INFILTRATOR

Classification: Hybrid extradimensional (Kalahian)/terrestrial battleship

Creator: Thin Man, United States government

Users/Possessors: Admiral Peter Noble, Invaders (Blazing Skull (Mark Todd), Captain America/U.S. Agent (John Walker), Jim Hammond, Spitfire, Sub-Mariner, Tara, Thin Man, Union Jack (Joseph Chapman))

First Appearance: (as schematics) Invaders III#1 (October, 2004);
    (actual appearance) Invaders III#2 (November, 2004)

Powers/Abilities: The Infiltrator was approximately 2400 feet long, with a displacement of 120,300 tons. Her cruising speed exceeded 100 knots. She possessed a cloaking device which made her undetectable. She was capable of shifting into sixth-dimensional space, rendering her invisible to non-Kalahian eyes. Infiltrator also projected a field which maintained a sub-dimensional area around itself, such that individuals or objects on its deck on in its immediate vicinity remained in sub-dimensional space. While in sub-dimensional space, the Infiltrator could not interact with objects in "normal" space.

Infiltrator was armed with tactical missiles capable of dropping an entire city into sub-dimensional space, where - without the protection of a sub-dimensional field - it and everything in it would be destroyed. For more conventional combat, she possessed eight main cannon and several smaller batteries. In addition to these weapons, she carried a number of aircraft, foremost among them four Duragen Stratoplanes equipped with sub-dimensional flash-transit capabilities, similar to Infiltrator's, allowing them to traverse long distances by taking shortcuts through the "sixth dimension". Infiltrator also supported helicopter traffic and carried sub-dimensional lifeboats for the crew.

The Infiltrator's facilities included a fully-outfitted command center, scientific and surgical laboratories, and a special interrogation room containing equipment for amplifying psionic abilities. A small museum/exhibit area contained a portrait of the WWII Invaders, as well as original costumes of the WWII Whizzer and Miss America.

History: (Invaders III#1 (fb)) - The battleship Infiltrator was originally commissioned by US Secretary of Defense Dell Rusk as the centerpiece of a task force dedicated to protecting the world from the Axis Mundi, a neo-Nazi organization using stolen technology from the destroyed extradimensional realm of Kalahia. The Thin Man, who had been Kalahia's ambassador to the outside world prior to its destruction, was released from prison to develop it. When Rusk was revealed to be the Nazi mastermind known as the Red Skull, Thin Man continued with the project on his own terms, recruiting Peter and Nia Noble, the rulers of the undersea kingdom called Neptunia, to command the Infiltrator.

(Invaders III#1 - BTS) - The Thin Man told his new Invaders about his plan to use Rusk's equipment to carry out its stated goal of defeating the Axis Mundi and other threats to world freedom, and revealed the schematics of Infiltrator on a large display screen.

(Invaders III#2) - The Thin Man brought his Invaders to the Infiltrator, which was anchored off the southern tip of Yemen. The Invaders explored the ship, but a homing beacon inside a captured Pterorist led the Axis Mundi forces to their location, and their stolen flash-transit technology allowed them to attack the Infiltrator even after she went to sub-dimensional dive.

(Invaders III#3) - Infiltrator remained at anchor while the battle raged on and above her decks, and in the ocean below, but suffered no meaningful damage. Once the Thin Man was able to override the Axis Mundi teleporters and send them back where they came from, Infiltrator proceeded to the southwestern coast of Pakistan under full cloak, where she proceeded to anchor in sub-dimensional space.

(Invaders III#4) - Some time later, the Infiltrator was in the vicinity of Cuba when word of the vampire attacks in Dymhurst, England were received. Spitfire, Union Jack, Torch and Tara took one of the Stratoplanes to Dymhurst to investigate.

(Invaders III#6) - As the combined Invaders-Atlantean effort in support of Mazikhandar's efforts to drive the Pterorists completely out of their country came to its conclusion, Infiltrator monitored events while anchored in sub-dimensional space off the coast of China.

(Invaders III#7) - Infiltrator lay anchored in sub-dimensional space off the coast of California while Thin Man and Nia Noble interrogated the spirit of Agent Axis. Meanwhile, Captain America (Steve Rogers) came aboard via an aircraft of some kind.

(Invaders III#8) - Traveling to the Arctic to prevent U-Man from melting the ice caps with a "thermonuclear trident", the Invaders left the Infiltrator anchored several miles away from the site of the battle. Thin Man remained aboard, having relinquished command of the Invaders to Captain America.

(Invaders III#9) - The Thin Man ordered the Nobles and the rest of the crew to abandon ship, and then, using the Infiltrator's ability to travel sub-dimensionally, sped towards and rammed the Axis Mundi trident, destroying it and wrecking Infiltrator on the ice. She was presumably stripped of Kalahian and other sensitive technology before being abandoned when the Invaders returned to Dymhurst.

Comments: Created by Allan Jacobsen and CP Smith.

I've had to make some assumptions about the Kalahian sub-dimensional technology, since not all of it was explained well in the series. Most of my assumptions in this area revolve around the ability of the Infiltrator to shorten trips and bypass obstacles by traveling in the unidentified "sixth dimension", but those seem to be borne out by the descriptions of the Pterorists and Stratoplanes as "teleporters".

There are support ships shown in the image above, but Infiltrator is almost always alone in every other appearance. I assume those ships were finishing loading supplies or transferring personnel, and that the Invaders did not have a fleet of smaller ships along with the Infiltrator.

Profile by LV!

Clarifications: Infiltrator, the flagship of the Invaders, has no known connection to:


Images:
Full shot - Invaders III#2, p12 (including ads)


Appearances:
New Invaders#1-4 (October, 2004 - January, 2005) - Allan Jacobsen (writer), C.P. Smith (pencils/inks), Andy Schmidt (editor)
New Invaders#6 (March, 2005) - Allan Jacobsen (writer), Jorge Pereira Lucas (pencils/inks), Andy Schmidt (editor)
New Invaders#7-9 (April-June, 2005) - Allan Jacobsen (writer), C.P. Smith (pencils/inks), Andy Schmidt (editor)


First Posted: 09/18/2005
Last updated: 02/05/2006

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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