Earth Alliance Oceanus Class Variants Oceanus Class History In 2229, Earthforce Command determined that consolidating more forces near the Markab border against the possible threat of a Dilgar presence in antispinward space could become a near term reality. Earthforce also knew that Ch'Lonas and Koulani would try and take advantage of weakened Earthforce fleets in Earth's rimward territory. Admiral Benjamin "Benny" Sylvester had the daunting task with determining which shipyards could handle an increased tempo of ship refitting and construction. It was at that point that Admiral Benny's old friend, H.R. Kaiser, confided that he wanted to expand his family's vast pharmaceutical fortune into other ventures. After a evenings discussion of each other's latest problems over drinks in Kaiser's luxury space yacht, the Admiral went on his tour of shipyard facilities and H.R. feverously went to work on an idea that could help the both of them. H.R. first visited the old Belt Alliance mining colonies on Pallas, Vesta, Hygiea and Davida. The BA had long ago mined the profitable minerals, leaving the four asteroids shells of their former selves. Kaiser leased the colonies from the Belt Alliance with the stipulation that the BA would pay part of the cost of the new construction yards when the lease was finished. H.R. then concluded a licensing deal to construct Tethys Cutters at the new shipyards that were being drawn up for the former mining colonies. In just under two months he had shipyard facilities starting to be built on the colonies as well as plans for two new variants of the Tethys Cutters. Since speed was vital, H.R. used established weapon systems that would be easy to build or purchase for ship construction and bought out many ship system manufacture companies. He also planned to use a modular construction system where large systems could be built at other locations in the Sol system and the parts pieced together at the yards to increase the speed of construction. When Admiral Benny returned from his fact-finding mission with the likely hood of only small increases in shipyard production, H.R. showed his old friend his ambitious plan. Admiral Benny as impressed, but pointed out that ship construction at this level of speed would be very labor intensive and expensive. H.R. countered that a few of his friends in the EA senate were getting very paranoid about the Dilgar invasion of the worlds near them and an emergency labor act could be worked out to compensate workers building ships for Earthforce by exempting them from taxes for the duration of the emergency. Admiral Benny, H.R. and a few of H.R.'s paranoid senator friends went before Earthforce command to lay out the plan to build Oceanus cutters at a breakneck pace to shore up the rimward fleets. In face of mounting evidence that the Dilgar would shortly become a problem and a politically acceptable plan to increase ship production, the Joint Chiefs signed off on Kaiser's plan. The senators tacked the Oceanus Protection Plan onto an unrelated spending bill and slipped it through for approval. By late 2230 the Oceanus yards were ramping up production and the first 6 hulls were in shakedown tests. Due to the fact that Particle Cannons were used on other EA ships, the shipyards produced two different variants. The Alpha model used two Particle Cannons with Standard Particle Beams as secondary armament. Particle Blasters, licensed secretly from the Deneth, were used on the Beta model. Oceanus Cutters were sent to the rimward border designated as Oceanus Cruisers in a deception attempt to forestall the Ch'Lonas and Koulani navies from probing into EA space during the late 2230 fleet reshuffle in preparation for Dilgar advances. The deception was short lived, but lasted long enough for enough Oceanus Cutters to reach the Ch'Lonas/Koulani frontier to deter serious probing attempts into EA space. During the Expeditionary Fleets advance into Dilgar held territory, Oceanus Cutters, Laertes Police Corvettes, Tethys Plasma and Missile Boats were used in numbers to fight many small skirmishes along the Ch'Loans/Koulani frontier. The faster firing and longer ranged Particle Cannons and Particle Blasters complemented the Plasma Cannons on the Tethys and Laertes, resulting in a barrage of fire that wore down the opposition. After the war was over, the EA Senate investigated allegations that the Oceanus Protection Plan was the result of bribed votes in the Senate. To forestall the public inquiry that was sure to follow, H.R. Kaiser sold his shipyards to the parent company that produced the Tethys. The Oceanus Alpha and Beta models were slowed as research into pulse weapons commenced after the end of the Dilgar War. Only one further model was produced, the Gamma model, which introduced the new Light Pulse Cannon. By 2246, all Oceanus production was converted over to the new Tethys models featuring pulse weaponry. The Oceanus series of Cutters had done what H.R. Kaiser had set out to do. He created a warship construction company from nothing and in doing so, enabled Earthforce to field enough ships to deter invasions into EA space while the Expeditionary Fleet was away. Kaiser also expanded his family of companies into ship system manufacture and provides Earthforce with many of the shipboard life support and power distribution systems that they still use today. (Note: This class was suggested by Steve "Kizarvexis" Austin. He provided all the details about the class, and I provided the name, as all the Tethys variants in the time period he had these ships in were taken) Oceanus Class SCS (Alpha Model) Common Oceanus Class SCS (Beta Model) Common Oceanus Class SCS (Gamma Model) Uncommon