Ace of Spades: Difference between revisions

{{Outdated|Halo: Smoke and Shadow}}

==Design details==

The ''Ace of Spades'' is a decent-sized ship, but it isn't huge on crew space. Most of her volume is reserved for cargo. There are five crew quarters, the captain's quarters, a mess/lounger combo with an observation deck, a med bay with eight cryotubes, and a small attached gym with showers. Everything else is storage space, support systems, and engineering. Aside from preparing for the next job, Rion uses all her [[credit]]s on the ship, making several additions over the years. Early on, the staging bay was converted to a locker room and was equipped with an array of gear for virtually any type of known weather and terrain. The staging bay is connected to an airlock that leads to the hangar. Additions include an advanced passive-sensor array, a military-grade [[slipspace drive]], two-pivoting [[fusion engine]]s on each wing, six thrusters, a sensor-baffling-suite, and souped-up navigation and communication systems that Niko could use his technical expertise with. ''Ace's'' hull also was covered with [[Stealth ablative coating|black ablative coating]] at one point that gave it a dark edge and provides it with stealth capability. The coating requires regular maintenance, though it is rare that  it requires consistent refinishing. When the ship is on the ground, a ramp leads into its cargo hold. From within the hold, stairs take one up to the second level, where a catwalk places one in a perfect position for performing maintenance on the track system. The mess hall/lounger holds a food dispenser and a table and chairs. Rion has a small desk in her quarters. Landing gear can be engaged.{{Ref/Reuse|fire}}

Due to a [[Forerunner]] [[upgrade seed]] designed and installed by [[343 Guilty Spark]], the ship has received many upgrades. The outer appearance is not at all changed, but instead has its existing materials strengthened by [[hard light]] bonding. Quantum and hard light filaments intertwine with the ship's existing systems, all directed by smart upgrade code written by Spark to create a custom integration between Forerunner technology and the ship's original specifications and technology. As a result, the upgrades are limited by the ship's human design. The fully integrated Forerunner technologies include stealth capability, upgraded weapons, comm and navigational systems kept within the framework of human operating functional capability. The biggest upgrade is to the ship's [[slipspace]] drive: a combination of the ''Ace of Spades'' existing drive, Forerunner translight technology and [[Slipspace flake|a flake]] of [[Slipspace core|Forerunner crystal]] make the ship far faster than any regular human ship.{{Ref/Novel|Ren|Page=226}} These upgrades allowed it to take off into slipspace faster than an ONI [[prowler]] could react or track and to escape from [[Earth]] undetected by the entire [[Home Fleet]].{{Ref/Reuse|Renegades}} However, even the upgraded slipspace drive had its limits to how far it could travel that Forerunner vessels lacked. For example, travel from the [[Orion complex]] to [[Earth]] - a journey of over a thousand light years - would take so long even with the upgraded slipspace drive that Rion would be dead many times over before it was completed, and the ship was only capable of traveling such a distance using a static [[slipspace portal]].{{Ref/Novel|PoL|38}}

*[[Cade McDonough]] — Military expert; killed by [[Gek 'Lhar]] in [[2557#January|January 2557]]

*[[Spark]] — Forerunner ancilla, formerly a ''hamanune''; left to be the caretaker of [[Bastion]]