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The Pathfinder


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The Pathfinder, originally known as Kestrel Red Tail-Class Cruiser, was a light cruiser currently operated by the Nanotrasen scientist Ariff Ng. It was previously owned by a group of military deserters turned pirates but after they were killed in a toxin leak, the ship was salvaged by space scavengers and sold to the black market for the price of only 20,000 Thalers in which it was swiftly bought by Ariff Ng prior to his employment with Nanotrasen and the cruiser was later on heavily customized.


The customization includes advanced modifications to boost the ship's speed, scanner and shield, plus a fast bluespace engine. Originally, Ariff bought the cruiser for his own team of scientists to assist him in his expedition to the frontier for research purpose, thus he added a research lab inside of the ship where it was originally a firing range.


The expedition has brought the ship to at least 18 different systems and over 32 planets. After finding employment with Nanotrasen, Ariff would spend his off days to explore the frontier with his team while using his income to further upgrade and repair the ship.


During their 25th expedition, after retrieving an extremely valuable artifact, Ariff was betrayed by his fellow scientists who confessed their disdain for him and how they wanted to sell the said artifact to the black market and keep the ship for themselves. They left the icy cold planet in which they found the artifact after marooning Ariff Ng with nothing more but a one day supply of ration and a gun with one bullet in its clip.


Ariff would spend about 3 months on the planet, living a feral life of hunting the local faunas with spear and trap while keeping himself warm using animal hides until he was finally rescued by a trading ship that happens to stash contraband on one of the planet's many caves, he managed get their attention using huge bonfire.


After his rescue, Ariff spent another 2 years tracking the Pathfinder while taking the job of a space drug manufacturer for a group of space smugglers to help him get extra fund to enact his vengeance. He later learns that his former team has turned into pirates and used the Pathfinder to attack trading vessels and steal cargo. He used the funds he gained from selling space drugs and the fund he earned from working on Aurora to rent himself a ship that can be described to be small, cheap but extremely fast.


Tracking the raiding pattern of his former partners, he decided to tail random freighters that is heading to the trade route that is commonly raided by those pirates and sure enough, one fateful freighter took a missile to its cockpit and laser bursts into its hull, the sudden attack easily rendered the freighter immobile, sooner or later, the Pathfinder appeared and close in on to the freighter to board it, they fail to notice Ariff in the process and he quickly flew his extremely fast ship towards the Pathfinder before ejecting with military-grade space suit on. Boarding his rightful ship once again through the cargo holds, he intercepted a few of his back stabbing partners who were caught by surprise while looting cargo in which he promptly cauterized them with a few bursts of laser shots before confronting the mastermind behind the betrayal whom he dueled with for half an hour in a brawl before he finally finished him with a shot to the head using the same gun that he was marooned with.


After regaining the ownership to the Pathfinder, Ariff would explore and go to expedition all by himself while operating the ship alone, unwilling to hire anyone as his crewmember until he fully trust them.


Layout & Design


The Pathfinder was modified by Ariff Ng to function better than it original state with an upgraded bluespace engine that allows the cruiser to travel at the top speed of 1,025 km/h. The ship is powered by both solar and phoron energy using the custom made power plant NG Core. The ship can project a thin energy shield around it with a built-in Mackemein Light Shield Projector, only strong enough to deflect light laser beams such as those from an energy gun but can not withstand anything more powerful than that. On logistic side, the ship has a cargo capacity of 100 metric tonne.


The hull of the Pathfnder uses reinforced plasteel plating while its armament includes Star Stinger Rapid Laser Cannon which can fire extremely hot laser at the rate of 40 beams per minute assisted by the Samford Missile Pod which can fire the Mk.8 Phoron Missiles at the rate of 3 missiles per minute.


The cruiser technically is meant to house only 4 crews but with improvisation it can house up to 12 crews, it also lacks escape vehicles with only two space pods stationed in the cargo hold that can only hold one person per pod but then again, with improvisation it can evacuate another 3-4 crew with it.




Top Deck

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Contains anything that is lab related including an infirmary to treat any injured crew or to house rescued stranded ones, Ariff normally uses the top deck for research purpose where he tries to create biological weapons. The cryogenic chambers in the research lab are meant to house his research subjects rather than patients and sometimes he would use the operating table in the infirmary to cut open his test subjects.


Middle Deck

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Contains a common room formerly for crewmembers to relax and socialize in, but now it's just a nap room for Ariff for he operates the ship all by himself. He keeps android there as well to given to him by an old friend to keep him accompanied. There's also a sleeper room for crewmember to sleep in though Ariff himself tend to avoid using it. The middle deck is where the cockpit is located, in the cockpit, one console provides navigation, sensor and interior control while the other console provides communication.


There is also an armory, formerly used by the marines that were stationed on the ship and later on by the scientists turned pirates, the hardsuit and helmet model belongs to the military of the nation that produced the Kestrel Red-tail-Class Cruiser, the hardsuits were designed to withstand all kind of weathers and to allow boarding actions.


In the corridor, Ariff bought and placed four civilian space suits for emergency purpose.


Bottom Deck

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Contains the kitchen and the dining room, it was originally a military cafeteria but Ariff redesigned it to seem less militaristic and more home-like. There is also an old bluespace TV near the dining table for some good old TV dinner.


The engine room and the gunner room is located in this level. In the gunner room, there is a loader to load the Mk.8 Phoron Missiles, the task to load the missiles is normally given to the hacked and modified engineering cyborg that can be seen in the cargo hold. The console in the gunner room provides weapon control, sensor and interior communication.

 





On OOC note, the sprites used for the design was stolen from FTL:Faster Than Light (no shit right?) and Paradise Station's sourcecode.

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