Liberator

The liberator was a terran air unit developed to ensure terran air superiority on the battlefield. A versatile medium-sized gunship, it carried twin missile launchers to strike clusters of aerial threats and could transform into a stationary air platform deploying a powerful anti-ground plasma cannon strong enough to pierce even the armor of a thor. It served the Terran Dominion and was widely copied and modified across the Koprulu sector.

Development and design#

The liberator was developed to ensure terran air superiority and was based on the designs of the United Earth Directorate valkyrie. It was initially designed only for air combat, but questions about its versatility led to the introduction of transformation technology and a powerful air-to-ground plasma cannon. The result was an aerial counterpart to the siege tank: a versatile medium-sized gunship armed with twin missile launchers to strike clusters of aerial threats, which could also deploy an anti-ground cannon after transforming into a stationary air platform. That cannon was strong enough to pierce even the armor of a thor.

Dominion liberators had a standardized design, meaning they could be piloted by anyone familiar with other Dominion spacecraft, and the ships were outfitted with multiple escape pods. The craft attacked in two mutually exclusive modes. In anti-air mode it remained mobile and delivered multi-targeting splash attacks well suited to massed aircraft. In anti-surface mode it selected a fixed circular area on the ground, became immobile, and concentrated very high single-target damage on anything within that zone, with switching between modes taking roughly a second.

Variants and service#

The liberator was widely adapted across terran forces. The Dominion Special Forces used advanced neosteel research to improve their liberators, giving them a more complex plating system that augmented the transformation process and making them the pride of the Dominion Fleet. Some mercenaries acquired liberators, though they were a rare commodity, and the Umojan Protectorate developed its own version only a few years after the craft was first deployed, its wholly reimagined rear thrusters becoming the envy of the original Dominion engineering team. Liberators belonging to the Covert Ops Crew were equipped with the ability to cloak.

Planetary militias also fielded the craft. The Knights of Tyrador equipped their liberators with numerous forward-facing floodlights to increase visibility across the wilderness of Tyrador IX. During the End War against Amon, Alexei Stukov deployed infested liberators, while Nova Terra deployed raid liberators against Amon's minions. Known liberator commanders included Captain Barlow and the pilot Yong.