NOVA SECTOR

KNOWN VESSELS OF THE MADRON FLEET

The Madrons are a highly intelligent and extremely belligerent race of aggressive, cybernetically enhanced, reptilian bipeds. They stand approximately five feet in height on muscular, powerful legs and are generally augmented with cybernetics from around the age of 5 years old. They have an ability to control their starships by neural interfaces that plug straight into their modified brains and are adept military strategists. Their one weakness is that the combination of their utter hatred for all other species, intertwined with centuries of genetic and cybernetic modification to their minds has a tendency to dull creative thought. This means that when they are met with fresh methods of warfare they tend, as a race, to be reactive and not pro-active in altering their own methods to compensate. Apart from a few instances, they appear to have no desire to change their established methods other than to upgrade their vessels every few decades.

Although it has long been a fact of history that the Madrons originally established themselves in the Terran galaxy approximately 457 years before they encountered the human race (possibly using a temporary wormhole junction akin to the one that led to Nova Sector, or maybe even through that very same junction), the location of their original homeworld is not known. Whilst it is clear that the Battle of Mars in 2971 saw the last of the Madrons in the Terran galaxy until their reappearance in 3002, the recent discovery of the wormhole to uncharted space suggests that what was defeated by the Terran Empire over three decades ago was not the Madron race as a whole as originally thought, but a "sub-branch" of the Madron Empire.

It seems reasonable to suppose that Nova Sector may be quite near to the location of the Madron home planet - and indicates that their own Empire may even ultimately be larger than that of the Terrans. Countering this supposition is the fact of the relatively few attacks mounted by Madron forces since the arrival of Home Fleet in Nova Sector, suggesting that the Madrons may either be fighting on another front or that they simply do not have the resources to maintain large offensive Naval operations at this time for some unknown reason.

It is disturbing to note that the classes and technology levels of ships encountered in Nova Sector are identical to those last seen in the Terran galaxy. Madron ships observed in Nova Sector have identical upgrades and weapons to those encountered in the last years of the war, including upgrades that the Madrons implemented to specifically combat Terran starships and tactics. This can only be possible if there has been some kind of exchange of information between Madrons who are galaxies apart. This suggests a communications network spanning from galaxy to galaxy - something way beyond current Imperial technology.

The Madrons were first encountered in 2645 when they appeared from deep space and launched a massive unprovoked attack on the heavily industrialised Imperial world of Marissa Prime using an enormous Assault Fleet. Since they were at that time the eighth sentient spacegoing alien hostile military power to be encountered by the Terran Empire, the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) began codenaming all Madron vessels with names beginning with "H" -, the eighth letter of the Terran alphabet. This practice is no longer generally in use, partly because most of the other seven races were exterminated by the Madrons during the War, and partly because of the sheer number of other races encountered since that time. However the one instance where the practice is continued related to Madron designs along the years.

The real names of the ships listed here will probably never be known - they are codenames assigned by Imperial officers. The Madron language has never been deciphered - they use a combination of speech with transmitted machine code using microwave links. No communication has ever been established with a Madron vessel, base or planet as, with a few notable exceptions (usually indicating some nefarious activity by the ship in question), any chance encounter by an Imperial vessel with a Madron ship or fleet will result in a battle to the death. Madrons have an extreme hatred and xenophobia of all non-Madron species and will attack any alien ship they encounter without thought for their own safety or numbers.

The name Madron was derived in 2682 from the databases of a derelict Pardonian Warship that was found in a debris field following a battle between the Madrons and that proud (now extinct) race. From what we can ascertain, the Pardonians had managed to capture and interrogate a Madron soldier, however the only useful piece of information derived during that interrogation was the name of their race - a name which sounded on playback to Terran ears like "M'adron".

Madron ships are outfitted with only minimal energy shielding - little more than navigational aids in fact to deflect small asteroids and space debris. Instead, Madron warships are plated with ultra-heavy armour that has energy-absorbing capabilities and advanced ECM and ECCM suites to deflect the flight of missiles and disrupt fire control mechanisms aboard Imperial vessels. In addition, angled surfaces can help to deflect direct fire from energy beams and also provide certain anti-scanning benefits.

Madron vessels are the application of brute force compared with current Imperial elegance of design, but are extremely deadly and should never be underestimated.

Please follow the links below for more information on previously encountered Madron warships which can be expected to be found operating in Nova Sector.