[A grainy black-and-white picture of a small aerodyne shuttle landed on an asteroid is stapled to the note]
Charon shuttle. 3067 model. Common sight throughout the Inner Sphere. Problem is, we didn't put it there.
We've had these "Ghost Charons" (Yuna's words) cropping up everywhere on our Northwest border. First the agencies thought it was each other's doing, then we thought it might be a few civvies joyriding in unlicensed shuttles, but no, they're not "ours" in any sense of the term. Ever since the 3110s, they just kinda show up every so often. Until the Blackout, when they stopped... until a year ago, and the little bugs came back out of nowhere with a vengeance.
Whoever's sending 'em, they've gotten pretty arrogant; we found one of these on as deep as Pesht near a village! Damn thing's detonation nearly made a local news story before we shushed 'em.
We're not completely sure what they are or who's sending them, but we're pretty sure it's not the Snow Ravens; they just don't have the sort of industry needed to support this.
The leading theory is it's one of the Velan groups. Ayako thinks it's Emi's Rebs planning some sort of comeback, maybe some terrorist bombings. Yuna thinks it's some of those automated Roadie science boats they've been showing off lately. I suspect the Amethyst Legion is involved somehow. Maybe the entire Vela corridor is in on it, I don't know.
We don't even know what it is. All we think we know is that these things are some sort of drones, since they don't respond to hails and considering how long we've observed them linger without resupply - but we can't even confirm that because the damned things explode whenever our operatives try to get near it. We've tried the direct approach, we've tried approaching 'em with our own bots, we've tried blasting 'em to try to disable their booby trap, we've even tried to drill from the other side to one perched on an asteroid; nothing's worked.
Right now our only lead is a Ghost Charon on an asteroid at Salford, the only one left in our space - that we know about, anyways. I've ordered them to leave it alone for now until we can figure out how to disable the thing; this is going to be our best chance in a while to capture one of these things intact. Hopefully they don't know we know and blow it up manually - the Amethystians, the Crossroadians, the Rebs, or whoever the hell these things belong to.
Both O5P and ISF are hounding us on these stupid ghosts. The Coordinator won't be too far behind, and... well, you know how she can be when there's anything that remotely smells of Rebs.
I really need your help, R.T.
~S.E.
Message from a fatigued S.E. to R.T., 3148
Charon Shuttle (Cargo 3056)
Type: Military Aerodyne
Mass: 200 tons
Technology Base: Mixed (Standard)
Introduced: 3056
Mass: 200
Battle Value: 1,692
Tech Rating/Availability: F/X-X-E-D
Cost: 9,113,500 C-bills
Fuel: 13 tons (1,040)
Safe Thrust: 3
Maximum Thrust: 5
Heat Sinks: 0 (0)
Structural Integrity: 6
Armor
Nose: 201
Sides: 165/165
Aft: 141
Cargo
Bay 1: Cargo (100.0 tons) 1 Door
Escape Pods: 0
Life Boats: 0
Crew: 1 officer, 2 enlisted/non-rated
Ammunition: None
Notes: Mounts 27 tons of ferro-aluminum armor.
None
Weapons
and Ammo Location Tonnage Heat SRV MRV LRV ERV
Quirks:
Easy to Maintain
Ubiquitous (in Vela Corridor only)
Atmospheric Flier
The Charon-class Modular Shuttle is a small craft design native to the Mechani Alliance. Ubiquitous in both military and civilian service by most factions within the Vela Corridor thanks to its flexibility and payload, the design is also beginning to spread throughout the Inner Sphere for the same reasons the Mechani design became popular in its region of space.
Capabilities & Design
The base Charon chassis is a conventional aerodyne small craft design, weighing 200 tons with a large 100 tons of payload. This large fraction of useful mass was achieved by using as little weight as possible for auxiliary functions: The Charon in its base configuration is completely unarmed and requires independent escort in military contexts, the weak engine is just sufficient for normal 1G transit operations and is handily outrun by all but the slowest modern Warships and Pocket Warships, and the crew accommodations are fairly uncomfortable steerage-grade quarters. While the quarters especially makes the type loathed by junior CO's forced to command the Charon, the utility of a relatively massive 100 tons of useful weight assures that the flag officers in charge will keep the Charon in service.
