Midnight-Class Fleetship [designation: MN-1001]
Role(s);
-Flagship
-Heavy Offense
-Heavy Defense
-Carrier
The Midnight-Class is by far the largest ship in service of the UCE, reaching just over 8.5km long, and 1.26km high. It is named after the first ship of the line, UCE Minutes to Midnight, commissioned in 2567 and completed in 2652, two years before the Fall. Its role was first described as “being a one-ship fleet”, and performs that role exceedingly well, boasting the armaments equivalent to an entire battlegroup, allowing it to support an invasion force for long periods of time. It is characterised by its signature twin engines at the back of the ship, providing a thrust allowing it to travel between Earth and Mars (At their closest point) in just over 3 weeks, though smaller booster engines are situated all around the craft for turning around.
The armaments boasted by the Midnight can vary, though it is most common to have an Incineration Heavy Laser, an underside Chain EMP cannon, four Heavy Railguns and two Light Railguns- the equivalent armament of six Cruisers or destroyers. It also carries 5,000 point-defence turrets of varying nature and another 3,856 ship-to-ship cannons for close range combat. The energy shielding can take up to 70 direct hits from a Heavy Railgun before failing, and the 3-5 metre thick titanium composite armour allows it to take significantly more damage without a breach, though a thin layer of nanite plating allows the ship to self-repair if damaged- the Midnight class has been reported to take direct S’pher Antimatter Cannon hits to its armour and survive.
The Midnight has five Solite-Class large fusion reactors (LFR), two of which power the main engines of the craft. Another Reactor is dedicated to essential systems such as AI cores, computers and life support with an additional backup reactor ready to be turned on within five minutes of a failure*. The fourth and fifth fusion reactors are used for refuelling and powering carried ships and powering the on-board city, respectively. Excess power is stored in a main battery, which is used as a primary source until it has used 50% of its power.
The heat generated from the ship is stored in water capsules on the top of the ship. When in combat, these capsules are ejected into space to disrupt any heat-based tracking systems in use on the battlefield, and are stored to be used like a normal reactor when not in combat. As a final measure, the armour plates of the ship can be flipped to reveal hundreds of solar panels, though such usage isn’t recommended in combat. Altogether, the ship can sustain enough power to keep online for four years without a refuel if all five main reactors go down at once with a full crew aboard - and are able to perform five pinpoint quantum jumps in succession.
The ship is divided into five main ‘shells’. The first shell is the combat decks- these include the gunning bays, targeting arrays and external hangar bays alongside armouries and airlocks. The second shell is primarily crew quarters, with barracks, Cryogenics bays and mess halls making up this layer. The second layer also shares space with the larger third layer, the storage bays and interior hangars that cut through the second shell to connect with the exteriors. The fourth is primarily service corridors, with tunnels and walkways leading to all areas of the ship. This allows engineers to access every system from one area. The middle layer- the ‘core’ is the bridge, CIC, hydroponics labs and laboratories, the AI Cores and three reactors. This area also includes the crew quarters for officers and bridge crew. Altogether, the Midnight houses a total complement of 200,000 crew; 87,000 fightercraft and can exceed this by up to 12,000 and 3,000 at peak capacity.
3D model in sketchup is a WIP.
UCE Navy Carrier, UCEN Minutes to Midnight