Gladius-class

The Gladius-class is a modern class of light destroyer manufactured by the Sirius Shipyards corporation for the Trident Foundries military.

Description
A fairly long and voluminous ship, the Gladius-class was designed from the outset as a pure military vessel, packing huge forward firepower into a shell barely bigger than a heavy frigate.

Exterior
The exterior is made up primarily of interlocking white armour panels, arranged at various angles to maximise protection on important sections of the ship. Trident stripes are prominently displayed on these panels. Following the action of 14 December 2433, it was determined that this armour was insufficient, after the sinking of two and the severe damage sustained to three of the five Gladius-class destroyers engaged during that action.

Interior
Gladius is lacking many amenities found aboard lesser vessels, such as mess halls and recreation rooms. Life aboard a Gladius was difficult, particularly in wartime, due to the spartan nature of its living conditions and relative unsuitability for combat against the bigger cruisers and ships of the line she was expected to face.

Systems
Quad capital-grade plasma cannons cap the front end of the ship, with twin high-yield fusion missile launchers below and behind these. It was assumed the Gladius ' main strength lied in the coverage of its turret batteries. In practice, however, many of these turrets failed to operate, insignificantly damaging the cruisers Kadsura and Arrakis Infinite during the action of 14 December 2433. The missiles of the Quieros Shield and her sister ships proved to be much more lethal.

Most Gladius-class ships do not carry a cargo bay. However there are exceptions, like the TRV Quieros Shield, with an external cargo pad retrofit to the midsection.

History
During acceptance trials in July 2432, the class was changed from frigate to light destroyer to recognise the large amount of changes made from the initial concept.

2433
In early October, a vessel of the class was constructed in orbit over the gas giant Quieros V. Many issues were quickly identified with it, the most obvious being that the turret armament data was misconfigured, leaving one side turret intact while the other suffered irrepairable corruption. A refit effort was swiftly undertaken to correct the armament data corruption issue.

In late October, the Mk II Gladius began production, solving the turret data corruption issue of the Mk I predecessor.

Action of 16 November 2433
On 16 November 2433, the Mk II Block-I vessel Quieros Shield engaged and sank the sloop N'Gow Nimoy in the outer reaches of the Quieros system, killing its commander.

Shortly afterward, the Mk III Gladius began production, equipped with superior heavy plasma turrets and more advanced point-defence weaponry.

Action of 14 December 2433
On 14 December 2433, a flotilla of destroyers consisting of the Mk II Block-I Quieros Shield, Kopis, Pilum, Spatha and the Mk III Block-II Lucenia engaged the light cruiser Arrakis Infinite around Quieros Station. Pilum is credited as sinking Arrakis Infinite. During the engagement, the flotilla was ambushed by a Kadsura-class cruiser, which opened up upon the flotilla with beam fire. In short order, both Kopis and Pilum were sunk. Spatha was heavily damaged during her withdrawal, and Quieros Shield sustained moderate damage. Upon their return, Spatha and Quieros Shield were scrapped, the damage deemed too severe to feasibly repair; and the wreckage of Pilum was recovered by friendly forces shortly afterwards, the reactor having failed to overload.

Many issues were identified in this operation; the biggest being that the ship's shield array was woefully underpowered for the ship's size, leaving it vulnerable in a prolonged engagement. After the operation had concluded, Lucenia was dispatched to assault nearby pirate elements, returning with minor damage. Following this, it was decided that Lucenia would receive repairs to the exterior of the ship, and was subsequently decommissioned and preserved as a museum ship, as a form of memorial to the brave souls who died on December 14th. One further vessel was constructed of the Mk III Block-II subtype, the TRV Falcata, and a Mk IV refit is scheduled to give the class vastly better chances of survival in combat.

Notable vessels

 * TRV Quieros Shield (CV-6001)
 * TRV Spatha (CV-6002)
 * TRV Kopis (CV-6004)
 * TRV Pilum (CV-6008)
 * TRV Lucenia (CV-6009)