Dartrok Assault Shuttle:

With the system defense forces of the Valtra system utterly obliterated, nobody knew what would come next. Only one other system had been attacked by these creatures and there had been no further contact from the planet. As such, nobody knew what might come next and panic spread across the planet.

It was almost certainly hopeless, but the planetary militia prepared for the invasion which would likely come next. The militia was actually reasonably well armed. This included mobile missile launchers, a small number of Kramer tanks, and a solid force of power armors.

While the orbital telemetry stations had been destroyed, their was still some tracking possible from the planet. From the eight huge ships, almost two hundred new targets were detected around the size one might expect for an assault shuttle. One of the reason why the count was still rough was the number of fighters already detected.

These shuttles accelerated towards the planet incredibly fast, equal if not greater in acceleration than the Osprey fighters operated by the system defense forces. Approximately half the fighters joined the shuttles as they headed towards the planet.

Colonel Livar Vette planned to engage the shuttles with multiple missile batteries as soon as they entered the atmosphere with the assumption that if the missiles were not used, their would be lost. She was pleased that at least there had been no preliminary bombardment.

She had aimed virtually all of her missiles at the first wave, hoping to blunt them. With all of the fighters destroyed along with the system defense forces, she had nothing otherwise to engage them. The shuttles’ high velocity on entering the atmosphere resulted in a great many of the missiles missing. Point defense on the shuttles were incredible, shredding virtually all of the missiles.

One shuttle however, near the back of the first wave however was unlucky because a number of missiles that would have otherwise gone after other shuttles locked onto it. Over a dozens were aimed at the shuttle. A number were destroyed by the point defense but still a number of multi-warhead struck the shuttle. The missiles would have obliterated a Consortium assault shuttle but the attacking shuttle was barely staggered.

Surprisingly, the assault shuttles did not fire any missiles in return. Still, it was not more than a few minutes before the shuttles began strafing targets. One opened fire on a Kramer tank and soon the well armored tank was little more than wreckage.

There is little reliable information about the Dartroks. As far as what anyone has been able to determine, the Dartrok are completely new to the Three Galaxies. A scouring of exoarchaeological sources has not come across anything useful. Even the Prometheans have been approached and they seem to not have any knowledge of the Dartrok either.

Compared to humans, the Dartrok appear to be only slightly larger although they are in reality quite a bit more massive. They were initially described as being coal black and resembling man-o-war jellyfish with large number of prehensile tentacles. In reality, they have more in common with cephalopods upon a closer examination. In any case, the creatures are able to float in the air just as a marine creature can in the water. Most exobiologists think this is a psychic ability which the Dartrok possess.

All of their vehicles appear to be made from pseudo-organic materials. Many consider their ships and other craft to be grown instead of manufactured. As armor material, the stuff is extremely tough and their craft often can withstand far greater damage than designs filling similar roles but are more conventional in design. The assault shuttle is no exception to this.

There have been a number of planets invaded by the Dartrok. As far as it is known, there is little to no bombardment before they invaded. Instead, their assault shuttles appear to fill the sky almost always escorted by numerous fighters. In appearance, these shuttles look like a kind of huge marine creature slightly shark like and lacking the graceful appearance of their fighters.

When these shuttles invade a planet, the population often erupts in fear and panic. While the Dartrok do not seem interested in wholesale slaughter, further communication with the planet’s population is always lost after invasion. Only in one cases has the population of a planet been able to throw off the yoke of the Dartrok.

The assault shuttle is one of the few designs which the Dartrok operate which does not have faster than light propulsion. Even their starfighter design has faster than light propulsion. Still, these shuttles are some of the fastest shuttle designs in the Three Galaxies, as fast as many fighters. Their atmospheric performance is incredible as well, making them extremely hard to intercept. In both space and the atmosphere, the shuttle is extremely maneuverable as well rivaling a space fighter.

Even so, the speed of these shuttles is not what most actually remark about them. What is most remarked about is the shuttle’s firepower. While like other Dartrok craft, the shuttles are not armed with missiles, they have an incredible energy weapon battery. The shuttle has three forward firing gravity beam cannons similar to what is carried on the Dartrok’s fighter design. The shuttle has the firepower of a corvette although not quite the range. In addition, the craft has six electrical discharge weapons which can be fired in either a cone or a concentrated beam. Firing in a cone, these weapons are extremely effective against incoming missiles. These craft also carry extremely tough shields, almost the equal of those on a destroyer.

These shuttles can carry approximately one hundred power armors, usually split with approximately two thirds being ground armors and one third being flight capable armors. The Dartrok power armors are of a similar pseudo organic material to other designs and are extremely tough. The Dartrok do not appear to operate tanks or other large armored vehicles.

As one might expect, the shuttle are not operated by the Dartrok themselves. Instead, the crew appears to be members of the various minion races. It is also suspected that these shuttles have an extremely sophisticated artificial intelligence capable of operating the shuttle on its own. It is quite likely that the organic computer also prevents the crew from operating against the interests of the Dartrok.

Shuttle design uses modified starship speed and weapon range rules. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World / Three Galaxies for more details.

Model: Dartrok Assault Shuttle.

Vehicle Type: Assault Shuttle.

