Nightshade -- Nevil Clavain -- was a carbon-black, Conjoiner -built lighthugger constructed in the Epsilon Eridani system as a prototype for several advanced technologies. Small compared to standard lighthuggers, or those built later using its now-proven technologies , it was none-the-less capable of making interstellar journeys.
Nightshade was equipped with a Stealth Conjoiner Drive which reduced tau-neutrino emissions by two orders of magnitude and was deemed acceptable, if not exactly perfectly quiet. It was also the test-bed for grub -inspired inertia-suppression machinery .
Ironically, it was Clavain who later destroyed the ship he had named, after chasing it and its new captain, Skade , into interstellar space. Pin-head munitions filled with microscopic amounts of magnetically contained antimatter caused secondary explosions which obliterated the vessel before it reached its target of Delta Pavonis .
Appearances [ ] See also [ ] Lighthugger - The principal interstellar spacecraft type used by humanity, the Nightshade being one of many.
Spacecraft
SHUTTLES AND SMALL CRAFT
Civilian shuttles/small craft Trike | Tug | Cutter | Spherical shuttle | Flotilla excursion shuttle
Police shuttles/small craft Panoply cutter
Individual shuttles/small craft Melancholia of Departure Remontoire's 'Trident' fighter (outrigger fightercraft)
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ATMOSPHERIC SHUTTLES
Coalition shuttle | Flotilla delta-winged shuttle Cutter | "Claw" shuttle | Lighthugger orbital shuttle
Individual atmo-shuttles Scavenger's Daughter Dominatrix
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INTERPLANETARY SPACECRAFT (LARGE SPACESHIPS)
Civilian ships Freighter | Liner | Hospital ship | Lighthugger in-system craft
Police and military ships Deep-system cruiser Demarchist military vessel | Conjoiner ''Moray''-class corvette
Individual ships Bellatrix Democratic Circus High Catherine Nightingale Storm Bird Universal Suffrage
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INTERSTELLAR SPACECRAFT (STARSHIPS)
Generation ships Flotilla ships : Santiago Islamabad Brazilia Palestine Baghdad
Ramscoop starships Atalanta
Lighthuggers List (Sandra Voi Nostalgia for Infinity Zodiacal Light Nightshade Hirondelle Petronel
Alien starships Void warren ("Caleuche
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SPACECRAFT PROPULSION
Antimatter engines | Ramscoop | Conjoiner Drive | Stealth Conjoiner Drive Dark Drive | Inertia-suppression Machinery | Cryo-arithmetic engine
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SPACECRAFT WEAPONRY AND DEFENCES
Magnetic railgun | Boser | Ack-am | Foam-phase Munition | Pin-head munitions Camouflaging screens | Hypometric weapon | Bladder-mine
* - capable only of flight in the vacuum of space ** - double as both spacecraft and aircraft, depending on the need
