FC

Heavy cruiser — principal boundary cruiser of the 2350 expedition, adapted for topology measurement ('the chief engineer of a heavy cruiser', Keller's Field, chapter 18)

ISV Palisade

A heavy cruiser, competently run, carrying a ship-scale Seam draw weapon because the expedition expected anchor machinery — not because the weapon was safe. 'Two hundred and eighty-six people go where I put them,' her Captain says in February; in May twelve are authenticated alive. Her arrangement is known through the ring that wraps the ship's middle, the bridge two decks above it, the module two decks down and forward, and the island aft — auxiliary control, thirty feet of flat, the after instrument space, and a man a hundred feet forward under a screw shore.

Operator
ISCA Frontier Command
Registry
ISV — Interstellar Seam Vessel (; shared with ISV Breakwater and ISV Redoubt)
Series
Closed Sky
Drawn as
SITE: three states on one plate. As she entered the Seam, Friday 10 March 2350; Rev A after the engagement of Saturday 29 April (a frame out of the bridge, the port head and mast gone with the outboard plating, the port ring holed two frames, the midships section open, twenty-two hurt and none dead); and the casualty of Wednesday 3 May — the zone overlay, the island of four aft, twelve authenticated. Damage and the overlay are marked SPOILER.
Sheet 1 General arrangement — profile, looking to port 265.0 m overall · 265 frames at 1000 mm
GA Forward sensors and kinetic mounts — General arrangement — forward to aft · frames 1–30 · fixed P-01 Boundary weapon-field module — General arrangement — forward to aft · frames 30–62 · published P-05 Bridge and primary command spine — General arrangement — forward to aft · frames 62–96 · published P-02 The ring — habitation, mess, washrooms — General arrangement — forward to aft · frames 96–150 · published P-03 Mission deck and Porhal's compartment — General arrangement — forward to aft · frames 150–166 · published P-04 After instrument space — General arrangement — forward to aft · frames 166–174 · published P-04b The flat — thirty feet — General arrangement — forward to aft · frames 174–183 · published P-04c Auxiliary control — General arrangement — forward to aft · frames 183–192 · published P-04d Engineering — plant, shops, switchboard, the after flat — General arrangement — forward to aft · frames 192–222 · published P-06 Flight deck — cutter and EVA — General arrangement — forward to aft · frames 222–244 · published P-07 Sick bay and stores — General arrangement — forward to aft · frames 244–258 · published P-08 Main propulsion and radiator roots — General arrangement — forward to aft · frames 244–264 · published P-09 THE MODULE DOOR — its own door and its own watch on the door; a trolley jack that would not come through the frame at any angle; cold-start gear brought up from the store in armfuls. REV A, SATURDAY 29 APRIL 2350 — the bridge's forward frame out; a curtain across it and a blanket folded along the deck against every standing order. THE PORT HEAD AND ITS MAST stood here on the ring's outboard plating until the first minute of the Saturday engagement. Rev A: the port ring holed two frames long; the after end run off the starboard side. THE MIDSHIPS SECTION — a third of it still open to the patch party on the Monday; the last third of the patch on its clamps and not sitting, 'because the frame behind it had taken a set when the plating went'. THE PLATE ABOVE THE PLOT — a year and four names under it, from a drill run in auxiliary control when the ship was new. Two of the four still aboard. THE BRASS COCK — low in the instrument space's forward door, the size of a thumb, 'so that nobody in the history of the fleet ever opened a door onto nothing'. ⚠ SPOILER — THE HATCH: open onto a passage with a cutter holding at the far end of it, eleven people at the after end of the compartment and a queue. 1 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 FRAME
Sheet 2 Deck plans — 1 decks, looking down 38.0 m maximum beam

Nine functional volumes in the order the prose forces: the module ahead of the bridge, the ring at the middle two decks down, the island aft of it.

