Titan-II Battleship

The Titan-II Battleship, also known simply as the Titan-II is a large spacecraft and Battleship created specifically as a larger, faster and more efficient successor to the Titan-I Battleship used by Fairon and his team. It currently serves as Krataxus' primary vessel.

Origin and Concept
Shortly after the foundation of the Collapse of the Nui Tower of Time, and the foundation of the Temporal Empire by Krataxus and Temporus, the two deemed it necessary for the Toa of Fire and Darkness to have a vessel with which he could traverse the galaxy, in much the same way as the Titan-I served Fairon and his crew previously.

As such, a secret shipyard in orbit around Arcturus Magna was tasked with building the battleship to new specifications. Its core design was derived entirely from the Titan-I, including its concept of being a faster, stronger and larger battleship than any other spacecraft in the galaxy at the time of its creation.

As such, the engineers set out designing a larger vessel than the Titan-I, which retained the core design concept of high efficiency, but made it even more powerful than the previous model. The size was bumped up from 526 metres to 780 metres, more than half a time bigger than its predecessor.

In keeping with the tradition of the core concept of the Titan battleships, the engineers devised an "all-big" arrangement of the main cannons that nearly mirrored the ethos of the designers of the Titan-I. Three triple-barrelled, High-Powered Energy Cannons were placed to the front of the bridge, while another two of these cannons were placed to the back of the bridge. On the bottom of the hull, where the hangar command centre was located in an upside-down tower, another three Energy Cannons was placed, two double-barrelled cannons to the front of the tower, and one double-barrelled cannon to the rear of the tower.

Besides these heavy, longer-range weapons, the Titan-II was equipped with a huge array of smaller weaponry for close- to mid-range combat. 200 broadside cannons were mounted, 100 on each side in two horizontal rows of 50 cannons. A further 4 smaller, single-barrelled Energy Cannons were placed on rotary turrets, one on each corner of the bridge tower. Furthermore, three-hundred Energy Machineguns were placed all around the bridge, with an additional 200 placed on just the bridge tower alone. In addition, 150 rocket launch pads were placed all over the vessel.

In order to be able to outrun any spacecraft in the galaxy, the Titan-II was equipped with quadruple Trans-Warp nacelles, making it capable of going into Trans-Warp Factor T3, faster than the galactic standard of T2 at the time. The double-barrelled Energy Cannon on the bottom of the hull, near the bow, was given the ability to fire in Trans-Warp, essentially enabling Warp combat.

Besides these technological innovations, the Titan-II was the very first vessel in the universe to be equipped with a Trans-Warp teleportation device, which allowed users to create a Trans-Warp field around any being or object, and use that field to teleport the being or object to another location. This was first used on Fyxan, Lev and Shadon.

Design and Early History
After the Nui Tower of Time collapsed, Krataxus found himself largely without any means of transport. Not yet mastering the art of the portals of Darkness, the Toa of Fire was still forced to rely on other means of transportation. Temporus, realising this, ordered for a specialised secret shipyard in orbit around Arcturus Magna to devise and build a newer vessel to the specifications of the old Titan-I, except better, larger and faster this time.

The engineers at the shipyard came with the idea of the Titan-II, a massive vessel that was 1.5 times the size of its predecessor, and an order of magnitude faster, courtesy of its new Trans-Warp engine powered by one of the strongest Energy Reactors of its time. The vessel was quickly flown towards the Nui Tower of Time, from where it helped establish the Protected Zone, a zone where Trans-Warp flight was essentially impossible.

After its maiden voyage to help establish the Protected Zone, Krataxus christened the vessel the Titan-II, naming it after its predecessor, the vessel Krataxus considered to have been "stolen" by Fairon and his allies.

The Flagship of the Temporal Empire
Shortly afterwards, Krataxus began his campaign of conquest against the Galactic Council, utilising masses of Undead troops as well as the Titan-II vessel. The first move was to take the desert planet of Estron, which fell relatively quickly due to its native bounty hunters and its weak political structure.

