Ray

The OSA's capital or heavy cruiser class, the Ray appears overall similar in performance to an Excelsior based on its weapons, shields, and hull. The shields are slightly superior, equivalent to an Excelsior-A, but the hull and weapons are the same. The science facilities are slightly inferior, but the accommodations are comparable.

The Ray class is the OSA’s exploration capital ship, replacing the Kraken class. The distinctive profile of the vessel, with two large wings and graceful curves, recalls sea life, particularly manta rays. The principal designer of the Ray, Jelporzo, says he wished to honor the now-extinct Pinkfin Ray, which went extinct after the Playground Reef died out.

In terms of layout, the vessel serves as an interesting contrast to Starfleet vessels. The large wings, two decks high, serve as the primary living space for the crew, similar to the saucer section on most starfleet vessels, and each one houses a large BeyArena recreation space and a sickbay along with diplomatic facilities. The central body of the vessel more closely matches what would be considered the ‘secondary’ hull, and contains the deflector dish, warp core and engineering facilities, laboratory facilities, and the ship’s shuttlebay. The ship’s paired warp engines are in one housing, extending from the back of the Ray class as a long tail. Close-placed warp engines in a single housing or nacelle have fallen out of favor in Starfleet, having been tested on the Saladin class and the Kelvin colony ship and found to have major instabilities in the warp field at higher factors. The designers of the Ray class compensated with field regulators along the trailing edge of each wing, and a pair of stabilizers at the base of the warp housing.

Science facilities include one small lab in the primary body, and two large long-range and navigational sensor domes, housed on either side of the deflector dish. A few short-range sensor arrays appear on the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the body, along with the tips of the wings, for full ship coverage.

Tactical systems are focused around two large phaser banks built near the root of the Ray’s wings. These ‘Stingray’ banks provide maximum forward firepower. These powerful weapons favor aggressive, swooping attacks, and the Battle of Ioji was saved from certain defeat for the OSA when Director Red Torina managed to score a critical blow on the Licori flagship, dropping its shields. A paired phaser turret on the aft ventral surface provides additional coverage. The vessel sports four torpedo launchers of the OSA’s heavy ‘Bazooka’ class, two fore and two aft.

While the Ray is primarily an exploration vessel, she retains combat sensibility thanks in part to dedicated Taddo tactical technicians. While the ship’s strange warp engine placement may seem to be a matter of aesthetics, the placement of the nacelle directly aft of the warp core means the EPS conduits are extremely linear and well-protected. In addition, the nacelle is occluded from forward firepower by the bulk of the vessel, which is critical for a vessel that has so much forward facing firepower.

So far, only one vessel, has been commissioned, the Manta Maria. A second vessel was planned for commissioning just prior to the Coreward Border War, but the order was cancelled and the resources put into ordering more combat capable Switches. With the war now concluded, the OSA is preparing to finally begin constructing a second vessel, and is collaborating with the Laio on a refit.