After the Shadow war and other conflicts had reduced
the military resources of the Interstellar Alliance, and in particular of its member
the Earth Alliance, a new class of very advanced ships were
concieved. The Interstellar Alliance would supply the technology, while the
Earth Alliance had the will and resources to construct them in secrecy.
The design was based upon technology from the Whitestars,
Vorlon and Minbari technology,
as well as the latest of technology and research from the Earth Alliance.
Finally, after four years of design and construction, the first two prototypes "Excalibur" and "Victory"
were completed. More ships will eventually be built, since a fleet of them were planned from the beginning.
A Victory Class Destroyer is around two kilometers long, but very manueverable for a ship its size.
The ship has four main beam weapons mounted in the nose section
(picture), and several beam weapons
and anti-fighter pulse cannons (picture) in different strategic locations, making the ship capable
of firing in any direction. But there is also a super weapon housed in the tips of the
three "wings", extremely powerful Vorlon weapon-arrays.
When fired, three beams of energy from the tips of the wings combine in front of the nose
for a devastating blast (picture). This powerful weapon was however designed for ships with much better
reactor output (like a Vorlon ship), so firing this weapon leaves a
Victory Class Destroyer dead in space for one minute while all systems recharge. Obviously this weapon should only be
used as a last resort. Defensively the hull of the ship is covered by a new plastique/crystalline alloy,
capable of reflecting 80% of an energy weapon. A Victory Class Destroyer is capable of carrying many small
spacecraft in its docking bays, several shuttles, and a squadron of fighters.
The bridge and most crew areas are located at the base of the top "wing".
The Whitestar Class was created in secret by the Minbari Religious Caste,
with some Vorlon help, to fight in the
Shadow war. It is a very small ship, around
270 meters long, and amazingly maneuverable. There is one main beam weapon,
plus 6 pulse cannons. But while it is incredibly powerful for its size, it has less weapons
power than most major capital ships. The Whitestar Class is also the smallest
ship known that can open its own jump-point, making it very useful for smaller
attacks and intelligence gathering missions. The ship also has internal artificial
gravity. The Vorlon parts of the Whitestars are the
computer system, the advanced tracking system, the auto-repair system,
and the the semi-organic "learning" armor. This armor can to some degree adapt to
certain weapons, absorbing some of the energy and leaving only physical impact damage.
It is no match, however, for heavier weapons. After sustaining damage, the auto-repair
system on a Whitestar starts working on the problem, re-routing resources. This is,
however, a time-consuming process, and will not work if the damage is too great.
The normal crew complement of this class is around 50. The Whitestars also
have a small cargo bay that is capable of holding a shuttle or a few fighters.
This carco bay located between the aft main propulsion fins. In addition, a Whitestar is also
capable of landing on a planetary surface.
![[The Excalibur - click for a large image]](excalibur_lg1.jpg)
![[Excalibur closeup in battle - click for larger image]](excalibur_lg2.jpg)
![[Whitestar - click for larger image]](intewhit_lg1.jpg)
![[Whitestar - click for larger image]](intewhit_lg2.jpg)
![[Whitestar - click for larger image]](intewhit_lg3.jpg)
