Small Mercy

SK-374812967-D is a Skinner-class survey cutter, laid down in the year 829 at Byrni highport. During the Fall it was attached as an E/W picket to CruRon Beta of the home fleet and suffered a catastrophic hit in the engineering section during the opening phases of the Battle of Rhizol, which destroyed the Jump Drive and rendered it dead in space. The hull was salvaged ten years after the Fall, the maneuver drive was repaired and it was attached as an escort to SDB-13A's squadron.

When SDB-13A suffered a catastrophic hull failure and the loss of all hands in 998, SK-374812967-D was retired from active service and placed on the detached duty list (ie a parking orbit). It was assigned to Semi Gonefar in 1104 and he spent the next three months at Drinax highport remodeling the internal volumes. During this refit Semi shrank the probe drone storage locker to liberate more space in the common area for a gym and a small medical station with a TL13 autodoc, installed a workshop into the engineering space (using volume previously occupied by the jump drive) and in the cargo volume he removed the collapsible fuel bladders and installed an air-raft bay, leaving about 25 dtons of usable volume for cargo and/or modular cabins. This gave Semi an in-system runabout suitable for small cargo/courier jobs.

Underneath the lower visual inspection ports on each side of the Bridge there is a painting of the side profile of a sailor showing off his biceps, on which is tattooed 'Small Mercy'.

Small Mercy (SK-374812967-D) - Drinaxi Survey Cutter(100 dTon, TL15)

Cost: MCr62.09¹, Monthly Maintenance: Cr5174,
Life Support: Cr3000 (single owner operator) – 6000 (full crew of four)

Component	Description	dTon	Cost (MCr)
Hull	100 tons, streamlined Radiation shielding		6 2.5
Armour	Bonded superdense, 4 points	3.2	1.92
M-Drive	Thrust 6, size reduction x3	4.2	18
J-Drive	Jump 2, decreased fuel x3	10	22.5
Power Plant	Fusion, reduced size x3 Power: 90 Solar-panels	4.2 0.5	10 0.05
Power Requirements	Basic systems: 21 Maneuver drive: 60 Jump drive: 20 Sensors 8 Weapons: 1
Fuel Tanks	120 weeks operation, J-2 Fuel processor (20 dT/day)	20 1	0.05
Bridge	Small bridge Holographic controls (+2 init) +1 sensor station	6 1	0.25 0.062 0.5
Computer	Computer/15 fib		3
Software	Jump control/2 Maneuver Intellect Virtual crew/1		0.2 1 1
Sensors	Advanced sensors (+2 DM) TL13 countermeasures suite (+4 DM e/w) Improved signal processing (+2 DM)	5 2 1	7.95 6 6
Weapons	Double turret Beam laser x1 (accurate, easy repair) Sandcaster x1 (resilient, easy repair)	1	0.5 1.125 0.312
Systems	Advanced probe drones x5 Repair drones Low berth x2 TL13 Autodoc Workshop (in engineering) Air-raft bay (in hold)	1 1 1 6 4	0.08 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.9
Accommodation	2 x standard stateroom Common areas	8 4	1 0.4
Cargo	Cargo volume Vacant J-drive space	22.8  4

Quirks

• The air-raft bay has been built right next to the cargo-ramp for ease of access, however this means that all cargo has to be loaded through the air-raft bay; requiring that the air-raft be debarked and the rear bulkhead of the bay hinged down and dogged in place.
• The lingering aftereffects of battle-damage from the Fall means that the engineering space is still rather more radioactive than is normal. It's not enough to have an effect that would show up on engineering throws or maintenance costs but it's a little surprising to those who are new to the ship.

[1] The costs and tonnages here reflect the fact that this vessel no longer has a jump drive.


Backstage
Semi's player rolled up a ship as part of his mustering out benefits, so it was only fair that he got something, but routinely handing out fully functional starships to retired scouts doesn't really jibe with the recent history of Drinax, so my compromise offer was to say that he had a ship, but it wasn't jump-capable. This had the added bonus of giving Semi's player a concrete, achievable goal to aim for - he wants a starship damnit! Particularly he wants something a little less distinctive than the Who's On Comms so that the PCs have a ride that can visit neutral/hostile systems without being attacked or impounded on sight.

As it happens, we are about to be starting Ihatei! as I write this and Semi's player will leverage the urgency of that situation (plus the juice that comes from being an agent of the Crown) to cut in at the head of the queue for a refit/new J-drive - which is fine by me, I wasn't going to keep this ship hobbled for very long in any case.