Forward sensors and kinetic mounts · frames 1–30 · fixed · spec ruling 2026-09-21; §2 for her era's fit — no chapter places a sensor head forward Forward sensors and kinetic mounts Boundary weapon-field module · frames 30–62 · published · The Firing Order, chapter 20 ('*Palisade*'s noise came up through the plating from two decks down and forward where the module sat cold'); The Firing Order, chapter 19 ('The module was two decks down and forward of the shear, and it had its own door and its own watch on the door'); The Firing Order, chapter 19 (a trolley jack that 'would not come through the frame at any angle'); The Firing Order, chapter 23 ('outside the module door … bringing the cold-start gear up from the store in armfuls') Boundary weapon-field module Bridge and primary command spine · frames 62–96 · published · The Firing Order, chapter 20 ('The bridge was warm at the after end and cold at the forward end, where the curtain still hung across the frame that had come out'); The Firing Order, chapter 20 (the plot table); The Firing Order, chapter 25 ('Primary command does not answer. Auxiliary control in command.') Bridge and primary command spine The ring — habitation, mess, washrooms · frames 96–150 · published · The Firing Order, chapter 9 ('The outboard end of the ring ran the whole curve of the ship's middle with the bunk spaces against the shell and the washrooms and the mess inboard of them … a Captain had come down two decks to look at it'); The Firing Order, chapter 14 ('The starboard warm passage was a passage again, with nothing on the deck but the marks where the bunks had stood'); The Firing Order, chapter 15 ('the starboard passage the thirty-eight bunks had come out of when the habitation ring came back up') The ring — habitation, mess, washrooms Mission deck and Porhal's compartment · frames 150–166 · published · The Firing Order, chapter 3 ('the mission-deck plate'); The Firing Order, chapter 6 ('Sarah sat in the mission-deck compartment with a plot and a circuit'); The Firing Order, chapter 9 ('That's why Matsuda owns the deck'); Keller's Field, chapter 1 ('the fourth was a hundred feet forward under a screw shore') Mission deck and Porhal's compartment After instrument space · frames 166–174 · published · The Firing Order, chapter 20 ('The after instrument space had the trestles out of it … The starboard head was up on a feed'); The Firing Order, chapter 26–151 ('The instrument space door stood open and had been chocked open with somebody's boot … The heads were on their mountings and the racks were on their feet, and there was an envelope on the bench with three hours written on the outside of it in Matsuda's own hand'); The Firing Order, chapter 26 (the forward door's brass cock 'the size of a thumb, there so that nobody in the history of the fleet ever opened a door onto nothing') After instrument space The flat — thirty feet · frames 174–183 · published · The Firing Order, chapter 26 ('There was thirty feet of flat between auxiliary control and the after instrument space. It was dark, and the deckhead in the middle third of it had come down far enough that Rourke went the last of it on her hands') The flat — thirty feet Auxiliary control · frames 183–192 · published · The Firing Order, chapter 25–13 ('The compartment had been shut since the spring drill and still smelled of it. The vent grille was off and down on the deck with its screws in a jar lid … A plate was screwed to the bulkhead above the plot with a year on it and four names under the year, from a drill somebody had run in here when the ship was new. Two of the four were still aboard.'); The Firing Order, chapter 28 ('the ledge under the circuit boards, which was the heaviest single piece of steel in the compartment'); The Firing Order, chapter 25 (the after board); Keller's Field, chapter 2 ('the after board had come off at the panel') Auxiliary control Engineering — plant, shops, switchboard, the after flat · frames 192–222 · published · The Firing Order, chapter 25 ('the electrical shop'); The Firing Order, chapter 25 ('the mechanical shop'); The Firing Order, chapter 27 ('the man at the foot of the switchboard frame'); The Firing Order, chapter 20 ('the pump that had stood on them was in a bin on the after flat in three pieces') Engineering — plant, shops, switchboard, the after flat Flight deck — cutter and EVA · frames 222–244 · published · The Firing Order, chapter 25 ('the flight deck'); The Firing Order, chapter 11 ('Ship to cutter took six minutes and went the way Petrescu had drawn it'); Keller's Field, chapter 15 ('a hatch open onto a passage with a cutter holding at the far end of it') Flight deck — cutter and EVA Sick bay and stores · frames 244–258 · published · The Firing Order, chapter 19 (Petrescu: 'Nothing that came through my door came off a weapon. It came off this ship. Deck plate, a frame that let go, four of them off the same ladder with the lights gone'); The Firing Order, chapter 25 ('the forward stores'); The Firing Order, chapter 31 ('the water breaker had stayed in its locker') Sick bay and stores Main propulsion and radiator roots · frames 244–264 · published · The Firing Order, chapter 20 ('The Commander Engineer can prove the starboard radiator group. The port one he can't. If we fire, the heat goes where it should for about half the time it should.'); The Firing Order, chapter 16 ('the burn ran three minutes and cost what it cost') Main propulsion and radiator roots 1 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 PORT STBD
  1. P-01 Forward sensors and kinetic mounts Fr 1–30 fixed spec ruling 2026-09-21; §2 for her era's fit — no chapter places a sensor head forward

