Mosquito (Ship)

## Description

This light, slim vessel, along with the elven Flitter, is one of the smallest helm-powered ships in common use throughout known space. The Mosquito is used as a shuttle, landing craft, spy ship, and infiltrator. Its small size makes it unsuitable in combat, since one good hit from a heavy weapon can often knock it out.

## Crew

The Mosquito can be run at full rigging by a single man, yet it is large enough to allow some comfort, making it prized as a personal star-traveler. The small size of the ship makes it suitable only for carrying small parties, or for short trips for larger parties.

## Ship Uses

Landing Craft: Many Mosquitos are carried on, or towed by larger ships and used as shuttles or landing craft for individual crew members. This is particularly popular for ships which cannot land themselves (elven craft have been known to use Mosquitos in this fashion, although they more often use Flitters). The ability of the Mosquito to land on either land or water is highly prized for this use. These ships generally serve double duty as rescue craft and lifeboats as needed. Mosquitos used as landing craft will usually be equipped with relatively cheap boat helms, or even with conventional engines.

Spy Ship/Infiltrator: The Mosquito is not made to stand up to a fight, but it makes a great stealth ship. Mosquitoes can be easily modified and made harder to detect, making them prime candidates for use as spy ships.

Personal Transport: A large number of Mosquitoes are used by lone-wolf types who prefer their own company to that of others. These individuals ply the spacelanes following a myriad of different individual goals. Some are smugglers, some are bounty hunters, some are explorers, some are wizards performing research. The only thing that these Mosquito captains have in common is the desire for solitude.

Adventurer Craft: The size and flexibility of the Mosquito makes it an excellent choice for small bands of adventurers, as long as those adventurers don't plan to engage in space-based combat.

## Other Configurations

Space Hulk/Bomb: In some areas of space with longstanding wars, Mosquitoes have been stripped of their helms and cast adrift after being filled to the brim with greek fire cannisters and other flammables. In some cases these are booby-trapped to ignite and explode if boarded, while in other cases they are intended to fall into the gravity of enemy worlds or asteroids, crashing and exploding.

Gnat: A stripped-down version of the Mosquito, the Gnat is highly maneuverable. Its AR is reduced to 7, but MC is increased to B. Some Gnats will also be topped-out to further increase MC to A, although this raises the minimum crew requirement to 2. Gnats are often used as shuttles in high-combat zones where their excellent maneuverability allows them to evade enemies.

Stinger: In this configuration, the Mosquito's tail cargo-section is filled with weaponry, typically a medium ballista, catapult, or jettison depending on the tastes of the user. Stingers are usually used for relatively short voyages. In particularly dangerous areas of space the Stinger configuration is combined with the Gnat configuration to serve as a priority personnel shuttle.

Domed Deck: This enclosed version of the Mosquito (or, occasionally, the Gnat) has a dome covering the upper deck. The Domed Mosquito is used by mind flayers, and other beings sensitive to light. The dome does not affect the AR or saving throws of the craft, but prevents those on the upper deck from being attacked directly.