Kirishima Class Recon Corvette

## Kirishima Class

The ***Kirishima Class Recon Corvette*** is a Light Corvette and patrol ship operated by the Pegakitty Empire.

## Description

Designed and created by the Chief Fabricator hamma1, the Kirishima has a distinct naval styling. However, it lacks the tower bridges that are usually found in the fleet and has a signature radar dish mounted on the fore section.The vessel was designed with exploration in mind, with a focus on speed and pushing the boundaries of the Empire. It features the following:

* Prototype Chain Drive
* Epsilon Network Array (ENA)
* Advanced Sensor Arrays
* Electronic Warfare Systems

## History

The Kirishima class is the fleet's oldest ship, used in the early days as a vessel to explore the stars and expand the empire's knowledge of the universe.

#### Creation

The original PKS Kirishima was created in 2312 as a small patrol boat, designed to patrol the oceans of the original homeworld - at the time the empire had a very limited space fleet, composed of just 3 pre-jump drive ships and a handful of satellites. The vessel was sunk in late 2312 during a heated encounter with a sea creature. The wreckage was recovered and brought back to shore to be salvaged.

#### The Lunar Crisis

Before the wreckage could be broken down for resources, the Lunar Crisis struck the citizens of the Pegakitty Empire. Having undertaken an expedition to the Moon, they found a strange entity which devoured and destroyed their fleet, neutralising their defensive measures and rendering their communications offline. In a desperate attempt to discover what had happened to their "people," the citizens of the Pegakitty Empire used a new retrograde alloy that had fallen from the stars in the aftermath of the disaster to refit the PKS Kirishima as a unique spacefaring vessel...and set it out to the Stars to find their new destiny.

*See more:* The Lunar Crisis

## Usage

Other than its primary role, the Kirishima class has been used for the following roles:

* Troop Transport
* Light Freighter
* Epsilon Relay
* Evacuation Craft

## Variants

### Mk I

The ship that started it all. A seafaring vessel of the Pegakitty Navy, it lacked the ability to fly, as it was a simple patrol boat used in recon missions.

### Mk II

After the Lunar Crisis wiped out the diminutive space fleet, the Kirishima was converted into a space faring vessel, its hull re-enforced, and the entire rear section replaced with powerful Hyperflux Coil Thrusters capable of extended space flight. The engineers poured their hearts and souls into the project, cramming it with all of the latest technology. This was the first PKE star ship to leave the home system and explore the unknown.

### Mk II-B

After multiple Kirishima class vessels were destroyed, it was made apparent they lacked sufficient armaments to defend themselves. The ship was refit with additional armour plating, the bridge was moved to a more protected area, and new turrets were installed alongside a new spinal plasma cannon underslung beneath the hull. This design proved effective against the pirates of the time.

### Mk III

After PKE was absorbed into Trident, the Mk II just wasn't good enough to keep up with Trident vessels: they were faster, stronger and far surpassed the Kirishima class in even scanning/recon operations. She was past her prime and needed to be replaced. However, due to the iconic status of the vessel, the Kirishima class couldn't simply be retired. With the aid of Trident engineers, the Kirishima class was heavily improved upon, now sporting state of the art point defense, reactors and scanning equipment. The entire ship was rebuilt from the ground up: to make up for all the added mass, the Hyperflux Coil Thrusters were replaced with new Schemadyne Thrusters combined with an overdrive module, and they even had an Epsilon array installed so it can act as a mobile relay for the fleet.

### Mk III-T

A version of the Mk III designed to be integrated into the Trident fleet. The Mk III-T was designed using a lighter alloy than the previous variants, which resulted in better maneuverability at the cost of weaker armour. The engines where more than doubled in size resulting in much faster acceleration and max speed however some shielding was removed in order to fit them in. Its features Trident colouring schemes to further match other Trident vessels.

### Mk III-C

A version of the Mk III which was refit to add combat potential to the vessel, it replaces most of the scientific equipment in favour of two medium watchtower turrets acquired from Trident engineers and re-adds the spinal plasma cannon seen in the Mk II-B. Combat tests proved to be promising against small threats and the vessel will be used on low priority escort assignments.