Disclaimer – Everything either does belong to Joss or it should. I’m just borrowing his shiny ‘verse for a while.

The 21st Lancers belong to the British Army so I’m borrowing them too. I hope they don’t mind

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IAV Cruiser Agamemnon – Near Virginia – 2512AD

The main design criteria for the new Unification Class Cruisers had been to make them intimidating and they had certainly achieved that aim. They were huge vessels larger than most space-stations and by the standards of the day extremely heavily armed.

You have to say “for the standards of the day” because strangely they were no match militarily for the smaller Capital Ships that had participated in the war a decade earlier. Those purpose built machines had been built with lethality in mind not aesthetics and were squat, compact built around massed weapons batteries and ludicrously heavy armour. Many of those older ships were mothballed back in the core just in case hostilities were resumed but they just did not strike the right note when it came to patrolling Alliance space.

If you wanted intimidation send a brightly lit floating city that could be easily seen in orbit from the ground that’ll let the remaining Independent wúnéug de rén know who is in charge.

The Captain of the Agamemnon was astonished that fleet-command would order her to pursue a couple of aging transport ships but orders were orders and despite the ridiculous cost to the taxpayer involved in doing so she was not in hot pursuit with a squadron of long-range fighters out ahead ready for interception.

Given the mass that needed to be got moving even the huge engines on the cruiser were also seriously underpowered compared with the fast deadly battle-cruisers of yesteryear but they could still get the multi-million ton machine moving at a respectable rate and there was no change of the bulky Trance Class outrunning her, even the Firefly that appeared to be attached would have no hope of outrunning the fighters if the renegades decided to abandon