Pegasus Mk II-class Star Destroyer
Name/Type: Pegasus Mk II-class Star Destroyer
Designer/Manufacturer: Kashan Defence Industries / Onyxian Commonwealth
Designation: Heavy Cruiser
Crew: 3,836 + 282 Gunners
Length: 1205 Meters
Speed: 20 MGLT, 1200 Kph
Hyperdrive: x0.6
Shield Rating: 6175 SBD + 6175 SBD Back-up
Hull Rating: 2325 RU
Weapons: 50 KDI XIV-7 Heavy Turbolaser Batteries, 40 KDI IV-9 Quad Ion Cannons, 20 KDI L-W4.3 Point-Defence Laser Cannon Batteries, 10 Hansen Feathertouch Tractor Beam Projectors, 20 Starflare Mk II-class Missile Launchers.
Fighter Complement: 48 Medium Fighters (~12 meters), 24 Heavy Fighters (~16 meters) or other equivalent.
Troops: 3,200 Infantry, 20 Sentinel-class Medium Tanks or other equivalent.
Support Craft: 2 Lambda-class Shuttles, 6 Meteor or Raptor Dropships, 4 CG-10 Centaurs.
Other: KIBC II, Gravitron Mk I, AAIS, Magnetorian Sweep
Description: The Pegasus Mk II is the result of the collaboration of Kashan Defence Industries and the Onyxian Commonwealth redesigning the Pegasus-class based on experiences learned from the Imperial incursion at Metalorn. Influenced by the Second Wave school of thought, the Pegasus Mk II is faster and more heavily armed than the Mark I at the cost of thinner hull armor and a lowered ground complement. Due to different construction techniques used in the Mk II, the original Pegasi will not be upgraded to the Mk II, and instead will soldier on within the fleet. The Mark II will instead replace the Mk I in production within the Confederation.
R&D Explanations:
Automation: Automation has been a mainstream technology of Kashan, especially with Kashan Automation. However, while advances were made in programming by the said Kashan corporation, particularly in machine heuristics and learning, nothing in the actual hardware was. As such, the hardware of the Kashan Defence Fleet was bulky as its predecessors within the CIS ships. However, Uffel, upon its membership into the Contegorian Confederation, has contribuated the latest hardware of the planet, which is derived from a Positronic Processor acquired by QS-2D. As such, the space automation has taken up within the ship has been reduced to 30% of what it took up previously.
As with the previously used droid brains they are armored with Quadranium Carbide and Dallorian alloys and are positioned towards the centre of the hull to prevent damage from glancing hits on the vessel. Access to the droid brains themselves is severely restricted and is heavily protected by the ship’s security system, which is discussed below.
While automation certainly has its advantages for the Confederation Fleet, it does have on drawback. Moving and living creatures can help with damage control. Stationary Droid brains aren’t quite as effective to say the least. Thus, the efficiency of the damage control is below average for a ship its size.
KDI Multi-Core Power System: Most starships use a single, massive reactor. The Pegasus Mk II does not, instead reflecting the redundant system philosophy that dominates Kashan engineering. Instead, it relies on a series of smaller reactor cores which are scattered throughout the central regions of the ship linked into two separate power networks. As a result, it is significantly harder to disable the vessel because it would require the destruction or ionization of two separate power systems. From lessons learned at Metalorn, all reactors and generators are heavily armored in Ardanium that has been being stockpiled by the Confederation for some time. As a result of the radiation generated by the ship’s reactors strengthening the metal, it is exceptionally difficult to destroy a reactor.
Engines: The engines on the Pegasus Mk II are similar to those used on the Seraph Mk III, but remain heavily armored like those on the Pegasus Mk I. Aside from carrying a maintenance and repair crew of LE Repair droids, it uses the superconductors to create magnetic fields that can redirect the ion streams of the engines in all matters of angles, which in turn makes the cruiser more maneuverable than most ships of its size. While those elements are not new to KDI design, the Pegasus Mk II has added another innovation: tight-beamed engines. Usually, a starship’s ionic stream begins to disperse shortly after being vented through the engines; the Mk III’s does not. Within the newer compact engines, ultrachrome plating has been used to create magnetic fields that focus the exhaust into a set, tightbeam stream that does not disperse nearly as quickly as that of most ion engines. That in turn makes there less volume with which the ion streams can move within, and thus, adds mass that the engine’s thrust can push off of. This by itself is not very substantial, but combined with the afterburner effects of the magnetic focusing, increase the Pegasus Mk II’s speed.
