Aeon

Known to modern humans as Morgan Bay Observatory Unknown Object 1 (MBO-1), the Aeon is an autonomous starship, tens of thousands of years old and apparently of human origin. The ship was briefly boarded by Heirotus founder Brandon James, security consultants Robert Carrington and Michael Yang and psychic consultant Aleph Rydzyk approximately 40 years before the events of Dead City Radio. James received a critical head wound and lost an eye. An object known as “MBO-2” was removed by Aleph and Yang as the ship initiated what was later determined to be a Biomagnetic Transfer (aka a “Space Fold”).

Arvak-class Transport

The Arvak class transport is the fleet backbone of the Interstellar Transit Authority. A relatively short range transport designed for hauling humans and cargo from station to station, the Arvak type is solid, reliable, and a common sight in docking rings and bays all over known space.

Heirotus founder Brandon James contracted a range-extended Arvak (ITA 27945A “Clyde”) from the ITA in order to rendezvous with MBO-1 near Helios. At the time, Heirotus space assets were limited – it was, simply, the first available spacecraft.

Astra

The Astra is the first production model Type 47 Heirotus Colonial Authority warship. A bigger, beefier, more lethal version of the Sabrosa, the Astra features longer range, heavier weaponry, a much larger flight deck with armored bay doors, a more diverse air wing, and much less cargo space.

Banshee

The Barghosa F/A-38 Banshee is the first GNOMES-powered optionally-manned attack aircraft on the market, so named for the enormous amounts of RF interference kicked out by the high-powered GNOMES laser – a weapon capable of slicing through steel at a thousand meters and FM radios at a hundred kilometers. The laser and reactor both feature retractable RF shielding, enabling the Banshee to function as a basic-but-highly-effective EWAR platform if operating with a crew – otherwise the aircraft requires a direct line-of-sight with a control satellite, Majestic or mothership to function, as the interference obliterates the spectrum traditionally used for unmanned vehicles.

Bodkin

A lightly and cheaply built interceptor similar to an F-16, Colonial Viper, or a Starfury, the Bodkin is an aggressively shaped configuration of RCS ports, cameras, rockets, beam weapons and projectile cannons built around a standing cockpit design and a GNOMES reactor. As part of the Astra air group, the Bodkin is used for patrol and escort duties, roles the Sabrosa fills with the more maintenance-intensive Banshee.

Castores

A Foundation class heavy cruiser, the Castores is a long endurance survey ship leased by Expert Technologies with a Templar command crew officially following up on first-pass charts plotted by smaller Discovery class ships. The Castores is a typical sample of the Foundation type: equipped with high resolution sensors, an optionally pressurized flight deck, low gravity hydroponics bays, a rocket assisted rotating section, cruise missiles and a number of small support craft, she can comfortably support a modest crew for as long as they can stand each other.

Cheops

A Titan class low orbit and upper atmosphere patrol craft, the Cheops is the sole Templar vehicle permanently assigned to Terra. Orbiting the earth in Am or within the Veil at a depth of 1.5, the Cheops keeps watch while staying well out of the range of terrestrial sensors.

The Cheops is equipped with the standard Titan class armament – particle cannon, kinetic point defense batteries, nuclear and conventional cruise missiles. The ship also mounts a high caliber after-market nuclear powered railgun and a long-duration Crew Service Module. While the “angry end” of the vehicle is capable of atmospheric entry, the CSM is not. It does, however, have the capability to fly the Command Module remotely via an encrypted tight-beam telecommunications link, and can function as a lifeboat or orbital platform if required.

Daedalus

A Javelin class Am-capable high speed cargo transport, the Daedalus is the property of ex-Templar Captain John West. The workhorse of a shady courier service run out of the Australian outback in a nearby pocket universe, the Daedalus is frequently far from Earth, and often under the command of John’s executive officer and co-pilot, Naomi.

Designed to haul moderate amounts of cargo incredibly long distances at incredibly high speeds, the Javelin class is equipped with the most efficient engines and non-organic power plant designed to date. The ship generates artificial gravity by acceleration, and can sustain a 0.5g burn for upwards of six hours. The type is incredibly nimble in a vacuum, though maneuverability in atmosphere is extremely limited. While the advanced RCS system provides a degree of ground effect and the capability to turn on a dime at extremely low speeds, the ship has an atmospheric turning radius of hundreds of kilometers at any significant speed – a maneuverability that decreases exponentially on approach to escape velocity.

Epiphany

A Pecora class star freighter used for early Heirotus BTS tests. Presumed destroyed during a premature BTS discharge event in January 1968, though no wreckage was recovered.

Status upgraded to “missing” after captain and test navigator Mike West‘s brief appearance at Kolg Saerai Orbital (“Kaysoo”) in late 1968.

