An early Daqin Empire design dating back to 2210 CE, the Diāochán (貂蟬) embodies the spirit of the Daqin merchant fleet. It is a fast, long range, and large payload capacity gunship used for customs, enforcement and anti-piracy. Unlike competing models used by humans, the Diāochán is capable of transitioning between atmospheric and exoatmospheric space operation, reaching escape velocity with its thermonuclear engines or performing reentry with its advanced ceramic armor. Though the original has been largely replaced by successor designs, they all remain a type of Diāochán, as they are based off of the original frame, albeit with new internals.
These are regularly seen throughout Daqin space, policing space traffic and quickly responding to any crisis.
These are regularly seen throughout Daqin space, policing space traffic and quickly responding to any crisis.
History
A flight of Diāochán was encountered by the crew of the Edward Deming in 2320 during the arrival of Azathoth in the Hawking System. The Empire of Daqin had decided that Azathoth couldn't be left intact for the Magnetic Assembly to investigate so a task force of largely older ships were put together to land an attack force on the planetoid. It was expected that due to the long range of the attack, that the trip would be one way for the first wave of ships involved, and the crew would have to await recovery under the surface of Azathoth. This logic was why older ships nearing retirement were chosen for the attack.
The three chū guó carrier craft assigned to the attack would be destroyed on approach by the MAS Amicus Curiae. The particle beams of the carriers interacted strongly with the particle-beam-coupled-lasers of the Amicus Curiae, reducing the effective range of both beam systems. This allowed the Carriers to close the distance to the Magnetic Assembly's battleship before being destroyed, allowing the Diāochán to heavily damage the Assembly's battleship and the land forces inside of Azathoth before the rest of the Assembly's fleet could respond.
The three chū guó carrier craft assigned to the attack would be destroyed on approach by the MAS Amicus Curiae. The particle beams of the carriers interacted strongly with the particle-beam-coupled-lasers of the Amicus Curiae, reducing the effective range of both beam systems. This allowed the Carriers to close the distance to the Magnetic Assembly's battleship before being destroyed, allowing the Diāochán to heavily damage the Assembly's battleship and the land forces inside of Azathoth before the rest of the Assembly's fleet could respond.