Beneficia (Jedi Renaissance)

Beneficia

The Beneficia was one of the Jedi Order original thirteen praxeum ships designed for the training of students, the ferrying of researchers, and discovery of new worlds. Constructed by, the Corellian Colonizer served as a base for the Jedi Exploration Corps in the area of space that formerly contained much of the Sith Empire along the Gordian Reach, in what was considered. One of only three of the original thirteen praxeum ships to survive the New Sith Wars, the Beneficia was maintained and refurbished many times over the course of the next several thousand years, becoming the basis of several new ships created by the Order in the wake of the Clone Wars. Based out of, the Beneficia was constantly on the move, representing the civilized galaxy as it sought out new civilizations and societies among the stars.

History
Commissioned in 2,116 BrS by the Jedi Order, the Beneficia was designed to serve as a mobile academy for Jedi. Having learned too well the threat of housing all of their students in one structure, the High Council hoped that by spreading their students out across the stars, it would prevent losing them to a single attack. In addition to providing the Order with a safety net, the Beneficia and other ships like it would allow the Order to better interact with star systems and governments and to recruit more heavily from worlds further from the galactic core. Capable of housing up to 1,500 Jedi, the Beneficia' secondary mission was serve as an exploratory ship, combing through regions of space not well-charted and making contact with new civilizations. When the Sith Empire threatened the existence of the Republic, the Beneficia remained coreward of the fighting under the command of Master Zoya Minervan, ready to reinforce the Republic military if necessary. Seeing combat over the course of the war, the vessel survived the conflict with limited damage. While much of the ship's weapons systems were stripped away as part of the Order's disarmament when the Army of Light was disbanded, the ship continued to function for several decades, despite the Jedi Order's move to refocus its training on Coruscant. Taken off line in 231 BrS, the Beneficia remained in drydock until three decades before the Clone Wars when the ship was reactivated to serve as one of the mobile headquarters of the Jedi Exploration Corps, the Beneficia mainly carried ExplorCorps Jedi rather then training new Initiates.

When the Clone Wars ended, the Beneficia was assigned to the region of space under the protection of the Black Sword Demand and the 6th Sector Fleet. Enveloping a huge swath of the western galaxy, the Beneficia' primary duties with the ExplorCorps were to explore the regions beyond the hyperspace anomalies which made travel in the region difficult. Over the ensuing decades, the crew of the Beneficia worked to identify the planets, chart each star system and bring the inhabited planets into the fold of the greater galaxy. Protecting Ilum, a sacred Jedi holy world, the ship's occupants were highly trained in diplomacy, lightsaber combat, and history.

Design
A sizable ship designed by Corellian Engineering, the Beneficia was constructed using the standard shell of a Corellian Colonizer ship with several modifications to suit its mission and unique inhabitants. As with all praxeum ships commissioned by the Jedi Order, the Beneficia' primary function was as a spacefaring academy for groups of Jedi and a base for the Exploration Corps as they explored the galaxy searching for new cultures and societies. To this end, the ship was fitted with specialized chambers and facilities necessary to the life of a Jedi. The ship was quite large for its purpose: it measured 385 meters long, 275 meters wide, and 20 meters tall. When fully crewed, the Beneficia operated with 3,533 crew members that oversaw everything from engineering, life support, command, and maintenance. A compliment of droids also assisted in the routine operations of the ship. 112 of the crew acted as gunners and maintained ordinance and all other defense routines. Much of the crew was retired Republic military personnel that admired the Jedi and sought a life of exploration that they could not otherwise achieve. Additionally, a vast majority of the crew were researchers, scientists, librarians, and scholars representing hundreds of species and cultures that sought to assist the Order's mission of galactic exploration.

Shaped vaguely like the archaic letter Y, the Beneficia consisted of three wings angled out from a central hull. The bow of the ship was known as the Instruction Wing and housed all of the major classrom areas of the ship. The ship's hull was pock-marked by reinforced transparisteel blisters that served as classroom settings, allowing students to observe the vastness of space as they traveled through the stars. At the forward most portion of the wing was the communications and sensor arrays that allowed the ship to observe new worlds and stellar phenomena. This information was then relayed to the ship's communication center in the command pinnacle. A compact library tower jutted up from the center of the Instruction Wing, containing several stacks which featured data tape storage, holobooks, artifact storage, and research suites. With texts covering the myriad of Jedi teachings, advanced and theoretical science tomes, historical annals, literature from across the galaxy, and encyclopedias covering the galaxy's languages, art, and culture, the ship's library was sufficient for keeping the inhabitants abreast of Jedi lore and teachings from across the galaxy.

The command pinnacle was situated behind the Instruction Wing and was the highest point of the ship. Home to the majority of the non-Jedi crew, the sublight and hyperdrive engine array mounted directly aft. The command pinnacle was divided into two small wings on either side of the bridge; the port wing housing the command center and the starboard wing housing navigation and the ships starmaps. Jedi navigators assisted in the direction of the ship, smoothing out hyperspace snarls with the Force. The Beneficia could accommodate 1,500 Jedi, and contained hundreds of exercise and lightsaber-sparring rooms to hone each student's concentration, form, and body. Workshops were provided for the construction and maintenance of lightsabers, while meditation chambers gave students and masters alike a place to contemplate the nature of the Force and further their mental discipline. A medical wing located aft of the command pinnacle contained dozens of rooms used to teach Jedi healing arts to young students, both for use in the aftermath of battle or accident and to aid the physically or mentally impaired.

The Beneficia possessed twelve double turbolaser batteries and two ion cannons, arranged at the tips of each outer wing and around the command tower and engines. Hosting a complement of two squadrons, or 24 strikefighters, the ship had several other hangar bays that housed a variety of shuttles and exploration craft that could be deployed with research equipment or diplomatic conference rooms. Following the Clone Wars, the starfighters housed on the ship included, , and.