Xeptatl's Sword (Ships, Stations and Objects)
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Xeptatl Society
Cobra S9
The Agents of the Xeptatl Society make extensive use of a fleet of Cobra S9 ships. These are well equipped models with Fuel Injection, ECM, Shield Boosters and Military Shield Enhancers. They will normally carry four ECM-hardened missiles and have military-grade lasers Forward and Aft. Although the ships are standard factory issue they are known to carry specialist equipment, much of which is Top Secret.
The dedication of the Society's Agents is illustrated by the fact that Society S9s are not equipped with Escape Capsules. In the event of lethal attack the Agents' duty is to either destroy the ship themselves or stay with it until it is destroyed, thus ensuring the technology does not fall into the wrong hands.
Headquarters Station
The Xeptatl Society's Headquarters are situated at Estebiin, one of the Lost Worlds in Galaxy Six.
The Xeptatl Society have some installations on the planet itself but the main Headquarters are situated in orbit.
The Headquarters station is of a unique design with each of the six arms housing different administrative departments. It is thought that over 10,000 staff are based there, although most live on the planet.
Interstellar Research Station
The Society have several interstellar stations devoted to research and development, where they study Thargoid technology and try to adapt it for use by the GalCop races. Most are quite small and many are built into asteroids and are in practice just large versions of the monitor stations. The main research station is a much more substantial structure almost 2km across and is situated in the Great Rift of Galaxy Seven. The station is of a unique 'dumbell' design and has a staff of over 5 000 who both live and work on the station. Because of the remote location workers' families also live on the station and so it has many civilian facilities such as schools, a hospital deck and shops and recreational areas. The total population can therefore be as high as 20,000.
Monitor Station
The Society have over 1000 monitor stations around the Eight Galaxies, which are, as the name suggest, surveillance and monitoring posts. They intercept Thargoid communications and monitor Thargoid activity as part of the Society's remit. They are normally situated close to the Sun and are similar to Rock Hermit bases, but have a much better range of facilities and equipment as they also act as bases for operations carried out by the Society's Agents.
Xeptatl's Sword
Classified
Very little is known about this mysterious weapon. It is believed to be of Thargoid origin and as well as being a powerful explosive device, it is also thought to be capable of disrupting the molecular bonds in Papierok, a Thargoid material used in the construction of Hives and Star-nests. Thargoid WMD countermeasures are also thought to be ineffective against it, as due to its Thargoid technology it is not recognised as being hostile.
The 'Thunder Child' is a Victoria class heavy cruiser. At 1.5km long this is one of the largest naval vessels in service. Thunder Child is the newest and most powerful ship of her type and has truly formidable weaponry and defences, most of which are classified.
Thargoids
Annihilator
The Annihilator is the Thargoids' ultimate weapon. It is a 6Km disc and took over 10 standard years to build. It is far larger than any ship GalCop has ever built and is only exceeded in size by the the legendary Generation Ships.
It was designed and built solely for the colonisation campaign, and its function is to attack and destroy Galcop main stations. GalCop stations are generally thought to be indestructible. However a Station attacked by the Annihilator cannot expect to survive for more than a few minutes. The Primary Weapon is thought to consist of an array of high-power Thargoid lasers which form a tight beam.
The Annihilator has huge energy reserves and this has allowed the Thargoids to develop counter-measures against WMDs such as Quirium Cascade Mines (Q-bombs). These can be detected and disarmed before they can be used. In practice this makes the Annihilator effectively indestructible. The Annihilator is normally accompanied by up to 20 Thargoid warships and also carries 10 Blitznests.
Blitznest
The Blitznest is a Thargoid assault vessel designed to land soldier-drones in large numbers onto a planet. They are over 500m in diameter and each one can carry up to 1000 drones. Due to the fierceness of Thargoid soldier-drones it is believed as few as 3000 drones could successfully establish a beach-head.
