Taelon shuttle

The Taelon shuttle is a spaceship that features in Earth: Final Conflict.

History

Early use

These shuttles were constructed by the Taelon species and were one of the many marvels of their technology. After arriving on Earth, the Companions entered into a partnership with the Human race and one of the many individuals taken into their service was Captain Lili Marquette. Her experience as a pilot led her in developing the Pilot Certification Program thus allowing future Humans to pilot the Taelon shuttles. (Episode: Decision) She also designed elements of the internal structure of the ship to better suit mankind. In order to curtail the possibility of rogue Humans taking their shuttles into space, the Synod placed an edict which prevented such a use and had engineers program safeguards into the computer system. (Episode: Horizon Zero)

After Lili Marquette met her old colleague Paul Chandler, the former Mars Mission pilot who's IASA space programme was cancelled by Taelon involvement decided to steal her shuttle in order to reach Mars. When they were caught by William Boone and Lili Marquette they helped Chandler as well as his fellow pilots in breaking the navigation block in the shuttle in order to find out what the Taelons were hiding on Mars. The images they discovered were later sent to the Liberation movement where it was discovered that the Companions mothership was hidden around Mars with a Taelon base established on the moon. (Episode: Horizon Zero)

One of the shuttles in North America was used to transport Da'an to his destination but during transit, the systems of the craft failed due to the implantation of a Liberation computer virus into Taelon systems. Whilst in interdimensional flight, the shuttle was forced from its travel and Lili Marquette was helpless in stopping the ship from crashing. Though both her and Da'an survived, Marquette was injured during the crash and was forced to rely on Da'an to help her escape before the shuttles power core exploded. Though she was not able to travel far, it was Da'an who was able to absorb the brunt of the explosion. (Episode: Wrath of Achilles)

Due to Jonathan Doors increased paranoia over the Kimera hybrid Liam Kincaid, he sent a saboteur to rig his shuttles interdimensional drive unit to explode once it entered ID space. When Liam activated the drive unit, instead he was catapulted into a parallel universe where Earth evolved without Ma'el's interference and was being invaded by the Taelons. After getting the help of Augur, they managed to repair the drive and return to their own reality though they brought Maiya with them. (Episode: Dimensions)

Liam Kincaid used a shuttle to take the Taelon motherships auxilliary power core to a location on Earth in order to attract the extradimensional energy creatures to it. Through the use of an open interdimensional portal, he was able to take the creatures back to their own dimension after which he managed to escape the shuttle before it exploded. (Episode: Fissures) A captive Jaridian on the mothership also managed to escape and take Lili Marquette hostage in order to return to his people and use the shuttles interdimensional drive unit for reverse engineering allowing the Jaridian Imperium to achieve faster than light travel as well as reach Earth in force. However, after encountering a Kimera ship and good relations between Lili Marquette and Liam Kincaid, the Jaridian was allowed to return to his homeworld though the interdimensional drive was programmed to short out after reaching its destination in order to prevent the Jaridian Imperium from making use of the technology. (Episode: Gauntlet)

Later, Paul Chandler was attacked by a rival faction within the Liberation who wanted to take control of the shuttle had had originally stolen. After escaping, Chandler sought to strike a decisive blow against the Taelons by using his vessels an anti-matter leak to blow the shuttle up as well as anything around it. It was later revealed that he intended to strike at the Washington Embassy which would not only have killed Da'an but everyone in Washington as well. Laim Kincaid managed to use his own shuttle to intercept Chandler's ship whilst it was in interdimensional space. However, Kincaid was only able to force the shuttle out of ID Space but in normal space, the Taelon embassy was able to armor itself as well as destroy Paul Chandler's shuttlecraft as well as projecting the destructive energy into space thus saving the city. (Episode: Friendly Fire)

The Final Conflict

When a Jaridian Replicant managed to hijack the Taelon Mothership, the crew decided to eject the ID engine drive which left them in a null space. This energy field was not only draining their ship of power but was sending them slowly to the Jaridian homeworld. Due to low power, the ships conventional drives were incapable of breaking through the null space and thus Liam Kincaid along with Lili Marquette attempted to use Taelon shuttles to break a hull in the interdimensional pocket whereupon the mothership could use its drives to escape. However, the Replicant was denying Ronald Sandoval access to the conventional drives which necessitated Kincaid in using his shuttles weapons to punch a hole in the motherships hull where the Replicant was located and blasting it into interdimensional space where it was destroyed. (Episode: Hijacked)

The Taelon Bel'li was known to had taken a shuttle and used it to try to escape to the planet Earth. Leaving his home world, he was pursued by a loyalist shuttlecraft but Bel'li managed to outmanevuer as well as destroy it. However, Bel'li's shuttle was forced to crash on Earth though he managed to survive the landing. (Episode: Defector) Following the crackdown on Liberation cells around the United States, a Volunteer aided Lili Marquette in escaping the mothership after she was caught in an act of sabotage thus betraying her true allegiance to the resistance. Providing her with a shuttle, the Volunteer gave Marquette the coordinates to a safehouse located inside a building and despite the difficulty in accomplishing the task; Captain Marquette was successful in exiting ID space and entering the room. This shuttle was later sent on an unknown tragectory into deep space after Lili was genetically modified by Agent Sandoval. (Episode: The Vanished) Lili Marquette's shuttle continued its journey but was later captured by the Jaridians though the small Taelon crafts ID drive was somewhat damaged during the mission. As such, the Jaridians orchestrated an elaborate illusion involving Captain Marquette returning to Earth where the Taelons were defeated. During the course of events, she was tricked into repairing the ID drive as it was wholy compatable with Jaridian technology. This gave the Jaridian Imperium a prototype ID drive which they intended to use to send their invasion forces to Earth. (Episode: In Memory)

