A large, detailed insect-like spacecraft with glowing red sensors and multiple legs flies through a green nebula in space.

insectile profile. While docked, it rests on four legs. It has a blunt “nose” covered in large, red, distributed hyperspectral sensors. To either side of this nose jut the main cannons, and just beneath them a couple of small bays which hold the combat drones. Boarding docks descend from the central body, and those that enter find an array of well-appointed cabins and a galley stocked with food vats and usually a few leather-eel aquariums and an engineering section further to the rear. Small nodules run along the underside of the central body, visibly connected to the internal cabins: these are the Trader escape pods. The rear has a cargo loading ram beneath the long tail, which contains the main cargo bay, and the tailgun makes up the absolute rear, like a “stinger.” A cluster of ion drives straddle the tail like exaggerated hips. The wings of the vehicle “fold up” into a great bundle of nanopolymer sheets. See more