====== Siege Engine ======

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Not taking into account the superhauler design, which was based on the [[xyth:caanian|Ca'anian]] freighters, the Siege Engine was the largest vessel produced by the [[xyth:orgs:dse|DSE]] shipyards. The vessel was intended for operation in the rich asteroid belts of the southern regions of the galaxy, where its role was to break up large asteroids so that smaller mining ships could get at the desired minerals deep within the rocks. The vessel was of extremely simple design : it was basically a gaint laser mounted on an engine of matching size and power, wrapped in a shell of thick armour plating.

The ship quickly became feared by those that had to work around it. Not only was its laser obviously dangerous, the breaking up of large rocks often upset the gravitational balance of asteroid fields causing other rocks to be propelled outwards. Since the ship only sported a single engine, it had to be one of unparallelled strength, making it incredibly unsafe to be anywhere near the vessel whenever it had to relocated. Several mining outposts in the area suffered extensive damage from these ships operating within their vicinity.

The [[xyth:orgs:dse|DSE]] group was obsessed with expansion and claimed ownership of every asteroid belt it laid eyes on. The soutern regions still contained many operational outposts owned by [[xyth:caanian|Ca'anian]] forces. At the time, there were cooperation and non-agression pacts between the [[xyth:caanian|Ca'anian]] people and the many human outposts in the outer regions of the galaxy. These human settlements had however severed all ties with the inner regions, and were in fact treated as criminals and traitors by the expansionist goverment with its seat still in the [[xyth:socs:4thmoon|Xyth sector]]. As such, the [[xyth:orgs:dse|DSE]] group, under command of Xyth, did not recognize the pacts and eventually put the [[xyth:caanian|Ca'anian]] species on the same level as the humans in the outer regions.

After several small successful battles against [[xyth:rivii|Rivi'i]] and [[xyth:caescix|Caes'cix]] squadrons in the south, the [[xyth:orgs:dse|DSE]] fleets tought themselves invincible and started a campaign against the [[xyth:caanian|Ca'anian]] outposts in the hopes of removing those and claiming the asteroid-rich regions the bases oversaw. The Siege Engines played a big role in the destruction of several outposts, but the [[xyth:orgs:dse|DSE]] fleet lacked the skill to properly support the large and slow vessels, and many were lost to roving gangs of [[xyth:ships:thogrom|Thogrom]] bombers.

Eventually, the [[xyth:orgs:dse|DSE]] had to stop their campaign after great losses, and with it the expansion towards the south-east, where the [[xyth:caanian|Ca'anian]] homeworlds were located. Instead, they turned their gaze to the south-west, attracted by dense asteroidbelts, where they eventually entered well-defended [[xyth:rivii|Rivi'i]] controlled space.

====== Related articles ======
  * [[xyth:start|Xyth main page]]
  * [[xyth:humans|Human race overview]]