Spaceships

Gladius I

Gladius I is the basic legion transport class and is not designed for long-duration voyages. It is deployed when unrest on a colony exceeds local capacity but does not require the commitment of a larger expeditionary force. A Gladius normally carries part of a legion rather than an entire legion.

Gladius transports are stationed at the Terminus Gateway in orbit around Terminus. During unrest on Pax they are dispatched toward the Pax Gateway. Their limited endurance makes regular resupply necessary during prolonged colonial deployments.

Hispana

Hispana is the dedicated transport of the Ninth Legion and one of the first military vessels assigned to the opening of a new star system. Service with its legion is highly selective, and the unit is regarded as one of the Empire’s most trusted formations.

During an advance operation Hispana carries and deploys a small jump gate at the destination. It then secures the site while supply convoys deliver the material needed for construction of the permanent gate and its supporting infrastructure.

Hispana was commissioned in 1268 AUC and began service on the Empire’s first interstellar mission beyond the Sol system, where it installed an initial gate. The ship has since undergone repeated maintenance cycles and extensive upgrades.

It is the only recorded legion transport with a sanctuary able to accommodate a Vestal Virgin. At least one Vestal accompanies missions that open a new system. Between expansion missions, Hispana is stationed in outer systems and responds to unrest in distant colonies.

Before its assigned mission to Eboracum, Hispana travels to the Mars Gateway for an upgrade cycle. The mission belongs to the continuing history of Roman interstellar expansion; the surviving record does not establish that settlement of Eboracum has been completed.

Hispana has its own jump engine for its formal expedition to Eboracum, whose gate is not connected to the Roman network. Some Speculatores accompany the expedition to protect sensitive material, technology and key experts and conduct classified investigations.

Benna Martis

Benna Martis is a heavy-equipment transport used for state construction projects and legion operations.

Most of the interior forms a single large cargo bay. The vessel operates with a comparatively small crew, while legion technicians supervise and maintain the machinery carried inside.

The scale of the bay defines the ship’s interior. Outside periods of loading and unloading, its principal activity is the work of the technicians responsible for the stored equipment.

Mula Martis

Mula Martis supply ships travel between star systems to provision legion units stationed at Gateways. Their large bays contain numerous hypersleep chambers for enslaved labourers assigned to legion service, together with the equipment and consumable supplies required by the garrison.

Pegasus

Pegasus shuttles carry civilian passengers between Gateways in different star systems. They are not designed for independent long-range voyages and rely on the Via Imperii for rapid movement between the Roman worlds.

Navis Servorum

Navis Servorum transports carry large numbers of enslaved people in cryogenic stasis to colonial labour sites. The class is more commonly called Silentium, a name derived from the silence of those held in hypersleep; the loading area itself is dominated by the noise of its machinery.

These ships ordinarily dock only in the cargo sectors of planetary Gateways. Several commercial collegia own and operate them under contracts from aristocrats investing in colonial labour and resource extraction.