Database and Lore

The Ikra Class Battleship

*Spoilers if you haven't read past Gabatrix: The First Peace arc* "No one can say anything wrong about this ship. The colonial defender came at the right time and will remain with us till it rusts to oblivion," UHN Commander Xue, 2350 AD Venerable and majestic. What started as a new line of warships by the unified Itrean clans had become the mainstay vessel of all three clans. The Ikra class began its design stages as far back as the end of 2297 when the Itreans saw that the Emphra were losing the war. With all attention devoted to eliminating the alien threat once and for all, the clans had put their technologies together. The prototype vessels would be commissioned as far as 2299 with a few that supposedly used to bombard the Emphra homeworld, Emphra’ka, to a radioactive cinder. The early prototype stages would usher in the eventual widespread construction of these new warships. There, they would bolster and eventually dominate the Itrean fleets by 2315 and beyond. Design The frame design of the Ikra is based on the main battleships used by the Aksren and Yutilian clans at the time. The Dixik class and the Ayio’karen class. Much of the interior even follow a similar pattern as well, but the similarities end there. The Ikra class isn’t just a new warship at its introduction but a new philosophical approach for the clans. The entire concept was to introduce a warship that each of the clans could easily use, including having parts that could easily be exchanged between either one or even be used by the other species without any difficulties. It is believed that Gular’shel, a renowned tactician of the Shal’rein was the father of the program. However, other Itreans also played roles in the construction and procurement of the vessels. The entire idea of the Ikra class was to introduce a united warship design. Equipped with all the best technologies of the clans, the battleship could be easily mass-produced and supplement fleets in combating the Emphra fleets with ease. Particle beams used by the Aksren clan, engine facilities, advanced CIWS batteries, a new VLS missile system array, and the best railguns that the Shal’rein offered were all incorporated into the single frame. At the time, the Ikra was considered one of the best warship designs ever introduced while being economically feasible to construct. The Ikra’s greatest strength was that it helped fuel a new movement in the United Itrean Empire or the United Itrean Republic. Construction of them ultimately began in 2300, and the shipyards of all the clans worked in earnest to complete them. While excellent, there is some criticism of the design. For one, while adequate for Yutilians and Aksren, the ring interial habitat is somewhat bad for the Shal’rein. While they were based on the Cujol Class Battleship’s ring design, it was revealed that construction crews cut corners to finish these vessels. There were no efforts to fix this, and the vessels suffered as a result. For the Shal’rein that were more interested in rebuilding their economy, they generally ignored the pleas of the crews. Instead, during peacetime, the ships were generally half operated to help out in crew morale. Unfortunately, this put the ships at a disadvantage because if they needed to be rapidly deployed, it could leave the warships at half operation. Other criticisms from the Shal’rein also placed the vessel as weak in firepower. Even the Cujols, which were cheap, mass-produced battleships, actually had more firepower than the Ikras, although the CIWS batteries were generally improved. Essentially it would be economics that would win out in all of the arguments.   History The Ikras technically never really saw combat besides the prototypes that bombarded Emphra’ka. That was at least until as late as 2339. It would become a successful design that would serve primarily as a glorified field piece. The construction of these battleships was slow but steady in a set of recovering economies. In fact, the economy was really the determining factor in how many were built in any case. Most of the time, they simply served as patrol and defense vessels for worlds as politics and the experimental governments were trying their hardest to keep the fledgling system from caving in on itself. Despite all of this, the importance of the vessel was paramount. Fear of the return of the Emphra made the Ikras look like the most viable options and design ideas ever to be introduced. There was simply nothing else that was better than it except for the Oldra class Dreadnoughts. Its symbolism knew no bounds, and they began to fill the hearts and minds of all the Itrean clans.     As the Trinity began to collapse, so did the value of the Ikra class. By the time it hit 2330, the battleships already had successor models with a vast priority to continually improve the frames depending on how the clans wanted to see fit. What was revolutionary in 2300 was obsolete by 2335 thanks to a rapid push to have a quantifiable warship that could out beat the other. Even then, this didn’t stop the clans from pulling these battleships out of mothball status to fight against each other in 2339. The Ikras were still used to a limited degree to bolster defenses by each of the clans and possibly be used as sacrificial warships in campaigns. What was intended as a vessel of unity was instead an instrument of war as Ikra battleships could be pressed against other Ikra battleships in turn of opposing clans. By the time of the Itrean Civil War, the Ikras were one of the oldest warships besides the few ancient Emphra War vessels pressed into combat. Ironically, it would be a disease that would kill the Ikra class Battleships. Zilik’s Disease that wiped out the male population of all the clans would force the ship back into the yards. As the debate raged if peace were going to be implanted, the military would place a review on what would be used in future warfare. All the clans deemed that because the workforce was reduced by half, the most worthless vessels wouldn’t be used in combat. Ikra battleships were on the chopping block. They had been forced into storage yards where they lay in wait in reserve. With the few exceptions that some would serve as emergency barracks vessels or training roles, they would be virtually ignored, a relic of its failed intentions long ago. The Colonial Defender Ironically, the fate of the Ikra battleships was not completely sealed. In 2349, the T’rintar clan/UWA Alliance would bring new life into the aging vessels. The lend-lease movement had seen the fact that there was a new rising sense of workforce that could use them, humanity. In desperate need of ships to supplement the UHN defense forces, an agreement was made to bring the aging warships to UWA space. The reactivated hulks were rearmed and prepared for battle. Even if they were obsolete against the newer Itrean vessels, it didn’t matter. In enough numbers, they could still overwhelm or discourage the wayward attack fleets that wandered into the UWA. Dubbed the “Colonial Defender” or the “Alien Defender,” hundreds of these ships were sent to the UHN. Technically, the T’rintar clan has no further need of these battleships and has no real care about giving them to the UHN to use. However, it was still important that humanity received the training to operate them properly. Most of these battleships typically had a small amount of Itreans that worked in them to render assistance to the human crews that operated them. Minor modifications were also made to help ensure that humans could adequately control the ships as well. In the end, the Ikra class Battleships are now seen in the distant colony worlds of the UWA. While the main battleships of the UHN are generally kept in the most important of worlds, such as Cebravis, Mars, and Batrice, the Ikras are instead kept in defense fleets over Oshun, Palora, and Eutera. There they lie in wait, being patient if the next Itrean clan assault would ever bring harm to the worlds that they protect and defending worlds thousands of light-years from their original constructed birthplaces.