Swordcane Q-Ship

The Swordcane Q-ship is one of the most bizarre variants on the standard Compass-class scout to be revealed in some time. The original design of the Penitent Brotherhood's Order Militant stripped virtually every nonessential component (even the armor) from the Compass's hull, slashed the fuel capacity and reduced the crew compartment to almost nothing to fit a hidden fusion beam bay in its hull.

In its infancy, the Swordcane served as an unpleasant surprise to pirates expecting easy pickings from a Brotherhood convoy, but since knowledge of it has gotten out into human space at large, the Order Militant has ordered a respec of the Swordcane into a more agile, deadly attacker. This has entailed stripping it of its jump drive and retooling its drive systems to make it faster, but also had the side effect of permitting the Order Militant to reequip armor plating on the vessel. The Swordcane II now bears only a passing resemblance to the Compass-class, but with its more overt threat comes greater performance to match.

The Swordcane II can be carried in the hull of the Humility-class frigate, allowing it to continue its merchant escort role even without its jump drive.

Standard Loadout

Swordcane II Merchant Escort d-Tons Cost (MCr)
Hull 100 tons Hull 2 2.2
Streamlined Structure 2
Armor Ceramol Protection 4 5 0.4
No Jump Drive
Maneuver Drive C Thrust 6 5 12
Power Plant C 10 24
Bridge 10 0.5
Computer Model 1/bis Rating 5 0.045
Electronics Basic Military +0 Sensors DM 2 0.5
Weapons Hardpoint #1 Fusion Beam Bay 51 20
Fuel 12 tons 4 weeks 12
Cargo 0 tons 0
1 Stateroom 2 personnel (max) 4 0.5
Extras Fuel Scoops
1 Fuel Processors 1 0.05
Ship's Locker
Software Maneuver/0
Jump Control/2 0.2
Fire Control/1 2
Library
Total 100 62,395,000 Cr

Variants

Swordcane Q-Ship, Jump Variant

The original version of the Swordcane was a simple conversion of the Compass-class scout into a merchant ambusher, but the massive fusion cannon bay meant that the Swordcane had to be stripped almost to the structural members of unnecessary components. With the advent of the Humility-class frigate, though, Swordcane IIs can be carried without jump drives or allowance for jump fuel, making the original version a sluggish and uncomfortable posting.

Swordcane Q-Ship d-Tons Cost (Cr)
Hull 100 tons Hull 2 2.2 MCr
Streamlined Structure 2
Armor
Jump Drive A Jump 2 10 10 MCr
Maneuver Drive A Thrust 2 2 4 MCr
Power Plant A 4 8 MCr
Bridge 10 0.5 MCr
Computer Model 1/bis Rating 5 0.045 MCr
Electronics Basic Military +0 Sensors DM 2 0.5 MCr
Weapons Hardpoint #1 Fusion Beam Bay 51 20
Fuel 12 tons One Jump-1 and 2 weeks 12
Cargo 3 tons 3
1 Stateroom 2 personnel (max) 4 0.5 MCr
Extras Fuel Scoops
2 Fuel Processors 2 0.1 MCr
Ship's Locker
Software Maneuver/0
Jump Control/2 0.2 MCr
Fire Control/1 2 MCr
Library
Total 100 48,045,000 Cr
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License