Minbari Windsword Shiva Class Advanced Warcruiser ### Shiva Class History The Shiva Class is the Minbari’s equivalent of the EA’s secret Vengeance class. The Windsword Clan of the Warrior Caste was never one to sit by and let someone else determine its future. They did not care what the Grey Council did, only that they were left alone to their own devices. This was evident when they hid the Dilgar Deathwalker for almost 30 years after the Dilgar War. They were not going to sit idly by as the IA seemingly built new, powerful ships for the Earth Alliance. Whether this was true or not did not matter. The Shiva came into existence similar to the Vengeance, except the Shiva was already in the design stages when the Victory’s design was finalized. It was to be a capital sized White Star variant, similar to the Black Star II’s that they were already fielding (non-Vorlon tech based White Stars). The Shiva was to be a massive, graceful ship, though that changed a bit when the plans for the Victory fell into their hands. The Shiva was redesigned to accommodate the massive Vorlon tech based lightning cannons in the wings and dorsal pylon. The forward section was redesigned to be able to focus the lightning beams into the same type of mega shot that the Victory could do, except the forward Lightning Cannon was heavily modified so that it could fire without needing to power down the entire ship for half a minute (Minbari reactors were somewhat more powerful). The Lightning Spear was unique to the Shiva, as it was a heavily advanced Minbari weapon, and still needed to be tied into the other lightning cannons in order to fire. The Shiva was completed in 2270 and immediately went to the Rim in order to hunt down and destroy the remaining Drakh hiding out there. The Shiva worked with Black Star II’s as support, and operated in secrecy until early 2272, when the EAS Vengeance jumped into a suspected Drakh stronghold, only to find the Shiva firing her main cannon on the planet. The captain of the Vengeance halted his vessel, and scanned the Shiva. The damaged Shiva, with what remained of its escorts, broke orbit and sped away, waiting for its jump engine to recharge. As the Vengeance watched, the Shiva jumped out. The data collected by the Vengeance was forwarded onto EA Intelligence for analysis. It is unknown if any other Shiva class vessels were completed, though there is indication that one, possibly two more were built. The disappearance of some Black Star II’s is the indication, as there were usually nine assigned to the Shiva’s battlegroup, and eighteen more seem to have disappeared from Minbari space, though these may have been sent out to replace loses to the Shiva’s group. The disappearance from Minbari space of Starkiller (non-Vorlon tech Sinclair class), Starfire Attackers (non-Vorlon tech Starfire Enforcers), and one of the two Rath’Sona (non-Vorlon tech Rath’Dial) ships may have something to do with the disappearance of the Black Star’s, though this is conjecture. (Note: This design was inspired by an old CGI pic I found on the internet. I only guessed as to what it actually was, other than a mean looking, Minbari designed starship. When I started on the Vengeance, I figured the Minbari Windswords wouldn’t sit around while an old enemy may or may not have had an uber-ship of their own.) Windsword Shiva Class SCS