RE-105 personnel shuttle

RE-105 personnel shuttle

The RE-105 personnel shuttle was a issued to some VIP officers of the Golden Empire. It was personally designed by Tariun Sakaros, Phoenix Prince of the Empire and an experienced starship engineer, with some assistance from his brother Nagarian.

Role
The RE-105's designation hinted at its exclusive use: "RE" stood for "Royal Emissary". Tariun Sakaros designed it to provide maximum protection to important people traveling without an armed escort; it was assumed that beings such as the officers of the Grand Council of the Golden Empire could afford slightly lesser vehicles given their propensity to travel with fighter squadrons or even capital ships for protection.

Design
Smaller than a, the RE-105 had a very small cargo capacity at only five tons, and was lightly armed with a single pair of forward laser cannons. It was intentionally designed to safely flee combat rather than engaging enemy craft, and Sakaros sacrificed both cargo capacity and weapons to make space for engines, shields, and countermeasures.

The RE-105's powerful engines could drive it to speeds in excess of those of an, and its shields were strong enough to absorb a considerable amount of punishment before failure. It was equipped with a variety of countermeasures, many of them illegal to the general population, including a and the TremorFree tractor lock disruption system, which was designed specially for the RE-105. An RE-105 also came with a Touch-and-Flee Emergency Hyperdrive System for extreme situations. The ship could be customized with additional countermeasures.

The RE-105 had a conical cockpit "head" attached to a hemispheric body. It had four wings, two on each side, which locked parallel to the ground when the craft landed; when in flight, they rotated out to twenty degrees below and fifty degrees above level.

Manufacture and issuance
Tariun toyed with the ship’s design beginning in 156 ABY, but it did not enter production until 159 ABY. After some consideration, Rin decided to trust the with the small but lucrative contract for the RE-105.

Tariun kept the first RE-105, the Idiot's Array, for himself. Queen Rin Sakaros gave the second as a gift to her favorite Centurion, Jira Zaffrod; Jira named her ship the Angel of Music. Rin designated the third RE-105 for use by the Order of Keltrayu's healers, Tillandra Moraes and Rayne Turgachia; the two called it the Healing Light.