Biogel Fighter Pod (World Guide, Technical) (Patreon)

Biogel Fighter Pod

The biogel fighter pod is a principally biogel based, single person searospace craft capable of maneuvering freely in virtually any non-corrosive environment with pressures ranging from 0 to 360 standard atmospheres. A sphere with truncated sides, the fighter pod is largely empty save for a firm reclining seat, a set of trans-dimensional field coils, and various tubes for the movement of liquid activated biogel. Various accessories can be attached on the sides of the fighter pod, including weapons, sensors, cargo modules, etc. The accessory points can also be used to attach the pod to a larger system, such as a personnel shuttle body, in order to control and maneuver it.

Biogel fighter pods are typically stored in special cubicles, either at the sides of a hangar, or below the hangar deck. These cubicles have direct connections to the facility or vessel's activated biogel network. Once a pilot enters the pod, and activates it, activated biogel flows into and fills the pod completely. The trans-dimensional field coils prevent the gel from subsuming the pilot, while also allowing the pilot to exert control of the pod via simple act of will. Once the pod is filled, and the cubicle moved to launch position, the pod can fly free.

Biogel pods have an endurance of approximately 6 hours of normal, non-combat flight. The activated biogel slowly loses energy over this time, and once its endurance has been exceeded, it solidifies into shiny black, inactivated biogel. This results in the glistening of the pilot as well, and the resulting gummy is often quite difficult to extract from the mass in which she has been encased.

Combat can drastically reduce the endurance of a biogel fighter pod. While conventional, non-energy based weapons won't do much to reduce flight endurance, energy based weapons without their own power source, or biogel energy weapons, will drain power from the pod quite rapidly. While the available energy that can be discharged at any given moment greatly exceeds that from a conventional power system, the number of potential discharges is greatly reduced.

The Feyli Imperial Navy considers the current biogel fighter pods good for 2 hours normal flight along with 15 minutes of combat. This makes them unsuitable for interceptor or distant attack roles. As defensive fighters, however, they are regarded as being superior to all conventional craft. In order to increase operational endurance, all Navy biogel fighter carrying craft have external charge points, where pods can dock and connect to the ship's activated biogel network for a few moments to recharge.

The only civilian spacefaring deployment of biogel fighter pods is aboard the Destiny Omega, operated by Vixanti Corporation under the personal command of Lady Shetari Anwae. The ship has 16 fighters in ready cubicles below the main hangar deck, 2 in the role of shuttle control pods, and 6 spares kept below decks.

Gelitech also has a selection of biogel fighter pods at each of its facilities which contain an active biogel reactor core. These are mainly used for demonstration flights, though they can be fitted with biogel beam projector hemispheres for defensive purposes if needed.