[Submission, Ship Class] Blackbird Class Assault/Escort Carriers

[Black Aeronaut]

Blackbird Class Assault/Escort Carriers

History:

Early on during the refitting of the Magnificent Midnight into a proper space ship, Benjamin and Gina both
realized that the sort of force of fighter jocks that Haruhi was talking about simply didn't exist yet. While there was the F-EZigs, they were too small
and too lightly armed to pose a real threat to larger enemy forces and assets. And thus Ben hit upon a simple and elegant idea: we need more Blackbirds.

When Benjamin pitched the idea, the SOS-Dan balked. Haruki, was pleased that Ben was taking his role
seriously, but Kyon mentioned that acquiring the new Blackbirds would be all but impossible without possibly starting a war with the 'Danes. Haruhi is
crazy, but not stupid, and declined the initial pitch. It was Gina, usuing her network, that pointed Ben in the direction of Hephestus. By negotiating a deal
between the Rockhounds (raw supply), Hephestus (parts manufaturing), Gnarlycurl (assembly), the SOS-Dan (not-so-silent partner), and himself, he arranged for
the construction of five non-original wave-tech Blackbirds.

The new Blackbirds do not have the same sort of speed and endurance that the original Midnight does, but they make up for it in combat capability. The most notable difference is in the armory - in addition to
what the Midnight has, the production model Blackbirds have a small VLS system. Despite using relatively small
missiles, the ability to volley the entire payload of fifty missiles can have devastating effects on enemy assets. Coupled with the ships' speed and
stealth, they make for formidable opponents. The ability to carry four F-EZigs per ship just seals the deal.

Registry Number:

SR-####

Base Hull:

All-new design and materials based on the Lockheed/Skunkworks SR-71X Blackbird
airframe.

Drive Type:

Speed

Drive Rating:

0.11C

Owner of Record:

The Roughriders and the SOS-Dan

Primary Manufacturer:

Hepheastus and Gnarlycurl

Purpose:

Strike/Escort Carrier and Heavy Assault Ship

Launched:

TBA

Crew:

1 Pilot

2 Gunners

1 'Airboss'

Supplementary Crew:

None

Faction:

Any

Status:

Inactive

Armaments:

2 60 mm Coil Guns (Chinaries)

2 M61 Vulcan gattling cannons, retractable (dorsal,
ventricle)

2 Vertical Launch System Units, 25 cells (amidships, aft)



Class Quirks



Mother Henned: The new Blackbirds all look upon Midnight as a sort of mother figure and she has, in turn, taken to the position of Matriarch
quite admirably, showing the new kids what it means to be a Blackbird.



ADD: Like any child, these younger Blackbirds are insatiably curious about everything around them and need to have watchful eyes on them during
missions so they don't get distracted. Hopefully this will change in a few years.

Trivia:

Buy Yours Today: As part of the deal struck between the other commercial/industrial members of the Fen, the Blackbird Class is not exclusive
to the Roughriders for purchase. Therefore, any Fen who's got enough money can buy one for themselves. Given the time and the quality of workmanship it
takes to build these things, it is not a cheap thrill. Benjamin only got his five so quickly (three months) because Haruhi pushed for it.

---

Yeah, I've decided to call my little group The Roughriders, after Teddy Roosevelt's own personally recruited cavalry. Edited as per M Fnord's
quibble and Rob Kelk's suggestion. Help with the quirks and trivia is still very much appreciated.

[robkelk]

Help with the quirks and trivia would be appreciated

Considering that the Blackbirds were originally intended for overflight of communist nations...

Better Dead Than Red: Do not play well with self-professed communists, or anyone pretending to be self-professed communists (such as the Soviet Air Force). Performance drops by (mumble)% if a "red" is within (mumble) km.

or

Better Dead Than Red: Won't lift if anyone in the flight crew is wearing anything red.

I wouldn't recommend using both...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[M Fnord]

After pitching the idea to the SOS-Dan, it received immediate approval (Haruhi was infinitely pleased that Ben was taking his role seriously) and some months later a squadron of F-EZigs and five more Blackbirds (each in various states of severe disrepair) were delivered to 36 Atalante.

I've gotta quibble with this. There are a very limited number of Blackbirds out there, and every last one of them is in a museum display of some kind. Just acquiring the one Blackbird for the Midnight would be an adventure in and of itself. Getting five more from groundside sources would be somewhere between "impossible" and "potential act of war."
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[robkelk]

I've gotta quibble with this. There are a very limited number of Blackbirds out there, and every last one of them is in a museum display of some kind. Just acquiring the one Blackbird for the Midnight would be an adventure in and of itself. Getting five more from groundside sources would be somewhere between "impossible" and "potential act of war."

Hmmmmm... If blackaeronaut wants to continue building this fleet, we're going to need an alternate supply of Blackbirds.

One possibility: Rockhounds supplies part of their cache of unrefined metals (they can't yet have sold everything they've mined) to Hephaestus, who turn it into a supply of spaceframe-quality metals and ship that to Gnarlycurl, who build a wing of aircraft that look like Blackbirds and ship them to the Roughriders on 36 Atalante. This would also explain why they don't share "class quirks" with the Midnight - they aren't authentic SR-71s.

Just a thought...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Black Aeronaut]

I concied to M Fnord's point about the infeasibility of acquiring more genuine Blackbirds for this project. Rob's idea is much more sound and I think
I'd be able to avoid that Better Dead Than Red quirk - it'd kinda suck that they can't work with Fnord's Soviets, who are too
flippin' awesome for the Roughriders to not work with at some point in time or another.

I'll revise the submission entry accordingly.

BTW: This brings to mind why Midnight herself would not have the Better Dead Than Red quirk... Well, let's just say that it's there,
just not so bad that she wouldn't work with the Ptichka. She, after all, came around well after Kruchev bowed out. Only blatant acts of
Stalinism tend to piss her off. Besides, Ben likes to sing the Russian National Anthem now and then.

On another note, do you guys think that the acquisition of Lackland AFB's Blackbird is a worthy tale to tell?

[M Fnord]

For basic design lineage, I offer this as a possible derivation (esp. if you want to bring more cross-faction ops in. I'm sure the Warsies would love the work).

On another note, do you guys think that the acquisition of Lackland AFB's Blackbird is a worthy tale to tell?

Absolutely.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[robkelk]

On another note, do you guys think that the acquisition of Lackland AFB's Blackbird is a worthy tale to tell?

Definitely. I fully intend to someday tell the story of how Noah got a Concorde from Air France, and that's nothing compared to Ben (or the SOS-dan) getting a literal museum piece...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

You know, it seems to me that if we've Blackbirds and/or reasonable facsimiles in Fenspace, that the Supers ought to have one that duplicates the classic
X-Men Blackbird...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Black Aeronaut]

The J-Type 327 is an awesome looking ship, but I imagine that would be something that would come along later on down the time-line as folks like the crews of the Hephaestus and the Gnarlycurl experiment with the design. Not that I don't like the idea.

Okay then, looks like I got myself a story to write... Now all I gotta do is watch The Melencholy of Haruhi Suzumiha. ^_^;;

I like Bob's idea. And that opens the door for something else I had in mind... Heavy Bombers in the form of B-52 Stratofortress replicas. They're Big. They're tough. They have absolute bad-ass attitudes. They know that they are the Big Ugly Fat Fuckers. They know that they are the Gray Ladies. They know that you know that they're coming and there ain't a thing you can do to stop them. Sure, you can try your coil gun, but it had better be one with an impressive caliber or else they won't even feel it. Whatcha think?