The King of Hell

From Heroes of the Great Tree

History

The King of Hell. Art by Jonathan @ Google Sketch-Up.

Not all mining occurs planetside. Increasingly, companies are looking to asteroids, planetary rings, dark worlds, and comets as potential sources of everything from ore to water. This is especially true of small mining companies and the Mining Guild who seek profits not already claimed by the Corone Mining Consortium. Of course, this sort of mining has some unique challenges. The most basic of those challenges is finding a good claim in the first place.

The Crazy Dragon was created to meet that challenge. The philosophy behind the design of the Crazy Dragon was high manueverability, plenty of speed in a pinch, and powerful sensors. Despite being the size of a small transport, the Crazy Dragon has the agility of a fighter thanks to a unique reaction system featuring four seperate drives. Each drive is able to move independently of the others. Piloted well, this allows the Crazy Dragon to make amazingly rapid turns. Piloted poorly, however, the Crazy Dragon will end up spinning around like a pinwheel. Because of this, the Crazy Dragon requires an well-trained pilot, especially since the autopiloting program is minimal. Initially, an advanced autopilot program was used but early tests showed that, in simulated planetary ring and asteroid field conditions, the autopilot and human pilot ended up fighting each other.

The Crazy Dragon also uses a dual pulse drive design that is somewhat controversial among engineers and spaceship buffs. While the dual drives do allow for extra thrust in a moment of need, they also produce a great deal more heat and friction and, thus, uses up a great deal of silicon lubricant. Another controversial design move is in the cargo bays. There are four small bays, allowing for easy seperation of collected samples, but the only access to the bays are through tunnels that require crawling rather than doors that can be walked through.

The stock model of the Crazy Dragon comes complete with a lab for analyzing geological samples. A few models have been purchased by non-mining concerns. In those models it is customary to convert the lab for other use, most often an infirmary. Customary, but not what always happens.

Hannah Qin got the King of Hell thanks to hard work and dedication as a member of a "private security firm" that specialized in troubleshooting. She saved her money, saved her bonuses, and when she had enough she bought her own ship. She picked the Crazy Dragon because of the great maneuverability, speed, and excellent sensors. Over the past few years she has put together her own "private security firm" and now has both the freedom and the thrills she desires. The lab on the King of Hell has been converted into a small gym.

Ship Sheet

Deck plans for a standard Crazy Dragon. The science lab has been converted into a small gym.

CRAZY DRAGON CLASS MINING SURVEY VESSEL

Initiative: D12+D10
Life Points: 8

Assets

• Fast Throttle (major): The Crazy Dragon was built to be fast in an emergency. She gains a +4 to her speed class when in hard burn instead of +2.

Complications

• Gas Guzzler (minor): While the Crazy Dragon was built for speed she wasn't built for economy. She uses a fuel tank in 400 hours instead of 600 hours.
• Dull Sense (minor): Money spent on the Crazy Dragon's excellent sensor system was saved by buying poor quality Cortex hardware and software. Rolls involving using the Cortex suffer a -2 step penalty.
• Hooked (minor): The Crazy Dragon's dual pulse drive system needs regular applications of silicon lubricant to keep operating smoothly. This adds a cost of 1 credit per day to the maintenance cost.

Skills: Pilot (Autonav) D2, Pilot (Autopilot) D2, Perception (Sensors) D6

Associated Costs

• Maintenance: 3,200 credits/year. 267 credits/month (without lubricant), 297 per credits/month (with lubricant).