The Black Widow II starfighter is the much larger cousin of the Shadow Bolt Strike Ship built by the United Worlds Warlock. A fearsome fighter that is reminiscent of the Earth's World War II Black Widow Night Fighter. Like the fighters namesake, the fighter has twin booms with engines on either side of a smaller cockpit section. Like the Shadow Bolt, the fighters wings are bat shaped. The fighter is black with a red hourglass on the rear top of the crew section. Like the Shadow Bolt, this fighter is a mixture of techno-wizardry and powerful enchantments.

The fighters main body is not as strong as the large starfighter of the Naruni and the C.A.F. However, to compensate for this, the fighter is protected by an Impervious to Energy enchantment.

The fighters weaponry is equal to those used on the heavy star fighters used by other governments. On the top of the fighters crew section are four sub particle accelerator cannons that fire forward. The fighter also has two turrets with double barrel TK-Machineguns. One cannon is mounted in the rear of the crew section and the other is mounted in the nose of the crew section. In missiles, the fighter diverts from the standard UWW weaponry, the fighter carries four standard cruise missiles under each wing for anti capital ship roles. The ship backs these up with standard UWW missile systems and carries a bottle demon missile system on each boom.

Unlike the smaller Shadow Bolt, the Black Widow II has a Rifts Jump Drive which enables the fighter to travel to distant star systems. Like the Shadow Bolt, the fighter is also not as maneuverable as the large fighters used by the other Governments.

The fighter is set up in a very similar fashion to the CAF Proctor class in crew arrangements. The ship has six coffin like sleeping arrangements for the ships crew. Unlike the Shadow Bolt, this fighter is often used on long range patrol and on reconnaissance.

This fighter design uses modified starship speed and ranges. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World for more details.

Model Type: WF-P60S
Vehicle Type: Strategic Heavy Fighter/Attack Craft
Crew: Five (Pilot, Co-Pilot, Weapon Operator/Navigator, and two turret gunner). The fighter has six coffin style sleeping arrangements similar to those on the CAF Proctor class heavy fighter.

M.D.C By Location:

	Sub Particle Acceleration Cannons (4, Above cockpit):	100 each
	TK-Machinegun Turrets (2, Front and rear of cockpit section):	140 each
	Cruise Missile Racks (8 racks):	20 each
	Bottled Demon Missile Launchers (2, Each Boom)	100 each
	Reinforced Pilots Cockpit	220
	[1] Wings (2):	400 each
	[2] Cockpit Section (Main Body):	500
	[2] Twin Booms (2, Main Body):	700 each
	Magical Armor of Ithan Force Field (3 times per day):	600

Notes:
[1] Destroying a Wing will cause the plane to crash if it is flying within an atmosphere. Destruction of a wing has no effect in space.
[2] All Three sections are considered part of the Main Body. Depleting the MDC of eiether of the boom sections or the
cockpit section will put the fighter out of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating wreck. The main body is protected by the spell impervious to energy.

Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Sublight: Has a special sublight engine that allows the ship to travel up to 50 percent of the speed of light. Fighter can accelerate/decelerate at the rate of 0.95 percent of light per melee.
Stardrive: Rift Jump Drive; maximum safe jump of 20 light years every four hours
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is Mach 5.0, can enter and leave an atmosphere .
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either Drive system but only has supplies for fighters crew for forty five days.

Statistical Data:

Length: 62.1 feet (18.9 meters).
Height: 18.4 feet (5.6 meters).
Width: 82.5 feet (25.1 meters).
Weight: 220.5 tons (200 metric tons)
Power System: Combination Fusion & Techno-wizardry with 10 year life span. The fighter also has a P.P.E. generator that produces 200 P.P.E. per hour. (Activating the Rifts drive costs 800 P.P.E) and can hold up to 800 P.P.E. in storage. This P.P.E. can be used to power the Rifts Drive or can be used to power spells cast by the fighters crew.
Cargo: Small Storage Space 4 x 6 x 6 feet (1.5 x 2 x 2 meters).
Market Cost: 280 million credits.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

