Ashin Varanin
Professional Enabler
Image Source: [link]
Affiliation: Mandalorians, Mandalorian Protectors, select customers
Manufacturer: Clan Rekali, Incorporated
Model: Kal'ika Reconnaissance Probe
Modularity: No
Production: Limited (Specific PCs/NPCs)
Material: Fiberplast/ceramic hull
Classification: Probe Droid
Length: 3m
Height: 30cm
Width: 30cm
Armament: Rating 0. Can self-destruct if tractored or disabled, eliminating possibility of capture. Charge is not comparable to standard starship weapons, though nearby people could be injured or killed.
Squadron Count: If a large ship was to carry a large number of these tiny probe droids, in place of a squadron of attack craft, it could fit and maintain 24 probes.
Special Features:
- Advanced passive sensors across the EM/subspace/hyperspace spectra, including hyperwave signal interceptor
- Advanced active sensors (deactivated by default)
- Encrypted comm suite, including tightbeam line-of-sight comm
- Miniature Bith-made Seifax hyperdrive
- Thrust trace dampers
- Pilot droid brain
- Ion-scramblers
- Basic atmospheric sampling/planetary evaluation sensors
- Basic sensor-absorbent coating
Speed Rating: 1 at full burn, 10 at standard burn w/thrust trace dampers
Hyperdrive Class: 10
Strengths:
- Good sensors.
- Hyperspace reversion cannot be detected.
- Like a CCIR Needle, its size causes trouble for sensors, and its non-standard composition allows it to pass as a random piece of space junk at long range (assuming it doesn't maneuver/accelerate in a blatant way). Easily detected if inside an immediate theatre of battle, and easily detected (but not easily identified) if it comes within perhaps 10 AU of a developed planet.
- Fast at sublight when absolutely necessary.
- Minimal shields and effectively zero armour.
- Very slow hyperdrive.
- Zero weapons.
- Full burn on the engines will make the drone instantly detectable.
- Not capable of supersonic flight in atmosphere.
- Has difficulty reporting back without detection in most circumstances.
- Very-short-range hyperdrive. Can travel a maximum of 1000 light-years on one tank of gas.
Description: The two fundamental problems with nearly every stealth ship ever are a ) no matter how good your gear, specialized hyperspace sensors can detect that something has dropped out of hyperspace, and b ) active sensors can be detected. The Kal'ika, or 'little dagger', lacks most traditional stealth equipment. Instead, through a combination of a tiny spaceframe, a specialized miniature hyperdrive, and a very slow hyperspeed, the Kal'ika focuses on immunity to hyperspace detection/reversion alarms. Piloted by an insulated droid brain, it is essentially too small to spot except at fairly close ranges, or unless the engines are at full burn. It has a high-capacity passive sensor suite, accepting the cost of delayed information from the speed of light.
While circumstances may allow close-in runs, the standard way to use a Kal'ika is to:
- Exit hyperspace roughly 1-10 light-years from the target system.
- Deploy the Kal'ika, which jumps to hyperspace.
- The Kal'ika exits hyperspace at the edge of the target system, perhaps 50-100 AU from the system primary. This distance and its own innate tininess keep it from showing up on scans after reversion at those distances. (Variables would include directional scans, proximity, and abruptness of acceleration or maneuver.) Its hyperspace reversion cannot be detected by hyperspace sensors unless it reverts very close to its target, which would pretty much never happen.
- The Kal'ika then takes in-depth passive sensor readings of the target system. In the case of hyperspace and subspace sensors, the Kal'ika can get a general sense of the volume of comms traffic and hyperspace travel. In terms of EM sensors, including visual light sensors, obviously the speed of light is a limiting factor. For example, if the Kal'ika is 100 AU from its target, EM radiation, including light, would take just under fourteen hours to reach the Kal'ika. This means that long-range readings are invariably delayed by minutes or hours, and more recent developments cannot be detected without using active sensors. Active sensors are not recommended except when time is of the essence (providing a few minutes' forewarning to a raid or evacuation, etc.), as in-depth use of active sensors will invariably give away the presence of any stealth ship ever devised.
- If the Kal'ika is intercepted in one way or another, it is capable of moving very, very fast to escape. However, bringing the engines to full burn will light up every sensor screen for a good distance, and sharp maneuvers are a great way to say 'I am not a micro-asteroid.'
Development Thread: No dedicated development thread. For reference, early versions used here and here.
Intent: A probe droid to let you know what you're getting into before you jump. Useful for scouting new hyperspace routes.
Who Can Use This: Clan Rekali, Mandalorian Field Marshals, Mandalorian Protectors, Underground folks, the Brat Pack/Covenant, other select customers
Primary Source: None