Charons in civilian service use the shuttle as both intraplanetary and interplanetary transport, where it can quickly and cheaply (compared to Dropships) shuffle around relatively small loads of cargo around a planetary system. Charons have much wider varieties of roles in military service: Usually based on Warships, Jumpships, Dropships, or more rarely planets when used in the defensive, Charon variants fill a large variety of necessary roles such as vehicular transportation, infantry transportation, as hydrogen tankers for Aerospace Fighter groups, Command & Reconnaisance shuttles, and more rarely as direct combatants in gunship or space mine variants. The Charon is semi-modular and can switch variants more quickly than most other small craft- though true modularity in the style of the Clans wouldn't be available for the Charon until the 3067 variant.
The Charon has ancient roots and can be traced back at least as far as 2470; this effectively makes the design older than both the 1st Star League and the Mechani Alliance (as the design was developed by the Mechani's precursor, the Kingdom of Machlor).
Deployment
The Charon is something of an unsung hero: The shuttle in one form or another has been used in every single conflict the Mechani Alliance has found itself in, as well as most of the recent wars the other two major powers in the region have faced (the Republic of Crossroad and the Amethyst Legion). Thanks to its capabilities and flexibility in mission set, the Charon has not only become ubiquitous in the Vela Corridor, it's also slowly spreading to the Inner Sphere and threatens to become similarly commonplace there. In that sense, the Charon might be the most successful small craft in human history.
Charons were deployed with the Velan Shield state-sponsored mercenary group in order to aid it during its fight in the Inner Sphere during the Clan Invasion. In addition to their supplying the Crossroadian and Mechani volunteers, Velan Shield Charons played a role in keeping Comstar's Com Guards well-supplied during the Battle of Tukkayid.
After the Truce of Tukkayid, the Mechani Alliance (under Crossroadian pressure) approved the sale of surplus Charons to Inner Sphere factions that were fighting the Clans. Older, mostly 2800-year Charons, were then sold to combatants in an attempt to sway the conflict in the Inner Sphere's favor. Both the Draconis Combine and the Federated Commonwealth, however, preferred armed shuttles, and began ordering specialized variants for their factions.
When these armed "Charon Specials" arrived to Inner Sphere space, the receiving factions quickly realized that their weapons and double heat sinks closely approximately the performance of those used by the Clans, and thus the friendly strangers in a far-off region had some highly advanced industry to tap. They attempted to directly buy Battlemechs and Aerospace Fighters and even Warships from the Mechani Alliance at first, but were denied. They then ordered heavily armed Charon "transports" and even outright gunships. These were approved as normal, and the Inner Sphere factions actively stripped these transports of most of their guns and heat sinks in order to fit them onto their Battlemechs and Aerospace Fighters. The sheer demand for armed Charons was so unrealistically large that it stressed both the Mechani and Crossroadian (which was secretly tapped by the Mechani to help fulfill orders) small craft and weapon industries to the point that both states began struggling to outfit their own industries, and culminated with the intervention of the Mechani Alliance monarch instating temporary limits to both the number of exported Charons and their allowed armament levels to allow Mechani industry to catch up.
The Jihad saw new Charons being built for Clan service, something that seemed unthinkable just a decade before. These were largely Battle Armor transports specifically designed to accomodate a binary of battle armor, and were distributed to anti-Blakist Inner Sphere-based Clans that were actively fighting against them, with the exception of Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon (which the Crossroadians consistently vetoed motions to providing support - notably, this veto did not apply to the Wolves-in-Exile).
The Jihad also saw all three major Vela Corridor powers officially involve themselves in an Inner Sphere conflict (rather than with a proxy as they had during the Clan Invasion). On May 3073, the Word of Blake initiated a terrorist attack on the Crossroadian capital world of Aleksandria with a chemical weapon, killing thousands of Crossroadians and by freak coincidence also killed an important Mechani Alliance ambassador, probably as retaliation for the Crossroadians actively selling arms to enemies of the Word of Blake, especially the Clans (via Charons and other aid). This made the Jihad personal to both, and together with the Amethyst Legion (whose feud with the Word of Blake was earlier and unrelated to the bombing due to repeated Word of Blake attacks on their MerchantShips) formed a multinational task force, the Velan Expeditionary Force, to directly fight the Word of Blake. The ubiquitous Charon featured heavily in the Velan Expeditionary Force, as it was used by all three major Vela Corridor powers at this point.
The 2nd Jade Falcon-Crossroad War (3110-3115) notably featured Charons being used against the Republic of Crossroad. Since the Crossroadians had vetoed any attempt to provide aid to the Jade Falcons before, it was not clear where they got them, but it nonetheless embarrassed the Mechani Alliance government at the time and was one of the few instances of the friendly relations between the two states being strained. Post-war intelligence suggested that the Jade Falcon Charons may have actually originated in Clan Sea Fox, which may have reverse-engineered the Charon and began producing copies of them to indiscriminately sell to Clan and Inner Sphere customers.
