The trademark vessel of Milky Way Exiles all across the Heleus Cluster, the Hyena is the shuttle of choice for both determined homesteaders and rampaging Outlaws alike, and such is their ubiquity that even the briefest stay on worlds like Elaaden and Kadara will ensure a certain familiarity with the craft. The design was initially produced by one Marcus Cantrell, an aerospace technician who’d worked on the Nexus’ fleet of UT-47H Heavy Kodiaks before joining in the Uprising. Recognizing the significant privations his fellow Exiles would undoubtedly be experiencing in the months to come, and that the shuttles upon which they’d been forced out would require functional replacements, Cantrell drafted plans for a new model of shuttle, one that could be produced with minimal resources and without the need for advanced production facilities or engineering expertise. Even as Sloane Kelly led her Outcasts in a daring shock assault against the kett forces occupying Kadara Port, the Hyena’s blueprints were already being open-sourced to Exile factions throughout the cluster, and within three months of the Uprising, the vessel had become a common sight.

In contrast to the technical sophistication of the Initiative’s Heavy Kodiaks, the Hyena is a much more rudimentary vessel, Cantrell’s initial designs stripping away all the frills for a craft that is cheap to build, easy to maintain, and can be extensively modified to suit the needs of its owners. Not a true contragravic vehicle like the Kodiak, flight in atmospheric conditions is enabled by its trademark twin turbofans, one mounted on each side of the vessel, along with a relatively undersized Element Zero core and four thrusters mounted at the rear. The Hyena’s troop/cargo compartment can hold up to ten people in austere, if well-armored conditions, with another two operating it from within the cockpit, though the vessel’s design is so simple that only a single pilot is required in most circumstances.

This simplicity comes at a price, however. Many of the features and technologies that any Kodiak pilot would consider commonplace are absent from the Hyena, including redundant power and life support systems, powerful long-range sensor arrays and durable kinetic barriers. The undersized drive core, designed to run on scarce Element Zero, is a noteworthy limitation; while capable of FTL travel, the Hyena’s range is severely limited compare to those of Initiative shuttles, and must dock with a larger carrier vessel for any destination more than a few jumps away.

Yet despite these limitations, the Hyena remains a common sight wherever Exiles gather, whether for peace or war. This is in large part due to its ease of modification, with the only real limitations being the creativity of its technicians and the resources available to them, to the extent there can barely be considered a “stock” version of the vessel at all. Many of the more organized Outlaw factions have also taken to modifying their Hyenas to fulfill specific roles. For example, the Collective has fielded a stealth variant featuring dedicated ECM suites, sensor-baffling hull plating and an oversized drive core that permits it to travel on its own inertia more effectively. On Elaaden, meanwhile, the Desert Wolves have turned their Hyenas into the spiritual descendants of the Milky Way’s A-61 Mantis gunships, their superior speed and firepower making them the perfect instrument for the Wolves’ trademark lightning raids. The establishment of the first full-scale Initiative colony on Meridian has brought a new prosperity to Heleus from which many Exile factions have also benefitted, and it is likely that further improvements to the Hyena’s basic design will occur as a result.