[Alkonost] Liberator-class Frigate

Hull: Frigate
Power: 15/1 free
Mass: 15/0 free
Hardpoints: 6/4 free

Cost: 5,685,000
Budget Points: 28
Annual Maintenance: 3
Annual Payroll: 6
Total Annual Cost: 9

Hit Points: 40
Crew: 10/80
Speed: +2
Armour: 10
AC: 7

Weaponry: Charged Particle Caster (+3 to hit/3d6+1, AP 15, Clumsy)
Defenses: Hardened Polyceramic Overlay (-5 incoming AP)
Fittings: Spike Drive-3, Armoury, Atmospheric Configuration, Boarding Tubes, Drop Pod, Extended Stores, Lifeboats, Ship's Locker
Standard Crew: Captain (usually Commander), Astrogation: 3, Communications: 3, Deck: 8, Engineering: 3, Medical: 3, Supply: 2, Weapons: 3, Marines: 34. Total: 60 Crew.

First produced in 3185, the Liberator-class Frigate is now the mainstay of the Liberation Fleets, completely supplanting the aging Zoriya hand-me-downs from the Alkonost Republic. Built on Laana, these ships exemplify the Liberation Worlds' aggressive naval doctrine: strong anti-frigate and anti-cruiser offensive capabilities combined with a full Marine platoon for boarding actions and groundside operations. The Liberator's main weakness is against large numbers of fighters, but when operating defensibly in a Liberated Worlds system, Type-81 Interceptors are usually available for an anti-fighter role.

[Alkonost] Type-81 Interceptor

Hull: Fighter
Power: 5/2 free
Mass: 2/0 free
Hardpoints: 1/0 free

Cost: 255,000
Budget Points: 1
Annual Maintenance: 0
Annual Payroll: 1
Total Annual Cost: 1


Hit Points: 8
Crew: 1/1
Speed: +5
Armour: 5
AC: 4

Weaponry: Sandthrower (+3 to hit/2d4+1, Flak)
Defenses: None
Fittings: Atmospheric Configuration

Standard Crew: 1 Pilot. Total: 1 Crew.

As the Incunablis Machine Empire makes extensive use of fighter-based harassment tactics, it is not surprising that the number one enemy of the Empire, the Liberated Worlds, has produced a fighter specifically designed to kill other fighters - in a word, an interceptor. While almost totally ineffective against larger military craft, the Type-81 Interceptor can make short work of any Incunablis Fighter. These cheap spacecraft are mass-produced by the Liberated Worlds, and stationed on many local outposts, mines and stations as a countermeasure to fighter harassment attacks.

[Alkonost] Incunablis Fighter

Hull: Fighter
Power: 5/1 free
Mass: 2/0 free
Hardpoints: 1/0 free

Cost: 305,000
Budget Points: 2
Annual Maintenance: 0
Annual Payroll: 1
Total Annual Cost: 1

Hit Points: 8
Crew: 1/1
Speed: +5
Armour: 5
AC: 4

Weaponry: Reaper Battery (+3 to hit/3d4+1, Clumsy)
Defenses: None
Fittings: Atmospheric Configuration

Standard Crew: 1 Cyborg Pilot. Total: 1 Crew.

The Incunablis Machine Empire does not use its fighters against enemy military craft. Rather, it uses them against under-defended enemy strategic targets such as remote asteroid mines and research stations, forcing the enemy to spread out its fleet over many disparate locations in an attempt to stop these harassment attacks. The common tactic used with these fighters is to Drill an Incunablis Carrier into the oort cloud of a system, then send its fighters, who have a long endurance due to the use of cyborg pilots, to harass targets all over the system, before returning to the Carrier and Drilling out. While ineffective against armoured military ships, the Incunablis Fighter's Reaper Battery is not limited by ammunition and is perfectly suited for killing "soft-skinned" civilian targets.

[Alkonost] Zmey-class Missile Frigate

Hull: Frigate
Power: 15/3 free
Mass: 15/1 free
Hardpoints: 6/5 free

Cost: 4,965,000
Budget Points: 25
Annual Maintenance: 3
Annual Payroll: 3
Total Annual Cost: 6

Hit Points: 40
Crew: 10/40
Speed: +2
Armour: 10
AC: 7

Weaponry: Torpedo Launcher (+3 to hit/3d8, AP 20, 20 Torpedoes in Magazine)
Defenses: None
Fittings: Spike Drive-3, Atmospheric Configuration, Ship's Locker, Armory, Lifeboats.

Standard Crew: Captain (usually Lieutenant Commander), Astrogation: 3, Communications: 3, Deck: 5, Engineering: 3, Medical: 1, Supply: 1, Weapons: 3, Marines 8. Total: 28 Crew.

First built in 3178, the Zmey-class ("Zmey" is "Dragon" in Russian) Missile Frigate replaced the old Zoriya's general-purpose patrol-boat design with an attack-centric design, using powerful torpedoes as its primary weapon. While having less "legs" than the venerable Zoriya, the Zmey is much more effective against cruisers and capital warships, as its torpedoesare  capable of penetrating heavy armour. This design proved its worth in the Sicarii campaign of 3188, where it excelled in taking out the heavily-armoured Incunablis frigates and cruisers. Unlike the Zoriya, which was designed for individual patrol missions as well as large-scale naval combat, the Zmey operates almost exclusively in squadrons organized to target armoured enemy ships.

