Guinevere

Passengers

* Elizabeth Ancelet (Temporary)

> "*I stand atop a ship named Persistence beneath sails made of resolve.*"
> - Ship's motto, Independent Corvette *Guinevere*.
>
>

The ***Guinevere*** is the only prototype of the *Huntress*-class Attack Corvette. Originally created as the **CSV *Huntress*** by Keeper's Dance Fleet Yards in the period following the end of the Frontier War and preceding the Edric's Gate project, the ship eventually fell into the hands of Captain Cassandra Farren. Farren and her crew rechristened the ship *Guinevere*, and began her career as one of the most distinctive privateer vessels in the Tantalus Cluster.

## Design

Originally intended to fill the role of a fast-attack vessel, the *Guinevere*, formerly CSV *Huntress*, was envisioned as the prototype of a new class of ambush corvettes. The ship boasts a large number of innovations that set it apart from more conventional designs, including eight vectored fusion thrusters for attitude control in place of more conventional chemical RCS systems, and a horizontal deck layout making use of Drift-intensive Directional Paragravity Circuits, a feature more commonly found in the luxury yachts of the very rich. A curious consequence to the *Guinevere's* reliance on Directional Paragravity Circuits is that it is often required to berth alongside luxury yachts at planetside spaceports, as most spaceports have only 10% of their capacity dedicated to horizontal landings.

The *Guinevere* as designed is armed with a spinally-mounted Broadhead-Lock retractable coilgun, two prow torpedo launch silos, and two twin 6.5-inch "Swivel Gun" kinetic autoguns. The *Guinevere* is exceedingly difficult to fly and expensive to fuel and arm: owing to its eight vectored fusion thrusters, extensive practice is required to familiarise a helmsman with each engine. Low-strength correctional burns, such as docking, are extremely difficult to perform, and should one of the thrusters be damaged, the ship will become almost impossible to pilot.

The *Guinevere* is manned with a minimum crew of three - Captain Cassandra Farren, ship's doctor Tamara Melari, and pilot Mathias Croft. The crew have extensively modified the vessel, including adding a civilian-made R-36 Wildcat All-Terrain Excursion Rover for surface operations. The ship has many systems designed to keep the vessel self-sufficiently operable; it has small but functional hydroponics bay, 3D manufacturing facilities, and a grey water capture tank. Uniquely, the vessel has several Interferometry Volumetric Displays (IVDs) installed across the vessel, providing "window-like" views of outside of the vessel through the use of cameras. Theses IVDs primarily serve the pilot and other crew aboard the bridge, but smaller IVD devices are installed across the vessel, such as in the sick bay.

As with all Centran vessels, the first component of the *Guinevere* to be laid down was her mast, a shaped wooden trunk that spans two decks, and still stands aboard the vessel today.

## History

### Construction

The *Guinevere* began life as CSV *Huntress*, the prototype for a new class of ambush corvettes designed by Keeper's Dance Fleet Yards in the immediate aftermath of the Frontier War in 0300 PCU. The design team included Winston Redfield, later Vice Admiral and Defence Adjutant to the Avalon Exploratory Initiative. Ultimately, the project was abandoned when all available resources were committed to the construction of Edric's Gate and the Avalon Exploratory Initiative. The *Huntress* fell into a web of classified bureaucracy, preventing it from being completed or being scrapped for materials, and was simply abandoned at Corsetti Reclamation's shipbreaking yard in the Rialtis System, forgotten by both the Centrum Defence Force and KDFY as both organisations became preoccupied with the Edric's Gate project. However, despite it's swift abandonment once funding ran dry, the vessel had been significantly far along in construction and testing, leaving the vessel otherwise flight worthy.

### Privateer service

In 0300 PCU, Cassandra Farren, a veteran of the CDF, recovered the *Huntress* from the Corsetti Reclamation Yard on Rialtis. She rechristened the vessel *Guinevere*, naming her after her childhood horse. With the Merician pilot Mathias Croft and the Maialan-born ex-CDF medic Tamara Melari, Cassandra obtained a Centrum Letter of Marque and began life as a privateer, chasing down pirates, smugglers, and slavers in the lawless aftermath of the Frontier War. The *Guinevere* quickly became one of the most distinctive vessels in privateer service, and participated in such actions as the attempted rescue of the Unioner freighter *Canary* in the Dalstaff System and the capture of the slaver *Black Rabbit* in the Valeria Sibus System. At some point, Captain Farren installed a ship's bell and dedication plaque aboard the vessel, both of which were likely never constructed during the ship's original design timeline.

