Prowler Spy Corvette

The main scout ship of the Imperial Trust, Niflheim's Prowler II Spy Corvette and its variants the Courier II and the Infiltrator II is designed to spend years or even decades in the outskirts of solar systems spying on their inhabitants. To help the crew withstand this they are given an amount of space unheard of among military vessels, or even most merchantmen, and access to a wide range of diversions and forms of entertainment.

These are the second generation of designs, having been notably improved by the legendary Archmagos Tranth

### Intel Gathering and delivery

The Prowler gathers data via a combination of methods including a extensive passive sensor array which can be expanded with a series of satellites as well as signal interception, flights by stealth attack craft and somtimes information gathered by agents within the target system. The data is then run through the extensive intelligence analysis systems of the Prowler, both to start preparing it for use and to determine its urgency. Generally the data is collected on a regular schedule by Courier Spy Corvettes, often via dead drop who receive both the raw and processed data. If the on board analysts decide that some of the gathered information is urgent the Prowler will instead make its way out of the system and make for the nearest Trust deep space meeting point, which will contain both Couriers and Neo-Astropaths to quickly get the information to the Trust. Prowlers are both rather slow and lack any Navigators, due to both the mental health risks that Navigators encounter when spending extended periods on a small ship staffed entirely by Upsilon level Blanks and due to the risk of the Navigator being detected, so the period between finding the information and getting it to the meeting point is one of the longest part of getting a vita message home .

### Stealth

The Prowler is designed entirely with stealth in mind, and between its size, design and the varied stealth technologies that it carries a Prowler can be expected avoid detection from alert sentries with Trust level technology within a hundred thousand kilometres. Given that the Prowler prefers to stay far further then this from any foes the chance of conventional foes finding a Prowler is minute.

Against more unconventional foes the Prowler relies on a set of warding designed by the Adeptus Telepathica to hide it from divinations and the nature of its crew, which together make it impossible for all but the greatest of seers to locate. These protections also help hide it from predators within the Warp, making its Warp travel far harder to detect and far safer then should be expected.

### Courier

The first variant of the Prowler is the Courier, which replaces the Gravity Engines with Stealth Engines to massively boost its speed while still maintaining a high level of stealth. It is used to collect the intel that the Prowler has gathered and unlike the Prowler has the facilities for a Navigator on board, allowing for it to quickly move through the Warp under the guidance of a strong willed Navigator when ferrying urgent data which can't be trusted to an Astropathic communication. Generally Couriers will have a circuit including a region of space around one of the Trusts deep space meeting points, and after completing its circuit will return to the meeting point and pass it on to another courier who then returns it to the Trust.

### Infiltrator

The second variant of the Prowler is the Infiltrator, which replaces its reflex shields with a cloaking field, massively boosting its stealth . The Infiltrator is mostly used to gather intel from systems or locations where the chance of someone detecting a Prowler is considered to high, or to insert agents onto hostile worlds. Between its cloaking field and far more extensive wards, Infiltrators are able to get into orbit of many worlds without detection, and have been known to avoid notice of even alert sentries within a few hundred kilometres.