Copyright (c) 1993 by Onno Meyer Hypershuttle (TL11) This is a nice small starship for peaceful scouts. The gun ... uh ... to protect against alien wildlife ... and the hardpoints, ... well, they are for probes, no sir, we would never carry missiles ... The ship is designed to be "tyrannosaurus-rex-proof". The ship has seats for ten and life support for 12 crew, but that is only for emergencies. Even with six scouts, the ship is cramped. TL11 approaches the possibilities shown in "high-tech" TV shows or movies, like Star Wars or Star Trek. The ship has considerable endurance, can hover without scorching the ground and is VTOL. Structure: 4,000 cf cheap light body (HT2000); max load 50t; very good streamlining; sealed; four retractable skids (HT166); flotation hull; vertol lift; 10 cf expensive full-traverse pop miniturret; four hardpoints. Propulsion: Two 50t reactionless thrusters; hyperdrive. Power: Two 5,1 MW "small" fusion plants and 5MWh rechargeable cells. Accomodations: Six cramped internal quarters and four light cramped internal seats. Vision: No windows. Accessoires: Six crashwebs, bilge pump, high-security alarm, compact fire extinguisher, six G-seats, laser sensors, two six-person full life support systems, radar locator, radiation shielding, short-range gravscanner, medium and short-range thermographs, medium and short-range xadar, medium multiscanner, short-range and mini radars, two ALLTVs, virtual panorama, mini airlock and forcelock, mini-cam, recon-cam, cargo ramp, minicomp & two conventional midgetcomps & two optical midgetcomps, dual controls, INS, interface helmet and jack, secure LD radio & two secure tac radios, three mil-spec IFF, IR searchlight & four spotlights, three terrain-following radars, neutrino communicator & two EM coms, light tractor beam, winch, autonomous op, comp nav, datalink, sensor op, gunnery, tac op, targeting. Weaponry: Gatling C-PAWS with autostabilizer in the turret. Armor: 600 pts. expensive armor - 100 on all locations. Cargo: 800 cf, plus 39.32 cf additional access space. Statistics: Cost $2,071,730, design mass 23.5t, max payload 26.5t, max cargo 10t, current payload 6.5t, loaded mass 30t, size +6, radar +6, IR +9, acoustic +2. Performance: Speed factor 72 (without hardpoint load), top speed 954 mph, accel 26.5 mph/s, decel 10 mph/s, MR 2.25, SR 3, ceiling unlimited. What do you think? Should there be an automed? Would the customers demand a computer with "personality"? Is the armor sufficient? Is a forcelock secure enough (it stops gas, but not animals)?