Hull Construction: The Pegasus Mk II follows the trend set by the Styria-class in that it does not use Ultrachrome armor because of the expense and limited production capabilities of the metal. Instead, the armor is made of Trimantium and Lanthanide and produced in the same fashion as the Ultrachrome plating used on the Pegasus Mk I. Trimantium is used to plate starship hulls. It is extremely durable, and provides a great deal of protection when used in combination with shields (CUSWE). It is also noted for its unusually tensile strength by spacers (WEG). This makes the Pegasus Mk II resistant to solid projectile weapons. Lanthanide is an ultra-dense alloy material was used in the creation of security barriers and personal furniture which was capable of deflecting or absorbing blaster or projectile fire (CUSWE). For the Pegasus Mk II, Lanthanide is capable of partially deflecting energy fire and putting up with more energy abuse than most other similarly sized and armored vessels.
Because warheads are among the gravest threats facing modern-day capital vessels, the Mk II’s armor is Electric Reactive. Obviously the alloy plates serve as the conductive plates in the armor whereas a Quadranium carbide serves as the insulator of the armor(discussed in more detail after the following explanation from Wikipedia):
A new technology of electric reactive armour is in development, where the armour is made up of two or more conductive plates separated by some space or by an insulating material, creating a high-power capacitor. In operation, a high-voltage power source charges the armour. When an incoming body penetrates the plates, it closes the circuit to discharge the capacitor, dumping a great deal of energy into the penetrator, which may vaporize it or even turn it into a plasma, significantly diffusing the attack. It is not public knowledge whether this is supposed to function against both KE-penetrators and shaped charge jets, or only the latter. This technology has not yet been introduced on any operational platform.
Previous Electric Reactive Armors used by the Contegorian Fleet has used various polymers of carbon; long-manufactured for use on the fleet’s Starflare missiles and a few of its small support craft, such as starfighters or probes. In short, it was the most available insulator to the fleet, hence its use. However, more experimentation with ERA using a wide variety of insulators from vacuum to plexiglass, but the most promising were the carbides, whose also had the benefit of an extremely hard refractory ceramic. And of those, Quadranium Carbide(QuC) was found to be the most effective. As with other hard refractory ceramics, Quadranium Carbide has an extremely high melting temperature due to its strong interatomic bonding between molecules. As with other materials of similar nature, it is rather hard and has a high tensile strength, meaning that solid projectiles such as PIMs or slugs do not inflict as much damage. Penetration by such weapons is hampered and reduced because of this layer. A side benefit of this layer is that it does not conduct electrical energy at all, making it effective in stopping the effects of most ion weapons (the exception being PIMs).
Shields: The Pegasus Mk II carries fairly typical shield systems for any modern warship. Like previous KDI ships, the main and back-up shield generator systems are identical. This leads to easier maintenance and improved battle capabilities. All shield generators are located below the armor plating. Thus, the shields themselves are situation just on top of the hull plating. It should be noted that the domes on the bridge tower are not the shield generators, but rather auxiliary sensor domes.
Kashan Hyperdrive: The Hyperdrive found on the Pegasus Mk II is derived from that of the Acclamator-class Military Transport. While the design team did not have an actual Acclamator hyperdrive available to them, they did have several engineers and mechanics who worked on them during the Clone Wars. To the best of their abilities, it was reconstructed. Nonetheless, it still was slower than that of the Acclamators. In the end, the hyperdrive’s rating was raised to Acclamator levels by brute force engineering. It was modified to accept more power. In order to prevent the engine from overheating and melting, it was made with Dallorian Alloy and given an advanced cyro-cooling system.
Ultrachrome MagLev Turrets: Generally, capital-grade weapons are large enough that while those a serious threat to enemy capital vessels, they are not very effective in tracking fast-moving objects like starfighters or missiles. By utilizing the superconductor properties of Ultrachrome, Kashan Defence Industries has designed fast-tracking turrets that allow the turbolasers of the Pegasus Mk II to target enemy starfighters as well if not better than the quad lasers of the Lancer-class frigate. Instead of using conventional hydraulics, by using Ultrachrome rings, the turrets can swivel on a magnetic levitation derived from the charged plating. With no friction and high-speed, the only thing that limits the effectiveness is the software programming that runs them. All weapons on the Pegasus Mk II with the exception of the Starflare-class Missile Tubes are equipped with this turret.
KDI XIV-7 Heavy Turbolaser: Yet another specifically developed weapon, the XIV-7 design is actually based on the rare SW-APE rifle manufactured decades ago. Like that weapon, it has the Stysor blaster chamber's prismatic crystal housing and galvern pattern, that boosted the static pulse output from the weapon's actuating module for a higher range. When this is combined with the ion sheathing and particle accelerator technology currently employed on the Seraph-class, the weapon has 150% of the range as a standard heavy turbolaser. This weapon has the option for flak bursts for use against enemy starfighters and warheads.
