Used to flee a damaged starship, or to evade capture
at the hands of pirates - or worse - escape pods may
have saved many lives, but the ride down was un-
comfortable at the least.
Most capital ships and transports carried at least
one escape pod for use in emergancies. The pods
were only designed for a few hours' use at the most;
the two weeks worth of rations was for after the jour-
ney. Once launched, the escape pod collected data
on nearby planets, then used its simple drive system
to reach the nearest hospitable world. Nearing the surface, the escape pod would employ repulsorlift drives, maneuvering jets, parachutes or flotation devices to ensure a safe landing. As well as featuring a food store, escape pods also housed water, survival shelters, med packs, breathing equipment, glow rods, comlinks and a limited range communication tranciever.
The interior of an escape pod was cramped, with no ameneties for the flight. A standard pod consisted of a simple piloting station and padded gee-counches. When an escape pod launched, it also sent out a distress signal and activated a homing beacon so that it could be found easily. However, when R2-D2 and C-3PO were forced to flee the Tantive IV after it was captured by Darth Vader, Artoo disabled these tracking devices in order to make a clean getaway. Captain Antilles fired some of the ship's other eight escape pods in order to mask their escape. The droids landed on Tatooine after a bumpy ride. |
