Ascalon

The Ascalon is a Challis-class interceptor five hundred feet from end to end, described as a sleek, low-slung vessel like the upward-curving blade of a sword. Seen from above it resembles a leaf-bladed sword: broad and flat, only four decks high at its tallest near the stern above the great hold. Short wings thrust out near the stern, each sporting one of the twin fusion engines in sleek black nacelles. Warp projectors gleam as a blue line wrapping around the stern. The dorsal hull is black, with a single tall tailfin rising above the stern cluster, bearing a red pentangle. The foremost point of the bridge is a glass blister forming an elongated hemisphere of clear metal-glass where the pilot and copilot chairs jut out. Its hull is titanium and adamant skin, fashioned and shaped to be nearly invisible to radar, rolling over the top to present a minimal profile. The ship is equipped with massive heat sinks -- coils on the nacelles -- that allow it to mask sub-light emissions for days. Repulsor fields enable silent vertical takeoffs and landings. Its warp speed is nearly twelve hundred times the speed of light. It is one of Red Star's finest vessels of its class; no more than a thousand Challis-class interceptors exist in the whole Imperium, and the Ascalon was a princely gift to Hadrian. It is smaller than Demiurge's shuttles and stands on landing peds when berthed in docking bays.

The bridge features an alumglass geodesic blister at the prow housing the pilot's seat and copilot's seat with fitted consoles, with the chief officer and navigator's seats positioned farther back beneath a low, sloping roof. Three nacelles and a wing fold flat against the hull when the ship is clamped in a launch bay. The ship connects to larger vessels via a docking vestibule and extended gangway, with an airlock in the starboard side.

The interior has three primary decks connected by a tight stair. The lowest level has a cramped corridor running along the ship's spine with the main hold to the right, two decks below the bridge. The hold is large, accessible by a ramp via an inner door, and fitted with foldout seats lining either side. Some munitions boxes in the hold are lead-lined. A rear compartment also provides stowage. Above this level, a mess and stairs connect to the upper decks. Cabins line a narrow hall -- Hadrian's old cabin has a scrub carpet, metal fixtures, an armoire built into the wall, and a washroom with a mirror. A cenacle (mess and adjoining kitchen) sits at the aft end, one level above the main cabins, with a curving bank of narrow slit windows overlooking the warp projectors and primary sublight drive, and a black glass dinner table. The captain's suite is keyed to Hadrian's handprint with deep vein scanning, and includes a private washroom. A cubiculum on the top floor holds fugue pods for fifty passengers; the ship can transport twice that number without pods for journeys under twenty-four hours. Ultramarine light from warp coruscates beyond the forward windows during faster-than-light travel. A hospital pod equipped with a med-scanner is also aboard. There is a small gymnasium and a training area aboard. The interior includes a forward airlock and umbilical, crew showers, and a hydroponics section capable of growing food including potatoes, leeks, and tomatoes, along with water gardens, aquaculture systems, and algae vats. A utility room adjoining hydroponics contains a vacuum disposal tube. Hadrian's harness and other personal equipment are stored aboard.

The Ascalon is equipped with a quantum telegraph for long-range communication and a hardline connection capability for interfacing with other vessels. Its Royse energy shields allow it to skip through the upper atmosphere without visible friction burn, the shield border glowing with faint golden phosphorescence. The ship cannot carry more than approximately one hundred passengers total. Hadrian lived aboard the Ascalon for nearly thirty years.

Hadrian acquired the Ascalon before the Battle of Senuessa, when the need to travel between worlds at the edge of the Veil required greater speed than the Tamerlane could provide. During the voyage to Padmurak, the ship is stored in the Tamerlane's hold.

When the Cielcin capture the Tamerlane at Eue, they overlook the Ascalon in one of the rear launch bays, apparently mistaking it for a shuttle. Valka uses the ship to escape the Cielcin fleet, launching the primary fusion torch and ascending above the black sands of Akterumu. She executes an atmospheric warp jump inside Eue's atmosphere -- a normally dangerous maneuver -- to break free. The ship then makes multiple randomized warp jumps of ten light-years each to check for tracking beacons before setting course for Colchis.

