April 3, 2052
Although the Alpha Centauri system is two jumps away from the Sol System, the actual travel time to Alpha Centauri is much, much shorter than their actual stellar positions might suggest. In the Sol System, the Barnard's Star jumpgate is 3.7 billion kilometers from Earth, just beyond the asteroid 54598 Bienor. However, once a ship transits that jump gate, it is only another 500 million kilometers to the Alpha Centauri jumpgate. In other words, a stone's throw in interstellar terms.
In light of the highly aggressive nature of the threat in Alpha Centauri, clearing that system is of utmost strategic importance. If any threat emerged from Alpha Centauri into the Barnard's Star system, the colony on Horizon would be under severe threat- as indeed would Earth itself.
And so what, exactly, are these hostile aliens of Alpha Centauri? Almost nothing is known. Before it was destroyed, the Thor Heryerdahl (I) managed to obtain a limited amount of data. The craft that destroyed it were extremely fast, armed with meson-based weaponry, and they were evidently rather small, perhaps 1,000 tons each or less. Strangely, it also appeared that the attack patterns of these craft, while effective, seemed rather single-minded and crude.
For now, these hostiles have been designated as the Stalkers, and their small spacecraft are designated as the Fang-class. Further analysis has concluded that while the Fang fightercraft utilized active sensors once they closed to point blank range, they had been running "dark" until they were nearly on top of the Thor Heyerdahl. This would suggest that another, separate class of ship that we have not yet observed was using powerful, long-range passive sensors to direct the craft to the target. Alternatively the Stalkers may have passive listening capacity on one or more worlds in the system. However, our analysts are uncertain if the the Stalkers comprise a true interstellar civilization, since even the most rudimentary attempts at communication have been met with silence.
Clearly, more intelligence is needed. At first, a ship using Stealth technology was considered. The Republic has been tinkering with Stealth technology for years, so such a vessel would certainly be feasible. However, our modestly-sized Pathfinder, with its equally modest thermal signature, had been detected at a range at which the theoretical directing command ship had not even been observed. Therefore it is uncertain that a ship in the 5,000 to 10,000 ton range would be able to remain undetected, even with Stealth technology and even with the largest thermal sensor currently available. Compounding this problem is the fact that the Republic's currently available sensor technology is, to put it charitably, not very good. Given current technologies, a medium-sized stealth ship would likely be seen well before it could detect the small Fang fightercraft being directed to it, at which point it would be too late to evade anyway. For now, the idea of a stealth ship has been discarded.
Enter the Outrider-class Fleet Scout. The Outrider blurs the line between a fighter and an assault boat, and it is not designed for stealth. Instead, it is hoped that this class will solve the problem of scouting Alpha Centauri in a very direct way: it will simply outrun any ship that the Republic has yet observed. Meanwhile, the onboard active sensor is just powerful enough to perform close-range scans of pursuing ships. Assuming that the pilots of the Fang fightercraft are as single-minded as we hope, it is believed that the Outrider-class will be able to bait them into chasing the Outrider back to the Fleet where they can be destroyed at leisure. The downside to the Outrider's extraordinary speed is its extremely short operational duration. In order to save weight, it possesses sufficient fuel tankage for a 2-week deployment at most. Its crew facilities are similarly limited, and it completely lacks any self-repair ability. For all these reasons the Outrider must be deployed to the target system by a friendly carrier. Finally, while it is unarmed, if the Outrider comes under attack it can (in theory) simply evade most direct-fire weapons and even missiles. However, any hit more powerful than a glancing blow would probably incapacitate or destroy the ship.
Outrider class Fleet Scout 750 tons 10 Crew 191.2 BP TCS 15 TH 224 EM 0
14933 km/s Armour 1-7 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 150% IFR 2.1% 1YR 79 5YR 1189 Max Repair 112 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.5 months Spare Berths 2
Freeman Megacorp 224 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (1) Power 224 Fuel Use 186.36% Signature 224 Exp 17%
Fuel Capacity 145 000 Litres Range 18.7 billion km (14 days at full power)
Raytheon "Scout" Active Search Sensor MR21-R100 (1) GPS 3600 Range 21.6m km Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
