Saber-Class Strike Cruiser

The Saber Class is a versatile, workhorse design originally created for the Novaean fleets that found its way in relatively large numbers in the fleets of the Legiones Astartes for use as a Strike Cruiser, with the Obsidian Wyrms fielding the highest numbers outside of Novaean fleets. It is very heavily armed and well-protected for its weight class, but the power strain is enormous, forcing significant compromises in design and leaving its plasma drive as a bit of an Achille's Heel.

## History

The Saber was designed during the Age of Strife alongside the Python and was very much so a product of its era. At the time, Novae IV was running low on minerals in its home system, and the warp storms that suddenly engulfed the galaxy at the start of the Age of Strife made securing off-system resources difficult. As such, the Novaeans needed to make do with limited resources, and the Saber was thus designed: A Light Cruiser that could be as close to as powerful and well-protected as a full-size cruiser as could possibly be made, all in a compact, cost-efficient, less metal-intensive package.

Squadrons of Sabers made the Lynchpin of the Novaean navy during the late Age of Strife and the early Imperial era, as they were the only ship of pseudo-capital grade that could be built in enough numbers with limited resources to start reuniting the fragmented worlds of the Corusco Cluster and establish its own hegemony in the area. Wherever and whenever the Pythons found a threat a little too big to be faced by the Destroyers, a squadron of Sabers was called in to swiftly and mercilessly deal with said threat.

Sabers were another nasty surprise for the Imperial expeditionary fleet that came to subjugate the Corusco Cluster. While they were not as fast or agile as other Novaean warships, they were both much more deadly and far better protected than their relatively small size would suggest. Being so cost-efficient, they continued to be produced even as Novae IV re-established steady and plentiful ore sources and larger, more impressive designs of cruisers and battleships became affordable.

The Sabers were especially interesting to the Legionnaires of the Obsidian Wyrms who could make good use of its good void combat characteristics, planetary assault facilities, and relatively low crew requirements. Many Sabers would be commissioned very early on to equip the Second Legion, with smaller numbers of Sabers also finding their way into the hands of the Luna Wolves, Thousand Sons and Space Wolves. Later on, the Emperor's Children and Salamanders also acquired a number of these crafts. By the 41st Millenium, the Saber class endures as one of the oldest pattern of Astartes Strike Cruiser and they have been scattered piecemeal between the countless Successor Chapters, with new ones being produced to this day.

## Specifications

* **Hull** - Approximately 3.8 kilometres long, 0.5 kilometres abeam at fins.
* **Mass** - Approximately 19 megatonnes.
* **Crew** - Approximately 38,000 crew.
* **Acceleration** - 4.5 gravities maximum sustainable acceleration.

## Design

The Saber class is built around a Class-P 'Stablazer' plasma drive, but it is unable to meet the ravenous energy demands of the ship and is supplemented by additional rows of auxiliary power banks, taking up a significant portion of the ship's hull despite their space-efficient design. A class-P 'Tsiolkovsky' Warp drive allows it to travel the warp without a navigator thanks to its cogitators and sequenced hop systems, while its Gellar Field is fitted with emergency automatic activation protocols.

Part of this severe energy demand comes from its Class-C 'Tempest' Void Shields, whose powerful, cruiser-grade, fast loading capacitors are more likely to manage to block multiple salvos per volley per shield under sustained bombardment without collapsing than the Imperial standard. The true lion's share of the energy requirements however comes from a pair of 'Flarestorm' Plasma Batteries that flank its port and starboard broadsides, allowing it to send punishing amounts of firepower at long range, and the 'Entropy' Lance mounted on its dorsal turret. Though much shorter ranged, Entropy lances fire cohesive, small bursts of Anti-matter instead of the standard highly focused lasers of Imperial lances. They often have catastrophic effect on unshielded Voidships that get too close, and a Squadron of Sabers on the hunt will often close in with the enemy, overwhelm their Void Shields with plasma fire, then fire their anti-matter lances while the enemy's shields are recovering. Finally, this armament is rounded out by a large bank of torpedo tubes, providing firepower at extreme range as well.

As is standard in Novaean ship design, the entirety of the armament is extremely heavily automated, with only a tiny complement being necessary to overview the operations. This results in a comparatively very small crew requirement, which enjoys decently sized quarters as well as considerable redundancies against battle damage in the form of emergency lifelines and pressure-released void suits to combat depressurization.

The sensor systems however are about as basic as it get, as they had to be downgraded to manage to fit all these power-hungry weapon systems. Finally, the bridge is optimized to conduct planetary subjugation operations, featuring advanced command and control equipment to coordinate a force on the ground as well as drop pod launch bay, which may be used either for space marine Legionnaires, or for the Rationalis' Battle-Automata.