Ssi-ruuvi Planetary Lander
Craft: Ssi-ruuvi D’kee-class Planetary Lander
Type: Planetary Lander
Scale: Starfighter
Length: 70 meters
Skill: Space transport: D’kee Lander
Crew: 3 (P’w’ecks), gunners: 10, skeleton: 2/+10
Crew Skill: Sensors 3D+2, space transports 5D, starship gunnery 3D+2, starship shields 3D+1
Passengers: 10 (Pw’eck collectors)
Consumables: 1 day
Maneuverability: 1D
Space: 3
Atmosphere: 260; 750 km/h
Hull: 1D+1
Shields: 3D (upon landing), 2D (upon return)
Sensors:
- Passive: 10/0D
- Scan: 20/1D
- Search: 30/1D+2
- Focus: 1/2D+2
Weapons:
- 6 Light Ion Cannons
- Fire Arc: 3 front, 1 left, 1 right, 1 back
Crew: 1
Skill: Starship gunnery
Fire Control: 1D
Space Range: 1-5/10/17
Atmosphere Range: 100-500/1/1.7 km
Damage: 3D
- 2 Laser Cannons
- Fire Arc: Turret
Crew: 1
Skill: Starship gunnery
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1-3/12/25
Atmosphere Range: 100-500/1/1.5 km
Damage: 4D
Capsule: Landing vehicles are the primary means by which the Ssi-ruuk pacify a planetary population for entechment. The most common Ssiruuvi landers are the D 'kee-elass vessels. These sluggish vessels are not suited for space combat; they are normally launched only after a planet's defensive forces have been whittled down.
Upon reaching an altitude of three kilometers, the D'kee landing ships disperse paralysis canisters above population centers. Each D'kee ship carries 100 such canisters. A single detonated canister can affect a nine-square kilometer area. Ssi-ruuvi paralysis gas contains a strong neural-inhibitor which takes effect upon skin contact or inhalation. The gas acts to disable all voluntary nerve functions - meaning that anyone affected by the gas is rendered immobile, unable to move or speak, yet is fully conscious throughout the paralysis. Paralysis gas can be effective for up to eight hours.
With accurate targeting, a single D'kee ship can disable an entire city with a few bombing passes. Upon blanketing a community with paralysis gas, the D'kee ship lands, disembarking its 10 P'w'eck "collector barges," vehicles which gather the immobile bodies of stun gas victims.
A single D'kee landing ship can carry up to 10,000 prisoners, who are stacked in inhumane confinement pens: each confinement station pumps oxygen into the pen to prevent suffocation, but there are no other amenities or comforts (considered irrelevant by the Ssi-ruuk since the victims will be enteched within hours anyway). The D'kee ship, like most Ssi-ruuvi craft, has a relatively weak hull; it is certainly not capable of withstanding repeated high-speed atmospheric entries. To compensate, a fine series of heat-conducting filaments lines the D'kee's hull to divert heat away from the hull and into a rear exhaust system. (A small portion of heat is converted to energy stored by a supplemental battery in the ship's power plant, enhancing the lander's shields.) Adrawback to this system is that the heat-discharge filaments tend to glow brightly upon atmospheric entry, making the lander readily visible during night landings.
The D'kee lander's crew consists of four P'w'eck pilots, eight gunners and the 100 collectors. Each crewmember is equipped with a remotely- activated neural inhibitor; the controls for these units are aboard the D'kee's Sh'ner base ship. The ship possesses no systems for crew comfort; the P'w'ecks simply strap into a mesh harness and wait for the ship to touch down. Despite the heat shielding system, the crew compartment temperature becomes uncomfortably warm and the gravitational compensation systems do little more than prevent inertia from smearing the ship's occupants against the bulkheads.
ASh'ner-class cruiser normally carries a dozen D'kee-class planetary landers. Like Ssi-ruuvi picket craft, the D'kee-class ships can be controlled from a separate vessel. Generally, high density subspace transmissions from a Sh'ner cruiser are used to pilot the ship to the intended destination - the pilots are aboard for emergency situations. In the event of a long-term planetary occupation, Ssi-ruuk may accompany the P'w'ecks on landing missions to supervise mop-up operations and provide an on-site command structure.
Source: The Truce at Bakura (pages 126-127)