1. Sub Particle Acceleration Cannons (4): Mounted on top of the pilot section of the star fighter and behind the main cockpit. Cannons can fire at up to a 30 degree angle up or down or side to side. The gun is controlled by the fighters pilot or co-pilot and does not have penalties to strike small targets. Uses the spell of the same name from page 143 of Federation of Magic. The spells must be renewed every two months (costs 400 PPE and 20,000 credits per Cannon) but during theat period the weapon can fire unlimited blasts
   Range: 200 miles (320 km) in space. 2 miles (3.2 km) in an atmosphere.
   Mega Damage: 1D6x10+10 per cannon (4D6+40 for all four cannons)
   Rate of fire: Equal to pilots or co-pilots hand to hand (Usually 4 or 5).
   Payload: Unlimited, although the spells must be renewed every two months whether the cannons have been used or not.
2. Forward and Rear Twin TK-Machineguns: these cannons are identical to those mounted in the Shadow Bold Starfighter but are in twin mounts. The fighter has one turret in the nose of the Star fighters cockpit cection and one in the rear of the cockpit section. Because the cannons do damage by impact, they do full damage to targets that are using the spell impervious to energy. The spells must be renewed every two months (costs 400 PPE and 20,000 credits per Cannon) but during the period the weapon can fire unlimited blasts. Each turret can rotate up to 120 degrees side to side or up and down
   Range: 200 miles (320 km) in space and 2 miles (3.2 km) in an atmosphere.
   Mega Damage: 12D6 per burst for both cannons in a turret.
   Rate of fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the gunner (usually 4 or 5).
   Payload: Unlimited, although the spells must be renewed every two months whether the cannons have been used or not.
3. Cruise Missile Racks (8): On each wing, the fighter has four cruise missile for a total of eight cruise missiles. Cruise missiles are also called capital missiles. Missile has a top speed of Mach 25 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 10% of light per turn (far faster than any starship). Since starships will no longer engage at rock throwing distances, whether weapons can be shot down is calculated from the speed of target, launcher, and missile. When drive goes dead, missile will still cruise unless set to self destruct but has very low odds of hitting starships (Great for hitting bases and planets because target does not move and missile when dead at -25% to detect.) Cruise missiles have minuses to hit small targets but are all considered smart missiles.
   Range: Missile range is 8000 miles (12,875 km) in an atmosphere and 4,000,000 miles (6,437,376 km/ 21.5 light seconds)
   Mega-Damage & Properties: See Phase World Missiles (Anti-Matter does 4D6x100 MDC).
   Rate of fire: One at a time or in volleys of two, three, or four missiles.
   Payload: 8 Cruise Missiles (1 each rack)
4. Bottled Demon Missile Launchers (2): On each main boom, the fighter a bottle demon missile launcher. The missiles are literally demons summoned and bottled into a missile and are an aggressive and intelligent guidance system. The evil demons will continue to chase its target until destroyed (50 MDC to the missile). Bottled demons are slightly larger than mini-missiles and require special launchers. Missile has a top speed of Mach 10 in an atmosphere and in space has an acceleration of 2% of light per turn (slightly faster than any starship except if it is exceeding it maximum safe acceleration). Missiles are super smart and have +4 to strike and +5 to dodge. Unlike normal missile, the bottled demon does not explode and keeps striking at its target over and over. If the target is destroyed or vanishes, the missile disappears.
   Mega-Damage: 3D4x10 M.D. of magical energy every time the missile strikes (3% chance of releasing the demon every time it hits)
   Range: Effectively Unlimited! Once fired, the demon controlled and powered missile will fly and pursue the designated target until its target or the missile is destroyed (or the target vanished from sight, jumps away, or gets away by another means)
   Rate of fire: Can fire missiles one at a time or in volleys of two, three, or four.
   Payload: eight per launcher for a total of sixteen bottled demon missiles.

[ Phase World TM, Naruni TM, Kreeghor TM, and CAF TM are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]
[ Rifts® is a registered trademark owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.]

By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune ).

Copyright © 1998, Kitsune. All rights reserved.