Craft: Republic Engineering Corporation Heat-Resistant Escort Vehicle
Type: Shieldship
Scale: Capital
Length: 800 meters wide (dish), 400 meters long (tug pylon)
Skill: Capital ship piloting: shieldship
Crew: 1
Cargo Capacity: 25 kilograms
Consumables: 1 month
Hyperdrive Multiplier: x2
Hyperdrive Backup: x20
Nav Computer: Yes
Space: 4
Hull: 4D
Shields: 2D
Sensors:
Passive: 10/0D
Scan: 25/1D
Search: 40/2D
Focus: 2/3D
Weapons:
Turbolaser
Fire Arc: Turret
Scale: Starfighter
Skill: Starship gunnery
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1-5/10/17
Damage: 4D
Background: The Shieldship was a starship designed to protect ships while traveling to the planet Nkllon in the Athega system from Athega’s superhot star. It was so hot that the dark side of Nkllon was the only habitable half of the earth though it was rich in mineral resources.
The Shieldships resembled giant umbrellas and were designed to repel the dangerous heat rays of the system’s star. They had large tubes and fins designed to vent the star-generated heat. However, the cooling gear onboard a Shieldship needed to be replaced after every visit to Nkllon.
Any ship that traveled to and from Nkllon had to trail behind a Shieldship for protection from the star’s rays, or the star would melt its systems and hull plating. The Shieldship had an advanced slave circuit system for taking control of the ships behind it, making a quick 1-hour hyperspace jump to Nkllon. Without a slaving system, the trip to Nkllon would have to be made at sublight speeds, which would take up to 10 hours.
When Lando Calrissian’s Nomad City controlled Nkllon, it profited nearly 10 million credits annually. The Shieldship was designed by Lando Calrissian, inspired by Cronal’s actions during the Battle of Mindor, and constructed by Republic Engineering Corporation. Lando purchased twelve of the Shieldships, allowing up to three visits to Nkllon daily.
During the Galactic Civil War, Grand Admiral Thrawn attacked Nkllon, stole Lando Calrissian’s mining machines, disabled every shieldship, and disrupted communications. Had it not been for the timely arrival of Garm Bel Iblis, everyone in Nomad City would have died.
The Shieldships (lent from Lando Calrissian’s base above his mining operations at Dubrillion and Destrillion’s asteroid fields, which in turn were given to Han and Leia Solo) were also used to defeat the Yuuzhan Vong at their base on the planet Helska IV. The Shieldships took orbit around the enemy planet and reflected the condensation of the planet back towards itself, and froze the planet to near absolute zero. The yammosk, or war coordinator, was stopped, and the Yuuzhan Vong were utterly destroyed without the joining power of the yammosk.