    Her boundary instruments are not here: they are 'two heads on the hull' on masts (The Firing Order, chapter 19), the port one standing on the ring's outboard plating. Kinetics and point defence are the era's and are never shown.

  2. P-05 Boundary weapon-field module Fr 30–62 published The Firing Order, chapter 20 ('*Palisade*'s noise came up through the plating from two decks down and forward where the module sat cold'); The Firing Order, chapter 19 ('The module was two decks down and forward of the shear, and it had its own door and its own watch on the door'); The Firing Order, chapter 19 (a trolley jack that 'would not come through the frame at any angle'); The Firing Order, chapter 23 ('outside the module door … bringing the cold-start gear up from the store in armfuls')

    ⭐ Forward of the bridge and two decks below it — the architecture had it at the midbody; the page moves it. Comes up from cold once: 'I can do it once' (The Firing Order, chapter 20). ⚠ SPOILER: zone D — twenty-eight, one survivor.

  3. P-02 Bridge and primary command spine Fr 62–96 published The Firing Order, chapter 20 ('The bridge was warm at the after end and cold at the forward end, where the curtain still hung across the frame that had come out'); The Firing Order, chapter 20 (the plot table); The Firing Order, chapter 25 ('Primary command does not answer. Auxiliary control in command.')

    Marlow's plot table. Rev A (Saturday 29 April 2350): the forward frame out, a curtain across it and a blanket folded along the deck 'against every standing order about the compartment' (The Firing Order, chapter 20; ch23:209). ⚠ SPOILER: zone A — forty-eight, none.

  4. P-03 The ring — habitation, mess, washrooms Fr 96–150 published The Firing Order, chapter 9 ('The outboard end of the ring ran the whole curve of the ship's middle with the bunk spaces against the shell and the washrooms and the mess inboard of them … a Captain had come down two decks to look at it'); The Firing Order, chapter 14 ('The starboard warm passage was a passage again, with nothing on the deck but the marks where the bunks had stood'); The Firing Order, chapter 15 ('the starboard passage the thirty-eight bunks had come out of when the habitation ring came back up')

    Two decks below the bridge, wrapping the ship's middle. The drying space (The Firing Order, chapter 9); the drain trap a rating runs once a watch 'because a trap in a cold passage freezes' (ch15:49). Carries the main distribution: 'This ring runs the whole after end' (ch23:129). Rev A: 'the port ring's got a hole two frames long in it and I'm running the whole after end off the starboard side' (ch20:11). ⚠ SPOILER: zone B — seventy, none.

  5. P-04 Mission deck and Porhal's compartment Fr 150–166 published The Firing Order, chapter 3 ('the mission-deck plate'); The Firing Order, chapter 6 ('Sarah sat in the mission-deck compartment with a plot and a circuit'); The Firing Order, chapter 9 ('That's why Matsuda owns the deck'); Keller's Field, chapter 1 ('the fourth was a hundred feet forward under a screw shore')

    The forward end of the island. ⚠ SPOILER: Porhal lies here from the shot, 'under a shore whose foot is on a frame. The frame is part of the after third of this ship.' (The Firing Order, chapter 31).

  6. P-04b After instrument space Fr 166–174 published The Firing Order, chapter 20 ('The after instrument space had the trestles out of it … The starboard head was up on a feed'); The Firing Order, chapter 26–151 ('The instrument space door stood open and had been chocked open with somebody's boot … The heads were on their mountings and the racks were on their feet, and there was an envelope on the bench with three hours written on the outside of it in Matsuda's own hand'); The Firing Order, chapter 26 (the forward door's brass cock 'the size of a thumb, there so that nobody in the history of the fleet ever opened a door onto nothing')

    Matsuda's bench, the envelope of old seals (The Firing Order, chapter 20). Lost nothing in the casualty.

