The Mercy corvette was a highly successful tender design, but even as it was employed in small unit actions, it became obvious that a larger version would be required to service multiple strike craft quickly while still in the thick of battle. Kushan engineers went to work on a standard frigate and basically removed everything between the cockpit and the drives in order to make room for fighter docking pads, mounting five on either side of the ship's open spine--which serves as an access tube and power conduit. Four heavily reinforced docking arms were also added to allow for multiple dockings of corvette class ships. Each pad and arm is packed with automatic repair equipment and plasma ducts for refueling. The Matriarch's crew module, normally spacious in a standard frigate, has been crowded in order to make room for a full engineering station, an emergency medical station, and rudimentary quarters for six spare pilots. These extra crew-members spend the entire combat mission prepped and suited up, ready to evac and replace wounded pilots who have managed to return their craft to the Matriarch. The Matriarch also carries the same kind of nose-mounted modified PDA that the Mercy class does, in order to repair frigates and capitol ships.

The Matriarch is heavily armored and packs a medium rail-gun turret. While utterly inadequate for offensive work--unless there is a desperate need for every last gun--Matriarchs are well enough protected to hang in the middle of intense fleet actions, repairing and refitting strike craft of all kinds. Standard deployment requires a single Matriarch and several Mercy class repair corvettes to work as a Support Wing for a set quadrant of space. As a battle grows in size, other support wings are vectored in to cover new quadrants.

Intended as a light carrier, the Support Frigate has become notorious in actual play for its ability to heal other capital ships, even in the midst of battle.