long line of sabre rattles between the CMA and UNSC. Unlike all other tours which came before, the CMA deliberately ordered the Punic to visit populated colonies that were known to host sizable UNSC Navy garrisons. Noteworthy colonies visited include , , and , being tailed by smaller UNSC cruisers wherever it went. All the more impressive was that the Punic only received supplies and fuel twice during its tour, a feat that their shorter-ranged UNSC counterparts could not replicate. Unfortunately, it wasn't without incident, largely aided by the tensions between the two powers. When the battlecruiser UNSC One Hundred Years deliberately placed itself in front of the supercarrier to guide it away from a sensitive space station in the Gliese 185 system, the Punic briefly locked weapons and made aggressive attempts to chase its quarry off before backing down.
===Insurrection===
===Human-Covenant War===
==Specifications==
===Armament===
Although not strictly built as a dedicated spatial combatant at the time of its commissioning, the Punic still possessed a powerful anti-shipping arsenal, one that made it a formidable target to attack even when alone. Its primary battery consisted of two 1F21D7 Mark IV heavy coil MACs. Designed specifically for the Punic, the Mark IV started out life as an elongated version of the oversized LG22B1R5 cruiser-grade coilguns fitted onto the . While it possessed a barrel more than two and a half kilometres long and could accelerate the slug to monstrous velocities, it was rarely allowed to fire at full power. Instead, the velocity was tuned down to match those on the heavy cruisers, where the extensive capacitor banks and enormous reactors permitted the weapon to charge and fire much more quickly - some records claim the Punic herself could fire one slug every thirty seconds if operated in this way. Regardless, for its time it was considered by far the heaviest MAC of its day, outgunned and outranging those on smaller battleships and dedicated defence platforms, and its evolution from one of the CMA's most widespread MACs made it extremely robust and reliable.
Unlike other ships of its day, the Punic's secondary armaments were organised in a somewhat archaic arrangement that did not incorporate dual-purpose weaponry, instead splitting it up into dedicated anti-aircraft and anti-shipping batteries. Its missile arsenal was dominated by 100 silos reserved for the , each with three reloads, which acted as its main long-range striking system aside from the MACs. Vulnerable to point defences due to their large size, their launch was usually accompanied by the deployment of decoys to help them get through. Though designed to accept massive warheads capable of gutting a cruiser should they hit, it was more common to find them with mini-missile housings, which went some way to addressing their chief vulnerability during the Insurrection. Ten , capable of a five-gun broadside, were also carried. A somewhat unusual model, the Onager was designed to fire an undersized projectile at extremely high velocities, allowing it to be practical for long-range bombardment. It was supposed to be a fairly powerful weapon, but the slug's small size meant that it usually couldn't survive a passage through the thick hulls of capital ships. This was supplemented by 24 twin (later upgraded to quad) 11A2R1 Viper 375mm/34 cal naval coilguns, which were positioned to protect the ship from incoming attack craft and destroyers at medium-to-close ranges.
The Punic's super-heavy anti-ship munitions were fulfilled by 10 Scorpio , each carried in their own silo. Introduced as an alternative for MACs,Although it may seem absurd today, the CMA was very reluctant to adopt these weapons. MACs were heavy enough that they badly impacted a ship's given acceleration and range, and required the starship to be built strong enough and provide the spare power necessary for its operation. More importantly, charged capacitor banks represented an explosive hazard that already crippled several early test ships. Compared to this, fusion missiles could be fired and directed independently of the ship's movement (at least before firing its fusion drive), and lacked the explosion hazard. Still, their size meant that only a handful could be carried per ship compared to dozens of MAC slugs, eventually seeing fusion missiles phased out as a CMA patrol ship's primary weapon. the Scorpios' kinetic warhead and potential velocities it could achieve thanks to its fusion drive made it a destructive weapon. Getting it to hit proved surprisingly difficult, as despite improving upon the older Ballista device with better manoeuvring systems, its ability to turn when propelled at high speeds could still be charitably described as stubborn despite now being effective up to medium distances. During the Covenant War, these missiles would be transformed into nuclear missiles, using their speed to limit the time they were vulnerable to enemy pulse lasers.
