Just working though the craft PCs in MTU will be using to learn how to skim gass giants. I’ll be looking at the orbital gass station next. The one that proceeded the Urntia-class Planetoid Tanker here:

https://www.freelancetraveller.com/features/shipyard/mega/urntia.html

There will be one (the predecessors) that the PCs will need to storm and rescue from pirates/raiders/bad people that was left in one of the systems they abandoned 135 odd years ago.

Anyway the ones that the PCs train from will have a bunch of these attached to it (not that there is much to these shuttles at all):

Zenit Class Fuel Shuttle

Updated 2021-02-14

CraftID:	Zenit Class Fuel Shuttle, Type QY, TL9, MCr25.242
Hull:	86/214, Disp=95, Config=4SL, Armour=40B, Unloaded=1,759.847 tons, Loaded=2,420.929 tons
Power:	6/12, Fusion=486 Mw, Duration=15/45
Loco:	7/14, Manoeuvre=3, NOE=40kph, Cruise=750 kph, Top=1,000 kph, Agility=0
Comm:	Radio=System x2,
Sensors:	All Weather Radar=FarOrbit, Radar Direction Finder, Light Amplification, Magnetic=V Distant, Radiation Sensor=V Distant, Environment ActObjScan=Diff, ActObjPin=Diff, PassEnScan=Imp
Off:	Hardpoints=1
Def:	DefDM=+2
Control:	Computer=0 bis x2, Panel=computer link x179, Special=HeadsUp display x2, Environ=basic env, basic ls, extend ls
Accom:	Crew=1, (Pilot=1), Seats Adequate=2,
Other:	Cargo(Fuel)= 929.823 klitres, Fuel= 145.8 kliters Fuel Scoops (fills cargo tanks in 3.6 hours, fills fuel tanks in 0.56 hours) ObjSize=Small, EmLevel=Faint
Comment:	Construction Time=40 weeks single, 34 weeks multiple Excess Power=1.84 Mw Cost in Quantity=Cr 20,193,669

The Zenit Class Fuel Shuttle was designed for one thing and one thing only and that was to scoop skim fuel from gass giants. An old Imperial design used throughout the empire for fuel skimming it was the natural choice for the Rabwar hydrocarbon rigs, and thus the shuttles came to Home County with the RDSR, although there were a few examples already in the County.

The Zenit is effectively two fuel tanks strapped to a manoeuvre drive and powerplant, one to drive the shuttle with refined fuel and one to be filled with unrefined fuel. The Zenit has a 15 day duration to allow them to reach remote gas giants and return to base, there are however minimal comfort facilities for the crew for such length of operations. While the shuttle only needs one pilot due to the nature of gass giant skimming the shuttle usually operates with 2.

Like all gravatic craft the Zenit suffers when away from gravity wells and past 10 diameters its manoeuvre rating drops to 1.5G.

This class is no longer manufactured in Home County, although the plans are available, and there are still numerous examples of it around. Like most in system craft it is rugged and reliable. There is nothing decorative in the shuttles to allow for walking on bulkheads while the shuttle is under 1G of constant acceleration or deceleration. The handrails are also serve as ladders for when the ship is under acceleration.

Best regards,

Ewan

For the fallen in the cause of the free:

"When I go home I will tell of them and say,

For our tomorrow, They gave their today."

My spelling is entirerly due to dyslexia, typos, and poetic license