Tribune Class

Built on the hull of the earlier Kestrel Class Assault Transport, the Tribune is designed to give the Romulan Star Navy light Fightercraft support. Smaller than other Carriers, she relies on stealth and surprise.

## Development

By the time of the Organian Conflict, the concept of short-ranged Fightercraft carried aboard larger starships was not a new one. Indeed, they had first been deployed during the Earth-Romulan War, although the fighters deployed during that conflict had little in common with those deployed by the Hydran Royal Navy in 2285.

The Hydran Royal Navy had conceived of and introduced Fightercraft as a way to bring more weaponry to bear against their numerically superior opponents, the Imperial Lyran Navy and the Klingon Defence Force. The Hydran Kingdoms had been all but wiped out a century before, and the Hydran people subjugated by Klingon and Lyran overlords. The majority of the Hydran government escaped and formed a government-in-exile, and finally returned to reclaim their ancestral homes during what had been a minor Klingo-Federation border skirmish. Their return however escalated the conflict into all-out galactic war.

The Fightercraft of the Hydran Royal Navy were a great shock to both their allies and their enemies. Most powers had at some point studied the possibility of up-arming existing Shuttlecraft, but tacticians agreed that such small craft would be too slow and too short ranged for combat operations and would be of limited use. The Hydrans proved however that modern advances in impulse engine drive plates, miniaturisation of power generation systems and their own unique weapons systems could make Fightercraft viable. As always happens with a new technological breakthrough, the other powers of the galaxy raced to make their own versions.

The Klingon Empire was amongst the first to field a Carrier/Fightercraft combination, the B10V Talh'vor (Mother of Death) Class although this was a strange hybrid craft, a Battlecarrier, built on the hull of a Battleship. As such, her fighter-carrying capability was reduced, although she was far more combat capable than a dedicated Fleet Carrier. The Klingon Fightercraft designed to operate from her was the Hegh'GogH (Iron Fist) Heavy Fighter, again more of a light assault craft than a true Fightercraft.

The Romulan Star Empire initially showed little interest in Fightercraft, their perceived role being incompatible with the kind of stealthy, lone wolf tactics the Romulan Star Navy employed. However, with conventional fleet combat being all the more common during the Organian Conflict, and risking being outpaced if other powers deployed Fightercraft against them. It was soon decided that the RSN must deploy Fightercraft of their own, but the problem remained of how to use them and how to deploy them.

Some years earlier Romulan Engineers had devised a miniaturised Cloaking Device with the intention of using it aboard the Shuttlecraft of high ranking officers. The device proved to have energy consumption levels well above that that could be reasonably supplied by a Shuttlecraft, and the project was abandoned. With the new Fightercraft requirement, the project was brought back to life, and along with the new Light Plasma Torpedo, formed the basis of the new Blade Cloakshape Fighter. She was designed as a fast, stealthy first strike craft, built around her Type L Plasma Torpedo Tube.

The design for a Romulan Carrier was a little more haphazard. Romulan shipyards were already overloaded with contracts for new Capital Ships and rather than risk delaying these orders, a smaller design was called for, built on the hull of the Kestrel Class Assault Transport. These could be constructed at smaller shipyards and starbases.

## Operational History

The prototype entered service in 2289, missing service in the Organian Conflict but seeing considerable use against the forces of the Interstellar Concordium in the War of Pacification. Blade Cloakshape Fighters proved stealthy and dangerous against lightly protected targets, and Tribune Class Escort Carriers caused significant damage to ISC convoys.

The next combat usage of Tribunes and their Fightercraft came in the General War of 2292, although Romulan involvement in this conflict was minimal.

## Apocrypha

The craze for Fightercraft had died down by the end of the General War, and with the signing of the Khitomer Accords in 2293, the Romulan Star Empire withdrew gradually from galactic affairs. The final use of Tribune Class warships came in the Tomed Incident, when they were mobilised to face a potential Federation invasion. Once the situation had calmed, they were stood down and decommissioned later that year. Her Fightercraft, the Blade and the later Shadowblade, were retained in service onboard the new Melak Class Warbirds for many years, although by the time of the infamous Battle of Narendra III, they were out of service, developments in targetting systems, shielding and energy weapons rendering them obsolete.

## Specifications

* **Class:** Escort Carrier
* **Hull Type Designation:** RCVE
* **Length:** 300m
* **Crew:** 500
* **Warp Nacelles:** 2

* **Maximum Sublight Speed:** 2250 k/s (22.5 Mk/s)
* **Cruise** **Warp Factor Speed:** wf 7.8
* **Safe** **Maximum Warp Factor Speed:** wf 8.5
* **Hull Rating:** 370 HSF
* **Shield Rating:** 500 FSP

* **Sensor Rating:** 1000 SRU

* **Armament and Equipment:**
	+ Primary
		- 2 × Disruptor Cannon
	+ Secondary
		- 1 × Type L Plasma Torpedo Tube
	+ Heavy
		- None
	+ Advanced
		- None
	+ Equipment
		- Tractor Beam Emitter
		- Romulan-Type Cloaking Device
		- Tal Shiar Transporter Pad
		- Probes
		- 6 × Blade Cloakshape Fighter or 6 × Shadowblade Cloakshape Fighter

## Ships in Service (2292)

RSE Tribvnivs

RSE Avrielivs

RSE Canorvnivs

RSE Volocvrvm

RSE Commedvs

RSE Granitvs

RSE Vivitvs

RSE Motherhawk

RSE Prefectvre

RSE Talonscovrge