[Alkonost] Zoriya-class Frigate

Hull: Frigate
Power: 15/0 free
Mass: 15/0 free
Hardpoints: 6/3 free

Cost: 5,590,000
Budget Points: 28
Annual Maintenance: 3
Annual Payroll: 3
Total Annual Cost: 6

Hit Points: 40
Crew: 10/40
Speed: +2
Armour: 10
AC: 7

Weaponry: Plasma Beam (+3 to hit/3d6, AP 10), Flack Emitter Battery (+3 to hit/2d6, AP 10, Flack)
Defenses: None
Fittings: Spike Drive-2, Armoury, Atmospheric Configuration, Extended Medbay, Lifeboats, Ship's Locker, Extended Stores, Fuel Scoops, Boarding Shuttle

Standard Crew: Captain (usually Lieutenant Commander), Astrogation: 3, Communications: 3, Deck: 5, Engineering: 3, Medical: 2, Supply: 1, Weapons: 4, Marines: 8. Total: 30 Crew.

The Zorya class of multi-purpose Frigate, designed in the 3120's, was the mainstay of the early Alkonost Republic's fleet. While lacking modern protection or heavy weapons, it had, nonetheless, long-range and long-duration capabilities, enabling it to cater to the young Republic's varied and often conflicting naval needs.

These ships excelled at breaking the power of the piratical Chornaya Armada during the Coreward Police Action (3127-3128) as well as in many smaller interdiction and counter-piracy campaigns in the 3120's, 3130's and 3140's. The Zorya-class frigates started to show their relative weakness, however, in the Incunablis War (3151-3180), where the Zorya's weapons were relatively ineffective against the well-armoured Machine frigates. These ships were relegated to a secondary role in 2178, many of them supplied to the fledgling Laanese navy after the 3174 Liberation. In the 3180's, they were gradually phased out of service and supplanted by the far more modern Zmey-class Missile Frigate. Today a few ships of this class are still active in the hands of mercenaries, independent world navies, corporations, and, unfortunately, a few well-off pirates.

[Alkonost] Konya-class Light Merchant

Hull: Free Merchant
Power: 10/2 free
Mass: 15/7 free
Hardpoints: 2/2 free

Cost: 820,000
Budget Points: 4
Annual Maintenance: 0
Annual Payroll: 1
Total Annual Cost: 1

Hit Points: 20
Crew: 1/12
Speed: +3
Armour: 2
AC: 6

Weaponry: None
Defenses: None
Fittings: Spike Drive-2, Atmospheric Configuration, Fuel Scoops, Ship's Locker, Extended Life Support, Fuel Bunkers, Extended Stores, 140 tons of Cargo Space

Standard Crew: Pilot/Engineer and up to eleven passengers

The Konya-class Light Merchant (Konya meaning "Horse" in Russian), first produced in 3139 on Alkonost, was a quantum leap from the much older Mul. With doubled drill capacity and more than doubled passenger capacity, the Konyas ply the interstellar trade-routes all over the Alkonost Sector. Its main disadvantage when compared to the older Mul is its lack of armament; but its Fuel Bunkers allow it to drill away from danger even when emerging from a spike drill. It also has a much smaller cargo capacity, which is why many merchants who follow safer routes sometimes remove the Fuel Bunkers and Extended Stores in order to make room for more trade goods.

[Alkonost] Mul-class Corsair

Hull: Free Merchant
Power: 10/0 free
Mass: 15/0 free
Hardpoints: 2/1 free

Cost: 790,000
Budget Points: 4
Annual Maintenance: 0
Annual Payroll: 1
Total Annual Cost: 1

Hit Points: 20
Crew: 2/12
Speed: +3
Armour: 2
AC: 6

Weaponry: Reaper Battery (+1 to hit/3d4, Clumsy)
Defenses: None
Fittings: Spike Drive-1, Atmospheric Configuration, Fuel Scoops, Ship's Locker, Armory, Extended Life Support, 200 tons of Cargo Space

Customary Crew: Pilot/Engineer, Gunner and 4 Pirates; potential for up to six captives

The anarchic bandit of the Upper Alkonost Cluster (Rusalka and Domovoi) were some of the first to recognize the full potential of the cheap Mul-class Merchant mass-produced by the Sirin Orbital Shipyards at the dawn of the 32nd century. These criminals, rascals and trouble-makers quickly acquired a significant number of such Traders, and, using chop-shops in their bases in the Rusalka Belt, modified them into fully-fledged corsair craft; their weak Multifocal Lasers were replaced by much more intimidating Reaper Batteries, armories wee installed, and their crew capacity was doubled to allow for a gang of four pirates to be carried, as well as up to six captives.

By the mid-3120's, these pirates have amassed so many of these ships that they could created the Chornaya Armada, or Black Armada, a huge pirate flotilla which terrorized nearby worlds. This was too much for the Restored Alkonost Republic, which sent its navy in 3127 to put an end to this threat. While most of the Chornaya Armada was wiped up by the Republic Navy, this set of modifications is highly common in the hands of pirates, smugglers, criminals and even honest merchants in search for a ship with a bigger gun and a larger passenger capacity.