UNSC Embers (CFG-09)

{{TWD|UNSC Embers| {{Writer|Phalanx_Actual}} {{Under_Construction|Phalanx_Actual}} Project: Velvet Scythe or ''CFG-09 "Embers" was the classification given to an Embers class destroyer and as the name implies, the first of its kind. In a limited run due to the resource and time constraints forced upon the United Nations Space Command during the time of its deployment (2530-Onward).

During the first five years of war against the Covenant Empire, the political and military leaders of the UNSC, in a unanimous decision commissioned the production of over 50,000 new Military Assets, 30,000 of which were of new proposed projects. Thousands of these new technologies were incorporated into a single one of these new projects, specifically: Project: Embers.

Project: Embers centers around the concept of the reverse engineering of alien technologies into a mass produced UNSC Military Vessel, to (in theory) be capable of destroying enemy craft in seconds. This would require significant scores of expensive equipment and technology, forcing the project to create a limited run of only 32 vessels.

ARMAMENT and PAYLOAD (Version 0.1)

 * Minimum: 100x20 Archer 2.1 Missile Capacity
 * Primary: 1x Magnetic Accelerator, 12x 0.9 Megaton Projectile (Burst: 2), Minimum 10 *Gigaton output, velocity: 50km/s
 * Secondary: 12x 20mm Autocannon (200-900 RPM)
 * Tertiary: 2x Plasma based Pulse Laser
 * Nuclear: 8x HARVEST Class Nuclear Fusion Reactor, 20x SHIVA Warhead
 * Armor: 100mm Titanium A Sequential Armor, Refractive Coating
 * Cargo: 12x DC77 Pelican, 20x C709 Longsword 20x Standard Vehicle Cargo
 * Supply: 5 Month Rations (1000 Tonnes)
 * Crew: 300
 * Garrison: 500
 * Electronics: Generation 7 Minimum

The Embers class frigate, while featuring a rather heavy payload, as mentioned above is armed with a specialized Magnetic Accelerator. Which, alone consisted of more than 200 top of the line components that, when fired at full potency fired a round 45% larger and 16% faster than a standard heavy MAC. This weapon had rivaled the massive cannon found in the new Marathon-Class Cruisers, in rough simulations this cannon, firing a standard round in a burst would utterly cripple, if not destroy any Covenant vessel up to the tonnage of a Cruiser.

This specialized MAC, was meant to fire Excalibur rounds, which on impact would generate a small localized Butterfly effect which would compress dark matter in a vacuum and in turn would distort any direct-energy barrier for a few moments in time. This distortion, theoretically would allow a second projectile to pass through if properly calibrated. A proposed method of destroying the craft inside would be to place a SHIVA Nuclear Warhead within the second projectile which would cause obvious devastation, though this proposal would bring about massive budget problems. Many argued that a standard MAC round would suffice as the second strike in the two-round burst, and so, the decision was made to arm each Embers class frigate with normal payload of 6 Excalibur Rounds, and 6 MAC rounds.

The armor of the frigate, though thinner and lighter than those of standard destroyers was specially calibrated and layered to dissipate heat and plasma from direct energy weapons, with a 119% increase in efficiency but doubled the cost of every square meter of plating. Because of this enormous expense, the armor of some areas of the destroyer was reduced to almost 40mm, and a maximum of 150mm. Though normally this would provide an average increase in survivability, the superstructure of the embers itself, was (at least on critical components) composed of high-grade titanium, and then armored with the sequential plating. This meant, that even if the outer layers were pierced and utterly destroyed, normal and/or critical functions would continue as normal. Unfortunately, this meant that the crew itself would be more vulnerable.

A fourth new major technology was also proposed, the Revolving Archer Pod, or RAP. Normally, static Archer pods would contain, at most 12 archer missiles (oversized silos notwithstanding). A beta style "magazine" was placed under a relatively shallow silo, though it would contain a maximum 20 archer missiles without creating deep cavities within the structure of the destroyer. Because of this, an average of 100 Archer 2.1 Beta Missile Pods could be build within the destroyer without consuming large amounts of space. This new design also simplified the reloading process, and in time would allow a suggested belt-feed. (Added in version 1.5) The hangar bay featured a level entirely dedicated to archer missiles, belt-linked and fed into 2 silos emerging from the front of the underside hangar.

This armament also allowed a single ember's class destroyer to employ "swarm" tactics wherein a large number of Archer 2.1 missiles would be fired, overwhelming an enemy vessel's anti-missile systems, to be followed with an Excalibur 2-round burst, calibrated to impact milliseconds before the Archer missiles reach their intended target.

In short, this tactic would distort the target's shields, create a massive crater and tunnel through the armor, and would gut the insides of the vessel with archer missile impacts on the exposed interior of the vessel. In theory, this would allow a single Embers class destroyer to destroy a fully shielded target within seconds in the right conditions. }}