Garn Merchant-Warship

The Garn, hulking alien reptilians, do not understand what a cruiser is because the Garn do not "cruise." Instead, like a monitor lizard seeking prey, they relentlessly pursue opportunities for conquest or trade advantage. Showing the flag on a cruise is meaningless when there are worlds to be dominated or trade gains to be realized. However, as the ship they use for this purpose, the Merchant-Warship, is roughly the size and strength of a Federal Cruiser, it is designated a heavy cruiser by the Federal Navy.

Federal Naval jargon has dubbed the ship the "MerWa."

The Merchant-Warship can carry two to four turrets each mounting two of the mighty Vulcan Naval Rifles, and batteries of ship-killing heavy missiles (which can be retasked for heavy surface bombardment in support of the ship's troop complement). Alternately two of the Vulcan-mount turrets can be replaced with cargo or launch pods if the ship is seeking a trade advantage rather than straight conquest.

Merchant-Warships do not carry fighters, but are well defended against them, bristling with close defense laser systems. The ships have both heavy armour and forcefield defenses.

As these vessels sail on missions likely to include interaction with aliens on the surface of distant worlds, they always carry a strong complement of warriors and tanks, the huge Crocodile and Alligator class anti-grav vehicles. Indeed this is an intrinsic part of their purpose. In combat with another spacecraft, the powerfully armed and protected, but generally less maneuverable, Merchant-Warship will attempt if possible to send landing parties to the enemy vessel in order to capitalize on the Garn advantage in close quarter combat, and potentially sieze the enemy craft as a prize, garnering honour and cash for the task force's Hegemon.

Our model of this lumbering alien cruiser cum troop transport cum merchant ship was designed by John Bear Ross and will be released as an adversary for our upcoming Federal Battle Class Heavy Cruiser. And coming soon into scanning distance, its weapons hot and armed, is the Pelagic Dominate's sleek Benthic Class Battlecruiser ....