Schiavona

The Schiavona is an Imperial Legion interceptor described as a brass and black-metal arrowhead bristling with guns and sensor blisters, resembling a thinner, meaner version of the Balmung. Its hull is black and brass, with a needle-like shape. The interior is all black metal and brass, with walls that slant inward toward the top so the ceiling is narrower than the floor, giving the interior a slightly oppressive quality. The ship is far faster than the Uhlan-made Mistral. The Schiavona made fast time reaching Vorgossos.

The ship has an interrogation room with brass pipes bracketed to the ceiling, a glass-topped table, and electromagnetic manacles fixed to the tabletop. The captain's stateroom shows few signs of personalization. Holographs on the stateroom walls display views out the ship's landing ramp and along the service umbilical bracketing it to the ceiling of the hangar bay.

The ventral hull is four inches of titanium, which is lighter than adamant. The hull also includes an inch and a half of solid adamant, which can outlast fuel supplies before the Cielcin can breach it with small arms. The bridge is broad and high-ceilinged with a single large curving true window looking back toward the hangar door, surrounded by holographic camera feeds.

The Schiavona is equipped with a warp drive antilithium containment system using a superconducting magnet. It has a loading ramp, a hold used as a staging area, a medica, a brig, a holography projection booth, and a service umbilical attached to its highest level. The public address system can project a holographic image of occupants outside the hull. It carries ventral salvage floodlights bright enough to temporarily blind or deter Cielcin. A static shield over the ramp opening can seal the interior during operations. Internal comms are functional but external communications cannot penetrate the material the Demiurge is made of.

The ship has a vestibule accessible through an umbilical from the Sieglinde's repair bay, with low-lit bare stainless steel walls and a rubberized floor. Beyond the vestibule a hallway stretches with walls described as black and golden and strangely warm for a military ship. The cargo bay has a catwalk overhead. The ship carries approximately five hundred legionnaires.

The Schiavona is loaned to Knight-Tribune Raine Smythe's command by First Strategos Hauptmann for the mission to Vorgossos. Bassander Lin initially commands the vessel, and Hadrian is held in a cell aboard during transit. When the Schiavona docks inside Sagara's ship the Demiurge, it travels within the Demiurge en route to rendezvous with the Obdurate. Smythe uses the stateroom aboard the Schiavona as her command post at Vorgossos.

The ship carries the Cielcin prisoner Tanaran and five hundred of Smythe's troops, along with colonial sleeper storehouses from which Smythe paid Sagara twenty thousand sleepers. Smythe holds private meetings aboard the vessel while operating as Knight-Tribune.

During the Cielcin incursion aboard the Demiurge, the Schiavona becomes the defensive stronghold. The warp drive antilithium containment system experiences a quench, downgrading from superconducting magnets to battery-powered electromagnets. Venting the helium coolant from the containment system produces dense cold vapor in the cargo hold. The ventral salvage floodlights are used to temporarily blind or deter Cielcin during the defense. Commander Sciarra commands the crew, which is divided into at least five centuries, during the engagement.

Following the events at Vorgossos, the Schiavona is repaired and refueled by the Centaurine fleet. It is assigned to carry Hadrian and his Red Company to Forum. Personnel and luggage are transferred from the Mistral to the Schiavona in the Sieglinde's repair bay.

Captain Bassander Lin initially commands the Schiavona. Commander Sciarra subsequently takes command, directing a crew divided into at least five centuries. Raine Smythe operates from the vessel as Knight-Tribune. Cartier serves aboard and assesses the hull's ability to withstand enemy small arms.