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WHITESTAR CLASS MONITOR
Whitestars are one of the newest class of Minbari attack ship whose duties and operations are delegated to the Rangers and the new Interstellar Alliance. This vessel, designed in cooperation between the Vorlon Empire and the Minbari Federation just prior to the Shadow War, incorporates the very best of Minbari technology and some of the rare and powerful technologies of the Vorlons. Designed to fly in large groups and overwhelm opponents with a combination of large numbers and superior firepower, the Whitestar class monitors were the predominant weapons used against the Shadows during their reign of terror between 2259 to 2261. Built small and maneuverable enough to combat fighters, but large and sturdy enough to face off against capital ships, the Whitestar class vessel has proven its self to be a deadly warship capable of combating modern warships up to twelve times her size. A single Whitestar packs greater firepower than a standard Earthforce Omega class Destroyer and incorporates Vorlon armor and shields, it is nearly impossible to best in a direct one-on-one firefight. Whitestar was the single most advanced combat vessel ever constructed by any of the younger races up until the debut of the new ISA Victory class Destroyer and they will continue to serve the Rangers and the Interstellar Alliance well for the next century.The Whitestars possess three major offensive weapons. These weapons include two pulsed Neutron cannons, four pulsed Fusion cannons and one heavy quantum-gravimetric discharge cannon which has an output upwards of 100,000 Terawatts [1.0*1017 watt].* More often than not, a single Whitestar possesses greater firepower than most large scale capital ships in the service of any navy today. To compliment its massive weapons payload, the Whitestar also possesses a powerful defensive system that includes Vorlon shields, bio-armor and sensor jamming equipment. Whitestar's defensive shields consist of alternating gravimetric distortion waves and a complex field of gravitic and electromagnetic energy barriers.* A gravitic based shield system will disperse any and all energy fired upon the Whitestar around the ship, leaving only the kinetic impact of the blast which is created by the explosive energy released upon impact against the shields. Little to no energy directed at the Whitestar ever touches the hull; thus any weapon used against the Whitestar must be significantly more powerful than the energy output of the shields, in order to destroy the vessel in a single blow. Multiple impacts from less powerful weapons can of course result in the ships destruction. The hull of a Whitestar is made up of Vorlon bio-organic technology, thus making a Whitestar a living entity. A Whitestar's organic armored hull is almost impregnable and the vessel has the ability to heal and adapt to most attacks thus far.* With every conflict, the Whitestar develops new countermeasures, developing new ways of protecting its self from attack. No weapon has the exact same effect on a Whitestar twice. Like all Minbari warships, the Whitestars also are equipped with a Minbari cloak. This stealth device creates a jamming field that absorbs incoming sensor beams or refracts/deflects the sensor beams away from the transmitter, thus shielding the ship from many forms of targeting sensors and the scanners of almost all the younger races. This is not to say that the stealth device makes the ship truly invisible to the naked eye however, rather invisible to scanners. More advanced sensors can pick up a Minbari ship through the stealth field, but the sensor echo is extremely small.* Whitestars are powered by a Vorlon based Quantum/Gravimetric reactor, with an estimated power output of 2.6 Exawatts. This reactor system provides the Whitestar ship with all her power needs. A Whitestars propulsion systems consist of three independent, Minbari Gravimetric-Wave engines for travel in real space, which have been modified with Vorlon technology. There is no need for maneuvering thrusters as the Gravimetric-Wave engines allow for Omni-directional propulsion. For general-purpose forward thrust, the Whitestar is also equipped with three redundant, antimatter engines as well as auxiliary thrusters lining the hull.* Unlike most ships her size, the Whitestar has the ability to open its own jump point into Hyperspace without the assistance of a larger vessel or a Jump-Gate, suffering next to no ill effects. Traveling via Hyperspace, the Whitestar could quite literally cross the Milky Way Galaxy (100,000 light years) in roughly seven weeks. Most capital class ships with jump capabilities do not have as much power as the Whitestar, despite greater size. It should be noted that ships capable of opening their own jump point into Hyperspace, unaided by a Jump-Gate, are significantly larger than the Whitestar. Ships of the Earth Alliance, Narn Regime and Centauri Republic with this capability must often be over 500 meters in length. [*Weapon
output based on Sheridan's remark during the weapons test of the
Excalibur in "A Call to Arms", where he noted that the per cannon
weapon output didn't appear to be much greater than that of the
average Whitestar.] |
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