Hybrid Starship

Starships that are biomechanical in nature.

Hybrid starships are use by the HF and are usually designed and built by teams of Harkas in cooperation with other species. Unlike more conventional HF ships such as UAC bioships and regular starships, hybrids do not follow a class system, and no 2 ships are the same. This can lead to them having extremely unpredictable capabilities but it can be harder to train crew for a hybrid starship. However, they can take the advantages of both organics and machines, with few disadvantages of either. They can be crewed or uncrewed (either remotely controlled or they can be Freelancer-like). 

Due to their extremely random nature, they can come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes and perform virtually any chosen role. Even after sustaining heavy damage, they will not explode due to matter plasma detonations and the extremely adaptable nature of organisms means that hybrid starships can still retreat even long after suffering fatal damage. The mechanical nature of the ships means that its armour is exceptionally strong and the ship has a powerful thrust - giving it excellent speed. Although this does not go for all hybrids, as some are more biological or mechanical than others, this describes the general advantages and trends. 

The key disadvantage is the extreme lack of uniformity. They an be exceptionally hard to field and each hybrid an have wildly different capabilities while being a similar size, which can make it difficult for friendly commanders to use them effectively. They are more of an experimental ship, deployed under command of hyperintelligent beings such as Freelancers for now. A huge variety of hybrids are being tried and tested in real battlefield conditions, but have a massive logistical requirement. These have only been coneptualised in the last 50 years and require a larger track record.

In the future, it may be possible that every HF starship eventually looks like this. They would need to become very good at making and deploying them. They can be named like any other HF starship; taking the naming convention of either UAC bioships or regular starships. Freelancer-like hybrid starships often inherit freelancer names. The sheer name diversity can also cause confusion, though it normally does not.

Like both regular ships and bioships, they obtain power through antimatter annihilation. Futuristic ones may inherit more advanced powerplants or energy production organs depending on a ship's 'biofactor', the ratio of mechanical mass to biological mass of a ship when uncrewed (bioships have a 'biofactor' of 1, fully mechanical starships have a 'biofactor' of 0). This variable is also often used to help other hyperoinites to determine the capabilities of one of their hybrid starships.