KDI IV-9 Quad Ion Cannon: A weapon based on the legacy of the IV-8, this larger weapon differs in having the ionic firepower that is equivalent to that of a normal turbolaser. It uses the same technology as the XIV-7 Heavy Turbolaser, and as such, has 150% range compared to normal turbolasers. This weapon has the option for flak bursts for use against enemy starfighters and warheads.
KDI L-W4.3 Point-Defence Laser Cannon: The L-W4.3 is the reverse of most KDI weapon technology; instead of working of increased aim, the L-W4.3 is intentionally designed with a very short range. However, it’s bolts are as powerful as those of a heavy laser cannon. In addition, the Dallorian-plated weapon has been fitted with a Merr-Sonn advanced rapid-pulse energy module, giving it a high rate of fire. With it’s small size, the servos have little difficulty in rapidly tracking a fast target, making it an ideal defence against missile attacks.
KDI Starflare Mk II-class Missile Tube: The Starflare-class Missile Tube is the launching unit for the Starflare-class Missile. In order to switch warhead types, the Pegasus Mk II uses a revolving rack of the warheads. To prevent premature detonation, the warhead changing process takes place behind durasteel blast doors aside from the Trimantium-Lanthanide hull plating. Also, each warhead is automatically armed only after it leaves the launching tube.
Hansen FeatherTouch Tractor Beam Projector: this tractor beam unit is capable of amazingly fine operations. They can harmlessly pull a bird out of mid-flight, or rip a small freighter to pieces. The FeatherTouch is turret-mounted, allowing it to be used in a multitude of configurations (CUSWE).
Magnetoran Sweep: This Kashan Star Destroyer carries a single powerful magnetoran sweeps, a wide-beam device was used to disrupt targetting computers(CUSWE). Unlike most magnetoran sweeps, this one utilizes the entire hull of the Pegasus to create the electomagnetic field that disrupts and jams enemy weapons and ship subsystems. This system can only be deployed in an arc in front of the Pegasus-class. It is an area-effect weapon, meaning that both friendly and hostile vessels to the ship will be equally effected to it if both are in the area. As such, the Magnetoran Sweep is generally used in the opening of the battle before the two lines of ships usually meet.
Integrated Kashan Battle Computer Mk II: An upgraded version of the KIBC, it includes all of its predecessors equipment and abilities. The main purpose of the Battle Computer is to intertwine, triangulate, and transmit sensor data collected from each ship. This allows the ships to instantly gather target acquisition data and triangulate that data. The triangulation process ensures excellent target data, foiling many anti-targetting and sensor-jamming systems.
The main hardware upgrade was the use of the Uffel reverse-engineered positronic processors, which provide an intense amount of computing power. The KIBC II has more computing power than many Mid-Rim planet’s computers combined. As a result, the KIBC can plot and calculate micro-jumps to anywhere quicker than usual. That in itself still takes roughly a minute. However, by continuing to receive navigational data and supplementary computing power from other ships still in realspace, the user’s ship is capable of making micro-jumps anywhere in realspace. That being said, it is still slightly slower than its Imperial counterpart, but it also does not have energy problems of the Imperial counterpart either.
Like the original KIBC, the network can also provide navigational data from each ship along. Each vessel automatically transmits its location to the other vessel and shares navigational data with it as well. This allows the vessels of the Kashan fleet to act as navigation beacons for hyperspace jumps. As such, it is possible for Kashan ships to make instant intra-system micro-jumps to a Kashan vessel with the Battle Computer.
Anti-Intruder System –
Checkpoints throughout the ship has been implemented, with blast doors lined with durasteel at each checkpoint. Also at every checkpoint are force locks (strong force fields) that will automatically engage to block a person who does not have the proper clearance to that portion of the ship. durasteel also lines the corridor walls to prevent lightsabers from cutting through. At every checkpoint (which are manned by a security droid) are clearance checks – which are done by voice recognition, or ID cards. Access to the bridge is extremely limited, and only officers are allowed entry. Persons wishing to enter the bridge must undergo a fingerprint scan – those who do not have clearance are barred from entry by force locks and blast doors. Also lining the checkpoints are the mark four guardian grids. These grinds are outfitted with laser cannons that track known hostiles and eliminate them. The grids only come online when someone tries to gain access through the checkpoint without clearance.
The anti-intruder system is also designed to penetrate fingerprints to locate forgeries and fakes. The fingerprint scanners have been upgraded to spot fake fingerprints – such as the known fingerprint copying device. The scanner also checks for life signs with in the person. It will not accept clearance from anyone without a pulse of some kind.
Command Facilities: The Pegasus Mk II-class sports two bridges. The observation bridge, which resembles the typical Imperial bridge tower, for normal operations. A battle bridge, located underneath the observation bridge tower, for instances in which using the observational bridge would be dangerous to the ship's command crew.