ZMS Ascendant

"On the order of the King, these ships will be our ambassadors, not with words or treaties, but with fire and blood."

- King Breys

The Ascendant-Class Battleships were a class of Assault Battleships built for the Zaretian Monarchy's Navy. The Ascendant-Class was the largest and most heavily armed warship in the Pre-Norsus Era built for the Monarchy's Navy.

The first ship of her class, the ZMS King Ascendant was laid down mere months after the Battle of Zetta Secundus, alongside her sister ships, the ZMS Torrent, ZMS Novax and ZMS Plan B. These ships were ordered in response to the heavy capital ships employed by the Peacekeepers and were designed with the traditional role of brawling with enemy capital ships in slugging fights. The design of the ship was personally overseen by General Rex'Abilion, a hardline conservative within the Navy, but suffered from considerable pushback from progressive elements. Much like other Monarchy Ships designed during this period, its design showed the strategic confusion that dominated Zaretian naval construction in the Pre-1st Norsus Era.

The Ascendant-Class first saw operation during the Invasion of Aserai, engaging in point blank battles with Dragoneteran capital ships. Since then, the Ascendant-Class has been involved in multiple battles during the pre and post 1st Norsus Era. Production of the Ascendant-Class was officially canceled after Operation Isomer.

Origin
After the loss at Zetta Secundus, it became apparent to the Monarchy that the technological disparity between the Aeveria Confederation and the Zaretian Monarchy had nullified the numerical superiority the Monarchy had enjoyed. The more recent ship designs, the Oppressor-Class Cruiser, and Misery-Class Frigate were designed against the numerous Rach raids, and were not suited to engage heavy Aeverian assets. Pre-War ships like the Galaxy-Class Battleship and Infinity-Class Cruiser also lacked enough firepower to defeat heavy Aeverian assets as well.

The Admiralty was split on how to deal with the threat, progressives within the Admiralty advocated for the research and development of newer strikecraft and munitions, with the idea that utilizing strikecraft to disable and destroy Aeverian capital ship beams, would reduce the need to expose Zaretian ships to long-range beam fire, and thus preserve ships. Conservatives, however, advocated for a new frontline battleship to replace the old Omen-Class Battleship, with bigger and more numerous railguns, backed up by heavier armor, to outfight and defeat multiple Aeverian capital ships and intimidate any likely adversaries.

Lord Rex'Abilion, capitalized on his fame and managed to secure resources from King Breys to begin the construction of the next generation battleship. Many pre-war era design philosophies, such as logistical independence, ease to maintain, of naval shipbuilding was thrown out. Lord Rex'Abilion's main design goal was to mount as much firepower and armor on a ship frame, with no regard to logistical demand. Its design was as bulldog as the man itself, well suited to Rex'Abilion's aggressive, unsubtle practice of warfare.

Initial Prototype
Rex'Abilion's first prototype ship was designed with a main armament of 2 Pattern 127 Superheavy Railguns, the largest railgun cannon mounted on a battleship for its time and its secondary battery consisted of Pattern 75 Railguns in four triple-barreled turrets. The ship was primarily protected with armor exceeding that of the Galaxy-Class Battleships.

However, computer simulations identified problems with the ship's combat effectiveness. The Initial Prototype was essentially undergunned for her size and role especially against hardened peacekeeper designs, and thus the design was revisited and refined. The ship's secondary battery was doubled, supplemented by a new tertiary battery of Pattern 45 Railguns in 12 dual-barreled turrets. Four torpedo launchers were installed, each capable of firing a swarm of torpedoes. Finally, the point defense suite was enhanced with several flak turrets. The firepower of the prototype would come close to double that of the Galaxy-Class Battleship.

Finalized Prototype
At this stage, the budget had blown out to seven times the initial estimate. Many within the admiralty were also concerned over the ship's combat endurance, with its extensive weapons suite and insufficient ammunition storage meant that the ship could potentially run out of ammo within 10 minutes of combat. Another major concern was that despite the enhanced point defense suite, the ship would be extremely vulnerable to long-range torpedo strikes by heavy peacekeeper bombers.

The Ascendant-Class would have been placed on indefinite hold and eventually canceled, were it not for a routine inspection by King Breys. During his inspection, Breys was enamored with the design and firepower of the ship and demanded its immediate mass production. Unable to refuse, the Admiralty began mass production of the Ascendant-Class in time for the Invasion of Aserai.

Invasion of Aserai
The Ascendant-Class first saw action against the Dragoneterran Monarchy during the invasion of Aserai. The ships, ZMS King Ascendant, ZMS Novax and ZMS Plan B participated in the Invasion as part of their operational trials. Initial deployments against the pre-war era Dragoneterran Monarchy proved favorable, with the Ascendant-Class battleship's firepower able to sink or cripple most Dragoneterran Capital Ships.

However, when the Aeverians and Rach attacked Monarchy positions during the closing moments of the invasion revealed multiple key weaknesses. The heavy armor of the Ascendant-Class was still insufficient to protect the ship against Aeverian beams. The Ascendant-Class also lacked long-range firepower, making it vulnerable to long-range hit and run attacks by Rach vessels as well as the newly popular shock jump tactics being employed by the Aeverians.

Rex'Abilion managed to suppress the reports of the Ascendant-Class weaknesses, and begun work to address the issues brought up. But, King Breys, upon hearing the news, proclaimed that every Fleet will have at least 4 Ascendant-Class Battleships. The Navy, hoping to produce more of the battle-proven Galaxy-Class Battleships, had to reallocate resources to producing the much more expensive, more logistically dependant and less proven Ascendant-Class.

Operation Burning Lance
The Ascendant-Class Battleships participated during the Aeverian Invasion also known as Operation Burning Lance. As shown during the Invasion of Aserai, Ascendant-Class Battleships were extremely vulnerable to the shock jump tactics employed by the Aeverians. Many Ascendant-Class Battleships were lost to Aeverian Hunter-Killer teams including the ZMS Plan B and ZMS FaceBreaker.

This issue was exacerbated when the Luminarian Rebels joined in the fray. Luminarian ships boasted extensive armoring, backed up with long-range beam fire that surpassed that of Aeverian beams. More and more Ascendants were lost during the course of Operation Burning Lance, and even Rex'Abilion accepted that the age of brawling was over, and worked alongside the Admiralty to kill the production of the Ascendant-Class Battleship, and all remaining battleships were mothballed and their crews reassigned.

Operation Shattered Helm
The remaining Ascendant-Class Battleships were involved in the battle for Nu-Zartar, also known as Operation Shattered Helm. As the Monarchy scrambled to redirect forces from other fronts to repel the combined Aeverian and Luminarian push, the remaining Ascendant-Class battleships were reactivated to defend Nu-Zartar. Approximately 15 Ascendant-Class battleships were involved in the battle, and only 2 Ascendants survived the battle, the ZMS King Ascendant and the ZMS Heliosphere.

2nd Norsus Era
The remaining Ascendant-Class ships were placed in unmaintained reserve until the 2nd Battle of Norsus. With the need for raw resources to rebuild the Fleets stationed in the Aeverian front, these ships were decommissioned and towed to the Cethos Fleetyards and were scrapped.