First up, the Zaketh battleship "Emperor's Dignity".
The Emperor's Dignity is perhaps the archetypal Zaketh warship. In a species that seems almost obsessed with size and power for the sake of size and power, this warship is 96,250 metres in length, 29,165 metres across the beam, and 13,185 metres high. The ship is largely comprised of hard angles and gigantic slab sides. The surface is dotted with 28 blisters which are tentatively labeled as weapon housings. The mechanism by which these function is unknown, but some observations of other Zaketh units firing have been made. Most commonly, detonations seem to happen on the target without any apparent mechanism connecting them to the ship. A real space observer would see something similar with a Coalition design which fired its weapons through midspace; in that case the matter/antimatter bolt would vanish almost the instant it left the cannon, reappearing almost directly on top of the target. Only with midspace sensors operating would the bolt be seen in transit, however briefly. In the case of the Zaketh warship, however, even midspace sensors show nothing connecting the weapons to the target. It is as if the target simply explodes for no reason.
The weapon blisters are 1,865 metres in length and 1,165 metres across. Only hazy estimates can be made of their firepower, but blisters half this size have been observed on other ships causing detonations many thousands of times larger than the largest Coalition AMP cannon, and at a far higher rate of fire.
Apart from the blisters, the Emperor's Dignity carries something that appears to approximate a Coalition Planetbuster Cannon, albeit on a significantly larger scale. The weapon is slung under the forward section of the ship; it is over 26 kilometres long. The weapon has not been seen firing, but rumours abound as to what its purpose might be. It seems too large for a "mere" planet busting weapon, and one suggestion is that it is a "starbusting cannon". Another is that it is designed to penetrate the powerful shielding which Zaketh ships are, presumably, fitted with. Another is that it is a weapon of exceptional range - something that large built with Coalition technology might encase a PBC bolt in a midspace sustainer field which would let it fire across as much as a thousand light years.
Whatever the case, it is clear that the Emperor's Dignity alone outguns not only entire Coalition fleets, but possibly even the entire Coalition navy.
Whilst undoubtedly a supremely powerful vessel, this dreadnought also exemplifies the worst excesses of the Zaketh Empire. As with all such ships the posts on board are hereditary in nature; from the commanding officer to the lowest deckhand, every member of the crew is aboard purely because his or her parent served there. Where a Coalition vessel has an engineering department, a gunnery department, an aerospace contingent, on a Zaketh vessel these departments are individual aristocratic houses, filling important posts with senior members and lesser roles with the junior members. A ship's crew represents an alliance of different aristocratic lines, which may be bound together by marriage, or tradition, or simply convenience. The crew of the Emperor's Dignity is not an asset to be utilized by the Emperor, however respectfully and carefully, as in the Coalition's case. Rather, they are a major political force in their own right, technically subject to Imperial whims but in reality at least a rival to the Imperial house itself.
The impact on the upkeep and operation of the vessel can only be imagined. It is known that civilian proletariat contractors are frequently employed to service and even operate Zaketh vessels; in extreme cases such casual employees perform most or even all functions aboard, essentially giving the ship an aristocratic crew who function as figureheads and a prole crew who do the actual work.
Since the senior officers are members of the aristocracy and the Imperial court, employment of the ship in any cause is a delicate political matter. The Lords of the Zaketh navy are reluctant to venture forth into the distant "barbarian lands" even within the Zaketh borders, let alone beyond them. When they do, it is generally as part of an Imperial tour in which a large part of the home fleet ventures forth together. Such missions are not carried out often, and usually involve a great deal of preparation - indeed it is questionable whether the Emperor's Dignity does or even can do anything at all without a great deal of prior preparation.
In essence, then, the most powerful single military unit in the Milky Way galaxy is employed largely as a high end luxury barracks and personnel transport.
As far as is known, the Emperor's Dignity has never ventured beyond Zaketh borders, and is unlikely to in anything but the most extreme of circumstances.