In The Dualist, the Epiphany appears buried up to its con tower in the Australian desert, in an advanced state of decay. While the ship is no longer spaceworthy, the Tacoma class biomagnetic reactor, communications suite, and computer system are still functional.

Hemera

The Hemera is a Discovery class deep-range cartography vessel constructed by the Interstellar Cartography Group and leased to Heirotus, officially assigned to chart grid GSV and parts of grid GSU.

The base Discovery hull features two logistics hardpoints, two docking interfaces, centrifugal gravity and a stellar cartography suite equipped with the very latest optical and radio telescopes. Under Heirotus management, the Hemera has been equipped with an advanced Deep Range Holt-Rischmann Device (DR-HRD) and two U-238 utility aerospacecraft. The ship has also been configured for extreme deep-range long duration flight – most of the lower deck has been converted to hydroponics and storage, and flight systems have been heavily automated to enable the ship to run with a crew a third the size of the standard Discovery hull.

The Discovery class plays a role similar to that of the P3 Orion.

Majestic

The Majestic is a cutting-edge Am-capable reconnaissance aerospacecraft designed to operate in deep space, low orbit and high atmosphere. Equipped with a surveillance package containing military grade electronics and classified Heirotus organic systems, the carbon computer coordinated sensor payload provides high-volume, high-detail intelligence across the the entire spectrum of perception.

As the aerospacecraft is expensive, fragile and brutally high maintenance, Heirotus Security doctrine calls for the Majestic to be used only in situations that require its advanced organic perception capabilities.

Oberon

TAC EC J38 Oberon is a Javelin class spacecraft used as an executive transport by ETL founder Judas Lang. The vehicle has the same silhouette as the Daedalus, and can be easily mistaken as such from a distance.

Peregrine

The Peregrine is a VTOL utility aerospacecraft used as an executive transport by Heirotus founder Brandon James. The vehicle is well armed, well armored, and very maneuverable, used in reconnaissance and electronic warfare roles when not functioning as an officer transport. The variant shown in Transitional Voices features nose and tail turrets, missiles, and wing-mounted fuel tanks.

Pollux

The Pollux is an ICG-built Foundation-class heavy cruiser operated by the ETL Colonial Authority. While similar to the Castores, the Pollux has a few key differences – a longer nose with an observation deck, larger fuel and water tanks, mounting points and docking interfaces for Titan-class picket ships, and a radically different engineering section featuring an ETL-built FTL system.

Sabrosa

Heirotus capital ship prototype 47 (HX-47) Sabrosa is the testbed for several technologies incorporated in the Type 47 class of Heirotus Colonial Authority warships, in mass production at the time of The Dualist. The ship contains the company’s first dual-core biomagnetic transfer system (DC-BTS), the first capital-scale portable multi-field combined mass amplifier and displacement system (CMADS), the first organically powered mass driver, the first two Majestic class recon ships assigned to a deep range deployment, the first vehicle-based Quantum Analogue Relay (QAR) and a host of other innovations, iterations and improvements on proven technology.

Shuttlepod

Autonomous Entry Vehicle C728 is a small two-person entry craft that disappeared from the Castores around the time of a mysterious electrical fire. A smaller version of the Buran, STS, or Dream Chaser, the AEV is a reusable lifting body designed to transport a pilot and passenger or two passengers via a pre-programmed entry plan from planetary orbit to a planetary landing strip. It cannot attain orbit under its own power, relying on a booster like the X-20 or riding in a payload fairing like the X-37.

U-238 (Loki)

The Barghosa Aerospace Utility Aerospacecraft Model 238 (U-238 or “Loki”) is an airframe that sucks well at everything. While inferior to purpose-built attack, transport, electronic warfare and even cargo vehicles, the fact that the U-238 can be quickly and easily re-fit to perform any one or more of these roles in a matter of minutes has made it the standard transport and heavy utility aerospacecraft.

The base stowable unibody frame contains default avionics, rocket motors and propellant tanks, twin nuclear-powered air breathing turbines and an integrated RCS/VTOL system. Renowned for its ruggedness and high availability, the U-238’s negative reputation comes from the maintenance issues with many of the modular mission systems, notably the AWACS, SAR, and particle beam gunship modules. The newsworthy twitchiness of early module loadouts earned the U-238 its nickname – Loki.

Valkyrie

A first-generation GNOMES-powered high endurance long duration escort capable of entering atmosphere and returning to space, the Barghosa AF-72 Valkyrie is an advanced missile and gun platform designed to operate just about anywhere. The Pollux deploys Valkyries with tail numbers TAC-EC 29 and TAC-EC 40 as escorts for the Oberon.