  7. P-04c The flat — thirty feet Fr 174–183 published The Firing Order, chapter 26 ('There was thirty feet of flat between auxiliary control and the after instrument space. It was dark, and the deckhead in the middle third of it had come down far enough that Rourke went the last of it on her hands')

    ⚠ SPOILER: the deckhead down in the middle third after the shot; everything to Porhal 'went down the flat in somebody's hand or somebody's teeth' (Bergen Limit, chapter 1).

  8. P-04d Auxiliary control Fr 183–192 published The Firing Order, chapter 25–13 ('The compartment had been shut since the spring drill and still smelled of it. The vent grille was off and down on the deck with its screws in a jar lid … A plate was screwed to the bulkhead above the plot with a year on it and four names under the year, from a drill somebody had run in here when the ship was new. Two of the four were still aboard.'); The Firing Order, chapter 28 ('the ledge under the circuit boards, which was the heaviest single piece of steel in the compartment'); The Firing Order, chapter 25 (the after board); Keller's Field, chapter 2 ('the after board had come off at the panel')

    ⭐ Hardened, separate power and pressure; where succession sits by doctrine. The plate above the plot. ⚠ SPOILER: 'Auxiliary control in command' (The Firing Order, chapter 25); the island's after end for thirty-four days; Rourke's tally sheet under the table's low corner (ch27:293; ch31:235). Zone C — thirty-four, four.

  9. P-06 Engineering — plant, shops, switchboard, the after flat Fr 192–222 published The Firing Order, chapter 25 ('the electrical shop'); The Firing Order, chapter 25 ('the mechanical shop'); The Firing Order, chapter 27 ('the man at the foot of the switchboard frame'); The Firing Order, chapter 20 ('the pump that had stood on them was in a bin on the after flat in three pieces')

    Senanayake's. ⚠ The plant's scram is the casualty model's (39), not the page's. ⚠ SPOILER: zone E — fifty-two, three.

  10. P-07 Flight deck — cutter and EVA Fr 222–244 published The Firing Order, chapter 25 ('the flight deck'); The Firing Order, chapter 11 ('Ship to cutter took six minutes and went the way Petrescu had drawn it'); Keller's Field, chapter 15 ('a hatch open onto a passage with a cutter holding at the far end of it')

    One cutter is on the page; the rest of the boat inventory is the model's. ⚠ SPOILER: zone F — twenty-four, two.

  11. P-08 Sick bay and stores Fr 244–258 published The Firing Order, chapter 19 (Petrescu: 'Nothing that came through my door came off a weapon. It came off this ship. Deck plate, a frame that let go, four of them off the same ladder with the lights gone'); The Firing Order, chapter 25 ('the forward stores'); The Firing Order, chapter 31 ('the water breaker had stayed in its locker')

    Petrescu's door. 'Twenty-two and none of them dead' after the Saturday (ch19:163). The forward stores are named, not placed. ⚠ SPOILER: zone G — thirty, two.

  12. P-09 Main propulsion and radiator roots Fr 244–264 published The Firing Order, chapter 20 ('The Commander Engineer can prove the starboard radiator group. The port one he can't. If we fire, the heat goes where it should for about half the time it should.'); The Firing Order, chapter 16 ('the burn ran three minutes and cost what it cost')

    Two radiator groups, port and starboard. The drive is a burn and nothing more on the page.

Key

  • Command
  • Science
  • Engineering
  • Propulsion
  • Habitation
  • Medical
  • Access
  • Defence
Casualty What the shot did — complement, survivors, and why 286 aboard · 12 alive · 274 lost
Weapon / field module — 1 of 28 survived. The module is designed to contain an outward failure and does. Most personnel are killed by the return transient; one isolated station survives. D 1/28 27 lost Primary command / combat sensor spine — 0 of 48 survived. The return coupling crosses the primary command and field path. Catastrophic structural and pressure loss — 'Primary command does not answer' (The Firing Order, chapter 25). A 0/48 48 lost The ring — habitation / off-watch — 0 of 70 survived. A large connected pressure volume on the field path, lost before isolation completes. B 0/70 70 lost Mission deck, instrument space, auxiliary control — the island — 4 of 34 survived. Firing doctrine separates succession and control from fire authority. Hardened local power and pressure survive: Rourke, Bishop, Matsuda, Porhal (Keller's Field, chapter 33). C 4/34 30 lost Engineering / plant / damage-control trunks — 3 of 52 survived. Plant scram and compartment isolation save several separate work positions. E 3/52 49 lost Flight deck / cutter / EVA — 2 of 24 survived. Independent pressure and vehicle systems survive after structural separation. F 2/24 22 lost Sick bay, stores, service pressure island — 2 of 30 survived. A low-energy service zone survives the first transient, then is isolated by hull damage. G 2/30 28 lost
  1. D Weapon / field module 1 of 28 fixed

