Electra-class destroyer

## *Electra* class

The ***Electra*-class destroyers** are a popular and efficient model of post-breakaway Directorate engineering. High speed, powerful armament, excellent defensive capabilities and a pleasing profile all combine to make these ships poster-children of the conglomerate's shipbuilding industry. They are generally more than a match for any Alliance warship, though not quite up to scratch when compared to the larger warships fielded by the Lucaelian Ascendancy: their sleek profiles have, however, garnered a reputation among the galaxy and as a consequence they are purchased *en masse* by smaller stellar governments.

## Design

### Dimensions & Role

At 670 metres long, the *Electra* type were mid-sized destroyers, suitable for any number of roles: accordingly, they operated in a number of different operational situations and types. From fleet escort to commerce raider to light cruiser to even dropship in a pinch—they could enter an upper atmosphere and deploy HALO droptroopers, though landing was impossible—an *Electra* could handle it all. This made them a popular choice among smaller stellar governments, which could not afford the myriad ship classes designed and built for the Galactic Council's powers, but their hefty price tag—they cost as much as a *Tenacious*, despite the latter being significantly larger and more combat-capable*—*consistently caused them to fall behind in sales compared to the Lucaelians, who could produce their warships at a much lower cost.

### Installed Power & Propulsion

Three Aeson-model dual-phase ionization reactors formed the power plant for the ship: one for each phase-ion nacelle, allowing an *Electra* to reach exceptionally high sublight accelerations and even faster warp transits, and another to power the subsystems of the ship. Any one reactor could be decoupled and recoupled to provide power, or all three could be linked to spread the created energy across the subsystems, allowing them to boost their weapons, deflectors, or propulsion beyond factory standard levels as needs demanded.

All of the *Electra*-class destroyers built for Raptor Inc.'s corporate security fleets had a different model of ionization reactor, allowing them to more efficiently operate as well as generating more power for their systems overall.

### Artillery Systems

The *Electra*-class warships were well-armed: eight triple-gun heavy pulse batteries formed the primary artillery, laying down rapid and accurate plasma fire on any target at medium-to-short ranges. For close range and also as point defense, they had eight plasma autocannon mountings: backing up their point defenses were six light maser pods. One some ships, the autocannons were replaced by an equal number of pintle-mounted particle cannons: while not the equal of Razorbird artillery of this nature, they could easily shear through the armour of much larger targets, if they were close enough.

The gun armament was complemented by four—two dorsal, two ventral—missile swarm launchers, with variable-munition warheads installed for a wide variety of targets. Immediately aft of these were four plasma torpedo projectors, firing packets of unstable plasma that could burn through starship hulls in short order. They were, however, ineffective against shields.

### Complement

The *Electra* type had a small hybrid capability: they could carry up to sixteen VR-22 *Endymion* snubfighters, meaning a full squadron of twelve plus four spare. In typical Directorate fashion, seeing their clone pilot's lives as expendable, these small fighters were both unshielded and completely unarmoured, relying instead on speed and agility to keep them out of harm's way. The diminutive delta-shaped fighter, however, was an extremely dangerous opponent in skilled hands, with powerful armament and excellent targeting systems to make them a threat to even much larger ships.

### Defensive Systems

One reason the *Electra* destroyers were preferred among small-scale stellar governments was durability: significant shielding, hullform, and armour all played into their toughness, allowing them to survive copious amounts of punishment. Subdivision was tight and shielding was especially heavy, allowing them to survive and thrive on the battlefield long after other same-type ships would have been destroyed: if their shields were breached, their hullform alone allowed them to deflect many shots harmlessly back into space. If put to the test, their armour—tungsten/titanium alloy-reinforced durasteel—was, while not quite the latest Alinar vanasteel, still hardy enough to allow them to resist same-type fire for a reasonable period, though heavy artillery could and would easily destroy a ship in a shot or two.

## See Also

 *Tenacious*-class destroyer | Lucaelian Ascendancy | The most common mid-sized warship in the galaxy and frequently classed as a cruiser rather than as a destroyer, the *Tenacious* class is a staple of Lucaelian military dominance and galactic commitments, not the mention the direct competitor to Directorate shipbuilding interests. Versatility and well-balanced characteristics make this ship not only a dangerous opponent in space, but in an atmosphere as well.