"Hard on my flank, we're going in!"
As part of an ongoing diplomatic effort to further integrate humanity into the galactic
community, the Citadel Council sponsored a joint development project between
the Turian Hierarchy and the Human Systems Alliance.
The result of this project was the SSV Normandy, a prototype reconnaissance frigate
that also served as a platform for a number of experimental stealth technologies.
Just like other small Systems Alliance vessels, the Normandy came equipped with a set of
matter-antimatter thrusters mounted on pylons on the side of the craft.
The multiple axes of freedom present in these pylons,
combined with the oversized mass effect core,
afforded the ship an extreme level of agility and poise in flight.
These pylons also mounted a pair of smaller, reverse thrusters,
only used for docking and similar activities.
Due to its small size,
the vessel was fully capable of atmospheric flight in almost all weather conditions.
This allowed it to directly dock with ground based docking bays,
or even almost land if the terrain was suitable.
As well as containing the ships armory,
the roomy cargo bay housed an M35 Mako infantry fighting vehicle.
This could be rapidly deployed to almost anywhere from the front-facing loading doors,
which could also be used to directly insert marines or supplies into a secure landing zone.
Despite its main role not being that of a combat vessel, the Normandy was still armed with
a spinally mounted mass accelerator cannon, a GARDIAN laser system for point defense,
and kinetic barriers for protection.
The Normandy acted as a test bed of experimental stealth technologies
designed to enable its role of deep reconnaissance.
In order to conceal the vessel from the passive sensors of enemy vessels,
the ship used an Internal Emission Sink (or IES).
This system captured and stored all thermal output from the ship in a suite of heat sinks.
These worked in concert with active refrigeration of the outer hull
to make it practically undetectable against the background radiation of space.
This system had some hard limitations though;
it could not be sustained indefinitely due to internal heat build up eventually cooking the crew.
This imposed a cap on the length of time the IES could be active
of only a few hours while the vessel ran “hot”.
If run “cold” and passively drifting, this time before needing to radiate heat could
be extended up to a number of days.
FTL travel also blueshifted thermal emissions out of the range that the IES could capture.
The whole system also only worked for thermal emissions.
Any other wavelengths or reflected radiation,
such as visible light, could still be detected.
The other half of the stealth system was a Tantalus Drive Core.
This enormous mass effect core was proportionally double the size of that on any other ship,
and was capable of outputting the significant amount of power needed to pump heat into the IES.
The core also meant that the Normandy was potentially the fastest ship ever made,
reaching multiplies of light speed higher than any other vessel.
Additionally, it could be active for longer periods of time before needing to
discharge the static electrical charge that was built up by the drive core.
The core could also generate mass concentrations ahead of the ship that it would “fall” into,
forgoing the need to burn hot and very visible thrusters for movement.
It’s unclear how the Tantalus Core could achieve this without breaking the law of conservation of momentum.
The way it was supposed to work is analogous to holding a magnet out in front of the ship to pull it along.
The relatively small time that the IES could safely operate for,
and being unable to use FTL travel,
may seem like it could reduce the usefulness of the system.
But this short period, combined with sensor delay from light-speed-lag,
gave a window of opportunity for Normandy to act before its presence was noticed.
This allowed the crew to get in, do what needed to be done, and leave before the enemy knew what was going on.
The internal design was strange.
Every deck had a significant amount of wasted space;
the CIC had large unused curved sections along the sides,
and the drive core room was enormous, consisting of mostly empty air.
The COs personal cabin was particularly egregious in this regard.
The crew amenities were completely inadequate for the intended
long term deep scouting missions that the ship was designed for.
There didn’t appear to be anywhere to make meals on the crew deck,
though at least there was what seemed to be a communal eating area.
The only true bed in the entire vessel was in the commanding officers cabin,
with nowhere else but the medbay for the rest of the crew to sleep.
There was a set of eight sleeper pods, but it's unclear if these were intended for sleeping,
or more longer term stasis.
Worst of all though, there was not a single toilet anywhere on board.
Despite these glaring issues, the Normandy was still extremely effective at deep recon.
The IES stealth system meant it could go places any other ship wouldn’t have been able to.
This capability played a key role in Commander Shepards hunt for the rogue Spectre Saren Arterius,
namely in assisting Captain Kirrahes STG team infiltrate and destroy Sarens facility on Virmire,
and sneaking past the Geth ships that were guarding the legendary planet of Ilos.
While the Normandy the Normandy was on a routine patrol mission,
the inadequacies of the stealth system were exploited by the Collectors,
Allowing them to complete destroy the vessel.
However, its legacy, and name, lived on.
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