Once the Galactic Council took note, several vessels of the Galactic Council Space Fleet was dispatched on a mission to liberate Estron from the dark invaders. The mission of the Space Fleet, however, proved entirely unsuccessful as a result of the overwhelming advantage Krataxus had gained with his new vessel. Although the Space Fleet retreated, Krataxus went in pursuit, taking down several of the fleet's vessels in Trans-Warp before even reaching Arcturus Magna.

Threatening Starport-I with destruction, Krataxus gained access to the space dock and transported himself and his soldiers down to the surface. Despite Acritus putting on a military campaign to defeat Krataxus and his soldiers, the Enforcers were quick to be defeated, and the Government of Arcturus Magna surrendered to the Temporal Empire.

Afterwards, Krataxus utilised the Titan-II as his mobile base of operations. He continued to use the vessel as both a means of transport and a means of insubordination. The vessel's presence near a planet was usually viewed as enough of a threat to surrender to the Empire's forces.

Finding Fairon
After managing to quell the resistance forces on Estron as led by Lev, Krataxus was informed of a pair of shuttles near the rogue planet Ashatan. The Toa of Fire utilised the Titan-II to head towards the planet, teleporting himself down via a portal of Darkness. During a confrontation in the temple of Ashatan, Krataxus fought both Fyxan and Fairon. After a brief skirmish, Fairon, Shadon and Fyxan fled, with Fairon heavily wounded. Dedicated to pursuing his best friend turned enemy, Krataxus continued his pursuit despite the heavy resistance put on by his opponents. Finally, the Toa of Fire led out a blast of Dark Fire, hitting Fairon squarely in his chest. Believing his greatest opponent to be dead, Krataxus declared victory.

The victory was not to last long, however, and Fairon rose once again, this time throwing all of his power into a final blast of Light. Krataxus was sent flying, and Fairon, Fyxan and Shadon escaped along with the rest of their team. Enraged, Krataxus screamed into the sky, before teleporting himself back to the Titan-II.

The Toa of Fire then utilised the vessel to head to Estron, where he was to interrogate an old Matoran warrior who had once been the mentor of Jareroden's. After a brief interrogation, the Toa discovered that his opponents were headed to the Nui Tower of Time in a pair of shuttles. Ordering the den to be burnt to the ground by his Undead soldiers, Krataxus headed back onto the vessel, which he commanded head to the Protected Zone at once.

Arriving at the Nui Tower of Time, the vessel indeed faced off with one of the shuttles, commanded by Fyxan, Lev and Shadon. After refusing to surrender, Krataxus ordered the cannons to fire on the small shuttle. A successful shot that only hit the wing of the small shuttle, Krataxus laughingly commanded that the three warriors surrender. They did, and the Titan-II utilised a prototype teleportation technology that had been installed aboard; a Trans-Warp teleportation device. After a successful teleportation, Krataxus ordered his opponents imprisoned, and ordered for the Titan-II to dock.

The Chase
After interrogating and torturing Lev in his prison cell in the Nui Tower of Time, Krataxus had extracted the location of the Toa team's base; the Shipwreck Field, an asteroid field surrounding Estron.

The dark Toa ordered for the battleship to set course for Estron immediately, arriving just as his opponents were about to leave the safety of their asteroid in their own vessel, the Titan-I. After a brief confrontation, in which Krataxus and Fairon exchanged taunts, Fairon refused to surrender to Krataxus, after which the Titan-I shot into Trans-Warp.

Laughing, Krataxus ordered for the Titan-II to take its pursuit at full speed. The larger battleship shot into Trans-Warp shortly afterwards. A short time thereafter, the Titan-II started overtaking the Titan-I amid Trans-Warp, and utilised its capability of Warp combat to send its predecessor hurtling out of Trans-Warp.

