The Commissioning of the "Hand of God"
The Terran Republic, with its ever expanding boundaries, commissioned a new class of super battlecarrier to patrol and if necessary protect those borders. Designated the "Hand of God" class supercarrier, the first ship, named the "Hand of God" (TNS-9001), was commissioned as part of the Terran Republic Fleet in 2225 AD.
Seen here leaving the space docks at New Mars, the carrier weighed in at 50 million tons with a crew of 15,000 officers and enlisted personnel.
Plans called for the creation of four ships initially: the "Hand of God", the "Wrath of God" (TNS-9002), the "Breath of God" (TNS-9003), and the "Voice of God" (TNS-9004). Each ship to be stationed in the four quadrants comprising the Terran Republic with more ships added as needed.
Carrying four Havoc-class destroyers, eight Rapier-class Destroyers escorts, five Dragoon-class troop transports, as well as 800 fighters, fighter-bombers, and assorted tanker, recon, and miscellaneous support craft, the "Hand of God" is its own task force when all ships are deployed.
Her massive FTL drives (three) could push her to twice the FTL threshold--not overly fast compared to the smaller Typhoon-class fleet carriers, but due to her mass--nearly 10 times the Typhoons, a remarkable piece of human engineering.
Since she is her own task force, the Hand of God carriers carried their own Planetary and Fleet Action bombardment in the form of 12 16-inch guided projectile guns, 24 8-inch guided projectile guns, and 64 5-inch guided projectile guns.
In addition, 32 banks of space to surface missile and torpedo batteries supplement the projectile guns with a variety of warhead yields ranging from nuclear to personnel suppression ordinance and anti-ship duties.
Such a massive vessel makes for a massive target, so the carriers also carries over a 100 high speed gatling gun batteries to destroy smaller, faster ships as well as anti-ship torpedoes and missiles. The 5-inch guns also assist in providing a heavier punch for protecting the carrier.
Finally, Terran cloaking technology provides the "Hand of God" near invisibility. Her sensor footprint is no larger than one of the Alexander-class battle cruisers--a mere 1/4 her actual size.
The "Hand of God" is ordered to the Wolf 359 sector where TN recon had reported some unusual readings and signs of a potential First Contact scenario.
The Hand of God was to stay in reserve, getting no closer than two days jump from what the Terran Antiquities Service designated "Arak 4", a small planetary system near a diffuse nebula that blocked Terran long range sensors.
If this was a First Contact scenario with another race, every effort would be made to first take a peaceful approach to Mankind's first contact with another species. However, if the "natives were not friendly", the "Hand of God" would be there to provide military support as a last resort.