Resistance transport

The Resistance used a model of transport composed by parts taken from different craft during the war against the First Order. One of these vehicles was carrying Leia Organa and her entourage at the end of the Battle on Takodana.

Characteristics
The transport was cobbled together by Resistance technicians from parts with different purposes and origins. The ship was controlled from a repurposed B-wing Mark II cockpit module that was locked in place and restructured to allow for a docking hatch. The B-wing's life-support systems and portside deflector shield projectors were relocated to within the adjacent cowling, which reduced cockpit visibility and forced the pilot to use holographic visual displays and a sensor suite. Engine pods were taken from Republic-era Montura-class shuttles, as they were sturdy and reliable. Faster-than-light travel was allowed thanks to two knockoff S/min-12a hyperdrive, a miniaturized model engineered on the base of First Order designs. Passengers traveled inside two modular compartments found aboard freighters and cut-price starliners. These compartments were connected and encased with a shell of surplus hull plating. Cockpit was linked to passenger area thanks to a tunnel.

Although it was usually escorted by starfighters, the transport could defend itself. The standard armament consisted in a Gyrhil R-9X heavy laser cannon, but sometimes other weapons were added: an ion cannon, a proton torpedo launcher and two autoblasters beneath the cockpit. In the standard version a precision targeting laser helped the pilot. Cockpit and weapons pod were protected by deflector shield generators salvaged from B-wings, while their overlapping fields shielded passenger compartments.

Passengers in the compartments, both troops and commanders, shared space with gear lockers and astromech droids.

History
The transport was used by the Resistance in its conflict against the First Order. Its use was to deploy troops on ground, after being escorted by fighter to reach the surface. One such craft hosted General Leia Organa and her entourage when the Resistance rescued Han Solo, Chewbacca, Finn and the droid BB-8 on Takodana. The transport reached the ground only when First Order forces led by Kylo Ren had been already put to flight, and General Organa could speak with her husband after the end of the battle.

Behind the scenes
The transports appear in the 2015 film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. The craft went through many design variations, and was one of the final vehicles to be created. The version seen in the film was created by art director Kevin Jenkins, inspired by a Chinook helicopter turned sideways. At Celebration London 2016, during the DK Panel, the Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Incredible Cross-Sections illustrator Kemp Remillard revealed that as an Easter egg he drew himself, author Jason Fry, and other DK staff as the soldiers in the starship's spread.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens
 * Star Wars: The Force Awakens novelization
 * The Force Awakens, Part IV

Non-canon appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens