The Monster
Monster
- Intent: To create a single man stealth drop/boarding pod
- Image Source : Gallery containing image
- Canon Link: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Boarding_pod
- Permissions: Nargarth Holdings, Roble Manufacturing
- Primary Source: None
- Manufacturer: Nargarth Holdings (under license with The Dire Wolves)
- Affiliation: The Dire Wolves Mercenary Company, Nargarth Holdings Closed-Market (Any character can use this if they have explicit permission through, for example, a marketplace purchase)
- Model: TDWRM-5
- Production: Mass-Produced. (Anyone.)
- Material: ERsteel 145, shock gel, small thruster components, TibannaX, Carbonite coating, small front plasma warhead for ship boarding actions.
- Classification: Stealth boarding/drop pod.
- Length: 3 meters
- Width: 80 centimeters
- Height: 80 centimeters
- Armament: None
- Defenses: Very Low - Some ERsteel armor plating with a Carbonite coating.
- Squadron Count: Low: 10
- Maneuverability Rating: Very Low - It can make course corrections
- Speed Rating: High - this thing is literally shot out of a cannon
- Hyperdrive Class: None
- Small thrusters allow for course corrections mid flight, but also keep the signature down to make it difficult to detect the pods regardless of where it is.
- Field disrupters on the pods allow them to bypass most shields, allowing them for use in space combat.
- Once in atmosphere an altimeter sensor on the outside will detect when the proper time to deploy a drag chute, and fire all maneuvering jets to try to lessen the impact on the ground as much as possible.
- The plasma warhead on the nose of the craft is meant to do the same thing, however it softens the blow by partially melting/superheating the metal to allow for the pod to stick to metal surfaces when directly hit.
- Carbonite coating and ERsteel armor gives the craft a very naturally stealthy build, as the heat resistance materials makes the craft rarely show up on any kind of infrared/thermal imaging except right before impact.
- The construction of the pod as well gives the vessel themselves an extremely small radar cross section, with many people and computers, mistaking the pods for small debris which would pose no threat to anything larger than an unshielded fighter craft. This gives the pods an unmatched stealth approach to targets both on a planet and in space as they are basically impossible to identify before it is well too late.
- Extremely small and easy to hide: These pods both for boarding actions and landing on planets are extremely hard to detect and even harder to identify. Space is massive, and you're literally looking for an 80cm x 80 cm by 3 meter rod that essentially blends into the background of space extremely well. It's like looking for a slightly different colored piece of hay, in a haystack. Good luck.
- Ballistic velocity: The pods move extremely quickly because if they need speed to hit a target they are able to be loaded into and shot out of the "Hades" Mass Driver. Otherwise they just allow gravity to do all the work for landing on planets. This allows for them to be aimed by targeting computers on ships allowing for multitudes of calculations on where and when to shoot these pods, making course corrections a lot of the time unnecessary.
- Lol shields: The onboard field disrupters allow for these pods to travel through most shields very safely and effectively and are strong enough that even planetary shielding can be disrupted to allow the pods passage.
- Who needs air?: These pods have no life support systems on board as all extra power is diverted to the field disrupters and necessary systems to maneuver the craft for course corrections and deploy drag devices for landing.
- You better not miss: So these pods have a key issue when it comes to boarding ships. If the gunner misses, which is a very real possibility for smaller craft, good luck having the search teams find you. Because the craft is at a ballistic velocity and while you could stop eventually, that's a long time down the road.
- You better hit it square: So the plasma warhead on the nose of the pod has one glaring weakness when it comes to latching onto metal targets. If you don't hit the warhead on something hard enough or the pod hits at too high of an angle, the warhead won't detonate. At all. Which leads you back into weakness number two.
So this vehicle was designed for one purpose and one purpose only. Get a special forces operator where they need to go, as swiftly and stealthily as possible. Be this going to a planet to hit the ground and stage for a planetary assault, or stealthily inserting armed operatives onto a military station, or doing a combat insertion on an enemy ship either from afar supporting other vessels, or at point blank range as the ship is making high speed maneuvers through the combat zone. This will get whomever your man is there, just make sure your gunners are shooting straight. And if you don't want to telegraph in space that you're dropping troops onto the planet, literally just orient your ships bottom to the planet, and drop your pods out the bottom and let gravity do the work.
Now there's a couple of intricacies with this system that people need to be made aware of when utilizing this system. Firstly there's no life support on board, as with the pod minimal space means minimal features and if it wasn't necessary it was cut out. That means you have no air inside the pod itself aside from what you bring with you. Now the next huge thing is that another feature that got cut was comms, as these pods didn't have the room for the necessary suite to make comms encrypted or otherwise hidden. And since it would be a dead giveaway, it was cut from the system. What you do have on the inside are small holographic controls that allow for you to make small course corrections mid flight in cases where your target shifts a little or the ship you were on sent you slightly off course. And you get a small holographic image to give you an idea as to where you are, and where your target is, and how close to you are to hitting dead center. However this isn't a star fighter, these controls allow for small course corrections, nothing else. You can't stop mid flight, you can't pull crazy maneuvers, for all intents and purposes you are a ballistic round that happens to have a living payload. And if your gunner misses the target and that target is a station or Force help you a ship, good luck. Your jets will eventually stop you, but by that time you'll be tens to hundreds of kilometers away from where you started, in one of the most stealthily built pods designed not to be found.
And if you break the seal on your pod to go out for a space walk, you're now exposed to the randomness and very dangerous black void. It's a suggestion that you keep an emergency beacon on you for situations like this to avoid starving or suffocating to death, whichever you prefer.
And the final warning for this is don't try to stretch your legs out in this thing. It's tight for a reason, mainly for your safety, but also its purpose built to be able to hold you, your rifle, and a small assault pack with some supplies to last you a day or so. If you pack the pod incorrectly you're liable to get hurt as when you land, it's a very, very hard landing. And that's considering you land properly. If you bounce off or ricochet off of something on impact and you and your gear aren't properly packed or secured you will break your legs when your pack comes loose and you have a high possibility of getting your rifle buttstock (or god forbid if you put it in upside down) your muzzle of your weapon puncturing your face. All that being said, if you follow the packing and landing instructions, let the sensors do their job, and your gunner isn't some hick from the Tatooine blitzed on spice and talking about how he can't wait to get back to his cousin, this is the best landing pod for your special forces or black ops mission. Is it a little bit riskier than some pods? Yes, but the tradeoffs with larger pods is that they are easier to find period. If you want the stealthiest option, with the least amount of chance of your operative being found until it's too late, this is your best choice.
Last edited:
