Author's Notes:

So we will be delivering articles in between chapters that will explain ship types, human and pony accomplishments, or describe things that we just don't have time to cover in the story. I want this to be a living, breathing world for you all. You deserve it, for all the love and praise you're giving this story. I am so grateful.

Albion-class Assault Frigate
Class: Albion
Role: Escort, Point Defense, Transport, and Aerospace Warfare
Size: One hundred meters
Armament: Four heavy missile launchers. Six light missile launchers. Twelve point defense gatling cannons (Earth Defense Subsidiary DK-2). Four chaff launchers. Compliment of fifty high-yield Luna-class armor-piercing missiles; one hundred low-yield Valkyrie-class high explosive missiles. Ten fifty-megaton Damocles-class nuclear-tipped missiles. (Special assignment only)
Shields: Four Einstein-class shield projectors: electromagnetic plasma screens.
Engine: Three Heidelmann drives; full power reaching near 75 percent of lightspeed. One Rosenburg wormhole drive.
Gravity: No.
Crew complement: Fifty Naval Personnel; twelve Marine security detail. Can fit up to fifty ground-assault troops, and three ground-assault mechs.
Auxiliary craft: One Jersey-class dropship; fifty drop pods, fired from ten aft-placed drop pod tubes.

The Albion-class is the newest in a long line of Terran built and designed frigate classes, following the Terran doctrine of large numerical superiority when deploying fleets, mostly made up of adaptable frigates. The Albion-class is a versatile platform, able to work a variety of roles, typically as a screening vessel or a fast-attack support craft on the ground.

In space, the frigates act in packs of six, engaging with long-range missile fire and covering each other with their PD cannons as they close in with the enemy, upon which the armor-piercing rounds of said cannons tend to make short work of shield tech and light armor. While not as heavily armed as the Venusian Samurai-class, or as heavily armored as the Martian Tungsten-class, packs of Albions have a well-earned reputation among pirates and political dissidents for the damage they can inflict in a short amount of time, with the only counter being overwhelming firepower.

As an aerospace assault craft, the Albion truly shines; it’s low-yield missiles make for deadly long-range weapons, and the cannons are well-suited to supporting ground assault by the complement of marines aboard. Unable to hover, the Albion uses its engines on low power to rocket over the surface, delivering its drop pods or cannon-fire in strafing runs. The angular wedge-shaped design allows it, unlike most other spacecraft, to move easily in an atmosphere, and to just as quickly return to orbit. When used in packs, Albions can quickly deliver its marines into the thickest of fighting and support them in building a beach-head.

If forced to land, the reinforced keel allows the frame to absorb some of the worst of shocks, allowing the crew a degree of expectation of safety in the case of an atmospheric crash. In the Ceres Insurrection, a pack of Albion-class frigates crashed on purpose to break the Ceres defensive line, as they were still mostly functional as missile-firing, cannon-packing platforms!