The Expoletian Armada is led by the battlecruiser, Malevellum. Built in 3716, the Malevellum is the oldest vessel still in service, being one of the first Generation 4 starships to be produced.
One of the largest starships ever produced, the 8.7km long, 130tonne Malevellum is the second largest vessel in the Expoletian Fleet, but is often regarded as the toughest vessel to ever be built. The hull is made of large panels consisting of steel support bars, built into an osmium-tungsten-iron alloy. The largest of these panels lines the belly of the vessel, falling just short of the length of the vessel to make room for the engine outlet. This panel weighs nearly 10 tonnes, but is only 0.45m in thickness. The panel is secured to the interior wall of the vessel with a layer of carbondium, 2.3m thick, providing the Malevellum with the armour it needs, while reducing weight as much as possible. The firing deck of the hull is made of smaller panels, intertwined to form a lattice over the vulnerable areas of the vessel, while allowing the weapons systems to be used quickly.
While the armour of the Malevellum seems light, the real defensive power of the vessel comes from the Insanity Barriers. These barriers form a network of advanced combat shielding for the Malevellum, and while they may be small, they provide a massive defensive boost to the vessel. Using rapidly oscillating shield technology, the Insanity Barrier takes the entire impact of an object hitting the barrier, and dissipates it across the entire vessel. This process has a limited threshold, and after a few minutes, the Barrier engines will fail, requiring a 10 minute restart. While this may not seem like much, the Malevellum has suffered some major damage in battle on occasion, and this can be shown as the vessel is noticeably less active in combat.
The Malevellum, although a humungous vessel, is the fastest non-fighter craft in the Expoletian Armada, capable of outrunning a Galdon class interceptor cruiser. The Malevellum gains this speed from the 6 TASER class engine cores, providing the power of the massive Gorgon Engines. Each Gorgon weighs 10 tonnes, and is capable of providing 1.73 million tonnes of thrust. Powered by two Fission-Fusion reactors, the Gorgon superheats He-2, which is used as the catalyst for the He-3 fusion process which provides the thrust of the engine. The Kilometre long Gorgon has a thrust port 375m in diameter, and can house enough fuel for the Malevellum to stay in transit for 7 days with one functional TASER core. Being such a large engine, it is impractical to replace the Gorgon with a new one, making the 6 Gorgon Engines of the Malevellum the oldest in service.
With the speed of a vessel 1/10th it's size, the Malevellum is highly mobile, but it does not sacrifice firepower for such agility. The vessel has an armament of 400,000 Type XIV turrets, with just under 100,000 Torpedo Tubes, giving it an edge over most other vessels in combat with just those weapons. Complementing the light weapon systems are 16 LTABs as well as 4 LABs, making the Malevellum a high power vessel. These weapon systems are supplemented by the 100,000 fighters the Malevellum can carry inside of it's 8 huge hangars, each capable of holding two Gorgon Engines. With 4 hangars on each side of the vessel, a large crew deck runs along the area between the hangars and the engine room. With a crew of nearly two million, the Malevellum has 10 floors to house everything the crew needs, including a 300m diameter sparring arena.
The Bridge of the Malevellum is located at the top of the vessel, streamlined to disguise the profile of the vessel, with a 5m thick viewing mirror providing 360 degree vision around the bridge. This mirror is two way; and has seeker turrets which protect it from any object larger than a shredder bolt. The Bridge has a small crew for a Generation 4 warship, requiring no more than 20 crew members. Each crew member is specially trained for the micromanagement of systems aboard the Malevellum, with each crew member in charge of two reactors and a large number of weapon systems. The piloting of the vessel is done by two of the most decorated pilots in the Empire, and each pilot is in charge of managing half of the vessel, while co-ordinating with the other to ensure the Malevellum runs at maximum efficiency.
While the Malevellum may have low armour, the vessel was designed to act as a fast, hard hitting vessel, based off the Expoletian Guard Ship design, but heavily modified to be physically superior. Having some of the most advanced technology in the Empire has increased the longevity of the Malevellum, but the Gorgon Engines are slowly becoming more of a burden as the vessel ages, often failing to engage on first ignition, and possessing no stealth capability whatsoever. The Malevellum is at the end of what is regarded as the longest lifespan of any space faring vessel, and it is being prepared for decommission, although it is predicated the vessel will become a cargo transport due to its immense size. Only time will tell.
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