NRS Vin'Tak-Var (2228)

 

The Vin'Tak-Var was a G'Quan class heavy cruiser built by Ma'Kan industries at the Wings of G'Lan orbital facility in the Narn Regime home system. She was the first of the second batch of G'Quans and was launched with her sister ship the Na'Tor at the end of the earth year 2228. She was the fourth ship to carry the name, and the first space capable vessel bearing it.

Construction

Constructed at the Wings of G'lan orbital facility, and launched in 2228, she differed from previous G'Quan class ships in her armament. She was the first ship to be equipped, as built, with the newly developed pulse weapons, rather than the Ion and Plasma based weapons of previous ships of her class. Her  energy mine launcher was also a more advanced version, and launched more powerful munitions. Her hangars were also redesigned to be able to receive the newer Frazi heavy fighters that were just starting to enter limited service in addition to the existing Gorith Interceptor.
Following her launch, she underwent space trials, and was accepted into service at the start of Earth year 2229.

Early Career.

For much of 2229 she participated in exercises alongside her sister ship the Na'Tor. The Vin'Tak-Var would operate as a pair with the Na'Tor for the entirety of her career. The findings from the exercises led to a directive from the Kha'Ri that all existing G'Quans would undergo refits to bring them up to her standard when they were scheduled for their regular maintenance cycles.

The Vin'Tak-Var and the Na'Tor

In mid 2229 she was assigned as part of a task force conducting anti-piracy patrols along the border with the Centauri Republic where she scored her first kill destroying a Vorchan class cruiser that had been operated by a raider group before proceeding to locate the base of operations and capture it.

An encounter with 'Raiders'

Following this deployment, she then participated in further exercises as part of the Narn Expeditionary fleet.

Deployment to the Ptarlack system

At the end of 2229 she was assigned to a task force charged with occupying the Ptarlack system. She and the Na'Tor were tasked with securing the trade station that had been discovered. This was achieved with no resistance, and then she moved to support a group of Narn ships that had encountered Centauri forces. They were too late to take a direct role in the fighting, but their presence persuaded the Centauri to withdraw, despite the loss of several Narn Ships.

The Vin'Tak-Var engages the Centauri with a small fleet

Following this she investigated the outermost planet in the system where a well disguised but abandoned outpost was discovered on one of the planets moons. Investigations revealed that there had been several facilities like this throughout the system. after leaving some troops and picket ships to guard the outpost She made her way to the innermost rocky planet where a second outpost was found, this time there was some abandoned technology, and the Narn engineers were able to use this to improve the efficiency of the Vin'Tak-Vars sensor array. They had planned to do likewise to the Na'Tor, but they received orders to regroup at the trade station.

She then moved in company with the bulk of the Narn force present in the system through hyperspace towards the fourth planet. scouts had detected Centauri and Dilgar forces closing to engage each other. The Narn fleet would wait in hyperspace, and then jump in to engage the victor to secure the system in one swoop. This attempt was unsuccessful as a solar flare overloaded the sensors of the scout ship assigned to provide the jump beacon, and the remnant of the Dilgar and Centauri forces disengaged.

The Vin'Tak-Var then moved to the 5th planet in the system, a gas giant, that had been used as a base of operations by the Centauri. There the Narn force intercepted a Centauri force and brought them to battle. During the engagement, She damaged 2 Vorchan Class ships with an energy mine, before destroying one with her main armament, and then scored numerous hits on a Centauri Octurion class battleship which was crippled and disabled by the Narn force. She then targetted an Elturian class destroyer, and was able to seriously damage the ship before it was able to withdraw.
During the fighting she received one hit from the Octurion which penetrated her armoured hull but did little except shear off a section of armoured plating.

The Narn force regrouped at the Trade station, where temporary repairs were made, and She then moved to intercept a Dilgar force moving to attack, but the Dilgar withdrew before any fire was exchanged.

Second battle of Ptarlack, and Loss.

The Vin'Tak-Var was part of the Narn fleet that moved to engage the main Dilgar force in orbit of Ptarlack, and was on the Narn left flank together with her sister ship the Na'Tor. In the opening phase of the engagement she scored hits on a Tratharti gunship, and was then able to destroy another one with her secondary armament. Further hits were scored on a Wahant class assault ship, and her energy mine caught a pair of Mankhats in its blast radius damaging both.

The Narn fleet attacks Ptarlack

The Mankhats returned fire with their missiles and overwhelmed the ships defences causing significant damage to the ship. Her forward armament was disabled, as was her primary sensor array, and many of her secondary weapons. Power fluctuations forced her to reduce thrust to her engines and the captain requested permission to fall out of formation and withdraw. Before permission could be granted, the ship exploded and was lost with all hands.

The wreck of the ship was recovered following the Centauri and Dilgar withdrawl from the Ptarlack system where she was stripped of all remaining weapons, and then broken up in Ptarlack orbit.

She was stricken from the Narn naval register at the start of 2230, and the name was assigned to a newly constructed G'Quan later that year.

Analysis of loss.

Sensors report that a single high yield missile penetrated the armour scheme of the ship on the port front quarter. This area had been damaged by a Centauri Octurion and the damage repaired in the field. The remainder of the missiles fired by the Dilgar failed to penetrate the armour scheme, and instead detonated on, or very shortly after impact .While the damage to the ships hull had been extensive, and the main battery and much of the ships secondary battery had been rendered inoperative, the G'Quan was still able to move under her own power.

The Dilgar missile barrage had been programmed to attack from 'above' and 'below' the ship and a single missile penetrated the hull at the location of previously received and repaired damage, passed through several layers of splinter protection before, it is suspected, coming to rest part way through the central citadel. This is located just to the rear of the Heavy Laser cannon, and contains, among other things, the main power plants and the capacitor for the main armament. Secondary protection is provided by tanks of hydrogen fuel for the fusion reactors which also acts as coolant for the heavy laser cannon. Sensor reports suggest that after coming to rest, the Dilgar missile detonated after a 25 second delay. the Blast was initially contained by the citadel, but at least one, possibly 2 of the fusion reactors were fractured. the blast caused flexing of the citadel which fractured the hydrogen fuel tanks. This flooded the engineering space, likely killing all crew present instantly. The blast effects additionally caused the high energy capacitor to immediately discharge itself.

The secondary effects of this damage was a 50% reduction in the available power to all systems, observable by a rapid loss of engine power by adjacent ships. The venting of the coolant tanks also caused the ship to veer to port slightly as the gasses escaped through the breach caused by the missile path.

approx 0.014 seconds after these effects were observed, the ship detonated in a multi megaton explosion which destroyed 8 nearby fighters, as well as caused damage to the Na'Tor 
It is suspected that the presence of high pressure hydrogen, the missile detonation and a high energy capacitor discharge in conjunction with at least one fractured fusion reactor caused a  cascade fusion reaction in the citadel which killed the entire crew instantly and destroyed the entire ship 0.003 seconds later.

A more complete analysis was impossible. The wreck of the Vin'Tak-Var was recovered, and was remarkably intact given the yield of the explosion, but the core of the ship, the citadel, had been totally destroyed.

The loss highlights a significant design flaw in the G'Quan. The ship makes extensive use of compartmentalization to limit damage from weapons fire, and has a relatively thin forward aspect. this means the defensive depth of the hull from above and below is far more limited than attacks from any other aspect. Combat experience has shown that provided a G'Quan can keep an enemy vessel in its forward aspect, it is incredibly resilient, but the armour scheme provides far less protection from other directions.