Behemoth-III Program

Year: 322 CE - 230 CE

With various advances in technology being made possible lately, the CSIS military opened up applications to designate a contractor to manufacture a new 'Behemoth-III Class' warship, proposing that both ALM and Aeternus build a prototype with one being selected by the CSIS Procurement Council to serve as the company to be contracted for the model. Several requirements for the prototypes were proposed; The same base hull as the Behemoth Class and Behemoth-II Class, Built around the Umojan Corp Class X Triple Charge Yamato Cannon, dense shields capable of absorbing a barrage from a Yamato Cannon, full sensor capabilities (including Subspace RADAR), Tachyon Detectors, and cloak detectors), a neosteel armour belt, both a long-term use and a short-range FTL Drive, new TRX Air-to-Air and Air-to-Surface batteries, a nuclear arsenal, and a standard Behemoth hangar bay. The sheer size of these crafts was made possible via automation as only 100 people were an absolute requirement for a Behemoth to function well enough to be serviceable (a necessity during the Accord-YNF War), but most were crewed by around 5000 people out of CSIS' active+reserve military of 25 million, though less automated ships often required more. Both ALM and Aeternus Shipyards began planning out their prototypes, hoping to secure the contract.

Aeternus Shipyards and Aeternus Combat Systems began manufacturing the first prototype segments of the agreed upon design for the Behemoth III in 323 CE in order to improve its design and test for any unnoticed problems. By 326 CE, Aeternus Shipyards sent in their finalized designs and received funding from the CSIS to begin building the first prototype which was expected to be completed in 330. Once 330 arrived, the ALM provided its prototype first, soon being followed by Aeternus a few months later as they presented their prototype codenamed 'Eclipse' which met all the requirements the CIS government requested alongside many other improvements over the Behemoth-II.

In the Eclipse the two large Tokamak Reactors and auxiliary power units used in previous Behemoths were replaced with four REMPAS Fusion Reactors which skipped the conversion of fusion to heat to power by drawing electricity directly from the fusion process via magnets which provided a better fuel efficiency, allowing only one reactors (when pushed to its limits) to be capable of running the entire ship without support even if it was recommended for at least two to be active at a time to avoid blackouts, which was implemented alongside an additional feature of the new reactors which was that they required a large initial activation current which necessitated large capacitator banks which could be manually connected and discharged into the ship's electrical system during emergencies capable of providing a short energy spike to specific systems if necessary at the cost of frying more delicate circuits. When it came to weapons, the Eclipse possessed a modular system where older defence batteries could easily be replaced with newer ones as technology improved by detaching them from the hull, though alongside the ship's main weapons a total-coverage point defence system was also implemented in the form of Gatling turrets with smart fuse ammunition. The computer system consisted of one main server and several smaller computer stations distributed across the ship which can be both remotely/manually shut down or isolated from the network, though restoring connection required physical input. The engines of the Eclipse utilised a variation of the 'Volcano Thruster System' with fast ignition, response time, and max thrust output even if they did have relatively bad low thrust fuel efficiency. The Eclipse's shields were among the best to have been proposed as both energy screens and deflectors (which work better at long-range by diverting impacts) whose shield generators overlapped over vital areas to provide better protection, while the continued function of the generators was made possible with liquid nitrogen cooling which allowed them to take a much higher load before melting or automatically shutting down to avoid damage to their functionality (as it was deemed more favourable to have shields that can recover after being taken out rather than shields which absorb an immense hit and permanently break), altogether being powerful enough to slow incoming impacts from weapons of as high calibre as the CIS' Yamato Cannons to the point of being prevented from penetrating the ship's armour. The armour of the Eclipse mainly consisted of neosteel with an additional layer of ablative over more crucial sections, though this layer is only an optional addition on certain vessels due to the high production cost of ablative.

Following extensive trials, Aeternus won the contract for the Behemoth-III Class due to the ALM's prototype having significantly underperforming reactor systems which easily failed to meet the electrical needs of the ship when put under stress. The CIS placed an initial order of 50 Behemoth-III classes as well as subsidising the expansion of Aeternus' ship-building infrastructure. After this, the CIS cancelled a previous contract of 1000 Behemoth-IIs from Aeternus as the CIS was more interested in getting Behemoth-IIIs as soon as possible, which necessitated a very pricy cancellation fee. The prototype Eclipse as approved for active service in the CIS fleet, being designated as the 'CSS Eclipse' within the Europa-Degaulle Drydocks.