Bonaventure survey cruiser

Background

During the lead-up to the Third World War (2052-2053) on Earth, the United States Air Force engaged in the development and construction of varying series of warcraft for the 800-4000 km orbital region. The vanguard of a large defensive space cruiser class was begun with the prototype Seneca at Space Station Freedom’s assembly berth 02. The ship was essentially an enlarged version of the Eurasian Confederation’s Keldysh cruiser class. However, construction was halted late in the process in favor of the more traditional (and less ambitious) Guardian series of large manned combat spacecraft, due to budgetary constraints. By the post-First Contact period of 2064, the Seneca hull was in the dead-center of a shrapnel cloud in a decaying orbit. The international warp development teams tugged her into the now-vacant Valiant construction berth, to become a more robust survey cruiser for the planet newly starstruck by a galactic manifest destiny.

The Seneca’s lateral fuel tanks provided the protective structure for two 30,000-ton warp coil assemblies, with intra-system propulsion dependent upon the tried-and-true three-chamber fusion powerplant bolted to the stern of the centerline main fuel tank. Cooling was provided via the relatively large radiator surfaces of the main propulsion channel. The phrase “Bonaventure – the dream is alive” proudly broadcast the change in name and raison d’être; the existing American pennant was joined by the pennants of the other partner nations. Despite the scientific and exploration mission, two Sorac 1.2 Plus class lasers were installed, along with suites of missile warning systems and glass bead emitters (for defense versus lasers), to demonstrate Earth’s capacity for self-defense. Two former USAF sentry platform maintenance shuttles were mounted on the respective attachments bolted to the central fuel tank; they could only be crewed following a spacewalk from the command section, but they provided a means to approach natural bodies, such as asteroid belts of alien systems, without directly endangering the safety of the ship. Various optical and electronic telescopes were crammed into the various spaces of the main hull.

The Bonaventure first entered service with a three-month shakedown cruise outside the Sol system in 2065, before departing to Tau Ceti in 2066. She was 206.1 meters in length, 63.4 meters wide, and 66.7 meters high (when the radiator was deployed in the open position). She massed about 79,400 metric tons. Her warp assemblies allowed for a speedy warp 2 for cruising, with a maximum speed of warp 2.5; her mission endurance was a very impressive six years. She was equipped with one general purpose laboratory, and one dedicated to planetary sciences. The ship’s hull was mottled with hexagonal three-dimensional scanned telescopic arrays and one port-side electro-rigidized deployable radio antenna. Two (previously mentioned) shuttles were bolted to the ventral side of the central fuel tank and two shuttlepods for extravehicular maintenance were stored in the aft cargo bay of the command hull. The ship was crewed by 45 specialists with a gamut of areas of expertise and nations of origin.

The Bonaventure was not Earth’s first ship to attempt a two-way interstellar journey, but she was the first to complete it, beating the three surviving pre-warp Columbus ships (Icarus, Hector, and Prometheus) home by about a decade, with her return from Tau Ceti. She would go missing on the third trip out, to Sirius in 2077, but not missing from her place in history.

Missions

• Mission 2065: Three-month shakedown cruise outside the Sol system
• Mission 2066: Exploration of the Tau Ceti system
• Mission 2077: Exploration of the Sirius system (craft lost)

Blueprints/Orthos

Bonaventure survey cruiser

Last Updated on 2403.15 by admin