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Istra-Class Beamdrone Tender

While Ninja Aerospace recognizes nuclear interceptors as a highly effective counter to drones and missiles, the expense and size of these weapons creates the risk of running out if the enemy flies a large number of weapons separately. For this reason, NA capital ships often fit laser turrets capable of dealing with small attacks. However, these lasers are limited by their vulnerability and constrained radiator area. One proposed solution was a large laser ship toting a massive mirror for maximum efficiency, but such a vessel would be extremely fragile; one hit could easily disarm it. To counter that weakness, the Istra represents effectively the opposite approach, acting as a mobile control center and maintenance facility for a flight of small (compared to herself) laser drones. The drones are meant to fly independantly near their mothership, rather than within the drone bay, so they are always effectively unprotected. Despite this, their numbers and size makes them relatively difficult to destroy while providing considerable laser power.

Mass: 2.19 kt (with drones loaded)
Cost: 15.8 Mc
dV: 5.56 km/s (with drones loaded), 8.69 km/s (drones unloaded, typical combat configuration)
Propellant: Methane

Armor: Spaced composite totalling 5.6 mm of silicon carbide and 2 cm of silica aerogel. Only reaches this thickness on the sloped nosecone, which is surprisingly effective due to presenting no frontal weak spots.

Drones:
--6x Firefly Beam Drone: Big (80.1 t) drones with powerful 69 MW near-UV lasers. Designed to keep pace with capital ships, they are propelled by methane NTRs with 8.49 km/s dV. Fireflies are also equipped with light anti-photonic armor, hopefully ensuring that some survive in the event of a nuclear strike.

Kinetic:
--3x 6 MW 6.2mm railgun "Needler": A solid but unexceptional point defence turret, the Needler shoots 5g slugs at 7.61 km/s. Though typically fatal to missiles and drones, capital ship armor often delays it.

Other features:
--Thick, flash-resistant engine nozzles
--Six refuelers, for fast, easy refueling