The Derelict: 3 - Xenos Ship

(Author's Note: Again, sorry for the blandness of the picture. Rhino can't render very well. A note on the ship's design: it looks far too human for my tastes, but there's not much I'm going to do about it now.)

------------------------
Continued from Magos Sergius' Memoirs

As we neared the derelict ship, much more became apparent. The design of the ship seemed to be somewhat familiar, in that we were able to almost immediately identify a large number of the ship's major systems and compartments.

Our chief augury sensor and auspex operators studied the structure of the ship for some time after we arrived at its location, coming to a large number of conclusions. First, the ship, while well engineered, was constructed using a number of engineering processes that are primitive and inferior to our own.

The hull of the ship was comprised of several layers of ceramics and plastics bound together by a weave of carbon structures. This gave the ship a durable yet light hull, capable of surviving minor interstellar debris and light weapon fire. Much of the ship's hull however was reinforced by many heavy braces and a moderate strength field that helped keep the ship's integrity.

The other defensive systems were comprised of a series of shield projectors (the fin-like protrusions on the engines), much in the same purpose of our own void shields, if implemented far differently. The ship's hull was also marked by some fourteen point defense weapons, which we originally mistook for normal battery weapons found on our own ships. These point weapons appeared to rapidly fire a barrage of small projectiles at incredible velocity (much like the rail weapons employed by the Tau), intended to destroy incoming starfighters and ordnance. Finally, the ship boasted a pair of launch bays along its hull, containing what appeared to be at the time sixteen fighters.

The ship's primary offensive weapons seemed to be the four las-lances (although these laser weapons are very powerful for the ship, they pale compared to even our own plasma lances) mounted on the ship's wings. These were supplemented by a pair of torpedo tubes mounted on the sides of the ship, and a large ordnance cannon on the prow of the ship, probably employed like Imperial Nova Cannons.

The ship's propulsion is provided by two large engine housings on each wing, although we are unable to determine its maximum acceleration in space. Its manuevering was likely provided by vectoring of these engines and supplement thrusters on the wings.

At first, we thought that the front of the ship was the bridge, but later discovered that the window-like structures were actually many auguries and auspicies that fed back into the ship's cogitators. Until we entered the ship however, we were not able to determine more at the time.
------------------------

Coming up next: Entry