During invasions, the Ssi-ruuvi Fw-Sen-Class Picket ships play vital roles. They are used in conjunction with the larger Ssi-ruuvi cruisers to disable enemy craft, so that their crew may be captured and enteched. When they are not used in this way, they usually guard the Ssi-ruuvi fleet perimeters or escort Sh’ner-class planetary assault carriers when P’w’eck troop landers are being deployed.
The picket ships are crewed by thirteen P’w’ecks, the Ssi-ruuk servants, and have around half a dozen enteched servant droids. This means that the ships are more disposable and can go on suicide missions, seeing as no Ssi-ruuk are in actual danger. The downside is that the performance of the ship suffers, but that is a small sacrifice to make.
Seeing as the P’w’ecks are not exactly the most reliable of pilots, the Ssi-ruuvi often control the Pickets remotely, having installed neural inhibitors in the crew. These allow the Ssi-ruuvi to stun or disable any P’w’ecks who do not follow orders directly.
At just under fifty metres in length, the Imperium picket ships are very fragile. Their defence are their shield generators, while their hulls are thin. As a result the P’w’ecks find themselves reliant on their masters for the energy needed to power the ships. Once the shields are gone, lasers cannons such as those found on the Millennium Falcon are powerful enough to rip through the hulls.
Ion cannons are the Picket ships’ means of attack along with a pair of laser cannons placed on the front of the ships, following the Ssi-ruuvi belief that capturing enemies is more important than killing them. After all, without their life forces, the Ssi-ruuvi would have to find different means to power their vessels. Being so small the ships do not carry Ssi-ruuk battle droids, meaning that they have to deployed in groups to guard each other.
The Ssi-ruuvi invasion of Bakura had twenty Picket ships in its fleet, five of which were destroyed in the initial conflict. After the Alliance relief fleet arrived in-system, many more of the ships met a fiery end. Several were captured and modifications by the Rebels and Bakurans were attempted, but the shields were to weak to protect crew members from radiation.