Four thousand years before the fall of the Old Republic and the birth of the Empire, the great Sith War took place. Three key players in this war were the Jedi Knight Ulic Qel-Droma, his brother Cay, and the Twilek Jedi Tott Doneeta. Their ship was the Nebulon Ranger, a Corellia Stardrive Coruscant-Class heavy courier ship.
The ship was quite unlike many starships found nowadays. Two main sets of engine arrays, mounted on a right-angle starframe, gave the ship good manoeuvrability without the need for manoeuvring jets. Retractable wings could be extended for atmospheric flight, but had to be brought back in for landing. The six AlderaanMotors power generators and the engine arrays, located on the main wing, were fed into directly by the fuel tanks which also sat on the main wing. The Ranger had very good sensors, thanks to the sensor pylon which was also stationed on the main wing, as well as the air lock, which was used for deep space docking. The pylon allowed the ship a greater range than a sensor package which was directly attached to the hull. The only snag was that the pylon could be easily damaged or destroyed.
Weapons played a fairly big part on the Nebulon Ranger. A retractable rotating laser cannon was placed on each wingtip, and at the base of the second engine array was a more powerful rotating laser cannon. The Ranger had two forward mandibles, both of which contained s pair of linked proton-torpedo launchers, with a magazine of six torpedoes in each mandible. There was also a short-range concussion-sphere launcher in both mandibles, both of which fed from two magazines of eight spheres. But probably the most dangerous weapon the Nebulon Ranger had was a forward-firing pulse cannon. This was powerful enough to rip through the shields of any pirate ship that was foolish enough to attack the Jedi.
The living and cargo sections of the ship, located in the centre of the craft, were accessible through the cockpit, placed between the forward mandibles, which opened out on to these areas. A dedicated gunnery station in the cockpit took care of the weapons, but it was also possible for the pilot to control them if need be. Behind the cockpit were the main boarding ramp and the emergency escape hatch. The ramp was on the underside of the ship, while the escape hatch was on the topside. Just below the pulse cannon were three escape pods.
Between the engines, in the cargo bay, was a drop bay. This allowed any vehicles on aboard to be deployed quickly. The Jedi sometimes had a couple of short-range airspeeders with them, just in case they needed to surprise any would-be attackers. Apart from the vehicles, the cargo bay was sectioned off for various tasks. The wall sections could, however, be removed to provide space for larger cargo or vehicles.
A ship the size of the Nebulon Ranger needed good shields. Eight shield generators provided full protection around the hull, but they consumed a lot of the ship’s power. As a result, they were only raised during times of combat, making the Ranger a viable target for any quick-thinking enemies. The Jedi discovered just how vulnerable their ship was when it was downed by a single seeker torpedo by the beast-riders of Onderon.