TOS Da Vinci (HCC-1031)

undefinedThe TOS Da Vinci (HCC-1031) is a one-of-one Light Cruiser commanded by Captain Killian John. Its most notable use was in the Battle of Two Princes when it was the key factor in the Terran counterattack.

Research and Development
Captain Killian John was in charge of the R&D team on TOS Da Vinci, made only 10 years before the Third Cengkeh War. The R&D team had access to more advanced propulsion systems for its class and a newly developed cloaking device that is imperfect, yet practical. Killian wanted the Da Vinci to be sleek and agile instead of heavy and powerful, opting agility over raw strength. The design of the Da Vinci is unorthodox as it has more vertical presence than horizontal presence, this allows the Da Vinci to navigate and cruise in between small cracks and openings to achieve a route that most standard ships can't achieve. If the vertical design isn't sleek enough, the Da Vinci can "fold" in half along the central axis, this makes the Da Vinci even smaller and almost undetectable by opponents, however, doing this disables its weapons and the "unfolding" process takes 10 minutes, which might not seem like a lot but in the heat of battle being a sitting duck for 10 minutes can cost you everything. A new feature that was first implemented into the Da Vinci is a cloaking device that can almost perfectly reflect the light that touches the ship while only leaving a barely noticeable outline of its shape, this feature was a key factor in its effectiveness in the Battle of The Twin Princes.

Battle of the Twin Princes
During the Battle of The Twin Princes, the leading admiral of the Terran fleet ordered the TOS Da Vinci to be a frontline battleship, much to Killian's dismay. But after a futile attempt at detering the Alysian fleet, the Terran fleet was quickly outnumbered, that was until under the command of Killian, the TOS Da Vinci cloaked itself and waited at an ambush point, where it intercepted the Alysian fleet leader and eliminating it, after which it cloaked itself back and escaped to the safety of the Terran fleet, after Killian reported to the admiral, the Terran fleet quickly took advantage of the uncoordinated Alysians and chased them.