Unidentified Curich-class shuttle

"We were besieged last night. They must have gone for the shuttle, and hit it hard, because at one point an immense fireball erupted over the jungle."

- From Professor Lancer Brunou's journal

This Curich-class shuttle was part of warlord Moff Kentor Sarne's forces in 8 ABY. It was assigned to science team MS-133, and was used to transport the team and its equipment to the planet Aaris III to conduct an archaeological excavation. During the expedition, the shuttle was destroyed while the team were under the influence of the Plaque of Victory; a sentient, inanimate lifeform that induced feelings of paranoia and violence into those beings it came into contact with.

Description
This was part of the military forces allied to the Imperial Moff Kentor Sarne&mdash;who ruled the Kathol sector as an independent warlord&mdash;during the early years of the New Republic. In 8 ABY, it was used as a personnel transport to ferry the members of science team MS-133 from the planet Kal'Shebbol to Aaris III.

History
One of many starships that were part of Moff Kentor Sarne's forces, this Curich-class shuttle was assigned to MS-133, a science team that was charged with investigating and documenting the extensive ruins of an extinct civilization on the planet Aaris III. Commanded by a lieutenant, the shuttle was used to transport the team&mdash;which consisted of over a dozen individuals&mdash;and all their equipment from the sector capital Kal'Shebbol to Aaris III. The vessel was landed in a clearing near a large site of metal ruins, and the team's base camp was set up by the ruins themselves, away from the shuttle.

The shuttle remained grounded for several months as the team carried out their excavations and explorations. On the sixtieth day of the expedition, the team uncovered a metal ingot known as the Plaque of Victory, a sentient but inanimate lifeform that fed off of the energy of beings in close proximity to it. The Plaque manipulated the minds of these beings, heightening their paranoia and driving them to violent and homicidal acts. The team began to become suspicious of each other, and constantly felt like they were being watched. Members of the team disappeared, and the base camp came under almost nightly attack from hostiles wielding blaster weapons. After several deaths, the expedition leader, Professor Lancer Brunou ordered an evacuation of the planet. As the base camp was being packed up, the shuttle was destroyed; the resulting fireball rose high over the jungle canopy. With no escape possible, the survivors of the team created makeshift fortifications, sent out a distress signal and awaited rescue.

The two survivors&mdash;Professor Brunou and his research assistant, Solla Deremot, were eventually rescued by the New Republic CR90 corvette FarStar. The crew conducted an investigation into the shuttles destruction, and found that traces of detonite had been used to blow it up. The engines and engineering section had been completely destroyed, but the cockpit was relatively intact. The crew salvaged as many spare parts from the wreck as they could with the intention of using them either aboard the FarStar itself, or one of its support ships.

Commanders and crew
The shuttle was commanded by a male lieutenant, who was also the vessel's pilot and leader of MS-133's contingent of soldiers. He was killed on Aaris III during the events the led to the team's decimation.

Behind the scenes
This Curich-class shuttle first appeared in the RPG adventure Artifact of Aaris, which was published in The DarkStryder Campaign by West End Games. Although never identified as a Curich-class shuttle in the text&mdash;simply being referred to as a "shuttle"&mdash;one of the images in the adventure clearly shows the wreckage of the vessel to be a Curich-class shuttle.