Sphereship
A sphereship in the Celestial Lance Universe is starship design originally created by the halfen. Due to their spherical shape, they can easily operate in vacuum and within atmospheres. The spherical shape also provides significant structural stability, allowing them to operate deep within gas giants, as well. Modern (from about 3500 on) sphereships are built from Foust blocks.
Description
Wormhole transit used to be much more dangerous, so Halfen sphereship designers originally placed the bridge as far from the hull as possible. That design element had endured in both human and halfen designs despite no longer being necessary. Her jump seat was about 120 meters from the hull, just slightly off center of the sphereship.
Operation
All sphereships (except Shuttle class) have a wormhole jumpdrive that allows them to pass through a wormhole without being destroyed. They are controlled by an artificial intelligence that is bonded with a particular individual. Sphereships are modular, so reconfiguration is easy.
Classes
There are multiple human classes of sphereships. The Halfen do not classify their sphereships. Rather, they build them to match their purpose.
- Shuttle – Generally about 8-10 meters in diameter. While many of them are spherical, some are more oblong spheroids. Consists mostly of cargo space that can be used to transport goods or people, as needed. Can carry up to ten people in the cargo space. Minimal armaments.
- Scout – Generally about 15-60 meters in diameter. Designed for extended missions, with crew quarters, control rooms, labs, and cargo space. Quarters for up to 20 people, depending on the configuration. Minimal to moderate armament. Smallest class to have a Kovel jump drive (minimum diameter of 40 meters).
- Explorer – Sphereships 61-300 meters in diameter. Designed for extended missions, with crew quarters, control rooms, labs, and cargo space. Quarters for up to 50 people, though they often have crews of only 1-4 people. Moderate to significant armament, depending on deployment.
- Voyager – Sphereships 301-2000 meters in diameter. Designed for extended missions as well as the occasional battle, with crew quarters, control rooms, labs, docking bays, and cargo space. Quarters for up to 4000 people, though they often have crews of only 100-400 people. Significant armament. The larger ones can have a module for docking a single Explorer class sphereship. Facilites for up to 50 shuttles and 30 scouts can also be included.
- Exo – Any sphereship larger than 2000 meters in diameter. Only a few have been built, mostly by the Halfen. They are considered too bulky by most humans.
Named sphereships
These sphereships appear in various stories in the Celestial Lance Universe:
- Astandes – A courier sphereship owned by Piram Shipyards and Construction
- Callie – An Explorer-class ship bonded with Edward M. Kovel, creator of the Kovel stardrive.
- Cauqua Odmarluu – The first Halfen ship officially encountered by humans. Equivalent to an Explorer class. Appears in "Lagrange Contact".
- Chosu Nomh – A Shuttle-class attached to the Cauqua Odmarluu. Equivalent to Shuttle class. Appears in "Lagrange Contact".
- Hikianalia – A Voyager-class ship that appears in Lansiya Discovery.
- Hōkūleʻa – A small Voyager-class ship that appears in Lansiya Discovery.
- Imiloa – An Explorer-class ship bonded to Adele Watanabe. Appears in Lansiya Discovery. Imiloa's AI is descended from the Hōkūleʻa AI.