Named after the creed of old imperial warriors, the Makhai starships inherited a grand legacy. Their outstanding record has in part been attributed to their commander's ambition to live up to the name. As the vanguard of the realm, ships of this class stood guard on Amad Tir's frontier for more than a century, their courage and ability regularly challenged by rival patrols, Buccanneers, and stranger interlopers.
Built at the onset of Amad Tir's Century of Trials, the Makhai-class was conceived by the realm's most skilled shipwrights, utilizing cutting-edge technologies and shipbuilding experience of the frontier. It became an exemplary showcase of Amad Tir's determination to prove its worth in industrial ingenuity and military prowess to the Imperium.
The result was a warship of the next generation, one capable of operating highly independently and dealing with phenomena and threats Amad Tir had never before encountered. Despite its modest size, the Makhai had the potential to fill the role of a Caravel Cruiser, becoming the tip of the spear for future expansions.
It would take multiple iterations for this potential to be fully realized, a pursuit aided by the growing experiences gained during half a century of trials, and an influx of technological improvements introduced by imperial contacts of the realm.
The tenacity with which the Makhai was developed finally yielded a fierce warship valued by strategists and commanders alike for its flexibility and effectiveness in deep space operations.
Lacking the refined optimizations of later designs, service aboard a Makhai starship is still considered taxing and seen as a trial-by-fire for cadets fresh off the academy. Much was learned during the development and deployment of the Makhai, and many of these lessons informed improvements upon the design for newer ships. Still, more than a century after its first introduction into active service, the Makhai remains an important component of Amad Tirs fleets and armada. As such, after being built as one of the first warships in a new generation, the Makhai now also remains one of the last designs from before Amad Tir's Imperial Ascension still relevant to the new era.
A plethora of complex interior sections and systems fill the armored hull of the Makhai-Class caravel cruiser. The need to minimize mass while retaining the security and necessary redundancies left little room in excess of the primary systems. As the development of a viable drive and weapons platforms had absolute priority during the first drafts of the design, crew habitats and accommodations were fitted around those central systems at a later stage, leading to in parts labyrinthine layouts and maintenance crawlspaces.
Two-thirds of the Makhai's internal volume are taken up by the main propulsion and energy systems. Sensors and armament form the second and third largest sections respectively, their components equally organized in networks throughout the hull. By contrast, habitable sections and crew accommodations make up only a small portion of the ship. Bulkheads divide the protective citadels of larger compartments, while corridors and crawl spaces are wrapped in synthetic mesh, letting projectiles straight through yet retaining the atmosphere. To minimize corrosion and the danger of explosive decompression events, only these sections are permanently pressurized, while the larger part of the vessel remains in a vacuum.
Maintenance crews, inspectors, and operators of secondary systems spend significant amounts of time beyond the habitable compartments during day-to-day operations. During these times, the outer parts of the vessel are rarely put under temporary pressure. More often, environmental suits and exoskeletons are necessities of regular operations.
Systems and Sections alike are split into groups according to their tasks and purpose. Most of these groups are not located in a single part of the vessel but spread throughout the hull. Rather than dividing the ship into distinct areas, operations and control rather distinguish different networked structures of systems, compartments, and machinery. The places where these networks intersect, in terms of physical function, information flow, and command structure, are the most crucial points of the ship's overall system. In day-to-day operations, these intersections must be kept as efficient as possible to facilitate the ship's performance. In battle, these intersections are the first potential weak points in need of protection. Both command and damage-control plan accordingly.
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