HCR-146 Emissary

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"Emissary: a person sent on a special mission, usually as a diplomatic representative."

The SDCN Emissary (HCR-146), known commonly by just its name Emissary, is an Ambassador-class heavy cruiser and the flagship of the United Nations' Final Frontier Project. Constructed with funding from the AXIOM Corporation, the ship features the latest technologies and features available to the UN. The ship itself is designed for long-term habitation, and as a result is built rather luxuriously, featuring plenty of amenities as well as clean and lavish design to appeal to the senses, while simultaneously still being functional at its duties.

History
Ever since the SDCX Escapade made its maiden voyage in 2100, scientists and engineers have always conspired as to what the future of starships could look like as successors to the Escapade. Building upon its simplistic navigation style and overall layout, architects had drafted a larger version of the Escapade's layout, which was ultimately combined with more rooms and amenities and polished to give the ship its signature look.

Several prototypes had failed to turn out anything promising for the engineers, and, after several attempts back at the drawing board, a new, final Emissary was created, prototyped, and had successfully passed the reviews of both peers and the United Nations, finally giving it the green light to be constructed.

The Emissary was built over the course of 8 months at Stratford Shipyards, Earth, completed finally on December 24, 2112. It was commissioned the day after on Christmas Day, December 25, and was put to service at the very start of the new year in 2113. Staffed with flexible crews and organized into a small but efficient hierarchy, the ship was designed for exploration and science above all else, but featured plenty of munitions to keep itself well-defended should anyone come to attack it for its valued possessions and research.

Crew
The Emissary is staffed by Sol Defence Corps Navy personnel in combination with a small number of AXIOM contractors. United Nations maritime law is enforced on the vessel and as a result, it features a security complement to deal with internal and external disputes and affairs.

In the event that the on-board security team is not enough, the Emissary is also staffed with a NAVSOC detachment to make for a formidable infantry defence should the ship come under boarding.

The service complement of the Emissary serves as standard custodians and personnel-in-training, to simultaneously provide upkeep to the ship and its crew as well as providing junior Crewmen the general idea of serving aboard a starship.

Layout
Main article: HCR-146 Emissary/Rooms

Armament
The Emissary is capable of defending itself against a myriad of attacks, with a sizeable defence complement as well as heavy offensive railguns and torpedo mounts to take down enemy craft and vessels.

The Emissary is equipped with the following armament:
 * 4x forward facing rail cannons
 * 18x (9 Starboard, 9 Portside) point defence turrets
 * 12x (6 Starboard 6 Portside ) heavy artillery
 * 8x high-yield autocannons
 * 16x (8 Starboard, 8 Portside) laser turrets

The turrets featured on the ship are automated under normal operation but can be manually controlled alongside the offensive artillery by a gunnery crew.

Shielding
The Emissary possesses plasma-magnetic energy shielding forming a protective 'skin' around its hull, designed primarily to block or deflect small spaceborne particulates and objects, such as micrometeoroids, from impacting the hull, as well as providing a layer to protect against ionising radiation or solar radiation that may damage or wear down the hull.

The shields work via projecting a barrier of charged plasma across the hull via a graphene mesh on the surface, forming a barrier that acts as a pseudo-magnetic field, protecting from radiation and from small objects. The plasma emits light only in the ultraviolet spectrum; as a result, it is nearly invisible while active.

The nature of the shields mean that unprotected contact is hazardous to personnel due to high voltages; EVA hardsuits are immune to this, however, and as a result touching energised shielding while in proper gear is feasible, although discouraged.

Hull
The Emissary's hull is a multilayer composite hull designed primarily against kinetic impacts; however it also possesses limited ablative and thermal capabilities. The following table lists these layers in order from outermost to innermost.

Windows
The Emissary additionally has composite windows dominantly composed of aluminium oxynitride; while they do not possess as much protection as hull armour they are more than resistant to kinetic and thermal impacts, and are much more durable than silica glass.

Power Plant
Main article: Reactor

The Emissary contains one magnetised target fusion (MTF) reactor outputting 1.3TW of energy, stored in massive power cells. The energy produced is more than enough to fuel ship systems, electronics, life support, and the FTL drive.

In the event of a power outage the Emissary also possesses auxiliary fuel cells that can combine hydrogen with oxygen to produce energy and water, simultaneously providing life support to the crew while the main reactor is serviced.