The Amethyst Legion appears to hold a grudge against the Draconis Combine due to their internment of Legion MerchantShips in 3130 and the Combine-Legion war (3130-3132). This grudge led to the Amethystian intervention in the Draconis Combine Civil War (3141-3144) on the side of the rebels, and though the Rebel side still lost, the Amethyst Legion liberated most of their MerchantShips from Combine hands and evacuated most of the rebels (including Clan Nova Cat and Draconis soldiery loyal to Emi Kurita) out of the Draconis Combine proper and relocated them to the Vela Corridor; Both the liberation of Amethystian MerchantShips and evacuation of the rebels were in part enabled by Charons.
Both the Republic of Crossroad and the Amethyst Legion have been producing and using licensed Charons as automated remote HPG nodes. This special and expensive modification allows the Vela Corridor factions to place unmanned "repeater" HPGs in uninhabited space, making it significantly easier to communicate with (or spy on) the Inner Sphere. The Amethyst Legion, in particular, has been seeding space near and in the Draconis Combine with AI Charons, at least some of which may have HPGs.
This new development is understandably troubling to both Warlord Toranaga and Coordinator Yori Kurita, not least of which because this might mean the Vela Corridor (or possibly just the Amethyst Legion) may have discovered a way to bypass the Inner Sphere Blackout. Other than the drones, no concrete actions have been taken by the Amethyst Legion against the Draconis Combine; nonetheless, the threat of another possible invasion by the Amethyst Legion, the plotting exiled rebels, and possibly even their Vela barbarian allies looms like a sword of Damocles over their heads.
Variants (by year)
(2470): This is as far back as Mechani Alliance (Technically the Kingdom of Machlor in 2470; the Talroakians had not yet united the other two ethnic groups, the Auchmors and the Blasphelix, into the Mechani Alliance at this point in time.) records can be found with confirmed references to the Charon. This version was similar but was produced with more primitive production methods. It featured a slightly weaker structure and much weaker armor, did not have the module-friendly design (came exclusively in dry cargo configurations) and resulted in a small craft with worse characteristics in atmospheric handling and repairability. Also the less efficient engine required a larger fuel tank to reach the desired range, leaving only 92 tons worth of useful payload. The engine's performance afterburning characteristics was suboptimal, but this was either unnoticed or tolerated under the assumption that the afterburner would not be regularly needed.
(2670): Slow, incremental improvements to the 2470 model resulted in the 1st "modern" version of the Charon small craft by 2700. By this point the Charon had its modern reinforced structure design, much better armor, a superior wing design that improved atmospheric handling, and overall process improvements that increased its ease of maintenance. The more efficient engine allowed for a smaller fuel tank to be used for a similar range and increased the useful payload to 100 tons, but as it was still fundamentally based off the 2470-era engine it still suffered from a few of the same issues. (Quirks: Poor Performance, Gas Hog)
(2800): Basic improvement to the Charon. The military version featured an advanced ferro-aluminum alloy for armor, improving protection. The semi-modularity was also introduced at this year, replacing most of the dedicated Charon platforms and spinoffs.
(2925): A Crossroadian-Mechani cooperative effort to improve the Charon. In exchange for licensing the right to build their own Charon shuttles, the Crossroadians contributed an advanced engine to the project (roughly equivalent to Clan-grade). This new engine was slightly lighter and smaller which was used to increase the fuel capacity by 2 tons, but more importantly had far better afterburning characteristics than the old Mechani engine.
(3067): Improves the semi-modular feature of the Charon to match the level of the Modularity that the Clans used; this is believed to be the first Small Craft with such a capability.
Variants (By Role)
Cargo: 100t Cargo. Most common Charon variant in use, either military or civilian.
Liquid Cargo: 91t Liquid Cargo.
Refrigerated Cargo: 87t Refrigerated Cargo.
Insulated Cargo: 87t Insulated Cargo
"Cattle Taxi": 83t Livestock Cargo. Least common of the civilian cargo haulers.
Civilian Intraplanetary: 80t "Infantry" compartment, 10t Cargo (Luggage), 2 crew + Steerage
Civilian Interplanetary: 18 Passengers, 2 Crew (20 Steerage)
Vehicle Transport: Heavy Vehicle Bay. Notable for being one of the lighter, cheaper ways to move a main battle tank or artillery piece to the battlefield.
Light Vehicle Transport: 2x Light Vehicle Bay.
