Database and Lore

The Hyhy Class Siege Dreadnought

*Spoilers if you haven’t read Gabatrix: The First Peace* “The Spear of Light is the pinnacle of T’rintar clan ingenuity and years ahead of any UHN asset. It’s on par with Shal’rein clan siege vessels. Its simple design places it in the perfect role of ground buster.” Greater Adjunct Dejalar. There is some debate that the Hyhy class is perhaps the best siege dreadnought that is used by any Itrean clan. While this is only partially true, the high expensive cost, purpose, and how they conduct their warfare limits their combat capability. However, it’s more than apparent that the vessel is perfect for its role in ground support operations. Its survivability is much higher than any other siege dreadnought, which makes its cost more than viable in construction. Design Initially, it was never intended for the T’rintar clan or the former Yutilian clan ever to devise the concept of a siege dreadnought. The idea of having a large vessel devoted to firing a single heavy railgun flew in the face of most Yutilian veterans that preferred using guided munitions to take down planetary targets. However, 2340 was a different time frame. By then, the Shal’rein refuges from the Emphra War had begun living in T’rintar clan space. At the same time, the Shal’rein clan already had introduced the early prototype of the Equix class. The T’rintar clan strategy was beginning to change, and there was enough influence to bring a new type of long-distance attack warship. Railguns were already being adopted by the late 2290s, but the T’rintar were more accepting of them in the 2330s. The Hyhy or “Spear of Light” class was somewhat similar to the Alrow class that the Aksren clan would adopt a few years later. The entire frame of the Hyhy is established around a singular powerful railgun. In reality, the structure of the warship is straightforward. However, it was one major item that the vessel would include that would push the ship into fame. The original concept of the Hyhy was to have a siege warship that could “remain at home.” Technically, it was more than possible to have a siege cannon vessel that could stay in the home territories of friendly space. As far as Jalgren and beyond, there were vessels that could open up wormholes to fire torpedoes and railguns through it. This would essentially turn the ships into mobile interstellar space guns. However, it was quite tricky to achieve. Gates can be shut down, and it was quickly possible to shoot through the gate to hit the attacking vessels. There would be little to defend against the firing vessels if the defenders fired back. Regardless, the T’rintar and the Shal’rein T’rintar wanted to revisit the concept. With ships, such as the Bresh, that had been introduced, the Hyhy was to include a prefabricated gate array. The prefabricated gate array was mounted directly in front of the Hyhy’s frame. This would allow the vessel to open up a wormhole through the ring. Once this was done, the siege dreadnought could fire its powerful railgun through the gate to the next solar system or from other worlds. In emergency situations, the dreadnought could decouple the gate array and fly through it to escape to another solar system. This very idea put the Hyhy’s design status to that of great renown. Not since the days of Jalgren had a design like that been considered. The vessel could remain at home and shell enemy planets while remaining in the safety of friendly space. The rest of the frame of the Hyhy is not that remarkable. Its CIWS armament is moderate at best. Its sole duty is to be a powerful mobile railgun platform and destroy planetary defenses or facilities. It’s not designed to combat other warships. History While there was an initial order for the Hyhy to be produced, Zilik’s Disease would ultimately be the determining factor in limiting production. However, unlike the myriad of other warships, the Hyhy’s construction was only hampered down by so much. The prototype was already available and fully operational by 2340, but it would take another couple of years before the full production would kick in. By 2342, a series of the Hyhy were available as the cease-fire came to a close. The Hyhy’s legacy came into full fruition during the early years of the Itrean Civil War. The ability to shell planets while being in another solar system was considered an incredible act. However, right from the start, there were issues. T’rintar gunners and the best computer equipment still made outer solar system targeting difficult. While interesting by some points, the gun's accuracy is somewhat limited. It was difficult to precisely hit small targets, let alone stationary ones, even with heavy shelling. Firing a hypervelocity round that travels through a wormhole to hit extremely distant targets was challenging. By the time the Hyhy would gain a proper angle to hit a target, it was likely that defenses would fire through the wormhole opening and hit the siege dreadnought in turn. Another significant factor was cost. The Hyhy was expensive to produce, costing as much as two to three Alamaiz class Dreadnoughts. The prefabricated rings combined with the powerful heavy railgun and power generation required enormous effort to create them took a toll. Out of the three siege dreadnoughts used by each of the Itrean clans, the Hyhy is on par with the Equix class used by the Shal’rein clan. Its usage is also further limited, making it less practical than the Equix. However, this hadn’t stopped the T’rintar clan from utilizing the Hyhy on many different occasions. The T’rintar clan might have played a defensive war, but it didn’t prevent them from using the Hyhy to open gates and shell targets from other solar systems. The amount of damage was mostly negligible, but it didn’t take long for the other clans to begin increasing the siege dreadnoughts in their possession. The Alrow that the Aksren clan used was a direct response to the Hyhy, and their cheaper cost made them more openly used to attack and invade other systems. Even with the amount of damage that the Hyhy inflicted, the overall effectiveness has been somewhat questioned. Regardless, many have seen the fantastic concept that fell behind what the Hyhy had done. The UHN has even classified the Hyhy dreadnoughts as one of the most revolutionary designs of gate folding warfare. Only the sheer lack of them makes them less dangerous to the other clan species. *Spoilers if you haven’t read Gabatrix: The Cipra Campaign* When Operation Desert Shrike was underway, the T’rintar clan would use three Hyhy dreadnoughts to help shell the ground targets that were on Cipra. It was expected that enemy ground defenses would hamper UHN marine assault carriers were present, but constant shelling from the Hyhys would knock many of them out of commission. At the onset of the 2^nd  siege of Cipra, the warships would shell from the distant orbit of Mars. The ability to hit a planet almost a hundred light-years away had formed quite a spectacle for UHN brass to see. However, even with such an ability, the Hyhys capabilities were hampered. Improper intel data only revealed half the amount of ground defenses. While the shelling managed to knock out a vast majority of these known targets, the other Aksren defenses would remain to bash the marine forces. At the same time, one of the Hyhys, the Jak’tresrex, took two hits from enemy counterfire, disabling much of the vessel. After the battle, the ship managed to return back to T’rintar clan space to be repaired.