With the help of Wbyrd’s fertile imagination the Zhodani theme moves right along.

Wbyrd got a lot of feedback on his last fighter concept aimed at giving the fighter a more Zhodani-like feel. A lot of readers thought that more classical Zho design features were needed.  This is his second concept fighter in a week. A 10-Dton Fighter.  I added a ventral access cockpit access hatch and a pilot seat with two modes – flight and landed.

From the original discussion at Citizens of the Imperium.

Zhodanii Type 125 Fighter.
One of the newest fighters deployed by the Zhodanii fleet, client states, and Allied forces. Type 125 Sh’zahg ( “Frightful Shape”, Imperium Code Name Zack) is a swift,  agile and lethal fighter. Reserved for more experienced pilots, the Sh’zahg is named after a lethal ray like aquatic predator revered by the minor race native to the designer’s homeworld. The Sh’zahg made it’s debut during a border dispute between a large mining concern and a Zhodani corporation. When the Mining Concerns mercenary security forces fired on a transport severely damaging it. A single Zhodani Carrier and it’s escorts were dispatch.

The flights of fighters launched by the Squadron disabled and nearly destroyed the four Mercenary cruisers in the area, and flattened the ground installation being contested by the two companies. Even with fighter support the four Broadswords were unable to deal with he massed missile and laser fire put out by several squadrons of fighters. In the end the mercenary cruisers were able to destroy several fighters, but they inflicted no harm what so ever on the carrier or its escorts as they hovered well outside of weapons range.

Like the Older 10 ton Trilobite the Sh’zahg is lightly armoured, and has few defences.  The pilot also sits in a sealed cockpit, with only narrow blow out panels covering vision slots to allow the pilot to operate if his electronics are destroyed, The Fighter does however have some pilot survival hardware built in to allow the pilot to eject in safety and survive for an extended period while waiting for pickup by his carrier vessel.

While more sophisticated than the Trilobite, the type 125 is still highly vulnerable to hostile fire, and its pilots have only a marginal survival advantage over the older fighters. The Zhodani have put more attention to the weapons and firecontrol systems of the newer fighter, but still seem to consider even experienced pilots as unfortunate casualties.

Full Deck Plans