KH-19Y Capship Missile

The KH-19Y Capship Missile, more notoriously known as the Skipper, was a cloaked capship missile developed and deployed by the Kilrathi Empire.

Overview

The KH-19Y Skipper was designed as a capship missile that could be deployed by just about any Kilrathi warship during a combat engagement with Terran starships. Like most capship missiles, it was highly lethal and when properly deployed could annihilate a warship in a single strike. What made the Skipper unique was that it was cloaked when launched. The warhead would appear one moment, disappear, and then reappear at a shorter distance from its target, skipping in and out of visibility, hence its nickname. The purpose of this was to disorient Terran forces so that they would be unable to track the missile, allowing them to strike the Terran fleets unabated.

Service History

The Skipper was developed some time during the Terran-Kilrathi War, and was reportedly still in its testing stages in 2669. During that year, the Skipper saw extensive usage against Terran transports and warships, destroying several helpless vessels. However, on other occasions, these strikes failed, such as when Colonel Christopher Blair saved a transport from a Skipper strike in the Orsini System. After the Battle of Ariel, the TCS Victory was almost destroyed by a Skipper missile while attempting to flee the Kilrathi-controlled system. Fortunately, the vessel was spared by Colonel Blair.

Skippers were used in the biological attack on Locanda IV during this same year, and were tipped with the Kilrathi biological agent that was intended to wipe the planet clean of sentient life. The attack was a success and the entire Locanda System was quarantined as a result of the attack.

With the end of the Terran-Kilrathi War and the destruction of Kilrah, it is unknown if the Skipper saw further usage during the peacetime era.