The point defences of the supercarrier were divided between various flavours of and the quad-barrelled M800 Rampart 40mm/40 cal cannons. The Streaks excelled at defeating fighters at intercepting missiles at extended distances, with their high speed, ability to attack targets in all directions, and option for triplex mini-missile warheads. The M800 Ramparts were more emergency defence systems, used only when all attempts at deterring fighters and munitions had failed and impact was guaranteed. As a result, the Rampart was capable of a very high rate of fire and tracking extremely quickly, however its dated architecture and low velocity of its slugs meant that by the 2510s, it was considered barely capable of protecting the ship from the weapons that matter. Certainly, it could not able to stop fighters from dropping their ordnance, and over the years they were steadily supplemented with quicker-firing Helix guns and heavier descendants of the Rampart family.
==Notable locations==
===The Old Factory===
Located towards the end of the supercarrier's belly, the modest collection of machine shops, raw material silos, and antiquated assembly conveyors were once part of one of the largest manufacturing complexes ever installed aboard a starship. Part of the CMA's overarching - and never quite reached - goal of creating a self-reliant, self-sustaining expeditionary force, it was for the Punic to function as a mobile naval base, one capable of resupplying, repairing, and in future even refitting entire starships. At its peak, it was capable of churning out such complicated machinery such as missiles, fighters, and even frigate powerplants. Combined with the ship's impressive combat capabilities, this promised to make it a vital logistical lynchpin in contested orbits, cutting down on the distance vulnerable transports needed to travel.
Ultimately, the Punic was the only member of the class to incorporate the full suite as designed, with all its sister ships either cutting it down or removing it entirely. As useful as the system was, admirals recognised that it handicapped their capabilities by taking up useful floor space, compromised their structural integrity due to the larger spaces, and cost it some capacity for fielding large cutters and space fighters in favour of tugs. More than anything, supercarriers were powerful enough that admirals rarely kept them in the same theatre for long, usually only to suppress rebel elements just enough that lighter task forces could take over. Ironically, this was why smaller, less protected factory ships tended to be more useful to prolonged campaigns.
Given the size of its original setup, and also due to its lack of widespread refits during the Insurrection, the Punic was notable for retaining its factories for a considerable portion of its service life. The CMA made no alternations to this aspect at all, and even were the only ones to make use of the supercarrier as a fleet support center. Machinists and factory engineers were kept aboard throughout its entire Insurrection service, and there were two occasions where its crews performed desperately-needed engine refits on CMA frigates. However, even they never cared to modernise it. When the ship passed into the care of the UNSC Navy, the system was largely shut down due to the age of the machinery, a desire to reallocate its power demands towards more critical systems such as weapons, and more importantly the fact that the supercarrier was increasingly stationed close to planetary infrastructure. It was reactivated on a handful of occasions in order to address local shortages, but it was never fully staffed during the War nor kept reliably serviced. As a result, when the Punic went in for its 2535 overhaul more than sixty percent of all industrial equipment was cleared out, with the new space being given over to ammunition, fuel, and a new ONI intelligence center.
===The Catacombs===
Due to the extremely high demand to keep the Punic in service for as much as possible, something present even during the Insurrection, there was high pressure on the dockyard crews to overhaul and complete their work on the supercarrier as quickly as possible. This resulted in a practice of installing new systems in former corridors frequented by the crew, which were then boarded up and declared off-limits, creating an expansive, disjointed network that sailors would call the Catacombs.
