Aquilian Starling

This is the first SF starship I created, originally utilizing house rules I had penned nearly a year before Knight Hawks debuted. My original characters used it as such, eventually replacing it with another model dubbed the Volturnian Knighthawk. Imagine my surprise after creating that ship to walk into a department store and finding a Star Frontiers boxed set sporting the same name...anyways here's that original ship of mine in its current guise. I will someday convert it over to "decks perpendicular to main axis" but for now  here she is in all her glory.

SS Aquilian Starling
civilian light freighter

 

HS: 3*   HP: 20 (-3)  Powerplant: 3 Atomic A
ADF: 5  MR: 3  DCR:  40   Crew: up to 9
Armament: LB (x2)
Defenses: RH
Communication/Detection: SubSpace Radio, Radar, Energy Sensor, Intercom
Misc Equipment: Skin Sensor, Delux Astro, Camera System, Cybernetic Uplink Slave Circuits
 

Computer
(LVL: 4  fp: 198  sp:100)

Alarm (3), Analysis (6), Astrogation (4), Bureaucracy (5), Commerce (1), Communication (4), Computer Lockout (6), Computer Security (6), Cyber-link (3), Damage Control (3), Drive (4), Information Storage (3), Installation Security (6), Language (6), Laser Battery (1) x2, Life Support - cap:9 (1) x2, Maintenance (3), Robot Management (6)

Cargo Capacity: 3 (1.2 main hold, 1.8 aft hold)
Fuel Tankage: 6 uranium pellets, 3/drive
Crew Accomodations: 1 double cabin, 1 six-bunk cabin, 1 bunk in rec area
Passenger Accomodations: n/a
Ship's Vehicles: 0

* Actual displacement is HS:3, vessel was reduced by damage/reconstruction from original HS:4

Crew: Richard Sterling (mH) Pilot:3, Engineer:3, "Glasya" Carolina Sterling (cybernetic fH) Pilot:2, Astrogator:2, Engineer:1, Energy Gunner:4 --- Glasya may multi-task via the cyberlink connections, thus operating both battery weapons simultaneously as well as performing co-pilot & astrogator operations and coordinating engineer functions.

The Starling has a rich history, dating back before the founding of the UPF. A young Captain Knightrazor acquired it upon graduation from Gollwin Acadamy, and sold it after nearly ten years of freight hauling in favor of subcontracting a new RT model. The current owner, adventurer Richard Sterling, bought it from Knightrazor and still owns and operates it today. Sadly, the ship required major renovations after a near fatal encounter during the Second Sathar War. The ill-fated vessel unknowingly dropped out of the void into a UPF system that the Sathar Battle Fleet had already entered, and the ship took a beating. It would have no doubt been destroyed if not for the timely intervention of Strike Force NOVA, who arrived and made the unfriendlies feel most unwelcome. The Starling was taken in tow and it's crew began redesigning what they had left to work with.

When the war was officially over the Starling's crew were finally able to secure dock space for the reconstruction. The entire engine compartment had been destroyed, as well as a portion of the forward starboard side. Supplies were short and in demand so rebuilding the missing sections became a timely and costly operation, the crew instead opted for sealing up those sections and relocating the salvageable equipment. The drives were relocated from their original inboard location to an outboard set up, with one drive on both the dorsal and ventral sections of the aft section and the third replacement drive was attached via struts off to the portside, thereby filling in that missing section. All the replacement equipment that was destroyed in the fore section ended up on the port side of the forward hull, making it a nearly impassible area to work in. One of the replacement items ended up in nearly the same original location though, the ship's forward firing cannon. Cyber-slave circuits were also installed so that Sterling's cyborg/wife could control and operate multiple systems from one location, thus allowing for a reduced crew.

As a result, the actual hull displacement ended up dropping from HS:4 to HS:3, but through clever restructuring of the interior the cargo capacity remained the same, what with the drives being converted to outboard this opened up some extra unused deck space. One additional benefit comes with the smaller size, with Class A drives designed to power a size 4 hull now powering smaller displacement size 3 hull, the ship now performs a little better. In fact current owner Silver has logged some very respectable times in the Zebulon Run with "the Clunker" (as he affectionately calls her) and holds the all time record for the Dramune Run since the Starling was retrofitted. Unfortunately that fame comes with a price for Silver, who prefers to avoid any interstellar attention...