ECV Frosty Maiden
The ECV Frosty Maiden, often known more simply as the Frostmaiden or just Maiden, is a cruiser-sized cycler which, in addition to providing the usual amenities of a cycler, also serves as the radio studio and personal yacht of the charismatic documentarian and commentator Hadrian Frostmount.
Like many other commercial cyclers, the Frosty Maiden is a 'T' shaped vessel. The 'vertical' of the 'T' is comprised of an open truss filled with four General Purpose Modules and tipped with a toroidal fusion drive, while the 'horizontal' of the 'T' is a crewed section which, when the vessel is spun along its axis, provides a limited degree of centripetal gravity. Large radiator wings span the gaps between the vertical and horizontal sections, forming a triangle when the cutouts for the engine's radiation shadow shield are taken into account.
Power Generation
The Frosty Maiden uses Brayton-cycle generators to convert the heat gradient between the drive (see Propulsion) - which is often kept at stationary idle - and the radiators into baseline power. Auxiliary solar arrays can be deployed in the event of drive failure. The vessel is capable of transferring power and fuel to and from docked vessels (see Hangars & Docked Vessels) if required to continue operations.
Propulsion
The Maiden is equipped with a toroidal fusion drive. While Mr. Frostmount generally prefers to keep two of the four fuel GPMs stocked with fuel for commerce with docked vessels, the Maiden is capable of traversing the Evermorn System-Armoa System gap when fully fuelled. The radiator working fluid is a liquid metal, meaning that the motion of the fluid can be controlled (or tapped to create useable current) without the need of mechanical pumps.
Weapons & Armament
With four multispectral scope arrays which also serve as outputs for the vessel's reactor-pumped laser systems, the Frosty Maiden is more potent than many civilan vessels in combat but less dangerous than most Cobalt Knights ships of the line. As the personal yacht of a wealthy and reclusive executive, however, the vessel's electronic warefare package and complement of security officers is large for a vessel of its size. In emergencies, the vessel can skew turn to direct radioactive engine exhaust at an opponent, though doing so has the potential to open the sparsely-armored drive system to direct attack.
Armor and defense
The Frosty Maiden has multiple layers of carbon composite armor interleaved with field-proof meshing, pycrete, and gold foil. This provides fair to good ballistic and radiation resistance, though the vessel is designed to flee from combat whenever possible.
Communication Tools & Systems
The laser communication facility of the Maiden's multispectral scopes is integrated with strong encryption and decryption to facilitate sensitive business transactions over line-of-sight connections. In contract, the large RF antenna which spans the whole of the crew section's aft surface allows Mr. Frostmount to do his job: provide news, comment, music, and informative speeches to listeners across the Evermorn System, especially to his ardent fans in the asteroid belt colonies.
Additional & auxiliary systems
Fully three-quarters of the Frosty Maiden's facilities are involved with the comfort and enjoyment of visitors making use of the cycler's many services (see Hangars & Docked Vessels). The Maiden is considered a popular choice for discerning customers who value relaxation, discretion, and 'classy' pursuits. The cycler's amenities, in contrast with the raucus hedonism of most other cyclers, provide a cultured atmosphere popular with corporate customers on business retreats, elderly spacefarers, and families with grown children. Despite this reputation, the Frosty Maiden charges only modestly more than other cyclers to access these services, as Mr. Frostmount doesn't want to gouge people who potentially came aboard as fans of his.
Hangars & docked vessels
A single docking array at the very top of the 'T' is typically affixed with an interface module which, when detatched, serves as a crew transfer shuttle. Another vessel docked nose-to-nose with the Maiden via this module can use the cycler's orbital velocity and fuel reserves to more easily cruise to destinations in different Evermorn Orbits, all while the crew may avail itself to the Maiden's residence, entertainment, gambling, dining, shopping, medical, and remote business facilities.
Class
Nickname
Frosty Maiden
Designation
ECV (Evermorn-oribt Colonial Vessel
Motto
Come cool off with the Maiden!
Related Myths
Beam
310'
Length
283' (excluding 50' shuttle/docking interface GPM)
Height
110' (laser arrays not extended)
Complement / Crew
28
Cargo & Passenger Capacity
12 (not including attached vessel's complement)
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