The Blitznest is armed with high-power Thargoid lasers, and is a very strong ship. However, as an assault vehicle it is not very manoeuvrable, and has no 'Jump' capability.
Courier ship
The Thargoid Courier is a small, very fast vessel used to transport small items, officials and data between Thargoid colonies. These are rarely seen in 'normal' space.
Hive
The Thargoid Seed Hive is a small (2 Km) self-propelled Hive which contains a Thargoid Queen. It's purpose is to safely deliver the Queen to a planetary system and house her until a nest can be established on the planetary surface. These are immensely strong structures and are effectively indestructable as no weapon other than a Quirium Cascade Mine is capable of destroying them. This danger is overcome by stationing the Annihilator near the Hive until the Queen can be safely established on the planetary surface.
Thargoid Computer
The Thargoid Computer is a self contained unit consisting of a processor unit and data storage and also has a built-in power supply meaning that it will remain active even when isolated from a ship or Hive.
Black Mambas
Black Mamba
The ship-of-choice for this ferocious pirate fleet is the Mamba. With military-grade lasers, ECM, shield-boosters and Extra-Energy units these are formidable fighters. Painted black, they are very hard to see with the naked eye and it is this colour scheme which gave the Black Mamba fleet its name. Black Mamba Boa 2
The Black Mambas use an 'Iron-Ass' Boa Class Cruiser as a Mothership. This ship is fully equipped with military grade lasers and shielding, and has an Extra-Energy unit and ECM. It acts as a Command and Control vessel for the fleet, and also as a repository for the fleet's 'acquisitions'.
Miscellaneous
Ferroplonium
Ferroplonium is a crystaline trans-uranic element, also known by the common name 'Heavy Iron'. It is very rare, and is thought to be made during super-nova explosions. It is normally mined from asteroids found in or near Nova systems. Because of its density a Ferroplonium crystal will normally accrete less dense matter such as rock around it, and a 'crystaloid' is a prize find for any miner. Ferroplonium is a powerful source of energy, and is highly valued.
GalDrivePod
The GalDrivePod is a pylon-mounted Galactic Hyperdrive. Using this equipment allows you to make consecutive Galjumps. The GalDrivePod also incorporates a 'Wormhole Supressor Over-ride'. This cancels the supressors installed by GalCop in some systems to prevent spacers from jumping to one of the Lost Worlds. The Lost Worlds are isolated and un-reachable systems more than 7 light years away from any other system. They have such a low Tech Level that galactic Hyperdrives cannot be bought there, a situation that would leave a visitor stranded, un-able to leave either by Witchjumping or galactic jumping. When carrying a GalDrivePod a Commander can gal-jump to a Lost World using a regular Galactic Hyperdrive, and then leave again using the GalDrivePod.
Long-fuse Q-bomb
The long-fuse Q-bomb is a development of the standard Q-bomb. It has a much longer timer than the standard item, 30 seconds rather than the usual 5 seconds.
It is favoured by pirate groups who will occassionally deploy one if their mothership is lost. The delay will allow their attacker to move in (before detonation) to salvage any cargo the pirate ship gives up, thus ensuring that the attacker is destroyed.
Many ships' sensors will detect a long-fuse Q-bomb, and this has allowed some brave Commanders to locate and destroy the weapon before detonation, thus allowing them to continue with their salvage of the pirates' haul.
Papierok
Papierok is a mineral-organic material produced by Thargoid worker-drones. It is thought to be made when the drones masticate organic matter together with minerals which produces a cement-like substance. When set this forms a hard, impervious almost rock-like material. Worker drones can re-masticate even hard-set papiarok, meaning that constructions are flexible and material is easily re-cycled. Papiarok is also thought to contain bacteria or some similar biological entity which often causes it to glow with a green or red light.
Most Thargoid vessels use Papierok in their construction, although it is normally mounted on a skeleton or frame made from more conventional materials. Hives and Star-nests are thought to be predominently constructed of Papierok, as this offers them maximum protection and allows them to grow as their population increases.
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