SHADOWS WARSHIP
CLASSIFICATION: Dreadnought (Aircraft Carrier/Battleship)
LENGTH: Variable (between 800 & 2,000 meters)
TONNAGE: unknown
MANEUVERABILITY: Class A
CREW: unknown
TROOPS: unknown
FIGHTER(s): 40 Shadow Fighters (?)
POWER SOURCE: Hyperspace Tap
DURATION: N/A
WEAPONS: 1 Shadow Death-Ray
DEFENSES: Armor - Shields - Tractor Beams

This class of vessel was the standard issued Shadow Warship, also known as "Spiders" or "Crabs." These powerful vessels, while all similar in design, varied in size and power. Shadow Warships fell under three sub classes. Class “A” warships measured about 800 meters. Class “B” warships, the most common seen in the Shadow fleet, were on average 1.5 kilometers at their longest point while Class “C” Shadow Warships were 3 kilometer in length.

It has been documented that the Shadow beam weapon can literally slice planetoid into shards. The only thing that ever was able to stand up to Shadow weapons fire, had been a Vorlon Dreadnought. Shadow ships can also fire some type of pulse weapon that can collapse a vessels jump point into Hyperspace, as well as tractor beams and burst weapons. Once locked onto a target, a Shadow vessel will follow that target until it has destroyed it.

Unlike conventional races, Shadow vessels did not form "Jump Points" to enter Hyperspace. Instead they "slid" or “phase” into Hyperspace. Shadow also use this technology to cloak their vessels. This cloak puts them somewhere between "real space" and "first level Hyperspace". Once cloaked, there are few things that can harm the Shadow vessel in or out of Hyperspace. Until the ship fully enters either dimensional plane, it will be virtually invulnerable to attack. This cloak however, doesn't seem to function in atmosphere and is apparently susceptible to large graviton shifts. Current documentation indicates that some of these vessels could also carry some 40 fighters.

Shadow vessels are a completely biological organism, and their central control mechanism is a biological entity. The Shadow warship's only apparent weakness is the fact that it's central processor IS an independent biological entity. A telepath can use his/her gift to interfere with a Shadow vessel's operating system. This weakness was the key to defeating the Shadows in the last great war. Knowing this, the Shadows have begun using human telepaths in their operating system. The human telepaths are modified with bionic implants, and are used as weapon components in Shadow vessels.

Now that the Shadows have passed beyond the rim, it is unlikely that those telepaths still fitted to merge with Shadow vessels will ever fully recover. On top of this, apparently the former allies of the Shadows escaped the destruction of Z’Ha’Dum with a great deal of advanced Shadow technology, making them a deadly threat to the security of the known universe.

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