Nightshade

The Nightshade is a light VTOL designed specifically in 2597 to provide an aerial platform for the Guardian ECM Suite. The first craft to carry the system, the Nightshade was highly unpopular with pilots due to the inadequate two tons of FiberTech Light armor and single weapon it carried, necessary costs for its high speed and the weight of the Guardian suite.

With the Guardian entering the realms of LosTech and the destruction of Yelm's main factory by a Lyran Commonwealth orbital bombardment in the early Succession Wars, the VTOL was relegated to second line militias and warehouses such as ComStar's Terran stockpiles. Production of the design was finally revived by the Word of Blake, with modern technology giving it an expanded role in the Blakists' Protectorate Militia during the Jihad.

Weapons and Equipment
Added almost as an after thought, the Nightshade carries a single nose mounted Randal Medium Laser. While a sturdy dependable weapon, made highly accurate by being linked to track the movement of the pilot's helmet, it adds negligible firepower to a battle.

Variants

 * Armor : After the Guardian system became LosTech, the most common field refit was to strip the system out to create an impromptu and cramped two-person passenger bay., BV (2.0)= 344


 * Light AC : Rumored to have appeared along the Word of Blake Protectorate/Capellan Confederation border, this variant apparently served as an artillery spotter and supposedly mounted a Light Autocannon/2 and TAG. BV (2.0)=325


 * Light PPC (MSDC) : Contracted by the Word of Blake to investigate updated versions of numerous classic SLDF designs, the Terran based Meers-Skobel Defense Corporation's version is slightly slower but carries a more useful equipment and weapons load. Clad in two and half tons of FiberTech Light Plus Ferro-Fibrous armor, the modern Nightshade retains the Guardian ECM but adds a C3i Computer, carrying a single Moscovia Light PPC for protection. BV (2.0)=490


 * Royal : The upgraded model used by the SLDF Royal units, the standard engine was replaced with a Extra-Light version and armor switched to more advanced Ferro-Fibrous plate, with the weight saved allowing the VTOL to carry an extra ton of armor and the medium laser to be replaced with a Large Pulse Laser. BV (2.0)= 631