The aftermath of the Dilgar War prompted the Abbai to not only push for the
formation of a League of Non-Aligned Worlds, but to also examin their own
failures of the past conflict. Many leaders in the Abbai military sunk into
depression after the war. Despite the success of the Alliance against the
Dilgar, the widespread destruction and innumerable loss of life was completely
devastating. The leaders blamed themselves; the Abbai had in fact taken note
of the Dilgar prior to the war, marking them as a potentially agressive new
race. The construction of spy satellites in orbit above Omelos was the Abbai
solution to keep tabs on the Dilgar development. As the ensuring war proved,
the satellites gave the Abbai a false sense of security and a means with which
to be easily duped by the Dilgar menace. The failure of the Abbai to protect
themselves and their neighbour races from the ensuing military buildup and
conquests fell heavy on the shoulders of many. While it remains true that
the Abbai did more to watch the Dilgar than many other races would have bothered
to do; the fact remained in the minds of many that they ultimately failed
and to some even, that they were partly responsible for the surprise nature
of the war.
Post Dilgar-War thinking among some sectors bore new ideas similar to what
has been seen in previous Earth history, chiefly that "The Price of Peace is
Eternal Vigilance". No longer would many in the Abbai military structure rely
simply on a set of satellites to be their ears and eyes. They wanted a means
with which to conduct surviellance with their own eyes, to see and predict
conflicts so as to stop them and prevent further loss of life.
The Hyach like so many other League races were not spared the horror of the Dilgar
war. Their advanced technology could not stop the Dilgar without the strength of
will and numbers to drive it. In the Hyach, the rimward neighbours of the Abbai,
some saw an oppertunity. The stealth ships of the Hyach are known to exist by few
but are feared by those who do. Fear born from the sense of the unknown rather than
of the ship's military power itself. With the Hyach homeworld in a state of repair
the Abbai approached the Hyach with an arrangement. The Abbai would provide some of
their advanced enviromental and agricultural technology in exchange for the refitting
of several hulls. The Hyach were of course reluctant at first; eager to keep the
secrets of their advanced stealth cruisers to themselves. But the need for rebuilding
of the planet was real, and so after some compromise to both sides the deal was agreed.
The Tiraca Attack Frigate is a venerable Abbai hull, but one which does not so easily
fit into the Abbai tactical mindset. Thus disliked, many hulls of the class were
decomissioned or sold to other nations after the war. Many filtering to the Gaim
from which was born their own Slyach Frigates. The contract between the Hyach and Abbai
involved the transfer of ten of these hulls to the Hyach homeworld where they would
be refitted by both Hyach and Abbai scientists into a new design. To secure their
technology, the Hyach would provide crew members for the new vessels to oversee the
security and maitenance of said technology. The Abbai, while interested in the stealth
abilities, were happy to be able to use it for their means and were ultimately less
concerned with understanding it's nature.
The new class of ship was christened the Tirashi Spy Frigate. The refit of the design
with stealth capabilities was considerable. The main problem found was that the foreward
thrusters gave off too high a heat signature. Both of the larger thruster banks were
removed and sealed over with hull. In the core of the vessel the Combat Laser
was removed and replaced with a smaller and more shielded retro thruster. Other
modifications involved replacing the Particle Impeders with Comm Disruptors.
The idea behind the Tirashi is that it is meant to be a dedicated spy vessel. Moving
silently through systems using primarily passive sensors. Due to it's non-combative
role the Combat Laser was completely unneccesary and an obvious omission. The Impeders
however were only removed after much deliberation. Abbai tacticians ultimately agreed
that the ship's best defence was not it's impeders but the stealth hull. In the
event of being discovered the ship is meant to avoid enemy fire, not endure it. The
principle behind the Comm Disruptor was that should the Tiraca be pinned and discovered,
the ship is to accelerate towards the (hopefully) lone enemy ship and use it's comm
disruptor's to render it's communication arrays useless. In the time it takes for the
ship to recover her communications and send a message, the Tirashi will hopefully
have already accelerated well out of range and to an unknown position where it could
not easily be cutoff and attacked by other hostile ships.
The Tirashi entered service shortly after the Dilgar war, a total of ten such hulls
behind refitted and put into service. For the most part the ships have thus far been
widely successful in spying. Although the recent Shadow War and squabbles among the
league members brings doubts to Abbai diplomatic efforts to stop such conflicts.
