The Bird of Prey. Not something we have really seen. None of the alien vessels we have encountered match the concept. The closest being those of the Voskar, but they don’t perfectly mirror it. In general, a bird of prey is a modest frigate sized ship mounting heavy spinal mounted guns. The core of the ship is a powerful main engine which gives it the speed and agility to bring its powerful guns to bear. These vessels are attack ships plain and simple, nothing more nothing less. At their very core, they are ship hunters akin to the torpedo boats and submarines of ages past.

So do any ships of the archetype exist? The answer is yes. During the war Earth made great use of them against the Cathamari. Ships of the type were often used to strike at supply lines, ambush capital ships and more.

The mainstay Bird of Prey for Earth’s fleet was the Osprey Class. In fact the ship was also heavily used by the colonial navies as well. As it was so effective at its role that it supplanted all other designs.

The Osprey is a heavy frigate 290 meters long with 22 decks. The entire ship was built around two large tri-core Particle pulse wave engines and her main weapon, which is a pair of spinal mounted XM7-38 Superheavy Directed Particle Cannons. These massive guns have a fire rate of roughly eight hundred bolts per minute with each bolt hitting with a directed force equal to several megatons. Making them the equal of many battleship guns, if somewhat slower to fire. That doesn’t make them any less deadly.

In addition to the powerful main guns, the Osprey is outfitted with fore and aft torpedos. Space constraints limited how many additional weapons could be fitted, but the designers managed to fit her with a full array of light particle cannons. 192 XDPC-23-E directed particle cannons in dual turrets were mounted in a defensive spoke formation which provided excellent firing arcs. These guns were her main protection against fighters, and corvettes. They were also effective against other frigates, but lacked the punch to penetrate the armor found on larger ships like Destroyers. As such, the ship also carries eight single-mount, XDPC-348-C directed particle cannons. That make up its secondary battery, most frigates of this size would carry more, but the Osprey simply can’t meet the space or power requirements to mount more.

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So what about protection? Well the Osprey isn’t going to make history books, but she is rather well protected. Featuring a primary armored belt three meters thick. The plating conforms to the generation three Overlord concept but includes active stealth measures. Giving the ship a fairly robust hull with excellent stealth properties. In addition to the armor, the Osprey features the typical internal protections found on most human vessels. Internal plating, reinforced bulkheads and armored emergency bulkheads. Also standard with the ship is an energy web array and a radiation shield generator

Moving on, to her performance in the field. At the height of the war several thousand ships of the class were in service. Their powerful stealth abilities made them into excellent attack vessels as they could slip by unnoticed and attack where the enemy is weakest. Their powerful guns let them do a lot of damage in a short period of time and then they could escape thanks to their powerful engines before the enemy could react. Against the Cathamari they proved themselves as very capable capital ship hunters. Many Cathamari capital ships relied heavily of powerful energy shields as their first line of defense, and while they had armor it was not as resilient as that found on Human capital ships. As a result, if a small pack caught them unaware and with shields down? Well there would not be much more than drifting debris.

On the other side of the equation, when the Osprey did get into a slugging match it often didn’t last very long. It could take a few hits but not many. Many Cathamari ships are overgunned as well, so most often had the firepower to get through her armor. In those cases, she didn’t catch a battleship or cruiser offgaurd, she often ended up in battle. These battles were where many Ospreys and their crews lost their lives, but thankfully for the crews the Osprey was quick enough to escape. Assuming she survived to the first few minutes of the battle.