Description

A massive ship constructed entirely from steel, there are only two of these lumbering behemoths currently in existence, the Mirror and the Looking Glass. A third, the Reflection, is under construction in orbit around Aloth right now.

 These ships are purely military vessels. Two hundred feet long, 65' wide, and 20' tall these ships cost over 2 million gold pieces to construct, not counting another 250,000 gold pieces for the major helm required to move these 100 ton monsters.

 Resembling nothing more than a flat box with 3 masts sticking out each side what these ships lack in grace and style they make up for in sheer firepower. Each mirror ship is home to 32 stingray fighters, their pilots and maintenance crews along with the crew of the mirror ship itself.

 Worse (from its enemy's point of view) each massive ship is armed with a staggering 16 accelerators, giving the ship itself an unbelievable lethality, quite apart from the squadron of stingrays it carries.

 In this ship the gravity plane runs straight through the middle of the double decked vessel, making each side a mirror image of the other. The interior of the ship is given over to ammunition storage of the stingray ballista bolts, the accelerator shot, and the facilities needed to care for the stingrays.

Crew

The crew of a mirror ship is not coddled. Since so much of the ship's volume is given over to servicing the 32 stingrays that stud the upper and lower flight deck (16 on each) the crew accommodations are spartan. There are only enough hammocks for 1/3 of the crew at any given time!

 The ships foodstuffs and other crew necessities are actually stuffed wherever there's room left over, so at the start of a voyage it's not uncommon to see supplies lashed to the two flight decks between the stingrays.

 64 of the mirror ship's crew belong to the stingrays--32 pilots and 32 maintenance crewmen.

 Of the actual mirror ship crew, 10 are needed to main the rigging, 16 more man the accelerators and 10 officers run the ship.

 The ships officers are:

 Captain
1st Mate
Navigator
Helmsman (3, one per watch)
Sail Master
Stingray Commander
Armaments Mate
Quartermaster

The navigator on a mirror ship is the master navigator, each of the helmsmen has also been trained in navigation, so as to have a navigator available on each watch.

The sail master runs the rigging crew, and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the ship's rigging. The stingray commander is responsible for overseeing the pilots, and planning strike missions.

 The armaments mate is responsible for maintaining the stingray and accelerator ammunition, including glide bombs, fire bolts, and making sure nothing goes boom beforehand. A mirror ship armaments mate has about the same job as the smoke powder mate on a Giff vessel. The warheads on the fire bolts are just as dangerous as smoke powder if mishandled!

 The quartermaster is responsible for supplying the ship and maintaining logistical support. He consults with the armaments mate to make sure enough ammunition has been requisitioned.

Ship Uses

The mirror ship is the heart of a battle fleet. Its one goal in life is to deliver its stingray fighters to strike against enemy vessels. In Saruspace one mirror ship is stationed at the Cirvir Orbital Platform at all times while the other is in transit between Aloth and the COP. Each mirror ship spends two months on patrol and two more months in transit between Aloth and Cirvir, with only the briefest layover at Aloth to recharge its air envelope and exchange crew.

 Mirror ships can't land, they are space vessels in the truest sense, with their gravity plane bisecting the ship down the middle of the two decks. They require both upper and lower flight decks to house the fighters they carry.

 In Saruspace the mirror ship will always be escorted by no less than 5 heavy hammerships while in transit, and 23 heavy hammerships when on station, usually 25.

Other Configurations

The ship is too new to have other configurations, both the Mirror and the Looking Glass have been in service less than 5 years, and neither ship has actually been in battle, leaving the pirate hunting to the hammerships of the Cirvir Orbital Platform.

 Tests, however, have shown that even stripped of their stingrays, the mirror ship is a deadly enemy. Under ideal conditions it can deliver a withering broadside of 32 hull points of damage per round! No other ship except perhaps a Tsunami or the Spelljammer itself is more deadly.