After arriving at Colchis, the Ascalon is moored at Racha. It is subsequently repaired, repainted, and refueled by Dorr's men: its hull is enameled black and ceramic white, shining bright as new. The rear fin bears the red pentacle point-down of Hadrian's sigil, though workers omit the pitchfork that should accompany it. The ship is stored in a broad, low-ceilinged hangar at the governmental starport in Aea, hanging from tracks extending into the pit of the cothon roundhouse. A crew of twenty assigned by Dorr pilots the Ascalon on the sixteen-year voyage from Colchis to Nessus. More than half the creches stand empty on this voyage; Oliva's men cluster toward the near end and rotate shifts every two years. Hadrian and Valka share the ship's largest cabin. After arriving at Nessus, Venantian's people strip and search the Ascalon; its navigational matrix, which contains the coordinates of Eue, is acquired.

The Ascalon subsequently transports Hadrian, Valka, Lorian, and Oliva's unit from Nessus to Carteia. At Carteia it is berthed at landing field section T-4 in the Emperor's camp. For a mission at Carteia it carries approximately one hundred of Sharp's Dragonslayers, launched from Tribune Lin's flagship the Tempest. During the battle at Perfugium, it retrieves the Emperor and his party and carries them to a rendezvous with the Mnemon. After the rendezvous, the Emperor and his court transfer to the Tempest.

The ship was formerly painted with the pitchfork and pentacle of the Red Company; by the time of the events at Sabratha it bears only the pentacle. At Sabratha, the Ascalon is landed at the outermost margin of the Phanamhara dig site, connected to the camp's central water and reactor. While grounded there, Hadrian and Neema work to destroy surveillance equipment that Oberlin's men secretly placed aboard the ship. The Ascalon previously executed a jump to warp inside the circle of Akterumu, causing a catastrophic warp envelope that tore apart the ruined Tamerlane and produced a massive explosion. After the battle at Sabratha, the Ascalon is carried aboard the ISV Gadelica's ventral hold. Two years in the desert leave its hull grime-streaked and the red pentangle on its tailfin almost entirely scoured away by time and radiation. Edouard pilots the ship through the approach to the Eternal City. When nested inside the Gadelica's hold, the Ascalon is connected via a docking vestibule and extended gangway. During a subsequent voyage inside the Gadelica -- which is itself carried inside an Extrasolarian Sojourner -- the Ascalon travels nested as a ship-within-a-ship.

On the voyage from Latarra to Merope, the Ascalon is attached to the Gadelica. Before the assault on Vorgossos, Hadrian orders it detached from the Gadelica's electrical grid and completely vented -- burning any surveillance camera dust through the filters -- so that Edouard, Cassandra, Captain Ghoshal, and Hadrian can meet in secret to plan.

At Gododdin, the Ascalon ferries Hadrian and his companions from Fort Din's landing pad to rendezvous with Demiurge. It is subsequently berthed in one of Demiurge's equatorial docking bays. Cassandra and Selene retain their quarters aboard the Ascalon rather than moving into Demiurge's internal apartments. Ramanthanu and Otomno are held in the cubiculum aboard the ship. The Ascalon later ferries Hadrian and Cassandra down to the Llurug Planum on Gododdin for the battle there. Hadrian considers taking the Ascalon to Dharan-Tun but rejects it in favor of a faster unnamed shuttle, citing the many irreplaceable items aboard.

Following the dispersal from Demiurge, the Ascalon carries Cassandra, Edouard, Otomno, Darathama, and other refugees into exile. Hadrian says farewell to Cassandra at the ship's boarding ramp before it departs. The Ascalon makes warp after departure.

Hadrian Marlowe commands the Ascalon for most of the series. Valka pilots the ship during the escape from Eue. Neema serves aboard the ship. Edouard serves as pilot and is one of the last crew members aboard when the ship departs into exile. Ketevan serves as first officer; Holden and Ketevan both serve on the bridge. Cassandra and Selene maintain quarters aboard the ship; Cassandra departs aboard it into exile alongside Edouard, Otomno, Darathama, and other refugees.