Here's my concept so far.
Name: The Visible Hand
Appearance:
We originally called it the Struggle Buggy. It didn't like that at all.
Size: Large
State of Repair: Perpetual
Crew: Mostly Automated
Engines: Get us there.
Weapons:
Drones- The Hand maintains a small semi-permanent detachment of fighter drones. Armed with light energy weapons these drones are dangerous due to their ability to coordinate their attacks, utilizing sophisticated firing patterns, almost dance-like and artistic, designed to destabilize many forms of shielding systems weakening them to fire from heavier ships or even striping them completely in the case of weaker systems. Against a large, unshielded ship the drones are even more effective, destroying exposed systems with frightful efficiency leaving most ships sightless and toothless in a matter of minutes. Additionally, most large ships point defense systems cannot efficaciously track the small, swift drones, giving such vessels no means of defending themselves. Conversely, the combat drones are significantly less effective to enemy fighter squadrons. Their complex attack strategies are wholly ineffective against fighters, forcing the drones to resort to scattering/swarm tactics which, while still quite dangerous and capable of tying up fighter squadrons, is merely a delaying tactic, a particularly costly one, against any half-way competent fighter pilots. Besides the fighter drones, the Hand also supports anti-personnel combat drones. These are mostly used to defend the Hand against enemy boarders, but can also be launched in bore-pods against enemy ship, where they can deal horrendous damage to enemy crew and systems. It is, however, worthy of note that the use of such drones is considered a war-crime in some areas of space, and even outside them, Tavi would have difficulty explaining to her partners why a prospecting vessel would have such drones at all.
Gravity Beams- Although technically not intended for combat, the Hand does have extremely powerful Mass Manipulation Projectors, mainly used to move natural objects such as asteroids for ease of mining, or damaged ships away from hazardous areas during repairs, the beams can also be used against enemy vessels, to slow or stop them dead in space. They can even cause sever structural damage to some smaller vessels if they are flying through a beam, sheer and with enough inertia. The beams are too ungainly to be used against fighters, though they can be tuned to release short-range gravitic pulses which can be quite destructive against such craft, though the distances involved and lack of precision make such a tactic situational and haphazard at best.
Electronic Suite- Though mostly used for more benign purposes, the Hand's robust information systems can be used to disrupt enemy communications, targeting, and combat-support systems, as well as feed useful telemetry to friendlies. Most military grade vessels have ECM systems too effective for this to change the course of a battle.
Defences:
Drones- Similar in design to their more aggressive cousins, the Hand maintains a network of defence drones which maintain a distance around the ship to intercept against enemy fire with their own point defence lasers. Though quite effective against missiles and projectiles, most energy weapons fire too quickly to protect against. Some of the drones are designed for shield projection however, and when able to anticipate a significant threats attack vector, they project a static shield to cover that location. Unfortunately, against small fighter craft, the drones weapons are too short ranged and make for easy targets in their tight formation. Though drawing fire away from the Hand is still usually of use in such cases.
Shields- The Hand uses a diffuse, particle shield that radiates away from the hull. The shield is designed to provide significant protection against enemy energy weapons, scattering their energy before their impact the Hand, while still allowing the Hand's drone swarms to continuously pass through to and from the ship. Unfortunately, this leaves the Hand vulnerable to kinetic-based weapons, relying on its screen of defence drones against such threats as well as the ships armored hull.
Special Purpose Gear:
Drones- While the combat drone forms utilized by the Hand are more notable in battle, the real utility of the Hand comes from its less martially oriented drones. In particular, a host of repair and refitting drones aboard the ship can provide shipyard level repairs and modifications to the Hand or other vessels with remarkable speed, given available materials, while most requisite parts can be manufactured in the same fabricators used by the Hand to maintain and manufacture its drone compliment.
Crew Armament Level: War Drones make short work of most meat-sacks that try to assault the mostly vacuous interior of the Hand.
History: More to come.
Name: Tavi
Appearance: Unknown. Uses a number of android bodies when interacting with Analogs. Current most commonly used body looks something like
this.
Rank: Ship Master
Sex: Female
Species: Rik. One of the most developed cultures in known space, the Rik achieved post-scarcity and post-organic status more than a millennium ago. Unconstrained by material need and unthreatened by the greater galactic community, the Rik are content to occupy their homeworlds without concern for other species. Freed from baser means of power and control, Rik society is a social meritocracy, where influence and opinion are the closest they still have to currency. Unwilling to trade their technological advancements, the Rik's primary influence on the outside systems are their art and culture, which have become quite ingrained with the space faring community.
Specialty: Synth-tech support.
Weapons: The Hand is linked to Tavi, making it and its systems an extension of herself. Her drones provide almost all her personal defence.
Bio: Tavi walks the edge of obscurity and celebrity within this sector of space. One of the few of her people to leave their home systems, the reason for her departure is nebulous, but most bet it has something to do with her perpetual iconoclasm. More than likely, this blatant disregard produced friction within her cultures all-consuming game of prestige and one-upmanship. For Tavi's part, she seems to revel in the mystery, telling a different story each time she deigns to entertain the question at all.
Regardless of her relationship with the Rik, Tavi does seem to enjoy her travels about the galaxy greatly. With the advantage of the Hand behind her, she has thrown herself into the world of fringe exploration and exploitation. Discovering new systems, staking her claim to untapped resources, fighting off other opprotunists, scavengers, and belligerent natives seems to give Tavi endless enjoyment, and if it ever is found lacking, she is usually well entertained by the small, select group of passengers she allows to inhabit the small but lavish living quarters aboard the Hand. Picking them as much for their utility as their urbanity, her 'crew' are like herself, eclectic, interesting, and much more dangerous than most realise.
