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Description

This illustration brought to you by the main theme from Pacific Rim.

An Orca gunboat alert crew of the 116th Titan Interceptors prepare to depart their ground side base on short notice, just behind their sister ship.

Cheap, expendable and requiring minimal manning, gunboat squadrons were positioned around populous systems such that they could cover major spacelanes and arrive in a matter of hours, though often this would require pushing the tiny ships beyond their powered endurance. As such, an interceptor scramble would regularly be followed closely by either tugs or tankers such that the manned missiles could return home.

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Final one before I go back to work. Wow I am never trying to work out perspective on a spherical screen again. As the Orca has no exterior windows, the idea was that the bridge should have a spherical view screen instead, centred on the helmsman's position... everyone else is going to have to put up with some distortion. Unfortunately, all I managed to do was confuse myself. Not my finest illustrative moment and, to be honest, I'm kind of glad to see the back of it now...

As an aside, each Orca has a crew of three: Commander, engineer and helm; with the helm and commander sharing responsibility for tactical and astrogation. As a result, instead of a rating, the ships are often helmed by a sub-lieutenant, fresh off their midshipman's cruise and in need of experience.

Description

This illustration brought to you by the main theme from Pacific Rim.

An Orca gunboat alert crew of the 116th Titan Interceptors prepare to depart their ground side base on short notice, just behind their sister ship.

Cheap, expendable and requiring minimal manning, gunboat squadrons were positioned around populous systems such that they could cover major spacelanes and arrive in a matter of hours, though often this would require pushing the tiny ships beyond their powered endurance. As such, an interceptor scramble would regularly be followed closely by either tugs or tankers such that the manned missiles could return home.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Final one before I go back to work. Wow I am never trying to work out perspective on a spherical screen again. As the Orca has no exterior windows, the idea was that the bridge should have a spherical view screen instead, centred on the helmsman's position... everyone else is going to have to put up with some distortion. Unfortunately, all I managed to do was confuse myself. Not my finest illustrative moment and, to be honest, I'm kind of glad to see the back of it now...

As an aside, each Orca has a crew of three: Commander, engineer and helm; with the helm and commander sharing responsibility for tactical and astrogation. As a result, instead of a rating, the ships are often helmed by a sub-lieutenant, fresh off their midshipman's cruise and in need of experience.