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Task Force Cruiser
One of
the most versatile ships in the Fleet, the Task Force Cruiser (TFC) Roxanna
(Photo: Dark Forces, LucasArts, 1995)
The Task Force Cruiser
(TFC), as excerpted from the Dark Empire Sourcebook; Michael Allen Horne; West End Games;
June, 1993; pp. 92-93).
When one thinks of
the Imperial starfleet, the great Star Destroyers, Dreadnaughts and other warships of the
line come easily to mind. Important as they are, no less needed are the uncounted
support vessels that maintain Imperial presence and perform the less glorious tasks of the
Navy. Chief among these ships are the hospital cruisers, communications ships and
survey cruisers.
Previously, the
Empire maintained thousands of each different type of craft. The sector and
oversector Navy worlds had to carry dozens of support ships to cover any contingency.
Colony exploration might require survey or first contact ships. Spy cruisers
were always useful for monitoring pirates and potential Rebel activity. Many ships
weren't in common use, but it was better to have too many ships than not enough.
Still, it took money from warship production.
Following a report on
streamlining fleet operations, a new approach was urged and from proposals, Tagge
Industries won the contract and construction began in earnest. The result was the
modular taskforce cruiser. Realizing the underlying design for many of these craft
is very similar, rather than make the same ship over for new functions, the design was a
ship that could be reconfigured as needed. The cruiser boasts a single framework,
including engines, skeleton crew quarters, life support system and command compartments.
Interchangeable modules with mission specific equipment can be added as necessary.
With only a day at a space station or orbital facility, a hospital cruiser can be
transformed into a long range scout or mining survey explorer.
The cruiser's
weaponry is quite light for a ship of this size, but the cruiser's main mission is not
combat, but support. In dangerous situations, a group of these cruisers will often
have an armed escort.
Craft: Tagge Industries Shipyards Ltd. Modular Taskforce Cruiser
Type: Multi-task medium transport
Scale: Capital
Length: 1,150 meters
Crew: Varies according to mission profile
Passengers: Varies according to mission profile
Cargo Capacity: Varies according to mission profile
Consumables: 6 months
Cost: 2.5 million (base cruiser), additional cost for
individual modules
Nav Computer: Yes
Atmosphere: 280, 800 KMH
Sensors: Standard sensor suite; more advanced sensors can be
installed as needed
Weapons:
Mission Function
Modules
Each individual
mission function module is an entirely self-contained unit. The module need only be
attached to the skeleton and be hooked into the power generators, life support and
communications ports.
Each ship can only
contain one module at a time. It is believed that Tagge Industries is working on
mini-modules so a ship can be outfitted for a variety of smaller-scale functions.
Typical Mission
Function modules (MFMs) are as follows:
Hospital Module
Crew:
225 doctors, 400 nurses, 1,500 medical technicians, 1,000
medical droids
Passengers: 2,750 (bacta tanks), 1,000
(quarantine ward), 19,600 patients
Cargo Capacity: 5,000 metric tons
Cost: 750,000 credits
Capsule: The hospital module is
used in planetary disasters, anti-terrorist cleanup functions and space battle recovery.
The hospital module can handle any number of disasters from combat, to radiation
leaks. Equipment includes thousands of medpacs, repulsorlift stretchers, five
shuttles for transporting casualties and a centralized medical computer.
Survey Module
Crew: 2,000 scouts, 1,500 techs, 5,000 droids
Cost: 1 million credits
Capsule: This module is used for the rapid exploration of
planets and entire systems. Besides the crew, the module contains over 100
observation airspeeders for rapid surveys, 500 exploration droids, and five skipray
blastboats and six TIE bombers for defense. The module has a centralized computer
for quick analysis of all gathered data. This module and its crew can completely
analyze a planet within a standard 24 hour day and determine likely colony sites, mineral
and agricultural resources. The computer and its techs can also calculate likely
astrogation routes from any nearby trade routes.
Observation Module
Crew: 1,550
intelligence officers and comscan specialists
Cost: 6.3 million credits
Capsule: This module is used for espionage and long range
observation for intelligence gathering. The cruiser itself does not infiltrate into
enemy territory since it would be easily detected by enemy sensors. Instead, the
ship is equipped with 500 probots and observation droids, which are deployed around the
perimeter of enemy holdings for passive observation. The probots can run the
standard light/energy spectrum analysis and eavesdropping on communications frequencies.
Some specially equipped (and very expensive) probots can scan very localized
hyperspace and cross-channeled radiation (as is used with the planetary security net).
With the subspace link-up, the probots can be deployed up to 30 light years away
and still have instantaneous communication with the cruiser. The ship has 12 TIE fighters
for defense.
Rescue Module
Crew: 140
doctors, 2,130 techs
Cargo Capacity: 40,000 metric tons
Cost: 500,000 credits (plus parts)
Capsule: The rescue module is used for space battle cleanup
and repair. When a cruiser is dispatched to a battle scene, it is loaded with a
variety of replacement parts for the ships that were involved in the battle. Doctors
search any wrecks that weren't already checked for survivors (presumably a hospital ship
is sent with these ships to the battle scene). The primary mission of the techs is
to repair what ships they can so that they can be flown back to dockyards for complete
repairs (naturally, only drive systems and life support systems are repaired at this
stage). Those ships that can not be repaired are analyzed and the techs note what
must be done to the ship so that it can be returned to the nearest Imperial Shipyard.
Military planners at the shipyard will then determine whether repairs will be attempted or
simply scuttled.
Inquisition Module
Crew: 100 Inquisitors, 3,600 CompForce/observation staff, 10,000 interrogation droids
Cost: 425,000 credits
Capsule: This module is the most recent addition and it is
used for punitive actions against insurgents and rebellious worlds. Aboard the
module's cavernous cargo holds are 15,000 pre-fabricated disintegration chambers, two
garrison bases, an Orbital DataNet Eraser unit, probes with sterilization spores, five
cluster bombs with magnetapulse bombs (see page 67 of the Imperial Sourcebook) and a
complete orbital nightcloak system.
Fleet
Commander's Note:
The TFC Roxanna,
attached to the Emperor's Hammer Fleet, is typically outfitted with the Observation Module
or Rescue/Hospital Module (especially after large battles). ALL of the other modules are
docked on the PLT Triad for rapid deployment (please see SSSD Sovereign for PLT Triad
decsriptions).
Emperor's
Hammer Members desiring more specific information on the capabilities of each of
the Emperor's Hammer capital ships should review the
Fleet
Manual.
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