Chapter 38 - Envisioning the Gothic Orbital Defense Platform: Blueprints and Cross-sections (Patreon)

The platform’s shape was that of a large pyramid. If it sat on the ground, it’s three sides would have a large circular chunk taking out of them with a medium sized protruding dome coming out of each side. These ‘domes’ were long-range sensors to scan space for targets, shield generators meant to link up with other platforms to provide a shield for the planet, and a Minosian cloaking field generator.

At each platform’s beating heart was a small, but advanced, Minosian fusion reactor formerly used in some of their cannons along with a low-level networked computer core with quantum entangled communications technology built in. The computer core used in the design was intentionally less powerful than it could be to keep overall costs down since hundreds of platforms would be needed for even an average sized planet, but thankfully the computer cores were meant to be networked together in order to scale up the processing power of the entire defense net. Additional processing power could be ‘borrowed’, as needed, from my other systems with a quantum entangled communications link. A lot of processing power was needed to maintain and monitor a planetary shield grid, targeting at extreme distances in space, and conducting an overall tactical analysis during any engagement with so many moving parts and elements to consider.

On the very bottom of the pyramid was another protruding dome which contained the propulsion systems of the platform, allowing the platforms to move as a group or to reorient to fire on targets.

At the very tip of the upright pyramid was the firing aperture or weapon tip, from which the platform could fire and deal damage to targets. This tip was covered by hardened plates that would slide down to expose the firing aperture, in order to prevent the aperture from being damaged by micro-meteorites or the like when not in battle.

Like all Minosian technology, the platforms were an energy-based weapon only. I had considered adding torpedoes or some form of missile technology, but the costs for that would add significantly to the price tag for each unit. The maintenance and resupply needs long-term would also be exponentially more difficult and onerous than a pure energy-based weapon system. That said, the Gothic orbital defense platform had a few tricks that made up for the lack of torpedoes. The firing emitters themselves were based on my rifle, thus it could fire different energy types. Based on the defense net’s target analysis, it could dynamically choose which energy type to use for best effect given that target’s unique characteristics, thus it could fire phasers, disrupters, or even plasma-based pulses or beams, or even a combination of them if a target’s shields were purposely attenuated to better withstand a single, specific weapon type.

For targets that required immediate elimination or were beyond the destructive capabilities of a single platform, the defense net could fire collaboratively, in groups of 4, 6, or 8. While collaboratively firing, each platform could feed its destructive energy to a central point, building up a larger and larger beam charge, with a single platform acting as the targeting lens to unleash the combined energy on a single target. It could be a devastating attack on even the largest ships the alpha quadrant currently fielded.