The PHALANX project was begun to make up for Feazanthia's lack in both these fields. The technology to implant a capital ship class reactor into a frigate has always existed, it has just been counter-intuitive to do so. To equip scores of frigates with massive reactors would not only be costly, but would provide the vessel with no real advantage. Power is useless with nowhere to go, and smaller vessels simply cannot support a weapon on the scale of a Yamato cannon or heavy MAC guns.
And so, another avenue was sought. Though vessels carry individual shielding, that shielding does nothing to protect a vessel that has, say, suffered a power loss. The PHALANX system rectifies this. Equipped on several of these medium frigates are massive shield arrays. These arrays cover the frigate themselves, but also project a shield outwards from the ship in the forward direction. When used in groups, PHALANX frigates can use their onboard A.I.s to "SmartLink" and combine the energy of their CapShip reactors. Because the frigate carries only a few phaser turrets for point defense and only a small crew cabin, over 95% of reactor output can be used to power the shield. When PHALANX shields are merged into a larger array, the shield becomes nearly inpenetrable. It is estimated that even the "Super Laser" of the Sith Death Star would only be able to significantly damage the shield.
When an allied fleet ship fires, the A.I. aboard the PHALANX vessel supporting that portion of the shield will open a gap just wide enough for the shot to bass through.
The disadvantage of this system is that the shield is largely ineffective against shielded fighters. Even a weak deflector shield will allow a vessel to pass through. Care must be taken to keep the lightly-armored frigates from being destroyed by enemy fighters.
Without further ado, the PHALANX.
Length: 520 meters
Width: 120 meters
Height: 42 meters
Power: 2 ArTek SC class AQS reactors
FTL Propulsion: SFTE Mk. 2
SL Propulsion: 4 Solar Ionization engines
Armament: 6 type XXI phaser turrets
Defense: 20cm Titanium-A, PHALANX shield emitters