This craft is one of a number of very similar ships that are
very popular in the asteroid infested system of Shallit. Shallit's
inhabitants are accomplished asteroid miners, and even more
accomplished smugglers. The Shallitan clippers, as this group of
ships are called, are designed to be equally useful for both of
these tasks. In addition, Shallitan Clippers are decent cargo
haulers, especially for short, insystem runs through difficult
space.
One of the most unique feature of the Shallitan Clippers are
their Short Range Heavy Blasters. These are remarkably powerful
weapons, capable of cracking open asteroids, but it's range is so
limited that it is all but useless in combat. Nonetheless,
enterprising Shallitan star-captains have managed to destroy far
more powerful ships by luring them within range of that weapon.
Another unusual feature of the Clipper type ships is the large
photoelelectric sail that stretches above the rear section of ships
of this type. This sail produces most of the energy for the
Shallitan Clippers, allowing for it's relatively great cargo
capacity. The sail is rather fragile, and when it is unfurled, the
ship has a -1D penalty to it's hull rating. The sail transfers
energy to a series of batteries in the cargo bay. These batteries
can store enough energy to allow the clipper to travel up to two
weeks with furled sails. The batteries can be fully recharged by
spending five hours in medium distance orbit from a G-type sun.