The Buccaneer is one of the most popular DropShips among merchant captains. Though it is not as efficient as the larger Mule Class, it's versatility makes it one of the most profitable DropShips to operate.
         Though primarily a civilian cargo hauler, the Buccaneer was initially designed as a BattleMech transport to replace the aging Lion Class DropShip during the Star Legue era. The Buccaneer could not deploy its 'Mech complement fast enough and was so lightly armed and armored that the Union Class DropShip won the Star League contract.
         The Buccaneer did go into production, though not for Star League. Instead, it's internal structure was altered slightly so that it could be sold as a merchant ship. Several of these features are responsible for the ship's versatility. First is the ship's aerodynamic design, which makes it more fuel-efficient and stable than the larger spheroid hulls. It's landing gear is also rugged, with special reinforcement that permits the DropShip to land on paved, unpaved, and even unprepared terrain. Though the Buccaneer's deployment speed was often criticized as too slow for oft-loading 'Mechs onto the battlefield, the vessel is considered quite fast for standard merchant operations.
         The Buccaneer is 156.5 meters long and has a wingspan close to 128 meters a cross. It masses approximately 3,500 tons and carries up to 2,530 tons of cargo in its three large cargo bays. The Buccaneer's hull structure consists of a central fuselage with a large cargo bay attached to either side.
         In the aft section of the main fuselage is the ship's fusion power plant and engine core. Also located here is the ship's Magna Corp. VX250B, which provides the Buccaneer with two Gs of acceleration. This system ties directly into the ship's bottom-mounted transit drive, which is capable of only one G of long-duration acceleration. At the top of the engine section is a small engineering systems monitoring and control station, which is manned at all times by an engineer.
         Above the transit drive and in front of the main engine compartment is the smallest of the ship's cargo bays. This area can store up to 105 tons of small cargo, most often used to carry supplies for the crew, and is divided up into a number of small decks.
         Directly forward of the cargo section is the command section, which can accommodate twelve crewmembers, which is more than adequate for most vessels of this class. Indeed, most Buccaneers have one or two rooms set aside for carrying passengers, just to bring in some extra income. On vessels operating well into the black, these extra rooms may serve instead as additional recreational space for the captain and/or crew. The section contains a large recreation room, mess hall, and lounge for the passengers and the crew. These extra comforts help to make a Buccaneer post one of the more attractive jobs available to merchant crewman.
         Above the nose of the ship is the small cockpit-style bridge. This compartment lacks the space needed to control all the ship's systems, and so it is used only for flight operation controls and to fire the forward-mounted weapons. Communications is controlled from a small room just off the corridor behind the bridge. A separate security control station is used to monitor the internal operations of the ship. On most vessels, this station is considered unnecessary, and so it is not manned.
         Mounted on either side ot the ship's main hull are the main cargo bays. Each bay is approximately 93 meters long, 20 meters across, and 17 meters high, and is capable of carrying up to 1,101 tons of large equipment. When the ship is carrying vehicles, each bay can accommodate up to 48 light vehicles. To facilitate transport of larger numbers of vehicles or equipment, many Buccaneers have been refitted with a second deck, which splits each of the cargo bays into two smaller bays with reduced ceiling clearance. Each of these levels can then carry up to 40 light vehicles.
         The Buccaneer Class DropShip, like other successful designs, has a large number of variants operating throughout the Successor States. The most common is used within mercenary units and the regular forces of the Draconis Combine and the Federated Suns. Essentially an upgunned version of the Buccaneer, this variant gives up 30 tons of cargo capacity in order to increase it's armor by six tons, and to add a PPC and an LRM-10 launcher in the nose, one large laser added to each wing, and an additional two tons of long-range missile ammunition. The modern variant used by the reduced Federation replaces the particle cannon with a second large laser and the LRMs with an ultra autocannon. The Free Worlds League variant is nearly identical though uses ER lasers. The Lyran version also replaces the particle cannon with a large laser, though has 15 extended LRM tubes and ER versions of the large lasers.
         The armed variants are used mostly to deliver supplies and equipment to units in a combat zone. It often serves as a vehicle or BattleMech transport, even though it's accommodations are not adequate to carry the troops needed to operate the vehicles. For this reason, the vessel is usually paired with a troop transport DropShip, such as the Fury, to carry the needed manpower.