The Rebel Faction

Raptor Class Marine Transport

Name/Type: Raptor Class Marine Transport
Designer/Manufacturer: Serendivus Engineering
Designation: Armed Transport and Insertion
Crew: 1300 + 120 Navel Gunners
Length: 650 Meters
Speed: 30
Hyperdrive: 2x
Shield Rating: 1500
Hull Rating: 1500
Weapons: 10 Turbo-laser Batteries, 8 Retracted Plantery Artillery Cannons, 10 Retracted Anti-Vehicle Missile Launchers, 10 Retracted Anti-Air Missile and Laser Batteries.
Fighter Complement: None
Troops: 10,000 Marines, 10,000 Assault Droids, 200 Heavy Assault Hover Tanks, 100 support vehicles
Support Craft: 20 shuttles
Special Systems: Reflective Coating
Description:

Originally the Raptor was designed as an unarmed marine transport; but after lossing several on the outer rim it was sent back to the drawing board and refitted with weaponary and heavier armor.

The Raptor is equiped with over two hundred drop pods located on its undercarriage and along the port and starboard sides. Between these drop pods however are other drop pods adapted from a crashed Doomgiver Marine Transport that was discovered by a Serendivus exploration team.

The special drop pods that were recovered from the Doomgiver were reverse engineered and improved upon with miniature cloaking devices so that upon landing they could remain hidden from prying eyes. They are still armed with four laser cannons for defense but are also equiped with two missile launchers for air to air and ground to ground defense.

Unlike their originals, these drop pods can only carry two heavy tanks and 90 marines, the rest of the space is taken up by the extra cloaking generator and several other systems including the defense and a special type of targetting array to make planetary bombardment easier in bad weather.

However, true to the Seren name, both the unique pods and the indivisual drop pods were made of material that hides them from sensors and also makes them invisible to ground forces except in certain instances.

For the indivisual pods; the only time they become visible is when the re-entry vehicle carrying the pods breaks away from the marine capsule. While in descent the capsule with fire breaking thrusters for several seconds to slow its descent, then a chute opens up to further decrease its descent.

Ten seconds before impact the chutes breaks away and the capsule hits the ground. Two feet of the capsule is nothing but the breaking thrusters and a special 'landing scope' so that the capsule digs into the ground instead of breaking apart upon impact.

The Raptors relatively light weapons and armor and lack of fighter support makes it an easy target for hunter/killer squads. For this reason alone the transport is always kept behind until a path is cleared.

Along with these two unique pods the Raptor is also capable of doing something that no other Serendivus ship (except the Cynax) can do and thats to land on a planet. When on a planet it is able to deploy command bases and extra defenses, in the process the Raptor also acts as a command base 'itself' and use's it's defensive turbolaser batteries to wreak havoc on assaulting forces. The retracted weaponry was not made for spacial combat and is only used on the ground.