Idris-P

For the first two hundred years of production, Idrises were reliably scrapped upon decommissioning; a requirement specified by law for all capital assets by the early UEE government. While Aegis' shipbreakers were forbidden from salvaging and reusing systems, they were able to recycle roughly 35% of the scrap tonnage in the construction of newly produced frigates.

In 2801, with the passage of the first Surplus Act that gave approved civilian organizations the rights to bid on properly-demilitarized but still-functional spacecraft up to and including destroyer-class vessels. For Idrises, the keel-mounted gun needed to be permanently disabled and all classified subsystems, such as military-spec targeting software, needed to be removed. The law was primarily passed to allow citizens to purchase former freighters and the initial reception to the availability of former military frigates was generally cold. Within two decades, however, the need for larger-scale fighting ships had become greater and Aegis was forced to significantly expand its investment in mining corporations in order to make up for lost scrap resources. Simultaneously, additional citizen armament laws loosened the restrictions on what equipment could be sold off and to whom it could be sold to, gradually going from authorized militia forces to corporate and finally private entities.

In 2875, as the demand for civilianized Idrises combined with expanding life cycles for existing military ships had outstripped the Navy's ability to decommission existing ships, Aegis launched first-ever Idris Peacekeeper (Idris-P), a purpose-built ship nearly identical in form to the military model (retroactively called the Idris Military or Idris-M), lacking only the main gun mount (which could be readily rebuilt on the secondary market). For the first time, civilian organizations could purchase not only the increasingly limited number of UEEN surplus ships but also commission the construction of their own spacecraft directly from Aegis. The popularity of the Idris platform, already cushioned by generations of developed support system, exploded and had quadrupled by the turn of the century.^[5]

In 2943, the UEE Exploratory Services retired 150 Idris-P which have seen hard service on the frontier. The ships were put on sale with funds received going towards the Synthworld project.^[6]

Militia units have adopted the Idris, in its lighter Idris-P variety. The Idris-P patrol design is available in limited quantities on the civilian market, and it continues to rehabilitate Aegis' reputation, having become something of a luxury item. Idris captaincy is considered a prestigious position and Citizens frequently compete to purchase the limited number of civilian craft the company can produce.^[6]

• Helene's Canard