Mounted Infantry Transport: 1x Light Vehicle Bay, 1x Infantry bay or BA bay, + limited cargo and defense weaponry. This variant consists of myriads of subvariants that are sometimes made-to-order for the ordering faction. Favored by Inner Sphere customers who often abhor military small craft that lack even token defensive armament.
Infantry Transport: Various. Can be configured to carry an entire Battalion of anything from Foot infantry to Motorized; In the case of Mechanized Infantry, only about a company-sized group can be carried.
BA Transport (IS, MA): 12x BA Bays (4-man). Carries an entire standard Company of Battle Armor. Favored by the Mechani Alliance as well as Inner Sphere powers, as the Charon shuttle can transport a large number of Battle Armor without using (and risking) an entire highly-valuable Dropship.
BA Transport (CL): 10x BA Bays (5-man). Carries an entire Binary of Clan Battle Armor. Though the Vela Corridor (or more accurately, the Crossroad Republic) was against the Clans during the Clan Invasion, the start of the Jihad prompted the Mechani Alliance to request to Charon manufacturers to begin producing this variant for their newfound Clan allies. All Inner Sphere based clans received Charons during the conflict except for the Jade Falcons, which the Crossroadians vetoed. (The Jade Falcons later received some anyways, likely reverse-engineered and sold by Clan Diamond Shark.)
BA Transport (CR): 8x BA Bays (6-man). Carries two Platoons of Crossroadian Battle Armor, which uses a six-man squad structure. Two transports are required to bring a whole Reinforced Company that the Crossroadians typically use in their formations.
Protomech Transport (CL, CR?, AL?): 10x Protomech Bays. Carries two Points of Protomechs. Mostly a clan configuration, though the Crossroadians and the Amethyst Legion have both dabbled in such transports ever since the latter reportedly cracked a new control alternative to EI that allows for viable control of Protomech-type control interfaces with no (permanent) side effects. The Amethyst Legion has had much more success finding test pilots than the Crossroadians, largely due to the former's much greater incentive to save weight and the latter's candidates still having great concerns over the concept due to the side effects of the prior Enhanced Imaging system.
AWACS: Typically features the 4 Satellite Imagers (Hyperspectral, Look-Down, IR, High Resolution), advanced electronics (usually Angel ECM for richer customers), about 12 tons of communication equipment, and steerage quarters for the operators.
Tanker: Up to 90t Liquid Cargo + at least 1 Refueling Drogue + Defensive armament. Major Vela Corridor customers usually have 80t+ of Liquid Cargo and several refueling drogues while foregoing the defensive armament; Inner Sphere customers often prefer 50t liquid cargo and basic protective weaponry.
Gunship: 100t of Guns + Double Heatsinks + Crew Quarters for gunners. With the base Charon having such a large amount of available payload, it is sometimes tempting for customers to order Gunship configurations and operate some Charons as though they are superheavy fighters despite their terrible thrust for the role. More than half of the Gunship Charons in existence are fielded by the Lyran Commonwealth.
Bomber: Up to 100t of Cargo (Bomb Bay) + Double Heatsinks + Guns + Crew Quarters for gunners. Uncommon variant.
Space Mine: 10 Space Mine Dispensers
Remote Sensor Dispenser: Large number of remote sensors + cargo for more.
Land Mine: Large number of vehicular mine dispensers + cargo for more.
Drone: Republic of Crossroad manufactured variants sometimes feature a Smart Robotic Control System (SRCS), starting in 2925 when they received a license to domestically produce them. This modification requires 10 tons of payload, leaving 90 tons spare. For the sake of brevity not all possible Drone variants are listed here
Drone (Space Mine): 9 Space Mine Dispensers. Unlike the manned version, the Drone is quasi-expendable and is often flown directly at enemy warships whose anti-fighter grids are found wanting with no intent to recover the drone. Consequently, the Drone version is often more effective at damaging Dropships and Warships
Remote HPG Node: Ground-Mobile HPG + 10 DHS, Booby Trap, Angel ECM, 41t Cargo (spare parts + magnetized vehicular drones to perform basic repairs on the HPG). Used by both the Republic of Crossroad (research purposes, providing real-time HPG links to the Inner-Sphere, securing the Northern and Western flanks from potential Clan incursions) and the Amethyst Legion (Assisting coordination between Amethyst Legion MerchantShips in the Inner Sphere, spy platforms for the Draconis Combine). A booby trap is set to detonate the drone Charon if it is fired upon or if it detects it's being approached without the proper code, destroying the Charon and its highly valuable HPG from would-be salvagers.
