Preax Class

An ultra-modern Escort designed to replace the Kite Class as a light warship, patrol craft and local police craft, the Preax has yet to see combat, although simulator trials show her to be a match, if not more formidable, than the famous Klingon Bird of Prey.

## Development

The story of the Preax began in the 2210s, with the Romulan Star Navy introducing the Kite Class as an inexpensive, very short ranged patrol ship to guard systems from marauding Klingon incursions and to perform policing duties inside the Star Empire. She was an unremarkable vessel, mounting a simple Cohesive Fused Deuterium Irradiation Cannon as her sole armament and being propelled by a basic fusion reactor, giving enough power for a very basic Cloaking Device.

It was this device that led to several ships of the class being transferred to the Klingon Defence Force in 2250 as part of a technology exchange. Whilst the main results this exchange were the acquisition of Cloaking Technology by the Klingon Empire and the first M/AM powered warships entering service with the Romulan Star Navy, the design of the Kite did pique the interest of Klingon Starship designers, leading to the introduction of the famous (or infamous) E12 B'Rel (Bird of Prey) Class.

In 2275 Romulan engineers produced a working, reliable M/AM powered warp drive. Priority was given initially to refitting the Cricket Class Destroyer, resulting in the War Bird Class of 2278. Once this programme neared completion, all effort ways turned to introducing new, powerful, M/AM powered designs. The first of these designs was a revived and updated version of the 2269 Frigate design. An unexpected side effect of M/AM research was that the technology designed for plasma flow to warp nacelles could also be employed to refine and perfect a lighter, less power hungry version of the Plasma Torpedo. Previously, plasma flow had been too inefficient to make a reduced power version viable, but now a torpedo with approximately 1/3rd the yield and power requirements of the standard Plasma Torpedo and capable of being charged in just over half the time. Whilst less efficient overall than the existing Plasma Torpedo, this new Light Plasma Torpedo did allow a weapon of significant power to be fitted to smaller and lighter vessels. In this role, the new Type L Plasma Torpedo Tube came to replace the old CFDIC as the weapon of choice on light Romulan designs.

As part of the testing of the new weapon, several obsolete Kite Class ships were stripped of their CFDICs and fitted with Type L Plasma Torpedo Tube. Although a successful test rig, little thought was given to using these ships in active service. As tensions rose however, particularly along the Gorn frontier, the RSN searched for any available space frames to refit for combat use.

This programme led to a complete refit of the Kite in 2285. She was fitted out with M/AM powered warp drive, a much more modern and sophisticated Cloaking Device, and with the resulting efficiency savings, enough power was found to fit a Medium Plasma Torpedo Tube. These changes transformed the Kite from a lowly system patrol craft into a fast, stealthy and powerful first strike weapon. Embodying the ethos of earlier warships such as the Cricket Class, the Kite became the smallest warship in service with the Romulan Star Navy.

First blood for the Kite came in the Organian Conflict, with lone Kites lashing out at unprotected Federation convoys and other targets of opportunity. As the war progressed, all powers began to protect strategic assets much more closely. This limited the targets available to lone Kites, and although some success was found with the adoption of wolfpack tactics (similar to those used by the Klingon Empire with her B'Rels), the "happy times" of early 2286 were never repeated.

During the War of Pacification, Kites struggled against the well-armed and armoured warships of the Interstellar Concordium, and soon the RSN were searching for a replacement.

Advances in starship design in the late 2280s led to the development of 'New Series' starship designs. These advances meant that the new Escort could be compact, fast and manoeuvrable whilst mounting weaponry equal to larger ships. The initial design for the Preax Class called for the mounting of a Light Plasma Torpedo Tube as the ships Secondary Weapons Array. However, once again power limitations raised their ugly head, and rather than compromise on other aspects of the design, the venerable Cohesive Fused Deuterium Irradiation Cannon (CFDIC) was substituted. This did reduce her overall firepower, but for a ship of her size she was still admirably well-armed.

The major breakthrough with the Preax Class however was the careful and deliberate design of her hull. This was designed with two elements in mind; warp speed and stealth. The shape and material of her hull plating leant itself to both cutting through subspace efficiently and to the raising and maintaining of a cloaking field, similar to stealth aircraft designs of 20th Century Earth. The ethos behind these design choices was that the Preax would be far more difficult to detect than other cloaked ships, and if discovered, could (at warp) outrun almost anything she encountered. This made her the perfect scout, although her impulse performance was not to the same high level. This was not considered a problem however, as if she were at impulse speeds she would invariably be so whilst under cloak.

## Operational History

The Preax entered service in 2291, and although several were rumoured to have been part of the fleet sent to aid Melkor in the Ormong of 2291, official first blood for the type did not come until the General War in the following year. She is not believed to have fired her weapons in anger, testament to her stealth and speed. Whilst ordinarily not seeing combat would be a detriment to the record of a warship, for a scout this is high praise.

## Apocrypha

After her involvement in the Praxis Incident of 2293 was revealed, the Romulan Star Empire began to once again withdraw behind her borders, withdrawing from galactic affairs again all together in the aftermath of the Tomed Incident in 2311. Even before this time, Romulan tactics had begun to turn away from fleet engagements and back to single "lone wolf" warships, now of a gargantuan size dwarfing the Crickets and Capsize Classes of old. As part of the New Series, the Preax remained in service far longer than most 23rd Century Romulan designs, finally being retired with the adoption of new light warships designs in the 2360s.

## Specifications

* **Class:** Escort
* **Hull Type Designation:** REC
* **Length:** 92m
* **Crew:** 28
* **Warp Nacelles:** 2

* **Maximum Sublight Speed:** 4200 k/s (42.00 Mk/s)
* **Cruise** **Warp Factor Speed:** wf 8.7
* **Safe** **Maximum Warp Factor Speed:** wf 9.8
* **Hull Rating:** 155 HSF
* **Shield Rating:** 195 FSP

* **Sensor Rating:** 1000 SRU

* **Armament and Equipment:**
	+ Primary
		- 2 × Disruptor Cannon
	+ Secondary
		- None
	+ Heavy
		- 1 × Cohesive Fused Deuterium Irradiation Cannon (CFDIC)
	+ Advanced
		- None
	+ Equipment
		- Tractor Beam Emitter
		- Romulan-Type Cloaking Device
		- Tal Shiar Transporter Pad
		- Probes

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