UNSC Mother of Invention

The UNSC Mother of Invention (: FFG-636), abbreviated to MoI, was a that was utilised by the . Launched as a , it was later modified to better serve as the base of operations for Project FREELANCER.
The Mother of Invention first entered service during , and provided naval support against in the Mid-Rim and . It took part in operations above , Chi Rho, and , with some of its later assignments centered around protecting that carried food and mineral tithes into the .
The Mother of Invention was among a number of vessels that were not immediately recalled to fight in the , although it would later see some action in the Siege of Drawn before being withdrawn. Instead, in it was commandeered by ONI for asset and personnel evacuation purposes, where it moved confidential materials away from areas likely to be hit by the . It was engaged or compromised on several occasions, although it was able to successfully fulfil this mission for more than a decade.
In , the Mother of Invention was requisitioned as the flagship of Project FREELANCER, where it simultaneously acted as the program's primary research facility, primary training facility, command centre, and garrison. This would be its last assignment, as it was forced down over Tau Ceti IV after a number of its subjects rebelled in . Although the project would exist for a substantial period of time after this, and many of their former personnel would return to the frigate for one purpose or another, the Invention would never fly again.
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== Construction ==
The steel for the Mother of Invention, then known only by its hull classification designation FFG-636, was first cut above on December 28, . It was assembled in Naval Yard-CO5, with construction being overseen by Chief Engineer Steven H. Moore. Like the other ships in its batch of eight, FFG-636 was built first around a central frame identical across all of SinoViet's frigates, a series of plans they dubbed the Core Frigate Framework. The superstructure blocks specific to that of the Charon-class were manufactured at factories on and , and were shipped to Cascade. They would then be welded into place, vastly speeding up production. As a result, only roughly 65% of the frigate was made in its drydock. In addition, thanks to being the seventh ship to be built, it was subjected to numerous changes to further conserve materials, reduce work, and better optimise armour. As a result, FFG-636 was lighter than its next-closest peer by about 20,000 tonnes, and about 50-60 thousand tonnes lighter than the average.
FFG-636 would be launched from its drydock on May 4, , and conduct its space trials over the next several months above Reach. It was discovered to be the fastest and most maneuverable ship of its group, although a number of defects were identified and subsequently fixed, one of which was its starboard deuterium coupling. Nevertheless, it would be commissioned on October 18, and formally enter service.
== History ==
=== First Battle of Drawn ===
In , the UNSC Mother of Invention was stationed above the Outer Colony staging ground of Drawn, where it was considered for reassignment into a number of battle groups that had taken casualties in the face of the Covenant assault. As it was given a temporary place in Drawn's defence fleet, the Invention was often conscripted in planetary exercises to test the effectiveness of the UNSC Army garrison, which included staging scenarios for planetside invasion and mock confrontations with surface-to-air defences. Just before the Siege began, it was selected by a local ONI research and development site to test an experimental model of MAC.
Because it was conducting a range of viability tests, the Mother of Invention was unable to quickly respond when the Covenant's Fleet of Lawful Fortitude was first detected on a direct course to Drawn. By the time it began to make its way into orbit, the fighting had already began. The Invention joined in time to help push off a charge from the Ascendence, but by that time Battle Group Morocco had taken severe casualties: six frigates were lost to take down a single , and nearly all other participants had compromised decks and disabled weapon systems.
=== Project FREELANCER ===
In February 2548, the UNSC Mother of Invention received a Priority-One, eyes-only transmission from HIGHCOM authorising a refit at a drydock above , a colony famed for its military research-and-development facilities. Upon their arrival, ONI immediately began reassigning the crew and reconfiguring the frigate to act as a self-sufficient home base for Project FREELANCER: an experimental supersoldier unit that hoped to pair them with purpose-built AI assistants. Every member of the crew had been specifically chosen for their obedience towards both the UNSC and the project's director, Dr. Leonard Church.
The newly-hijacked frigate's first actions as part of FREELANCER were mundane and supportive in nature. It was used to establish a number of authorised training outposts and equipment storage warehouses across selected uninhabited worlds. Ideal subjects were collected, cross-examined, and tested before they were designated a FREELANCER Agent.
==== Destruction ====
=== Legacy ===
The Mother of Invention was never moved from its final resting place, although both individuals affiliated with Project FREELANCER and insurrectionists would periodically return to scavenge what remained of its wreckage. As part of FREELANCER's contingency protocols, all sensitive data on its research were recovered and backed up at secondary storage sites, then deleted and corrupted to prevent future investigators from gaining a clear picture on the program's lawbreaking activities. Some cached terminals and storage would survive this fate, however, which were later recovered by UNSC investigators. This information, as well as that from other raided locations, would be used to prosecute the leadership of FREELANCER and lead to the project's official shutdown. It would also directly to ONI Section 3 scrutinising and micromanaging its other programs to a far more intense degree, along with establishing new protocols to that curtailed many freedoms other project heads previously held in an effort to prevent such a widespread breach from occurring again.
