Apone Assault Shuttle

The Republic's Apone-class assault shuttles served both the Republic's Army
and Navy for nearly seventy years - with the exception of those which served
longer on board of the small number of Sulanko frigates surviving into the
days of the Clone Wars - until it eventually became obsolete.

The Apone was designed to function better in an atmosphere than in the
vacuum of space. Equipped with a chin-mounted laser cannon as well as
two wing-tip concussion missile launchers, the Apone was capable of
providing a very substantial amount of fire against ground targets as
well as other ships and vehicles. However, the concussion missile
launchers were only available for use when the ship was in atmospheric
flight mode with the maneuvering wings unfolded - the launchers were
inside of the main hull with the wings folded.

The Apone was designed to work specifically with the Ripper-class armored
personnel carriers. The inside of the Apone consisted of only a large hold
for a single Ripper and the main cockpit with seats for the pilot and the
co-pilot. The troops usually remained inside of the APC, mainly due to the
fact that there was little to no room for them outside of it with the APC
loaded. However, there were fold-down benches for the soldiers to use if
an APC was not loaded - mainly in the case of a ship boarding.

In standard operation the Apones were usually only used to transport a squad
of troops and their support APC to a planetary surface while only performing
ship boardings when other craft were unavailable for the job. During a surface
drop, or "dust off" for short, the Apone lowers the APC securely on the
loading ramp approximately fifteen seconds prior to landing so that the APC
can depart almost immediately upon touch down allowing the shuttle to take
off as quickly as possible. A quick take off was preferred so that the
shuttle could provide air support if needed.

Craft: Telgorn Corporation's Apone Assault Shuttle
Class: Space Transport
Size: Small (35.9 m long)
Hyperdrive: None
Passangers: 10 (troops) and 1 Ripper APC
Cargo Capacity: 250 kg
Consumables: 1 day
Cost: Not available for sale
Maximum Speed In Space: Attack (8 squares/action)
Atmospheric Speed: 850 km/h (13 squares/action)
Crew: 2 (Skilled +4)
Initiative: +5 (+1 size, +4 crew)
Maneuver: +5 (+1 size, +4 crew)
Defense: 21 (+1 size, +10 armor)
Shield Points: 90 (DR 10)
Hull Points: 150 (DR 10)
Weapons:
  Laser Cannon
    Fire Arc: Front
    Attack Bonus: +5 (+1 size, +2 crew, +2 fire control)
    Damage: 4d10x2
    Range Modifiers: PB/S +0, M/L n/a
  2 Concussion Missile Launchers (retractable)
    Fire Arc: Front
    Attack Bonus: +5 (+1 size, +2 crew, +2 fire control)
    Damage: 6d10x2
    Missil Quality: Ordinary (+10)
  2 Heavy Rocket Launchers
    Fire Arc: Front
    Attack Bonus: +5 (+1 size, +2 crew, +2 fire control)
    Damage: 8d10x2
    Missil Quality: Good (+15)
  Plasma Torch Bording Device
    Fire Arc: Ventral
    Attack Bonus: +3 (+1 size, +2 crew)
    Damage: 8d10x2
    Range Modifiers: 4 m
    Note: The plasma torch boarding device is mounted on the ship's
airlock system. The controls are just inside the main airlock.
Roll damage against DC equal target ship's DRx4; if the torch
beats DC, it has breached the hull. Once the hull is breached,
the torch requires a full minute to cut a one-meter-wide by
one-meter-high hole. The extendable boarding tube attaches to
the hull and forms an air-tight seal in 30 seconds.