Cobra-1 and Cobra-2

The Runner-class ship was originally designed as a cargo carrier for inter-system planet to planet or space station to space station deliveries. It came standard without a hyperdrive or backup, because at such close ranges it was not necessary. Fuel was capped at two days to make room for more cargo space. It had no standard weaponry - it was completely unarmed.

When the Black Cobras first saw the Runner, they realized it was their ideal dropship. It had plenty of cargo space for troops and vehicles, and looked to be easily modifiable. They were correct on both accounts. The Cobra's attached a pylon on either side of the ship, just fore of the rear landing gear and attached a minigun to the pylon. Having armed their ship, the Cobra mechanics welded in a door on the port side (the Runner originally had only a door on the starboard side so the crew could enter).

An enclosed turret was next. It was welded in right next to the minigun pylons and included three windows. A gunnery station was installed that included sensor readouts and targeting information. The gunner does not have to have his target in his line of sight in order to shoot it, he merely selects a target, moves his pointer to that target and fires - the weapon matches the pointers movement. A small camera mounted on the minigun provides the gunner's monitor with a detailed view of the terrain. An infrared camera picks up Human (and alien) targets and displays them on the monitor in two colors - blue and red. Blue targets are friendly units, red targets are unknowns - generally regarded as enemy units. This makes it easy for the gunner to differentiate between friendly and enemy. A small chip in each member's dog tags returns a specific frequency to sensors, creating a different signal in the gunnery computer, hence the blue hue.

The miniguns are used to soften up an area before inserting troops as well as suppressive fire while extracting the team. They can be used against enemy fighters but it is unadvisable. The miniguns normally face forward during flight, but they have a 180 degree fire arc side to side. They can also be depressed up to 45 degrees throughout the 180 degrees. However, they can not be aimed up. They can not aim higher than level.

The cargo area is spacious enough to accomodate almost every weapon available on the market, it is used mainly for transporting the team's vehicles and repulsor craft. The weapons and equipment are kept with the men. If more troops than cargo is being transported, a middle row of seats can be installed, increasing passenger capacity to 46, but at the cost of not being to transport anything larger than a speederbike. Cargo capacity is reduced to 1 metric ton.

Heavy equipment such as vehicles are loaded via the rear loading ramp. The ramp can be lowered at any time, even during flight. This allows covert insertion by parachute. The cabin is pressurized to prevent the pilot from passing out when the loading ramp opens at very high altitudes.

For deckplans click here.


STATS

Craft: Modified Baril Aerospace "Runner"-Class Cargo Shuttle
Type: Troop Dropship
Scale: Starfighter
Length: 13.2 meters
Skill: Space Transports
Crew: 1 Pilot, 1 Co-Pilot, 2 Gunners (optional) Skeleton: 1 Pilot /+5
Crew Skill: See Crew
Passengers: 20 fully equiped soldiers
Cargo Capacity: 20 metric tons
Consumables: 2 days
Cost: Not available for sale
Hyperdrive Multiplier: No Hyperdrive
Hyperdrive Backup: No backup
Nav Computer: No
Maneuverability: 1D
Space: 5
Atmosphere: 300; 862 kmh
Hull: 4D
Shields: 2D
Sensors:
Passive: 10/0D
Scan: 21/1D
Search: 37/2D
Focus: 2/3D
Weapons:
2 20mm Vulcan Cannon (Minigun) (Fire Seperately)
     Scale: Speeder
     Placement: 1 Left Side Turret, 1 Right Side Turret
     Fire Arc: Each gun has 180 degree field of fire
     Crew: 1
     Skill: Starship Gunnery
     Range: 200/500/1000
     Damage: 6D+2
     Ammo: 2000
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This is an original work by Ross Hedvicek