After their confrontation at Trans-Warp, the Titan-II arrived at the location of the Titan-I, ready to reduce the vessel to mere atoms. As they realised they were comletely unable to escape, Fairon, Jareroden and Aquila surrendered themselves.

The Titan-II then proceeded to escort its predecessor to the Nui Tower of Time, where both vessels were clamped into the docks, each in its separate hangar.

After the defeat of the Empire
After his defeat at the hands of Fairon, Krataxus destroyed the Crystal of Time and fled his throne room in shame. On the summit, the Toa of Fire was told to leave the Tower and head for Arcturus Magna, where their mission would be continued.

The dark Toa, though initially reluctant, agreed to follow his orders and headed to the Titan-II battleship. Once in the hangar, Krataxus said goodbye to the Nui Tower of Time, and vowed that it was not the end. He ordered for the Titan-II to head to Arcturus Magna.

Shortly before the arrival of Fairon and his team at Arcturus Magna, several officers of the Galactic Council Space Fleet reported sighting the Titan-II battleship in orbit of Arcturus Magna. When one officer of the Fleet attempted to investigate the sightings, which had been photographed, he went missing.

The location of the vessel remains unknown since then.

Technical Details and Design
The Titan-II was, much like its predecessor, a larger, faster, more efficient and more powerful vessel than any of its time. As such, it was equipped with the largest Energy Reactor for any spacecraft of its time, and quadruple Trans-Warp nacelle engines mounted on the hull in an X shape.

Hull
Like all previous Battleships, the Titan-II had a hull that was modelled after those of water-bound battleships, except refitted to be more suited for long-distance space travel. Its hull is built entirely out of reinforced Protodermis steel. The top half of it is coloured in a dull greyish colour, whereas the bottom half of the vessel is coloured in a darker reddish hue.

Both the bottom and the top of the hull contain many wings, the largest wings of which are the wings mounting the nacelles; four wings in an X-shape, with the Trans-Warp nacelles mounted on top of them. These wings were mounted aft, near the stern of the vessel where the gigantic main ion thruster is located.

The vessel is 780 metres long, one and a half times as large as its predecessor, from stern to bow. Its hull contains a bulbouw bow, which contains a number of bow thrusters for faster manoeuvring. The bulbouw bow also has a specialised ramming mechanism, for usage as a last resort attack.

Engines
The Titan-II is primarily propelled by a single gigantic ion thruster located at the stern. This ion thruster is powered by a series of engine reactors that are specifically used to power the engines. These engine reactors can function on their own as well as functioning as proxies of the primary Energy Reactor.

Besides the main ion thruster is an array of 5 other thrusters at the stern, which enable the ship to move on the Z axis, whereas the main thruster moves on the Y axis. A number of thrusters placed all along the length of the ship enable the ship to move on the X axis as well, enabling the ship to tilt left and right. As a result, the ship is very versatile and manoeuvrable despite its enormous size.

Bridge Tower
Slightly aft of the centre of the hull, the massive bridge tower is located. Unlike the bridge tower of the Titan-I, which is more blocky in shape, the bridge tower of the Titan-II is smoother and rounder in shape. As a result of this rounder tower shape, the bridge tower contains four smaller Energy Cannons at each corner, securing the bridge from most direct attacks.

Atop the bridge tower, the bridge is situated. The bridge functions as the vessel's command centre and its "brain", and it is there where most of the crucial decisions about the vessel are made, and most of the crucial ship operations are carried out. The bridge has a large front window, and a foldable viewscreen for communications that sinks into the ceiling when unused. There are also several side windows, enabling any weapons operator a good view of the area around the vessel.

Amid the bridge is the captain's station, with a large, comfortable leather chair, situated on a higher platform. Slightly further aft of it is the strategic planning table. Further to the front of the bridge lies a large aisle with different workstations left and right. One serves the purpose of radar, coordinates and scanner operations, the other serves the engine and Trans-Warp operations. Yet another serves the weapons operations, while the final one, the one closest to the front window, serves as a general indicator for shield, engineering and hull status.

