Here is a brief look at the IMS Upgrade and some notes about the crew's previous ships.
About The UpgradeFormerly named the Coronal Flare, the Upgrade is a 440 dTon "Solar Wind" class Fast Yacht which the crew had tool ownership of, through salvage laws, in the Inthe system(Regina). Larger than the Hotel California, they had to get the Coronal Flare operational when the California suffered a harsh misjump. The new ship proved to be an upgrade, once fully operational despite the price they paid in lost upgrades to the Hotel California. Still, the fast yacht's four-parsec jump capability and faster manuver drives have provided the crew more flexability in traveling directly to destinations.
The deckplans below show the final design layout after some modifications while the crew worked to get the ship working. The red dots indicate installed security cameras. The pink hue, where it exists, indicates security camera coverage.
Here are images Gabriel made of the interior and areas of the ship:
The Forward upper deck, including the bridge The ship's lounge space: The Aft staterooms and passage:
The Cutter in its bay Main Engineering: The MedBay:
The Low Berths The Cargo Bay:
The Hotel California was actually two ships in one. A 250dTon "Stingray" class Yacht, the small and economical design was one enjoyed by smugglers. The one "off" detail in the specs below was the displayed fuel purification plant tonnage. There was a limit my design reviewer and I missed about a 'minimum tonnage' in Book 5: High Guard ( published by GDW ). That required the plant to be no less than three tons and I only caught it later.
The First Hotel California had been property of Duke Norris of Regina. After the Dawnstar Horizon(See Below) was destroyed, the California was loaned to the crew because of their service to him and the Imperium. The ship served them as they continued their travels to the Rhylanor system, tomeet with Duke Leonard. The most significant issue with the vessel was that its fuel purification plant had been modified by the smugglers Duke Norris' people took it from. It was in that system, that the original ship was destroyed in an attack that killed the Chief Engineer, Sir Brian Montgomery.
Still unidentified forces crept into the Rhylanor system and attacked the arcology on which the California was finally having a new fuel purification plant installed. While the ship was more than 70% destroyed, salvage yard had a second Stingray-class vessel that survived the attack. This suggested the California had been targeted. Because Duke Leonard found value in their adventures, he ordered that ship to be repaired with a working fuel purification plant. He also did this because Duke Norris owned the original Hotel California. But Duke Leonard's orders were to rebuild the second vessel covertly, to confuse the mystery attackers.
Duke Leonard planned to make use of the team and their vessel serve his own needs, as well as possibly draw the attackers out. But the crew know little of his plans as he hasn't said much to them. Still, he ordered them to keep the old vessel's name, to support the ruse he created. Ultimately, Arch-Duke Norris learned of the changes and gave the current vessel to the crew as owners, which remained until the ship's loss.
The crew were given the California from Norris Aella Aledon, then Duke of the Regina system and Subsector. Part of this decision was to keep the crew in space, as their actions served his purposes or the needs of the Imperium as he saw it. That vessel was named the Dawnstar Horizon, and was a 100 DTon Sulieman-class Scout/Courier, detatched from the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service. That ship was destroyed in combat with pirates in the Rech system (Lanth), after being comandeered into service by the acting commander of the Imperial Cruiser Tamesha Kargaa.
A note regarding Imperial Interstellar Scout Service(IISS) and 'Detatched Service'. One of the most vast of Imperial military services, the IISS holds the peace-time duties of surveying the worlds of the Imperium, linking them with communications networks and exploring new space or re-exploring those shadows that still exist on established maps. As such a service, the IISS relies on a massive fleet of ships, which are both expensive as well as which take a very long time to build. In time of war, the IISS commanders in the area of operations gather their fleets to support the battle and defensive fleets of the Imperial Navy.
When the ships of the service get older, they become more costly to maintain. Still, they can and may need to be called on in time of war. So they can't simply be discarded out of hand. As a solution, older ships are frequently disarmed and then turned over to deserving scout service enlistees on the end of their service. The cost of the ship's further operations and upkeep. A secondary benefit to the Imperium is that the ships and their new commanders often take up those many jobs which are too small for other crews but yet too expensive for some worlds to hire out for.