Excalibur (Crusade)

Infobox Fictional Spacecraft
name = "Excalibur"


caption =
first =
last = Each Night I Dream of Home
class = Victory class destroyer
fighters = Starfurys
armaments = Quantum discharge cannons Heavy neutron cannons Fusion beam cannons Anti-Fighter pulse cannons Missiles
defense = Reinforced hull Minbari stealth device
propulsion = Hyperspace
power = Quantum Gravimetric reactorThe IAS Excalibur is a starship in the fictional Babylon 5 / Crusade universe. First seen in the Babylon 5 movie "", the ship is a Victory class destroyer. The ship combines human, Minbari, and Vorlon technology.

The "Excalibur" is one of two prototype ships built by the Interstellar Alliance. The other ship was the "Victory". The two ships were intended to be the first in a fleet of Victory class heavy destroyer vessels.

Technical specifications

The "Excalibur" was enormous in size, almost 3000 metres (2990) in length and was one of the first ships built by Earth to use artificial gravity technology provided by the Minbari. The gravity field provides workable gravity just under that found on Earth. A human would weigh slightly less on the ship than they would on Earth.

"Excalibur" features energy and particle beam weapons. The forward guns operate at two main power levels. Level One provides beams with slightly more strength than a standard White Star. The Level Two energy weapon was copied from Vorlon technology and not fully understood. The discharge originates from three emitters mounted on large "fin" structures at the ship's stern; the beams converge just forward of the bow into a single ravening blast that can destroy nearly anything in its path. Firing this titanic weapon drains all the ship's power and the "Excalibur" is unable to maneuver, fire weapons or use long-range scanners for approximately one minute afterward.

History

The first commander of the "Excalibur" was President John Sheridan. Along with Captain Leonard Anderson, who commanded the "Victory", the two ships were instrumental in discovering Drakh plans to destroy Earth with the Shadow Planet Killer left behind by the Shadows when they left the galaxy. Captain Elizabeth Lochley of Babylon 5 was able to convince Earth's government to mobilize a large fleet to protect Earth, "Excalibur" and "Victory" were able to join this fleet. Sheridan and Anderson were able to destroy the planet killer, however "Victory" was destroyed in the process. Destroying the planet killer distracted the fleet, and the Drakh were able to get close enough to seed Earth's atmosphere with a plague. On their withdrawal, the Drakh destroyed the construction dock - which prevented any further "Victory" type ships from being built in the near future.

The Interstellar Alliance turned the "Excalibur" into a research ship, loaning it to Earthforce in the process. Commissioned as EAS "Excalibur", Captain Matthew Gideon took command of the ship, and with his crew set out to find a cure to the plague before the plague activated five years later. The beginning of this quest to discover a cure was shown on the Crusade television series. However, only 13 episodes were shown - creative differences between the series creator and the TNT network led to the show being cancelled. The Sci-Fi channel had expressed interest in continuing the show, but did not have the budget to do so.

At some point within the next five years, the "Excalibur" succeeded in finding a cure, and was able to destroy the plague. The ship's future has not been documented. It remains to be seen if the ship will make any future television or movie appearances.