Trans-Warp Nacelles
As with any other vessel capable of Trans-Warp flight, the Titan-II has a number of Trans-Warp nacelles mounted onto wings. In the case of the Titan-II, there are four Trans-Warp nacelles mounted onto four wings at the stern, mounted in an X shape. These four nacelles enable the Titan-II to travel at velocities as high as Trans-Warp Factor T3, the highest velocity any spacecraft has ever been capable of when it was built, and currently still the highest velocity.

Besides housing the Trans-Warp engines, these quadruple nacelles also enable the Titan-II necessary propulsion boosts, enabling it to make "quick jumps", as well as enabling smaller "boosts" to steer faster.

Radar Tower
On the bottom of the hull, the Titan-II carried a tower similar in architecture to the bridge tower, but much smaller. This tower housed the radar and shield operations of the vessel, and also served as the hangar's control tower.

Armaments
The Titan-II carried three triple-barrelled High-Powered Energy Cannons to the front of the bridge, all placed on rotary turrets. Similarly, two triple-barrelled High-Powered Energy Cannons were placed to the back of the bridge, while another three double-barrelled Energy Cannons were placed on the bottom of the hull; two to the front of the Radar Tower, one to its back.

Besides these heavier armaments, the Titan-II was equipped with a huge arsenal of smaller weaponry to defend itself in virtually any situation it could encounter. 200 broadside cannons were mounted, 100 on each side in two horizontal rows of 50 cannons. A further 4 smaller, single-barrelled Energy Cannons were placed on rotary turrets, one on each corner of the bridge tower. Furthermore, three-hundred Energy Machineguns were placed all around the bridge, with an additional 200 placed on just the bridge tower alone. In addition, 150 rocket launch pads were placed all over the vessel.

Hangar
Near the stern on the bottom of the ship, the Titan-II contains a small hangar devoted to special fighter craft and shuttles, as well as several escape shuttles. The hangar had a capacity of 50 smaller shuttles, most of which were either escort vehicles or escape craft.

Crew
The Titan-II has the capacity of a crew upwards of 4,000 beings, but its operational structure and main structure of the ship enabled the ship to operate its most basic functions and weaponry with only one crewmember at any given time. In order to utilise the vessel to its fullest of potential, though, the vessel required at least a bridge crew of 30, and an engineering crew of 20. During his tenure as chief commander of the Temporal Empire, Krataxus commanded the vessel with a full crew.

Main Computer
The Central Computer System (CCS) of the Titan-II vessel is more advanced than that of the Titan-I, and can take over most of the crucial operations of the vessel, enabling crewmembers to focus on more pressing, detailed matters. This enabled the ship's smaller crew complement than many other vessels. Despite that benefit, however, the CCS was unable to carry out the more sophisticated operation of the weaponry, such as distinguishing between enemy and friendly vessels. It was thusly always required that weapons operators be present to fire upon the enemy vessels manually.

Legacy
Like the Titan-I before it, the Titan-II looks to have already made a mark on the battleship technologies of its time. Since the Galactic Council and its Space Fleet were restored, the Space Fleet has done much in the way of emulating the engineering feats of the Titan-II, including faster Trans-Warp speeds for vessels, more weaponry, and more agility.

As Krataxus' main vessel and the flagship of the Temporal Empire at the height of its power, the Titan-II also became a symbol of the threat of Darkness. This led to the belief that the appearance of the vessel could already be a bad omen for anyone seeing it.

Trivia

 * Like the Titan-I, the Titan-II was based off of Space Battleship Yamato.
 * Again, like the Titan-I, the Titan-II battleship was originally an airship called the Titan MK.II airship in the original drafts of Dark Future, where it appeared in the same role as the Titan-II does in the Kronian Multiverse Storyline.

Appearances

 * Dark Future (first appearance)
 * City of Gold (mentioned only)