Bounty

G.S.S. Bounty, M-203-F, was the line-leader for the Bounty-class Fast Attack Stealth Ship. Bounties were built in huge numbers during the Kamian Succession Wars and operated primarily by the Alliance and member-worlds. The Crimson Blade ultimately fielded very few of them, despite about 1/3rd of all models being constructed directly by the Foundation. The rest were built under contract by the Alliance, which was given special dispensation to purchased IFA heavy beam cannons and military-spec'd Fairview FTL Drives. Countless more knock-off ships, made with civilian-grade drives and cheap copies of the main cannon, were also constructed by various powers.

The Foundation had an agreement with the Alliance that, following the war, all surviving Bounty-class ships were to be sold back to the Foundation at cost. While the Alliance generally tried to comply, few member worlds did. Many of the ships were kept by worlds that otherwise did not have the capacity to build warships. Still others were illegally sold on the secondary market, where they became extremely popular with mercenaries, smuglers, and other such individuals of ill-repute. Ironically for the name, the Foundation was forced to issue a "bounty" on all Bounty-class ships that could be either returned to the Crimson Blade or proven destroyed.

Design History

The Bounty was never conceived as a production-model ship. Instead, it was constructed as a Metal Prototype, Multi-technology Test Bed and equipment demonstrator. During the Battleship Crisis, the Foundation was desperate for ways to field more ships; one proposal formed the mianstay of the Bounty's design: it would rely on active shielding, rather than armor, to protect itself. This concept, definitely not revolutionary, was not well-recieved by the Crimson Blade regulars. Still, shield technology had come a long way, particularly in the area of Projection Shields(which can stop torpedoes), so the metal-prototype received the green light.

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