The remnants of the Mother of Invention would be salvaged by FREELANCER construction workers for use in a new cold-weather training outpost not far from the frigate. Raw materials were remolded into usable parts for the outposts, creating a variable terrain in which to test their existing agents. Meanwhile, advanced components that survived the crash, such as the frigate's MASER dish and long-range communications array, were directly integrated into a new monitoring station and warehouse. Both structures would be abandoned long before the UNSC returned to Tau Ceti IV. This facility, codenamed "", would later be scanned and integrated into the UNSC's database, and would be used for training .
== Layout ==
== Specifications ==
=== Armament ===
Although the armaments were somewhat different to the ships it was based on, the Mother of Invention still maintained a well-rounded arsenal, with secondary weapons supporting the longer-ranged main gun. The weapons were supremely adaptable, easily capable of tracking enemy fighters and still had the punch necessary to fend off of similar size. However, as one of the smaller vessels in the UNSC Navy, it was easily outperformed by some smaller Covenant vessels, and required support of other frigates to emerge victorious over their frigate analogues.
The frigate was host to a , a powerful weapon that formed the core of its offensive efforts. The Mark II accelerated a 600-tonne slug of tungsten up to a maximum of 30 kilometres per second, which struck the unfortunate target with a force equivalent to roughly 64 megatonnes of TNT. Such a weapon was originally considered overkill during the Insurrection, as a handful of Archers were more than capable of disabling most rebel ships it would chance upon. However, Covenant starships were far more resilient, with a minimum of three shots being needed to take down the shields of a : two that would harmlessly ripple its shields, while the third shot collapsed them and punctured its hull. It can reload quite quickly and fire up to 24 rounds per minute if set to low-power settings. However, the Mark II has inefficient coils that forced the crew to wait up to a minute before they can use the MAC at full charge again - long enough that their opponents shields could fully recharge. As a result, the crew must rely on their secondary guns to keep their shields destabilised and fluctuating between salvos.
The Mother of Invention's MAC was upgraded in 2531 with a 86G4R9X/MAC setup, an experimental model which included a sophisticated artificial gravity-electromagnet 'slingshot' system and semi-articulated chamber to redirect its rounds in a 30o cone around its barrel. While later versions would refine the concept enough for it to be deployed on other UNSC vessels, none had its sheer tracking potential, which could hit a large space fighter at short range if handled by a skilled weapons officer. In 2551, the MAC was replaced entirely with a 48DA1G6/MAC, a more powerful and faster-to-charge weapon that retained its upgrades.
Supporting its MAC, as well as screening the ship from medium-range, is a variable complement of M58 Archer missiles. A smaller, more versatile cousin of the M42 variant, M58 Archers were used as a workhorse system, with a modular warhead that could be outfitted for a variety of roles. The propulsion system was fast enough to pursue some models of space fighters and other missiles, useful for air defence purposes. Meanwhile, its 500-kilogram warheads could pack a decent amount of destructive abilities: those on the Invention were configured as high-explosives as standard, which could defeat even metres of Titanium-A after repeated hits. Archers were organised into pods with five silos each, which saw the frigate fire a maximum of 250 and 130 missiles at once, for original and post-refit respectively.
Prior to refit, two silos for were carried, rather than the missile synonymous with earlier Charon-class frigates. Designed for use with vacuum-enhanced 30 megatonne HAVOK nuclear warheads, Shiva-class missiles were considered the standard in nuclear weaponry, with a compact design that could be carried aboard a wide range of warships. Its destructive potential was limited in space, as the lack of an atmosphere meant that the explosive blast dissipated quickly. As a result, the damage dropoff even with vacuum-enhanced warheads was great enough that warships more than two kilometres away from the detonation site were safe, so there was a lot of pressure to get them through the enemy's point defences. However, the radiation they release during their detonation was seen as more useful, as the fallout could disrupt computer systems far in excess of that distance, with affected starships unable to do anything until their systems were restored back to working order.
After refit, the frigate boasted a network of automated , in the form of a dozen . Well armoured, quick to track, and with a respectable rate of fire, Sentries were the smallest turrets in the UNSC's arsenal capable of anti-ship assault. They could engage fighters if needed, often requiring only a single 279mm shell needed to obliterate the vast majority of these attackers, although missiles were too small for them to target. A manufacturing flaw meant that they could never fire directly above them, however, though their range of fire could still cover most of the sky around them.
== Notable Crew ==
Accurate as of the ship's crash in 2552.
== Gallery ==
RvB frigate FFG.png|The Mother of Invention, prior to refit as a Paris-class frigate.
Frigate-countermeasures.png|The Mother of Invention fires its missiles, moments before they arc around to damage their mothership.
Staff_of_Charon_vs_Mother_of_Invention.png|The Mother of Invention is attacked by the destroyer Staff of Charon.
Category:Safe Havens
Category:Individual UNSC Ships
Category:Frigates