Kunai class light cruiser

Kunai Class Union of Worlds Light Cruiser:

Overview: the Kunai class is rarely seen in the Union however its presence is keenly felt. Nearly 100% designed for convoy protection and also convoy raiding the Kunai mounts armaments of true cruisers better for taking down tough convoy escort opponents. The Kunai however is less armoured than those of its class like the Ulthuin class of the Cylaurians. This is due to the fact that the Kunais speed is that of an escort or large corvette better to keep up with fast paced convoys of friendly and enemy origin. The Kunai is very different for the fact that you will hardly ever see one operating in a Union fleet and so these light cruisers have no place in fleet combat, they operate in fleets of 5 to protect or destroy convoys, nothing more. Though this dosent stop high command from re-tasking them however...

Armament: The Kunai class is armed with both light and capital mass drivers to help destroy any large enemy ships and easily destroy any smaller ones. 48 Capital mass drivers stud each side and 168 light mass drivers cover the ship, with some of these being dorsal turret mountings. Together these also give the ship spectacular anti fighter defense.

Mass Drivers: Union Mass Drivers use magnetically accelerated slugs to destroy the enemy, these slugs can either be used in one of 3 ways. The first in ultra AP round which will drive straight through most armours due to the velocity of the rounds, making ships vent into space due to thousands of rounds hitting them rapidly. The second is a less penetrative but still very high AP high EX round which explodes after penetration ripping the ship apart from the inside as used on the Draken ships. The third and final is a flak screen shell which detonates at a certain range and explodes into thousands of other bomblets which will also explode into shrapnel, this decimates fighters and ordnance at close range and some Mass Drivers on the ship are always set to this setting, when all are on this the ship is impervious to fighters thanks to the couples SENTINEL CIWS. These weapons also mount Void Cooling and Nano assemblers and so can keep up a rate of fire of around 450 rounds a minute.

Defences: The Kunai mounts a Mark 3 Absorption shield which runs on its own separate system so it cannot damage others through power feedback, this shield also cycles constantly through several dimensions at once in an attempt to get some protection from phasic weapons. The ship itself is constructed from a 1.2ft thick Quantum lattice plate with polytine linings. As well as this a thin layer of Ghostanium is available for stealth missions. Quantum lattice plate is made up from atomically bonded Quantum metal which has a density of around 3x that of any other known substance, this metal is liquid in form but when poured into molten metal of another kind and left to set it becomes virtually unbreakable. Unlike other metals Quantum has no melting point and so will not melt under fire from laser or plasma weapons; it is also highly resistant to kinetic impact damage. The hull is also equipped with Nano assembler repair systems to slowly repair the ship in combat.

The Kunai class also mounts a SENTINEL CIWS mounted all over the ship. This system is made up from numerous point defences consisting of small laser projectors, cascade cannons and miniature missile launchers. Together these destroy incoming missiles and fighters, on their own SENTINEL are incredibly effective and alongside the Arrows other AA capabilities makes this ship the bane of ALL attack craft in known space.

Power plant: The Kunai uses a TPC Zero Point Module AX-5 unit to provide overall power, this has been reverse engineered from Nakai technology and make use of their artificial pocket dimension technology. The ZPM works by making an artificial dimension and harvesting the natural vacuum energy produced in such, this is totally harmless as if the ZPM is destroyed the dimension collapses harmlessly. The energy produced is also way above other Union energy technology apart from Singularity generators which are still being understood. It also has two smaller fusion units capable of powering the ship up to 2 hours before needing to be replaced.

Electronic capabilities: The Kunai is run by 2 Mark 5 AI systems one for targeting and combat and one for overall control. These AI systems are semi sentient and can hack enemy ships. When a AI gets hacked it immediately either cuts the lines so the enemy cannot access or deletes itself and the intruder with it. The Kunai is also linked to the Union computer and so can access data when needed; it also is linked to the rest of the fleet in a tight information grid.

Stealth wise the Kunai constantly runs a very basic sensor stealth field, this field while not effecting light effects spectrum scans and conventional sensors. While not totally making the ship invisible this obscures the ships form and position leading to an increased ratio of missed shots and wrong moves. A full Displacement unit can be installed for true stealth missions if needed.

Crew: The Kunai carries 150 personnel to run the ship.

Attack craft: The Kunai does not mount any hangars and relies on other ships to provide attack craft cover.

Speed and engines: The Kunai is very fast able to reach 0.8 light speed on sub light engines and also mounts a Union slipstream drive for FTL capability.

Kunai class And the Union belong to me