The Hammerhead is a first attempt at an Azorean Gunship; it was designed to protect systems and run escort for future larger ships. First launched ship was in the year YE 34 and refitted to contain a FTL drive in the year YE 36.

The Azoreans watched the NMX War roll across the stars around their system. A council was formed to learn how to operate the Nevah, and to design a ship to protect the system, and allow the Azoreans to expand out into the stars. The gift of the Nevah from Toshiro and, technology given to the Azorean peoples gave the Azoreans the ability and the drive to build the Hammerhead. The ship is diffidently a prototype class. Rushed through the design and production process. Still with all of that, the ships is still one of the most advanced in the Azorean's fleet. The first ship of the line to be refit in YE 36 was the ACS Pulsar.

What makes this ship stand above the rest of the Azoreans' is the fact it was the first to be designed with combat as its primary function with exploration being secondary.

• Being primarily designed to defend the home star system, it works well in shivers (groups of 3 or more).
• They could also be used to escort larger ships and civilian cargo ships.
• Exploration of stars and looking for expansion colony planets.

Designed to look like a predator of the seas, the Hammerhead is slick and streamlined, with fins. The bow of the ship is dominated by the hammer shaped protrusion that contains the sensor systems. The engines and hull placing cause a muscular appearance. Disruptor cannons hang just below the chin of the ship. Turrets sit top and bottom of the hull between the dorsal fin and the tail.

Side

Top

Bottom

• Az-S1-1A: Original YE 34 Variant
• Az-S1-1B: YE 36 Refit - FTL drive was installed and Shuttle/Fighter capacity was finally utilized

The Nevah council worked in top secret to produce a method to defend and expand the Azoreans out to the stars. The lead engineer of the project was Neoryi, who lead the development of the ship. After developing systems based off what the Nevah contained, the council decided that a new hull was to be built to give a visual representation of the people of the Azoreans. The Hammerhead predator was chosen for its aggressiveness and its hydrodynamic qualities. With warnings of a universe of war and conflict, Azorean government felt that it needed to try to gain a level of technology that could compete out in the Black Sea of Stars.

• Class: Hammerhead
• Type: Gunship/Escort
• Nomenclature: Az-S1-1A/B
• Designers: The Nevah Project
• Manufacturer: Azorean Commonwealth
• Fielded by: Azorean Naval Legion / System Defense Force

Crew: 5 operators are recommended, 2 are required.

Maximum Capacity: There are accommodations for 20 people. About 125 people can fit aboard in an emergency, but the ship would be extremely cramped.

• Length: 274.32 meters (900 feet).
• Width: 27.432 meters (90 feet) main hull/ 54.864 meters (180 feet) fins/head.
• Height: 36.576 meters (120 feet)main hull/ 54.864 meters (180 feet) dorsal fin/tail.
• Decks: 8(4 meters each).

• Hyperspace Fold Drive: 315,576c (.6 ly/m)
• Sublight Engines: .3c
• Range: Ship can travel for 6 months with out resupply.
• Lifespan: Unknown at this time, Estimations stand a 10 years with refits.
• Refit Cycle: Unknown at this time, Estimations stand at yearly

• Hull: 18
• Shields: 18 (Threshold 3)

<Subject to Adjustment when deck layout image is created>

All hand held weapons are kept in this locked and secured room. This room contains an independently controlled environmental system, which allows for a very controlled conditions for weapons and ammunition to be stored.

The bridge is in the forward section, an airlock separates it from the rest of the ship. The bridge can be flooded in combat, to allow the crew to survive higher levels of g-forces. A window in front allows the bridge crew to see what lies before the ship, with overlay screens projecting information onto the window. The captain, pilot, and other respective bridge crew have stations here. The arrangement of these stations are pilot and gunner in front, captain sitting in the middle to issue commands, sensors to the left, and communication to right.

This is the largest cabin aboard the ship. It contains the captain's office, and sleeping pool. The office contains a desk, desk chair, two chairs for others, also a short couch for relaxing.

This expansive area contains everything to sustain the ship and crew. The lowest levels are massive water holding tanks, for drinking and maintaining the many pools and bath systems. Above that are the cold storage areas; mainly food, but other items that need a low temperature are kept here. The other decks of of the cargo storage contain parts and ammunition for the weapon systems.