At some point, Major Kincaid was assigned by the Taelon Synod to retrieve Zo'or from the trilateral security conference on Earth. During the journey back, the shuttle existed ID space but found a piece of space junk on its path. Unable to avoid it, Liam engaged the crash energy bubbles which protected him and Zo'or as the shuttle crashed into the object and was sent spiralling into the ground. Despite the destruction of the shuttle, the energy crash bubbles persisted and thus saved both Zo'or and Kincaid. (Episode: Keep Your Enemies Closer) Later, when the Taelon mothership was hit by a asteroid of dark matter, the vessel began to begin procedures for final stasis as it believed that all Companions had entered into such a state. In an effort to save the Taelons, Liam Kincaid along with Renee Palmer and Da'an travelled by shuttle to safe distance from the mothership. There, the shuttle launched a pod containing Kincaid into the mothership so he could repair the mothership before the final act was completed. (Episode: Dark Matter)

Atavus

Upon the destruction of the Taelon and Jaridian races, their original precursor species known as the Atavus were reformed. Taken aboard the mothership, Renee attempted to destroy the ship and save Ronald Sandoval's life. By using a captured Doors International Taelon shuttle, she managed to reach orbit and enter the motherships hanger. (Episode: Pariah) She even managed to upgrade it with a cloaking device making it invisible when activated at certain moments and continued to use it in operations against the Atavus. (Episode: Boones Awakening) Renee was not the only user of Taelon shuttles as the large number present on the mothership meant that Sandoval and his men also operated them whilst serving the Atavus. (Episode: Boones Assassin)

Overview

These shuttles were beetle shaped craft constructed from Taelon technology and benefit from possessing interdimensional drives allowing them to travel at incredible speeds. (Episode: Decision) The ships organic nature meant that according to some forms of scanners, it was capable of being registered as a life form. (Episode: Float Like a Butterfly) Shuttle cockpits were designed to protect their pilots in case of a crash and if the ship hit something, a protective energy bubble formed around the user in order to shelter them from harm. (Episode: Interview) Similarly, they were capable of being infected by a computer virus which left it non-functional unless a counter virus was administered. These craft possessed a reactor which, if damaged, was capable of causing a powerful explosion. (Episode: Wrath of Achilles) The power source was known to be called a quantum core which, if damaged, was able to vaporize and destroy a large chunk of land in the process. (Episode: Keep Your Enemies Closer) An anti-matter field was also present and if it collapsed then the shuttle exploded which was capable of decimating an entire region of space. (Episode: Friendly Fire)

Inside, there was space for a single pilot and four passengers who were capable of activating a Companion holographic screen which projected images in the crew compartment. (Episode: Avatar) Once inside, the pilot was capable of sealing the front of the ship, which served as the exit, with a virtual windshield. A holographic virtual command interface appeared in front of the pilot which was controlled by the individuals hands. This allowed them access to the shuttles motivators, navigational thrusters and life support as well as anti-gravity unit. The capabilities of the ship made it unlike anything made by Humanity allowing it to travel at high speeds as well hover on the level of a harrier jet. When a ship entered interdimensional space, the images the pilot saw were known as touchpoints. This was essentially a representation designed for ease of use for humanity's third dimensional visage as the Taelon dimension crumpled that sense of reality thus they designed a method for the human pilots to travel from point to point where the "crumples" met. A security feature in the computer systems meant that it required its users fingerprints to operate. Unknown to many, the ships navigation system was programmed to prevent the shuttle from being taken into deep space by humans as the ships were designed to bounce from the atmosphere and back onto the planet though it was possible to break this navigation block. (Episode: Horizon Zero)

Inside sixteen dimensional space, there was always an element of heisenbergic alien determinancy. In order to travel through ID Space, the shuttles possessed a transdimensional sensor and if this was damaged than the pilot was unable to remain in interdimensional flight. (Episode: Friendly Fire) Whilst extremely dangerous, Taelon shuttles with a skilled pilot were able to use the shuttles ID drive to open a portal and exit into a building so long as there was enough space for the shuttle to enter. However, such an act was capable of bringing about the destruction of the shuttle and the death of the pilot if there was no space to maneveur. (Episode: The Vanished) The ships communication system had a limited range and ships going deeper into space were typically cut off from direct means of communication. (Episode: Gauntlet)

The craft possessed their own weapon system allowing them to target enemy positions and craft. (Episode: Gauntlet) It was quite capable of performing strafing runs by firing numerous energy shots at infantry. (Episode: Friendly Fire) The rear compartment of the shuttle possessed a small chamber where humanoids were capable of entering. This portion was able to sheath an organism in an organic oval shaped pod that was able to be launched from the shuttle at distant targets. These pods were able to pierce the skin of a vessel and deposit its occupant inside the target. After delivery, the pod disintegrated and thus allowed the user to roam free. (Episode: Dark Matter)

Appearances

• Earth: Final Conflict:

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