INS Starlancer is a Battleship type of the Liberty Insurgency. She is the lead ship of the Mediator class and the first ship to be named after Johnson Starlancer. Starlancer has exploration capabilities, as it was designed for deep missions into the Guerrero Asteroid Cloud to find new resources for Insurgency. 15 February 829, Starlancer began ship trials preparatory to joining the Insurgency Fleet, however the invasion of the Liberty Navy had changed plans for Starlancer, and thus becoming as well a combat ship. Starlancer was commissioned at Leniex Station on 30 April 829. Her home port is Marshall Station, Vespucci.
Namesake
Starlancer is named after Johnson Starlancer, who was a Liberty official and the youngest man to serve as the Chief of Space Operations during the first years of colonization in Sirius. As an aspiring and charismatic leader, Starlancer played a major role in Liberty expansion and doctrine, especially during the construction of Baltimore Shipyard which he overlooked.
The hull classification symbol for Starlancer is BBI-150, which departs from the Insurgency Navy numbering sequence that goes up to BBI-65, which as of 829, is INS Shield the latest of the named Overlord-class Dreadnought. Starlancer continues the previous Spyglass-class sequence left off back in 805, HFB-149, the last of the Spyglasas class, Nova.
Role
The Mediator class was designed with the exploration and mobile carrier in mind. Unlike the previous Arbiter class Battleships, designed primarily for heavy and broadside combat, the Mediator class was primarily designed to support large hanger bays in case of combat, which in the cloud was unlikely. However, the plan was changed due to invasion of Liberty Navy into Insurgency systems, and it was decided to fit the vessel with standard weaponry.
Starlancer is equipped with two "Heavy Mortar" Cryogenic Antimatter Projectors (HM), which are designed to fire the Long Range Antimatter Projectile. "Hellbore" Mass driver was to be equipped on one of the top mounts of the ship for range against Liberty Dreadnoughts, however that was scrapped in favor of one more "Cerberus" Battleship turret. Due to shortages of resources, it has a mix of basic and Insurgency turrets mounted onto of the hull.
History
During the first month of the invasion onto Vespucci system, Starlancer was able to inflict stable losses to the Liberty Navy counterparts. As a Carrier, it was able to refuel many strike crafts against the Navy - and as a Battleship, strike blows to enemy capital ships but in limited amount. Later on, Starlancer would support an engagement with Vanquisher and Insurgency fleet against the Battlegroup Delaware, it would a key time when Starlancer would shine as a Battlecarrier - with its wing of bombers, it was able to clear a path to take out several key capital ships surrounding the Delaware. However, the time to celebration was short-lived, as both Vanquisher and Delaware would take out themselves in broadside action. As all sides suffered heavy losses, both Navy and Insurgency operations entered in stalemate.
Starlancer later would be discovered alongside Battleship Discovery, as the most effective warships during the battle for Vespucci - they were noted by experts as a vital defense against Liberty Navy. Starlancer would later be spotted in California while Insurgency forces ambushed Battleship Ahketaten, an Osiris class Battleship. During the skirmish, it was reported that Starlancer withdrawn back to Vespucci due to sustained damage, but Insurgency forces were able to root out Osiris back to Drydock.
Starlancer was spotted to take engagements against Liberty Navy forces in 830 A.S after operational pause.