Each of the Cabins contain a large bunk pool for two. The wall furthest from the hatch contains lockers for the occupants. The bunk pools have Kerius Kelp to make a bed, a large cover hatches covers the pools when the ship enters combat or when the artificial gravity is off.

Located a few decks below the bridge, the recreation bays are connected to the rest of the ship by an airlock. The whole bay is flooded allowing crew members the chance to swim freely. The bay also contains a large window so that the stars can be viewed by the crew. This area is sealed off during combat, do to the weakness of the window section.

Containing the heart of the ship; engineering hold the fusion reactor, which takes up the aft quarter of the ship. Its power relays feed throughout the ship. Each conduit passes through the Power Systems room, to be regulated and adjusted for the needs of the ship.

Each Deck contains two Maintenance Tubes that run parallel down the length of the ship. The allow access to power relays and other vital ship systems. These tubes are construed out of a transparent material and are kept flooded. Access to them are at 50 feet. These maintain the emergency lighting so if lighting is lost the tubes will remain illuminated.

The medical center is built around two rooms. The first room is filled with cabinets containing with medical equipment. The center of the room contains a two surgical tables. The second room contains the medical officers desk, post op beds, and more medical storage.

Each deck has two Passageways that run parallel along the exterior hull lines. Cross corridors exist to allow access to opposite sides of the ship at regular intervals.

Within the middle section, above the mid-line fins, there are two hatches on either side that allow.0 the crew to enter/leave the ship. It also might be possible to attach to other ships to those locations. The interior is separated from the rest of the ship to function as an airlock.

Tactical space fighters, as well as ship to ship shuttles are currently under development, and the shuttle bays were created to allow a place to carry such vehicles.

Because the ship is small, the wardroom and mess hall have been merged. Along the outside of the room booths line the wall, allowing the center of the room to be filled with a long table for the officers. One end of the room has a buffet style serving area with a kitchen behind it.

The Hull is made out of kal_suun (Brass).

This ship employes special generators for water and air recycling. These same systems cause the air with in the ship to become moist, this both keeps the Azoreans hydrated and feeling at home.

Based off of technology given to the Azoreans, the Hammerhead uses Plasma Thrusters to push it through space, powered by a fusion reactor.

Again, based off of what was gained in the Nevah project, the Hammerhead has an efficient shielding system. It relies on a teardrop-shaped spatial distortion, to warp space around the ship, to alter the course of lasers, missiles, etc. A second system, called “the spike,” only protects the front of the ship, acting as a giant cone, it protects the ship from collisions during high-speed space flight. Both of the shields can take a lot of damage but are not infallible, and fail after a few good hits.

The Hammerhead uses communication technologies that were designed off of the vampire class ship involved in the Nevah project. While not as sophisticated as those on most other faction military vessels, they cover the basics (subspace and radio) and provide an acceptable amount of security. In a emergency, the communications system can act as a low resolution sensor system, by using the two receivers to pinpoint radio or subspace transmitters, much in the same way that primitive radar does.

The Hammerhead uses a radar and radio telemetry system to navigate through space. Though it may be a little inefficient, it gets the job done. the Radar has an effective range of 200,000 Km. Radio Telemetry doesn't have a range it uses navigational Buoys that transmit on fixed frequency.

They also use magnetic anomaly to scan for close in meteorites. Range 50,000 Km

Infrared sensors rigged in two modulars one working the IR bands, the second running near IR bands. Range 5 light years.

Pulling from the Nevah project, again, the Hammerhead utilizes the Unidirectional Gravity Plating plating on the roof, which emits a pseudo-gravitational field, that is attracted to the plates on the floor pushing everything on the ship 'down'.

The Azorean's were given hyper-fold technology as part over the protectorate status, the drive allows for FTL travel. Hyperfold drives make the distance between point A and point B seem to vanish by folding space over it's self, then tunneling through it.

• Azorean Disruptor: 2 locked forward facing for Ship to ship combat, Tier 12, Heavy Anti-Starship each
• Azorean Disruptor: 2 turrets top/bottom for ship to ship or anti-PA combat, Tier 10, Light Anti-Starship each
• Missile ports:
  • Location: 4 ports on the ship's bow
  • Purpose: Anti-Escort
  • Secondary: Anti-Planet
  • Damage: 3 SDR, Nuclear Damage

The Shuttle Bay can hold either shuttles or fighters, depending on the mission requirements.

4x Shuttles

1x wing of Mako Starfighter, 6x fighters in total.