CLASS: PREDATOR

The Predator design was fielded by the Trabe species during the period 2320 - 2345. The ships were originally designed as freighters, their huge size allowing them to carry up to twenty million tons of cargo. Some 250 of these vessels were built over the twenty five years they were in production, and they became a common and impressive sight among the Trabe worlds.  When the Kazon overthrew the Trabe and forced them to retreat from their worlds, the prodigious size of the Predator class ships made them a natural choice for refugee transports. Knowing this, the Kazon sects attempted to capture or destroy as many of these ships as they could. The Trabe escaped with 1/4thof the vessels, the Kazon captured about half, the remaining forth being destroyed.

Both the Trabe and the Kazon have extensively refitted their Predators, in the former case to enhance living standards and in the latter to install weaponry. Their size and prodigious energy output would theoretically allow the Kazon ships to be fitted with a very heavy armament, and indeed the Predator class vessels are amongst the most powerful in the area. However, indications are that the Kazon have not been willing or capable of providing the support and maintenance facilities required to keep these ships in top condition. They therefore tend to perform far below the level which might otherwise be accomplished.