Crew: Eight standard (Pilot, sensor operator, and six gunners.) Crew is all of various slave races. Can be operated purely on automatic by the ship’s organic computer.

Troops: One hundred in power armor. Cam carry one hundred and fifty without armor.

M.D.C. by Location:

	Gravity Beams Cannon (3):	400 each.
	Point Defense Electrical Discharge Cannons (6):	400 each.
	Side Troop Doors (4):	220 each.
	Rear Cargo / Troop Door:	600.
	Pilots Compartment:	1,200.
	[1] Main Body:	2,600.
	[2] Variable Force Field:	800 per side (4,800 total)

Notes:

[1] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the assault shuttle out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck. Both the hull and the ship’s systems have the ability to repair themselves. These repairs are affected at the rate of 3D6x10 M.D.C. per minute. The ship can only repair up to half the M.D.C. of a system or the main body.

[2] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (240 M.D.C.) per melee round.

Speed:

Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.

Sublight: Gravity drive allows the ship to travel up to 40 percent of the speed of light. Shuttle can accelerate/ decelerate at an incredible rate of 1.4 percent of light per melee.

Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is mach 12 (9,134.6 mph / 14,700.7 kph). Can enter atmosphere and leave the atmosphere of a planet easily.

Star Drive: Does not appear to mount a faster than light drive.

Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either drive system. Carries about three months worth of supplies on board and power system gives power for 20 years before the ship needs refueling.

Statistical Data:

Height: 34.45 feet (10.5 meters).

Length: 171.26 feet (52.2 meters).

Width: 83.33 feet (25.4 meters).

Weight / Mass: 1,322.77 tons (1,200 metric tons).

Power System: Unknown.

Cargo: Has four troop compartments which can carry up to 50 tons (45.4 metric tons) of cargo each for 200 tons (181.4 metric tons) total in the place of troops. Troop compartments are 13.1 x 26.2 x 32.8 feet (4 x 8 x 10 meters) each. Does not include standard compliment of supplies and ammunition for the shuttle’s crew.

Cost: Unknown, any culture in the Three Galaxies would pay hundreds of millions (if not billions) of credits for an undamaged working model of this shuttle.

Weapon Systems:

Three (3) Gravity Beam Cannons: Mounted in front of the shuttle. These weapons are incredibly powerful and can decimate most ships very quickly. The weapon uses controlled opposing gravimetric waves to create an energy beam weapon that shreds the target. This weapon is much smaller that the one mounted on the Dartrok dreadnought and does not have the ability to inflict as severe critical damage to ships it is used against. The weapon does full damage to targets with the spell impervious to energy and a cosmic knight will take 1/10 damage (10%) instead of the normal 1/100 damage (1%). Since the gravity weapon propagates itself at faster than light speeds, this weapon can actually be used against vehicles that are traveling at faster than the speed of light. All three gravity beam cannons are usually fired together.

Maximum Effective Range: 1,200 miles (1,925 km) in space and 12 miles (19.3 km) in an atmosphere.

Mega Damage: 4D6x10 per Gravity beam strike with three combined inflicting 1D6x100+100 total.

Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the pilot (Usually 4 or 5). On computer control, has three attacks per melee round.

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
Six (6) Point Defense Electrical Discharge Cannons: These weapons system are in many ways similar to Phase World ion cannons. They are very effective against fighters but are not as effective against larger ships. The weapon has the ability to fire in a straight beam or in a wide cone that can be very effective against volleys of missiles. Any missiles within the cone will be destroyed if the missiles M.D.C. is exceeded. Each mount has a 360 degree rotation and 180 degree arc of fire. Weapon has a bonus of +4 to strike. The weapon system cannot be used to engage targets while traveling at faster than light velocities.

Maximum Effective Range: 16 miles (25.8 km) through atmosphere and 16,000 miles (25,800 km) in space.

Mega Damage: Single Target: 3D6x10 per cannon. Wide Beam: 6D6 to all targets within a 60 mile (96.6 km) diameter area (in an atmosphere 6 miles / 9.6 km).

Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5). On computer control, has three attacks per melee round.

Payload: Effectively Unlimited.

Special Equipment:

Adaptive Hull: The assault shuttle has the ability to adapt to any non magical attacks on it. Once a specific attack has been used against the ship, it will adapt to that attack and any attack of that type that is encountered afterwards will only be at half effect in the next engagement. Magical attacks will continue to inflict full damage. Variable frequency weapons such as variable frequency lasers can be reset to do full damage once this is discovered. The adaption takes about five days to be completed.
Sentient Ship: The assault shuttle is alive, and is quite aware of what it is and what its doing. The computer is also telepathic and can communicate with Dartroks and other ships using this method. It will not take orders from a non Dartroks unless one was assigned as a pilot / crew and will not attack a Dartrok or Dartrok ship under a non Dartroks orders.

The ship should be considered to be a powerful neural intelligence in terms of Rifts. This computer can pilot the ship at 98%, can fire weapons with half normal attacks for most weaponry, and has +8 to strike, +4 to dodge, and +4 to initiative (these include all bonuses). If a full crew is onboard it will be able to fire all weapons at will and will have +10 to strike, +6 to dodge and +7 to initiative.

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Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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