Intemperance

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• The Intemperance

The Intemperance was commissioned in 572.M37, and is one of Battlefleet Achernar's oldest vessels. Like many dictator-class cruisers, it was originally a lunar class ship of the line, but had its lance batteries replaced with flight decks in 943.M40 after Battlefleet Achernar lost two of its carriers in the same year. The refit was done in something of a rush, resulting in occasional power fluctuations on the port flight deck, but generally this manifests as slightly inconsistent lighting levels rather than anything more serious. The deck crew brush the issue aside as just one of the ships 'quirks.' Where many old ships feature wood or stone furnishings on the bridge and on the officers' decks, the Intemperance is rather less flamboyant, instead featuring riveted metal archways and cast iron embellishments. Some find the amber pools of light on the bridge rather gloomy, whilst others describe it as having a certain warmth.

Command Staff

• Commander Gereon Priscus has been the acting captain of the Intemperance for the last four months following Captain Tormand's arrest. The Priscus family are wealther Kapran merchants who bought Gereon his commission as soon as he was old enough to join the service. He is regarded as ambitious but un-creative, something that has stymied his passage through the ranks. He is popular with the Intemperance's officers, and has numerous contacts with other well-to-do types with Battlefleet Achernar as a whole.
• Gunnery Officer Lt Commander Barnabus Avrahem is a young man recently promoted into his position having excelled as a lieutenant commanding no. 3 gun of the port battery. He has yet to be tested in active combat, although his ability to read a target's manoeuvers (his most important skill) is excellent.
• Flight Officer Lt Commander Sarala Roshaan has run the Intemperance's flight decks for over thirty years with great devotion. Like Commander Priscus she comes from old money and older traditions, and as such gives the commander his dues. She knows all her hundreds of officers by name, and is considered to be a logistical mastermind. She is, however, utterly ruthless with ratings if they are found to have broken the rules and is quite comfortable with corporal punishment.
• Arch Magos Erastus Azaryah is exceptionally keen on the division of duty between Navy personnel and Mechanicum personnel, and seems to consider himself to be an ally of the ship's captain rather than an underling. His obvious skill at his job has meant that several generations of captains have learned to think of him as cantankerous rather than insubordinate, but it is a fine line, particularly since Azaryah holds the preservation of the ship as a greater priority than the execution of its duties. To him, a capital ship is just as much a god-machine as the titans.
• Confessor Gallo, the ship's senior priest, is not given to direct answers, preferring to help people think things through for themselves. He is quite flexible in his beliefs, or at least, willing to embrace a broad range of faith from the crew, so long as that faith involves the Emperor.
• Athalia ("Lia") of house Hadassah is the ship's navigator. Those who manage to look past her crooked spine and her wonky, elongated face all agree that she is a thoroughly pleasant individual who has inherited an decidedly un-mixed heritage, as can happen with the Navis Nobilite. Fortunately her defects are purely physical, and have no impact on her work.
• Ricard Ferrer is not technically a member of the command staff, but is ever at hand, being as he is the captain's personal assistant. Deference, discretion and highly polished cutlery are his main specialties, as is an immaculately shaved head. Mr Ferrer keeps his own counsel, and no-one knows where he grew up, or what he thinks about anything.

Ship systems and crew

The Intemperance has a total crew compliment of approximately 8,500.

Torpedo tubes

The Intemperance can carry a total compliment of 60 torpedoes, allowing for ten full salvos, although they are generally deployed more conservatively. Each of the six tubes is manned by a crew of 30 and commanded by a 2nd Lieutenant, who in turn reports to the Lieutenant in charge of all six tubes.

Port & starboard gun decks

The gun decks fire in support of the macro cannon batteries, although they lack the macro cannons' effectiveness at range due to less impressive sighting equipment. 1,200 of the Intemperance's crew live and work around these guns and the associated barracks and mess halls.

Port & starboard Macro-cannon batteries

The Intemperance sports eight macro-cannons. These are the ship's heaviest armament, and each requires a crew of 130 to operate and maintain. Each gun is commanded by a 2nd Lieutenant, reporting to the Lieutenant commanding the battery, and each has a nickname. The port side guns are known as Old Faithful, Roaring Rogal, Orkbane, and Acceptable Collateral. The starboard guns are called Ear Splitter, Tough Lover, Yesterday's Meat, and Sincere Apologies.

Port & starboard flight decks

The ship's most strategically vital attribute is its fleet of attack craft. The ship is a permanent home to 24 attack craft - usually an even mix of bombers and interceptors - as well as the captain's personal shuttle. There are also three auxiliary berths which allow the Intemperance to transport an additional squadron of craft or to transport other small vessels or the shuttles of Imperial dignitaries. These decks are home to the 600 personnel who fly, maintain and co-ordinate the carrier's most important assets.

Ordnance manufactorums

There are four manufactorums running down the ship's spine, overseen by the techpriests. They are used to build ammunition and ordnance as well as replacement ship parts. Compared to proper docks they are small, and have little room for the storage of materials, meaning that they can only really swing into sustained action when they have access to a supply of raw materials. They are designed primarily as a stopgap measure in the event that the ship has to operate away from port for a sustained period of time; in such situations the ship's bombers can be re-tasked to transport materials from a planet's surface up to the ship. The manufactorums are crewed mainly by techpriests, Mechanicum serfs and servitors numbering 450 souls in all.

Bridge crew

The bridge crew operate on the deck immediately below the command deck, and co-ordinate the ship's functions and navigation. In all there are 60 junior officers and 110 mono-task servitors.

Turrets

The ship's quad-linked autocannon turrets are used to fend off incoming ordnance. There are 47 turrets on the ship's hull, each with a crew of four: a gunner, a loader, a comms officer linked to the command deck, and an auspex officer responsible for providing the the gunner with targeting information.

Galley staff

Keeping the crew fed requires a huge catering staff. There are at least 50 cooks, with 300 additional galley staff. There are 40 galleys on board, one of which exists purely to serve the captain, and another responsible for the command staff.

Medicae

Medicae personnel are a crucial, if lamentably small, component of the crew. Viktor da Roya is the Intemperance's Chief Medicae, and manages 10 sick bays, 15 triage suites, and 7 operating theatres, most of them situated near the ship's core between the manufactorums and promenades.

Techpriests & Mechanicum serfs

The Mechanicum crew bunk in separate barracks to the navy personnel, although fraternisation between low-ranking members of both institutions is commonplace, much to the disapproval of the senior techpriests. Mechanicus staff comprise a substantial proportion of the ship's crew, with a compliment of around 2,000.

Preachers

Priests are a common sight on warships. Sailors are a superstitious lot, and having a priest extolling the Emperor's Grace within earshot of a hard-working gun crew maintains morale. The Ecclesiarchy contingent of the ship is big enough to crew a frigate, with about 180 priests all serving under Confessor Gallo.

Armsmen

Given the frequent need to board pirate stations and vessels, Battlefleet Achernar ships are expected to maintain a full contingent of 1,000 armsmen. This also safeguards the vessel against piracy after the Quorilian Incident in 387.M41, in which the Axiom, a ship of the line, was hijacked by a fleet of pirate frigates and destroyers.

Recreation areas

There are two recreation promenades on the ship populated largely by non-military personnel running shops in which ratings can spend their scant wages. Music, gambling, 'massage' parlours and various other entertainments are offered and largely ignored by the officer classes. The threat of having a promenade pass revoked is enough to keep most crewmen in line. Indeed, it is shocking to BFA crew that other battlefleets do not necessarily have such facilities on their ships.