The Ultra class patrol vessels are controversial to say the least. Originally funded and ordered as small edge of the dominion survey and patrol craft, these hulking beasts are the results of a runaway military spending complex and the prevalence of large scale flash fabrication machinery. Their primary duty is the safeguarding of the dominion intercepting threats and being capable enough to deal with extrastellar invaders, or survive long enough to send warning.
This particular vessel is armed with several heavy missile tubes, a forward heavy beam gun array and countless smaller turrets. Multiple heavy turrets dot the Ultra's hull, providing defense from everything from boarding teams to heavy cruiser swarms. The Ultra is designed to cope with the extreme stresses inherent in fighting unknown threats and it has an unusually large crew for its size, most of which are damage-control specialists and heavy shield troopers that are responsible for keeping the winding corridors of the Ultra safe from infiltration.
The Ultra class starships are designed with a high degree of automation in ts systems, Human crewmen and uploads work side by side with seed AIs. Numerous fabrication booths are available for when the sentients AI, or upload wish to enter the real world. Life aboard the Ultra line is similar to that of any other big ship, except the borders between AI and human mind are blurred enough that the computer may be your comanding officer. And a toilet may be used by the bioform housing the AI that controls the septic system. Crew members frequently spend time in the virtual city within the ship's sprawling databanks, some crew even bring a copied upload of their family to accompany them in the virtual city, or in civilian bioforms. The family uploads are then merged with the originals once the crewman returns home. A practice that is not encouraged ever since the split personality homicides of '145
The protruding bridge is little more than a sensor mast and a secondary control center. The real heart of the vessel lies deep within the hull, during combat much of the bridge is abandoned and its occupants instead retreat to the armored citadel deep within the cavernous hull of the ship.
The sleek shape of the Ultra is designed to present a minimal front towards the enemy, the prow is mostly armour and weaponry while the rear and middle holds the living quarters and the bulky power generators and capacitors that power its impressive arsenal.
Many a raiding fleet have seen this view for a second, before sensors and eyes are burned into uselessness by the sheer power of the alpha strike the Ultra can deliver. After the initial punch the Ultra is vulnerable and must wait before firing weapons again, lest the powerdraw compromise its shields and slow fields. The Ultra packs a lot of armour but there are vulnerable spots that are susceptible to fighter attack.
The ship's stern is dominated by the generators and capacitors needed for shields and weapons, but the biggest reason for the oversized powerplant are the two Cystelicon Hellhound mega boosters that take up much of the interior of the rear. These massive drives can launch the Ultra into immense bursts of speed within seconds. A feature that becomes useful when the Ultra encounters a threat that it cannot fight alone. The drives have an distinct energy signature and it's sometimes used as a reference point when calling in long range relativistic support from Mastodon Interdiction vessels.
This is the view of the Ultra from above, it is quite sleek and lithe from this angle. Many a fighter-ace and frigate captain have found themselves staring the juicy targets that is the powerplant. Only to get sliced in half by dense point-defense beam gun fire. Nevertheless the red color has been proven to attract an inordinate amount of rookie pilots as well, exposing them to the withering hail of defensive fire covering this vulnerable area. Many perish within seconds, their flaming wrecks doing more damage to the ship than they ever could.He could see it. If ever there was a juicy target this was it. Vladnik pushed the yoke forward and sent his little fighter into a steep dive, he felt nothing thanks to the dampeners, but the big red strip of bulging domes atop the target's stern made him shiver nonetheless, he could already imagine the whole row of generators aflame. His wingmen hovered above as he raced towards the vast ship, they had been waiting to intercept courier drones while the bigger ships tried to kill the giant's engines. Vladnik couldn't resist any longer, why was he carrying bulky anti-ship ordinance if all they were going after were courier drones? The grey cylinder that was his steed accelerated down, what was once empty space between him and the ship quickly turned into a wall of lead and Particle beams, he rolled right and then launched himself into a wide spin. The AA turrets could barely keep up, he grinned as the fighter jet's engines roared. He was getting closer. Fast. the airless void rushed past the frame of his ship. Vladnik began to make out smaller shapes amongst the red domes, auxiliary generators and hulking security drones, his HUD was swamped with lockon icons and ECM warnings. where should he aim? his stout little ship had two anti-starship torpedos slung under its tubular fuselage, but two torpedoes would barely dent a powerplant this large, he needed to find a weak-spot. His ship shuddered momentarily as his wing turned into plasma, RCS on the other wing began compensating immediately for the shift of center of mass, he lost his train of thought and abandoned the targeting reticle in favor of weaving between thick lances of particle beams. The were dancing in front of his eyes, sweeping across the sky as he launched his ship into increasingly intricate evasive maneuvers. Without the dampeners he would have been red paste long ago; Instead he felt nothing as he jerked his ship at 4g worth of acceleration. It was like a dream, he couldn't hear the glancing hits burning away at the fuselage, or the impact of high speed shrapnel. He contemplated retreat as his HUD lit up red, then a greenish blue spear of light shot up from below and boiled him into plasma. Down below Turret number 19 re targeted to another fighter and sent a request for a painter drone to draw another mark on its barrel.
That is all Ladies and Gentlemen. I hope you liked this creation. I was inspired to make another big LDD ship after I saw Colette's Dirac mass relay/doomship. I'm afraid mine might not be as impressive size wise however.
