Aretheila-class battlecruiser

## *Aretheila* class

The ***Aretheila*-class star battlecruisers** are a series of new and powerful warships designed by and built for the Na'alu Collective. Taking advantage of the very latest in technology and building techniques, they are specifically designed to act as squadron and fleet flagships for normal duties where the presence of the *Teraevyn's Grace* is not warranted.

Due to the complexity of their design and the general difficulty associated with securing the funds to build them, only a few of these ships were able to be brought into service before 2505. Due to the lengthy negotiations, many ships did not enter service by their planned commissioning date.

## Design

### Dimensions & Role

At 1,446 metres in length and shaped like a leaf or arrowhead, the *Aretheila* class on first glance bear little resemblance to other Collective designs, which tend to be cruciform and feature large openings in the centre. Closer inspection of their smooth hulls, interrupted only by the lights of their viewports and the occasional recessed weapon mount, would in fact reveal that these ships are largely developments of the *Selesteisa*-class battleships and *Dioseila*-class cruisers. Given the Na'alu's penchant for 'obtaining' classified information and technical readouts, however, their obvious similarities to both the new Selestrine *Seraphim*s and the older but war-proven Alinar *Calescence* type cannot be understated either.

### Artillery Systems

The Collective has always been invested in obtaining the technologies and expertise of other stellar powers and using their achievements as a basis from which to 'leapfrog' with their own designs: accordingly, few of their weapons are unique to the Na'alu. The *Aretheila* class is no different: none of its weapons were 'home development', but rather all 'improved' versions of foreign designs.

The gun armament of the battlecruiser type was provided by so-called 'tachyon irises', also known as 'iris beam cannons': they were functionally faster-than-light versions of conventional neutron, electron, and proton beam cannons, relying on extremely advanced Jolnari technology to convert the tachyons into baryonic matter capable of damaging targets just before impact. This also had the effect of allowing the Na'alu to push the effective range of their capital ships well beyond normal Milky Way engagement distances: they could engage the Aetanii—whose ships could and did fight at 20-30 light-seconds—on somewhat more even terms than any other galactic power as a result. An *Aretheila* carried approximately eighteen of these weapons, in triple mounts arrayed across the sides of the stern: they could engage any target ahead with all weapons, or still use around half on the broadside.

The other 'heavy' armament of the *Aretheila* was its 'Basilisk' cruise torpedoes: slower than a conventional armoured warhead but more powerful, and with a neutronium tip to pierce thick armour, it could pose a reliable threat to all but Consortium warships. While the battlecruiser only carried two such weapons, it still posed a significant threat to any capital ship unfortunate enough to be chosen for their target.

The secondary armament was provided by a mix of smaller tachyon irises and positronic beam cannons: the latter, also known as 'reality strippers', were extremely short-ranged—the positrons comprising the blast tended to repel one another due to sharing the same charge—but could melt through hull armour, bulkheads, and flesh in short order. The point-defense cannons, which were of a more conventional particle-acceleration beam design and placed in a variety of quad and twin mountings, could also be used against capital ships if the range was close enough.

The last-ditch defense of these warships was composed of a "Guardian" point-defense laser system, an unlicensed copy of the Terran Alliance's **Aegis** coupled with elements of the Alinar **Simurgh**, plus Na'alu "improvements."

#### *Cyristos*

The battlecruiser *Cyristos* is in stardock as of 2505 to receive modifications to handle a ***Physinix* array**: essentially a 'tachyon iris' version of the Alliance *Luna*-class battlecruiser's own spinal laser.

## See Also

* *Teraevyn's Grace* — The flagship of the Na'alu fleet.
* *Calescence*-class battlecruiser — One of the design progenitors of the *Aretheila* class.