MarsGuard Intimidator Class Heavy Cruiser Class History Mars found independance and the need to defend itself simultaneously it seemed. There were threats from raiders, from factions of the EA, even from competing corporations on Mars itself. The Mars Council put forth requests for all manner of ships to help police the background noise surrounding Mars, as well as giving Mars some sort of national character. Many designs were received, one of which made the Mars Council take a step back. The EAS Intimidator was an advanced prototype built for EarthForce. It had entered service in 2258, and was immediately beset by problems. Everything on the ship, save the interceptor grid, was brand new. With brand new things came growing pains. The weapons systems tended to either misfire or not fire at all. The command and control systems lost communication with not only other vessels, but each other. The hangar facilities had problems like launch and recovery doors not opening when they should. The list went on and on. Thankfully the jump engine and reactor were of a proven design, so the ship never blew up, but the design was a disappointment to the EA. One of the project engineers for the Intimidator was a "Mars romantic," ie, he saw Mars as the new frontier, just right in his own backyard. It was undeveloped, uninhabited for the most part, and just entering the first stages of terraforming. But the "frontier" had just become its own nation, and thus needed defenses. When word came that Mars needed ships, he took a look at the not-long-for-this-world starship that he'd been assigned to help get past testing and an idea formed in his head. What if the EA could be convinced to turn over the Intimidator to Mars? The plans the engineer came up with were ambitious, but not in an as impossible way as tended to happen when an engineer's imagination went unrestrained. The ship would be wholesale refit, ranging from a more conventional sensor array and removal of the command bridge to other changes, like complete rearmament and reducing of armor protection (needed for maintainance by MarsGuard). The design, if approved, would have entered service with Mars as early as 2268. A few factors led to the decision to not approve the design, however. First, there was the question of what Mars would need with a Heavy Cruiser. Second, why would the EA give one of their most advanced, albeit problematic, ships to a foreign power. Third, various skirmishes and wars developed during the interim years between independance and the final shelving of the proposal, including the Telepath War and the Drakh attack on Earth. The engineer was not as devastated by his proposal being turned down. Yes, it was a seven year daydream, but as with all dreamers, there were other dreams to be dreamt. The engineer went on to eventually move to Mars and join MarsGuard, where he was second-in-command of an Enforcer detachment. He lived out his remaining years happy on the frontier. Intimidator Class SCS