    The module is designed to contain an outward failure and does. Most personnel are killed by the return transient; one isolated station survives.

  2. A Primary command / combat sensor spine 0 of 48 fixed

    The return coupling crosses the primary command and field path. Catastrophic structural and pressure loss — 'Primary command does not answer' (The Firing Order, chapter 25).

  3. B The ring — habitation / off-watch 0 of 70 fixed

    A large connected pressure volume on the field path, lost before isolation completes.

  4. C Mission deck, instrument space, auxiliary control — the island 4 of 34 fixed

    Firing doctrine separates succession and control from fire authority. Hardened local power and pressure survive: Rourke, Bishop, Matsuda, Porhal (Keller's Field, chapter 33).

  5. E Engineering / plant / damage-control trunks 3 of 52 fixed

    Plant scram and compartment isolation save several separate work positions.

  6. F Flight deck / cutter / EVA 2 of 24 fixed

    Independent pressure and vehicle systems survive after structural separation.

  7. G Sick bay, stores, service pressure island 2 of 30 fixed

    A low-energy service zone survives the first transient, then is isolated by hull damage.

Every figure here is published canon and the arithmetic is re-derived on every build — a sheet whose zones stop adding up to the number in the book fails and does not ship.

Grade of every figure on these sheets

  • published Stated in the books. If a drawing disagrees, the drawing is wrong.
  • derived Arithmetic on published facts; the working is given.
  • fixed Canon was silent here and the drawing decided.

Principal figures

Each figure carries its grade: published (the books state it), derived (arithmetic on what they state) or fixed (the sheet's own decision, bounded by what the books rule out).

  • Length overall

    265 m

    derivedno chapter states a length

    Midpoint of the architecture's envelope. ⚠ Nothing in five books gives her a dimension; the envelope is a planning figure and this is graded derived from it, not published.

  • Beam

    38 m

    derivedpressure-hull beam 34–42 m, excluding deployed radiators and arrays

  • Mass

    7000 t

    derivedloaded mass 6,000–8,000 t

  • Complement

    286 persons

    publishedThe Firing Order, chapter 8 ('Two hundred and eighty-six people go where I put them'); Keller's Field, chapter 33 ('Authenticated survivors, ISV *Palisade*. Twelve.')

Systems

Seam draw / coupling weapon

published

Ship-scale boundary draw system

  • AvailabilityAn annexe 'listed what had to be true before *Palisade*'s draw system was available', with not one line another ship could check (The Firing Order, chapter 4)
  • Warm-upThe module comes up from cold on everything the ring is not already using — 'I can do it once' (The Firing Order, chapter 20)
  • HeatStarboard radiator group proved, port not: 'the heat goes where it should for about half the time it should' (The Firing Order, chapter 20)
  • State'sitting there with her side open and her own weapon at state. Not moving.' (The Firing Order, chapter 21)
  • DoctrineFire authority, succession command and boundary instruments kept in separate physical paths — which is why auxiliary control answers when primary command does not (The Firing Order, chapter 25)

The Firing Order, chapter 4–115; The Firing Order, chapter 10; The Firing Order, chapter 21; The Firing Order, chapter 20,:319

Boundary references and the heads

published

Three cases out at the boundary; two heads on the hull to ask them where they are

  • References'three cases of instruments, put out in March, light-seconds apart, sitting exactly where they had been put' (The Firing Order, chapter 15)
  • HeadsTwo on the hull. Port head and its mast gone with the outboard plating in the first minute of the Saturday engagement (The Firing Order, chapter 19); starboard head up on a feed (ch20:73)
  • Two chainsMatsuda's, off the ship's own chain; Porhal's, off his own kit patched onto the same feed at the bulkhead (The Firing Order, chapter 15)