### Avalon Exploratory Initiative

The *Guinevere* deployed through Edric's Gate to the CDC-41-Gamma nebula in 0304 PCU as part of the Avalon Exploratory Initiative. Much of the Expedition Fleet was scattered in transit, and the *Guinevere* was moderately damaged on arrival into an anomalous ice belt. The *Guinevere* established contact with the Unioner ship *Mariana*, which had become trapped in an ice fragment, and participated in its violent first contact with the *Cloak of Mercy*, an unknown vessel of the nebula's native civilisation. The *Guinevere* successfully freed the *Mariana* from the ice fragment, but was unable to prevent the *Mariana* from being destroyed by the *Cloak of Mercy*. The ship was damaged in the blast, knocking Captain Cassandra Farren unconscious, and forcing it to retreat.

A little over three days later, having re-established contact with the *Avalon*, the *Guinevere* became the first ship to be deliberately piloted into a Lauralyn Conduit. Travelling four light-seasons, the *Guinevere* arrived in an unknown star system and encountered the wreck of the gatehauler GH-0007-VG. The crew successfully retrieved an essential Drift Gate component and an injured survivor from the wreck.

Following its return to the *Avalon* the *Guinevere* was committed to reconnaissance sorties around the fleet. In the aftermath of the first bombing attack on the *Avalon*, the *Guinevere* surveyed the damage to the blast site with its high-fidelity sensor suite. With the destruction of the Unioner frigate *Abigail* in the second bombing attack, the *Guinevere* became the only armed starship left to defend the Expeditionary Fleet.

Several weeks after the *Abigail* was destroyed, the *Guinevere* was dispatched on a scientific mission to a pulsar system, the first to be directly explored by humanity. Accompanied by Elizabeth Ancelet, Captain Cassandra Farren travelled to the orbiting Vitrified Planet on a seven-day expedition, taking the Wildcat Rover for a surface survey. There, they discovered the wreck of a native Advari ship and the remains of its pilot, uncovering more information about the nebula's native civilisation. At the end of the expedition, both crew members, out of supplies and injured, were rescued by the *Guinevere* along with the damaged wreck of the Wildcat.

When the CSV *Shabayev*, commanded by Vice Admiral Winston Redfield, re-established contact with the Avalon Expedition Fleet, Redfield attempted to seize control of the fleet. The *Guinevere* was seized by CDF personnel led by Commander Lewis Harper, and Croft and Meds were detained to be pressed into service. Owing to its unique flight profile and modifications, the *Guinevere* proved to be almost impossible for Redfield's technicians to operate. When Redfield agreed to stand down his coup attempt, the *Guinevere* was returned to Cassandra Farren's command.

## Crew

* Cassandra Farren - Captain of the *Guinevere*, Defence Adjutant of Avalon Expedition
* Mathias Croft - Engineer, pilot of the *Guinevere*
* Tamara Melari - Medical Doctor of the *Guinevere*

## Behind the Scenes

The original concept of the *Guinevere*, with numerous differences from the final design, was first featured in the January 2018 video 'An Original Sci-Fi Ship Design'. In particular, the original design lacked the distinctive fusion-powered manoeuvring thrusters and spinal coilgun. It was then slowly developed with the help of Gabriel Fonseca and EC Henry into what it is is today.

A replica of *Guinevere's* ship plaque was designed and commissioned in 2022, as shown below.

## Gallery

The autoguns of the *Guinevere*Cassandra Farren on the *Guinevere's* quarterdeck.Tamara Melari and Mathias Croft in the *Guinevere's* cargo bayThe Sojourn- Huntress Class Ambush Corvette (Guinevere) - Ship BreakdownGuinevere Flip and Burn - Theo BouvierThe *Guinevere's* Plaque
## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 The Sojourn: Huntress Class Ambush Corvette (Guinevere) - Ship Breakdown
2. ↑ Paragravity on the Guinevere | Official Lore Short
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Guinevere Cross-Section
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Theirs Not to Make Reply*
5. ↑ **The Sojourn Visual Dictionary - Edition One**
6. ↑ *The Canary*
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 *The Cold Divide*
8. ↑ *Inclement Weather*
9. ↑ *Yesterday's War*
10. ↑ *Dust and Shadow*
11. ↑ *Theirs Not to Reason Why*
12. ↑ An Original Sci-Fi Ship Design