The Vas'teelis, also known as Songbird, was a class of shuttle used by the Romulan Star Empire.
History and specifics[]
These shuttlecraft were carried on many Romulan vessels, especially on those that were not designed for atmospheric landing. They were noted as being quite versatile with it being capable of being modified within 30 minutes from a ship designed to carry a single pilot and 7 passengers to being an emergency transport that carried 12 passengers. The Songbird was also able to be converted into a cargo transport by removing all the passenger seats.
The Songbird class was not equipped with a warp drive and only travelled at a maximum of .82 lightspeed. Some models which were typically present on combat ships were also equipped with twin disruptor's which were mounted under the nose of the shuttle thus providing a 180 degree field of fire. Whilst the disruptors were useless against large targets such as ships, they were quite effective against ground based targets. When firing its disruptor cannons, the weapon produced a specific high pitched whine which became the source of the name for the shuttle craft. (FASA RPG - The Romulans module: The Romulan Way: Game Operations Manual)