The Firing Order, chapter 15; The Firing Order, chapter 19; The Firing Order, chapter 20; The Firing Order, chapter 25

Ordinary armament

derived

Her era's conventional fit

  • KineticsCoil and rail accelerators, finite magazines
  • DefensivePoint defence, interceptors, sensor-directed lasers
  • ⚠ Ceiling not fitWhat her era can carry. She is never shown carrying more

§2 via tier T6 — never shown in prose

The island — thirty-four days

published

What the wreck drew, and from what

  • ⚠ SPOILER — draw'The standby set, which had gone on putting the distress out at its fifty-one minutes since the first night without anybody telling it to. The ring. The blower over the after end with the bed of absorbent behind it. Nothing else' (Keller's Field, chapter 2)
  • ⚠ SPOILER — volumeAuxiliary control, thirty feet of flat, the after instrument space, the mission deck to Porhal's shore — 'one volume … the after end had never been sized for a hundred feet of anything' (The Firing Order, chapter 33)

Keller's Field, chapter 2; The Firing Order, chapter 33; Keller's Field, chapter 1

What was checked

The books state distances aboard this ship. The drawing has to produce the same ones or it is wrong — so it is made to, and the working is shown. These run again on every build; a compartment moved by a metre fails them.

  • “286 aboard, 12 survivors, 274 lost — and the zone arithmetic closes” The Firing Order, chapter 8 ('Two hundred and eighty-six people go where I put them'); Keller's Field, chapter 33 ('Authenticated survivors, ISV *Palisade*. Twelve.'); for the split

    28+48+70+34+52+24+30 = 286. Survivors 1+0+0+4+3+2+2 = 12. Losses 286−12 = 274. ⛔ The totals are published and closed; the split is the model's and graded fixed. re-derives both sums and fails the build if a zone is edited.

  • “Thirty feet of flat between auxiliary control and the after instrument space” The Firing Order, chapter 26

    P-04b ends F174; P-04d begins F183: 9 frames at 1000 mm = 9 m; thirty feet is 9.1 m. The flat P-04c is [174,183]. Pass.

  • “Porhal's shore is a hundred feet forward of auxiliary control” Keller's Field, chapter 1 ('the fourth was a hundred feet forward under a screw shore')

    Aux control forward bulkhead F183; the shore drawn at F153 inside P-04 [150,166]: 30 frames at 1000 mm = 30 m; a hundred feet is 30.5 m. Pass.

  • “The module is forward of the bridge, and both are drawn where the page puts them” The Firing Order, chapter 20 ('two decks down and forward where the module sat cold, and from aft where the patch party had the third of the midships section'); The Firing Order, chapter 19

    P-05 [30,62] lies ahead of P-02 [62,96]; the midships annotation at F140 lies aft of it. The vertical (two decks) is in the notes; the band cannot draw it. Corrected 2026-09-21 from an order that put the module at the midbody.

  • “The ring wraps the ship's middle, two decks below the bridge” The Firing Order, chapter 9

    P-03 [96,150] is centred at F123 of 265 — within a tenth of the hull's mid-length at F132. Pass.

  • “Overall length sits inside the architecture's envelope” 240–290 m

    265 frames at 1000 mm = 265 m, the midpoint of 240–290. Graded derived, not published — no chapter states a length.

  • “The three zones that die are contiguous and lie on the field path from the module aft”

    D [30,62] → A [62,96] → B [96,150]: contiguous, 1 + 0 + 0 survivors of 146. Every zone aft of F150 is off that axis and leaves survivors in ones, twos and threes. Pass.

  • “She crossed third in the sequence” The Firing Order, chapter 3 ('*Palisade* was third in the sequence, behind *Redoubt* and *Halberd*, with the auxiliary fourth'); ch03:297

    The print date. Redoubt's sheet has the crossing at 09:26 Friday 10 March 2350; Palisade entered the Seam third that morning. Pass.

Service history

Compiled from

  • The Firing Order — ch03, 04, 06, 08, 09, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33
  • Keller's Field — ch01, 02, 06, 12, 15, 18, 33
  • ISCA Frontier Command, Captain