NARRATOR: Properly piloted, the mercenary warship Breath Weapon is an S9 on the Planet Mercenary vessel classification table.
NARRATOR: Sadly, without an A.I. at the helm, Breath Weapon is only an S4.
SORLIE: Captain Murtaugh, can we send a message yet?
MURTAUGH: Sorry, Sorlie.
MURTAUGH: We've reached the edge of Chinook's jamming and interdiction, but there's a U.N.S. fast picket putting up its own bubble.
NARRATOR: The picket is a toothy X9.
NARRATOR: A fight here would go badly for Captain Murtaugh.
SORLIE: Uh-oh.
SORLIE: Pickets like that are usually lead elements in battleplate groups.
NARRATOR: Even at its fiercest, however, Breath Weapon would be outmatched by a modest tricorn-class U.N.S. battleplate, a Q7 on the table.
MURTAUGH: I'd have noticed a battleplate, Sorlie.
SORLIE: Lead element.
SORLIE: See? Teraport signature.
NARRATOR: The battleplate Shoemaker-Levy eschews modesty.
NARRATOR: It also eschews traditional battleplate designs.
NARRATOR: Planet Mercenary's taxonomists would rate it at a Q9+, but none of them have seen it yet.