The Mothership is the ultimate expression of Kushan power, but even it cannot be everywhere at once. In order to extend the power and reach of the fleet, engineers pushed the manufacturing abilities of the Mothership to their limits in order to produce a super-heavy capitol ship chassis, capable of containing the equipment necessary to function as a small scale mothership.

The Imperator class Carrier requires the resources of a small asteroid belt simply to be built, and the entire Mothership manufacturing bay door must detached in order to launch this incredible starship. The Imperator has its own hyperspace jump engines and can carry a full assault wing of 50 fighters and 25 corvettes in its internal bays. It is fully capable of processing raw resources, and has a limited manufacturing ability, allowing it to construct any Frigate or Strike Craft hull. While not carrying an especially powerful offensive ability in of itself, it is protected by an array of rapid-fire point defense rail guns and heavy, layered armor.

Of the 3 Imperators produced so far, none have been lost in combat, though the original prototype was heavily damaged in action at Gorth's Rift, when an unknown hostile ambushed it in a quadrant barren of resources. This incident led to the strategic imperative that all Carrier groups must maintain an adequate resource reserve at all times or withdraw immediately. Current deployment doctrine for carrier groups calls for a single Imperator to be escorted by one to two Avatar class Heavy Cruisers and a pair of Destroyers. Additional craft are expected once the Imperator group has reached its destination.