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Overview:
Gearing up for anticipated hostilities and unwarranted adventurism by its neighbour
Houses, the Duchy of Oriente had commissioned Sumitomo Group based on the world of Fujidera to start on an ambitious construction
program that will see the Duchy‘s deployment of orbital defense satellites chains. While most of the components were produced on
numerous factories on the world itself, final assembly of these satellites would be carried out in orbital satellite factories
and shipyards above Fujidera.
As a smoke screen to their secret undertaking, Sumitomo Group set aside space
within their factories (both ground bound and in space) to the construction of a small sized troop carrying DropShip that the
naval fleets of the Free Worlds League lacked. When the Free World League‘s parliament requested for just such a design, the
Duchy of Oriente immediately sent forth their design as a further justification for gearing up of Sumitomo Group‘s
production.
Being initially nothing more than a misdirection to their greater plans,
the small DropShip was originally not even given a name. Instead, it was simply given the designation of TC-002 Troop Carrier.
That changed when the Black Stars mercenary command employed by Sumitomo Group foiled an attempt on the Grand Duke of Halas‘s
life during his tour of the world in October 3078. In honour of their services, the DropShip was renamed the Black Star
Class.
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Capabilities:
Smaller than even the Fury, the most common and traditional troop carrier in
the Inner Sphere, the Black Star was actually based more along the sleek lines of the Avenger assault DropShip. The concept
behind the design was to have a troop carrier DropShip that could move quickly into the landing zone, deploy its cargo of
troops, and leave the battle area quickly and safely. The ship‘s design specifications were catered to just such an end.
Extremely heavily armoured for its size and purpose with nearly 50 tons of
ferro-aluminum plates, the Black Star can boast of even better protection than front line combat DropShips like the Avenger,
Claymore, Kuan-Ti and Lung Wang. Its massive engine allows the 1,400 ton DropShip to outrun most heavy aerospace fighters and
assault DropShips, while its thick hide and limited weapons would make attacks by smaller fighters difficult, if not impossible.
Asked why the designers did not shed some of its ridiculously excessive armour for more weapons, Sumitomo representatives
responded by pointing out that the Black Star would never be deployed alone - much as Battle Armour and unarmoured infantry
would never be sent to a fight by themselves without other arms of the military.
Despite derision to its firepower (or rather, the lack of it), the Black Star‘s
weapons mix was designed to allow it to clear designated LZs using the strafing power of its multiple lasers as well as heavy
Artemis enhanced LRM batteries. A pair of rear facing medium lasers were installed to prevent fast and usually smaller aerospace
fighters to target its six.
The speed and all that armour of the Black Star protect the real prize within
the massive hulls of the DropShip. Based along the structure of the FWLM, the Black Star could house a full company of 60 Battle
Armour troops and a full battalion of 448 unarmoured foot infantry. As the Sumitomo designers felt that it would be impractical
to house large numbers of troops in space onboard a DropShip for any period longer than a 2 month period (at least without
risking mutiny), food and water supplies were set at 60 days, while a 68 ton cargo hold allow for considerable, but not
excessive supplies and equipment storage.
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Development:
In a move that rattled more than a few cages and egoes, Grand Duke
Christopher Halas has named the very first Black Star the FWLS Edward Belloq. Specialist First Class Belloq was a member of
the two platoons of Black Stars mercenary command infantry that protected the Grand Duke against the cultist attack on
Fujidera. He was the only fatality among the mercenary unit against the attack, the victim on the receiving end of a
cultist shotgun burst in his face. This not only added to the already unhappiness of naming an Oriente DropShip design
after a mercenary unit, but naval officers were concerned that it might set the precedent of space faring vessels being
named after infantry troopers who died in the line of duty.
The Black Star has already been issued to various Oriente regiments to
allow for faster and more flexible deployment of infantry - both armour and unarmoured together with their BattleMech and
vehicular brethren. However, the highest current concentration of these DropShips - unkindly but appropriately nicknamed
"fast flying bricks", are within the Fusiliers of Oriente regiments. Initially skeptical of a design that is nothing more
than a smoke screen and named after a Periphery based mercenary unit, the Fusiliers have found the incredible speed and
armour protection of the Black Star surprisingly impressive. They are currently petitioning for an assault, as well as
combined arms carrier variant of the Black Star to be considered - and stating in advance that if the new design is
approved, it should NOT be named after anything none-Oriente.
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