Until recently, Comstar owned and operated most of the known hospital Dropships in the converted Condor-Class aerodyne class known as “Dove”s. However, the idea for the Canopean Aceso class actually came from Doctor Hussein Dbdelwahab and Dame Sandra Echterhoff of the Free Worlds League. Both were forced to flee their homeworlds along the Lyran border just ahead of the Wolf-in-Exile invasion of FWL space and found themselves appalled by the conditions of the various refugee camps they passed through on their way to safety in the Majestry of Canopus.
Using Dame Echterhoff’s considerable fortune, the pair launched into years of research to find the best way to implement their dream of providing better medical care for the poor and displaced, even after Dr. Dbdelwahab died of lung cancer caused by the chemical strikes he had endured as a child on Atreus. Dame Echterhoff would later follow, dying of old age just before the contracts to begin construction could be finalized. The project would be seen to completion by her daughter, Doctor Judith Echterhoff.
Sinking the bulk of the remaining Echterhoff fortune into the project and working extensively with Precision Instruments of Laxen, Bio-Edge Inc of Wildwood and Majesty Metals and Manufacturing shipyard on Dunianshire, the empty hull of a Princess Class luxury liner whose primary private investor went bankrupt attempting to assemble a private “Pleasure Circus” underwent the transformation into a new Aceso Class Hospital dropship.
Equipped with the latest Canopean medical advances and a skilled Canopean crew, the first ship is an experiment. If it succeeds, the hope is to operate along the model of the famed Canopian pleasure circuses, travelling a circuit of low population/lower income worlds and providing quality medical care. Protocol will be to land the ship in a central location and use the vehicles to either spread out to smaller communities and treat patients on the ground, or to ferry the worst cases back to the dropship for treatment.
The Aceso does retain a part of the Princess class unique feature in the "Earth Ring" that circles the third deck. Acting as not only a corridor and pleasant place for patients to enjoy a garden and sunlight, the plants growing in the ring are all selected for their healing/herbal properties. This gives the doctors a chance to treat patients who would otherwise refuse treatment by "chemical" means, as well as a ready reserve of medicines as necessary.
The ship has greater capacity than the more well-known Dove, by expanding the not only the number of patients the hospital can handle- 30 surgeries at once at full emergency levels, along with the capacity to provide beds for almost 300 patients; as well as a dedicated Maternity Ward and limited laboratory. The Aceso boasts two mobile MASH units and 6 dedicated ambulances, 2 Yan Manufacturing SOAR VTOLs, 1 ST-46 shuttlecraft and 1 Mowang modified into a shuttle-ambulance/bus.
With accompanying support ships for cargo and other supplies, the Aceso can be deployed to battle- and disaster zones easily. Perhaps with an accompanying ship full of construction/recovery-mechs to help recover victims and offer rebuilding assistance of stricken areas.
Total ship’s compliment
Ships Crew
10 Officers
40 Enlisted/Non-rates
3 Gunners
20 Bay personnel
30 support staff
30 Doctors
120 Assistants
Nurses
Orderlies
Ambulance and Evac Crews
10 Paramedics
6 MASH/Ambulance drivers
Normal operations have 2 medical wards operating at full capacity with a reserve compliment of 6 doctor and 24 assistants assigned to triage as needed
Deck Layout
Deck 1- Support Crew Deck
450 tons of space
280 tons- 2nd Class Quarters
- 40 Hospital support staff
170 tons- Cargo
Deck 2- Entry Level 4 Doors
2085 tons of space
400 tons Vehicle Bay (50 tons per vehicle per the "TechManual" rules for Light vehicles)
100 tons 2 MASH Units
300 tons 6 Simca Ambulances
Support/Cargo Trucks
2 tons 8 units Paramedic Equipment (0.25 tons per unit)
0.5 tons/2 units per door
34 tons 2 Surgical Suites
1 Suite = 2 MASH cores + 10 additional bays
- MASH Core 3.5 tons
o +1 ton per additional bay
- 2 Sets of Paramedic equipment (0.5 tons total)
100 tons ER (treat as steerage class quarters for 20)
602 tons 2nd Class Crew Quarters
- Orderlies, medical staff
- Medics
- Drivers
MASH
Ambulance
- Bay personnel
847 tons Cargo
Deck 3- Hospital Level
2363 tons of space
34 tons 2 Surgical Suites
1 Suite = 2 MASH cores + 10 additional bays
- MASH Core 3.5 tons
o +1 ton per additional bay
- 2 Sets of Paramedic equipment (0.5 tons total)
651 tons- Medical Staff Quarters
- Nurses
- Ship’s Crew
- Gunners
200 tons “Earth Ring”
- Ring around the perimeter reminiscent to the standard Princess class “Earth Deck”
1050 tons Patient wards
150 2nd Class Quarters
Includes cafeteria and kitchen
175 tons Maternity Ward
140 tons 20 2nd Class rooms for mothers
35 tons of space for baby stuff
250 tons Private Rooms
25 1st class Quarters
3 tons of storage space
Deck 4- Residential/Ward Level
1400 tons of space
550 tons- Command Staff 1st Class Quarters
- 10 Ship’s Officers
- 30 Doctors
- 15 Head Nurses
70 tons- Flight Crew 2nd Class Quarters
80 tons- Lab space
700 tons- Patient Ward
100 2nd class Quarters
Deck 5- Hanger Deck 2 Doors
1 tons 4 units Paramedic Equipment (0.25 tons per unit)
0.5 tons/2 units per door
2 SOAR VTOLs
2 crew/unit
1 ST-46
3 crew/unit
1 Mowang (modified)
3 crew/unit
Aside from the above notes, it stats out just like the Princess Class Luxury liner
*recent update for the Vehicle Bay per the rules in the TechManual
