Aer — the air — is the small-craft domain: fighters, gunships, dropships, shuttles. Eleven Classes: three Founding, four Vigil, four Modern. All burn Deuteride at the plant and Reaction Mass at the drive.
The domain's defining constraint is stated once and binds everything: all Republic air craft are jump-incapable — except one. The Adyton's Imperial personal craft carries a short-range Translation array reserved for Imperial transit, and it is the only exception in the catalogue.
This is an economy, not an engineering limit. The Republic deliberately reserves Translation Mass for hulls above the small-craft scale. The consequence is the whole of the air Branch's doctrine: the wing has only its carrier's deck or friendly land within range, and if the carrier dies while the wing is aloft, the wing dies with her.
Founding era
- Hawk — Atmospheric Fighter, 5.8 t. Retired; ceremonial heritage.
- Buteo — Heavy Atmospheric Transport, 38 t. Reserve, heritage.
- Imperialis — Imperial Personal Craft, 62 t. The only jump-capable air hull in the Republic's awareness. In service; disposition sealed.
Vigil era
- Kestrel — Fighter, 12 t.
- Shrike — Gunship, 28 t.
- Stork — Dropship, 45 t.
- Skiff — Shuttle, 15 t.
Modern era
- Peregrine — Fighter, 12.5 t. The wing that answers the descent corridor.
- Caracara — Gunship, 29 t.
- Heron — Dropship, 48 t.
- Lupa — Shuttle, 16 t. The wing's only insertion craft, and by doctrinal weight its most fragile asset — the loss of one loaded with a sworn contubernium is a Crisis-grade event.
Fighters and gunships carry tactical endurance — hours, a single engagement, dependent on a parent hull between them. Dropships and shuttles carry short-voyage endurance: provisions for one mission window.
Glossarium
- Aer
- The air — eleven Classes, and the one jump-capable exception in the whole catalogue.