Shuttle — Ship Blog — Beyond the Spozak

Space is often at a premium on board a ship, often things have to be made as small as possible to fit into the hull, which is why the cubicle shuttle was created. Designed to fit into a compact storage cubicle when not in use, it can carry a pilot and up to four passengers on short flights, or act as a lifeboat in an emergency. Cubicle Shuttles are a mainstay of light transportation over short distances, and typically make up most of the shuttle compliment of larger ships.

The shuttles stubby wings can telescope for additional lift in atmospheric flight, and are the location of the grip points that allow it to be handled by the robotic arm that is used to pack and unpack the shuttle from a storage cubicle.

The cubicle shuttle’s standard defense package includes a basic point-defense system and a light deflector shield.

Simple and utilitarian, autonomous shuttles are fairly ubiquitous craft within the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns. Their presence also overlaps the empire’s sphere of influence rather extensively. They are not uncommon among the Nomad Armies and Breakaway States that formed around the empire. The primary role of these living ships is to transport cargo and passengers over short distances, usually within a single solar system.

The inner workings of the autonomous shuttle are primarily comprised of a single large, semi-sentient life-form with a level of intelligence similar to that of a trained dog or horse. This “shuttle-beast” is cyberneticly augmented and surrounded with an armored hull. The payload of the shuttle is located within the large fairing that makes up the craft’s nose. These shuttles vary in size from a few meters to tens of meters in diameter.

Autonomous shuttles are not equipped for FTL travel and are relatively slow, short range craft. The shuttle-beast is typically trained to be loyal to a single handler, often based at a space-port or on a capital ship. Handlers and shuttles tend to develop an emotional bond while working together over long periods of time. This encourages the handler to take good care of the shuttles and provide quality maintenance.