The Catacombs were extremely hazardous places to visit, as all maintenance and even repairs on them had ceased. Although it was all broadly intact, much of it showed signs of disuse - cables were exposed, polished metal sheeting no longer covered the walls, and much of the internal surveillance system no longer worked here. In the worst cases, battle damage had never been repaired, leaving zones where rooms had collapsed, huge gashes caused by naval coilguns now connect rooms above and below each other, and melted steel solidified into permanent barriers that even made a mockery of Covenant plasma torches. These were the areas that often sported the horrific sights of human remains that were left where they died. For this reason, the Punic lacked accurate charts of the network; old schematic maps certainly exist, but there was no telling what areas were still accessible. Most of it lacked an atmosphere, although various expeditions by odd crewmen had shown that the air remains breathable through a surprising majority of the Catacombs. As a result, vermin such as rats, mice, and even possums had taken up refuge here. Because of all this, the official verdict by the supercarrier's command staff emphasised the use of maintenance drones to conduct any repairs in the Catacombs. If human assistance was required, then engineers required approval from their shift leader before they could carry out the work, and had to be accompanied by at least one other person.
Despite all this, some of the crew had secretly ventured into the Catacombs for one reason or another, and left their mark here. It was common for small memorials to be erected by sailors to mark the death of someone they knew, as were the establishment of caches holding personal property they didn't want seized by security. The most well-known areas of the Catacombs frequented by the crew included Battleship Row (a pair of multi-purpose rooms so-named because of the battleship models carved onto the walls, now used as meeting places and games rooms) and the Eye (a boarded-up observation lounge with a large window in the shape of an eye).
===The Gardens===
As the Punic was commissioned before the Insurrection broke out, the CMA theorised the ship's earliest missions to be considerably different to those it actually undertook. They envisioned it routinely conducting tours across the Human Sphere, combating the UNSC's influence among the Outer Colonies, impressing civilians for the purposes of recruitment, and most importantly hosting dignitaries and politicians whom had the power to put the CMA's ambitions into practice. As a result of this, an important consideration was the establishment of a huge suite of botanical gardens on the ship's dorsal side, dubbed "Captain Sten Bakke'sCaptain Sten Bakke was a notable figure in humanity's colonial history. Considered the "Founding Father of the CAA's Exploration Corps", Sten Bakke (2346 - 2401) was a slipper personally credited with the settlement of no less than fifteen different worlds, and countless more systems surveyed. Though he was extremely influential in the CMA Navy's organisational development, Bakke only served as a civilian consultant; his military ranks were temporary positions to grant him authority to conduct his work, with the permanent promotion to Captain only bestowed after his death. Parkdecks".
The gardens provided some breathtaking scenery, with over 240 different species of plants present in a dome structure that has a diameter of 300 metres. Designed by noteworthy landscaper Viljar Eide of Bushwork Scenery on Chi Rho - the same company which designed the planet's victory gardens - the park's layout based off the emblem of the CAA when viewed from above; the center had a large waterfeature with bridges heading into the center, small shrubs formed a large ring around the edge with tall trees dotted at regular intervals, and the hands usually had a diverse arrangement of flowers. At the core of it was a bronze statue of Stanbek himself. The actual dome skyscape itself was pretty basic, being painted a light-blue but was entirely made of steel and so could not project moving images nor depolarise. Engineers tasked with maintaining the ship's life support systems tended to the plants, using dedicated equipment including aerial drones to trim back leaves and address nutrient imbalances when needed. Although an elaborate display, it was also pragmatic; the lakes could be drained to extend the carrier's own water supplies, and the plants were genemodded to maximise oxygen production and tolerate droughts and poor soil nutrition. It also didn't represent a weakpoint for the ship either, as the armour plating ran underneath the entire installation, with pressure-seal so any breach of the Parkdeck did not compromise the ship.
The Parkdeck actually survived for a surprisingly long time on the supercarrier, and was in fact still present on the ship up until the end of the Covenant War. That's not to say it survived intact; most of the area was divided up and reserved for storing cargo, with the central lake drained and now hosting unkept crops grown by individual crewmen.
===Command Bridge===
===Map Room===
==Notable embarked units==
==Notable personnel==
==Notes==
Category:Carriers