Rautherion Lightning reinterpretation
"The galaxy is a dangerous place, and one cannot always rely on the authorities to be in the right place at the right time. This being the case, many planetary governments have created small planetary defense militias, and the Rautherion Lightning is the backbone of such organizations. It falls somewhere between a fighter and a gunboat, and is versatile enough to take on the many roles required of such a craft." - purchasing a Lightning
The Lightning was one of my favorite ships from Ambrosia Software's game Escape Velocity Nova. My own interpretation is a compact, versatile craft that's a bit overpowered for its size. It is armed with six cannons at the wing tips, as well as six missile tubes, each housing one or two missiles, depending on the size. The ship houses a powerful reactor, providing ample power for its shields and engines, making it sturdy, fast and agile.
Front view - the cockpit is accessed through a hatch below the windows. The Lightning's unusual twi-wing design makes it unsuitable for landing on planets without a special scaffolding.
On the bottom left you see an image of the original ship.
Aft view. The Lightning's reactor is unusually large for a ship of its size and produces a lot of heat. Radiators on its utility pods constantly radiate this heat into space, creating an unusually large heat signature for a ship of this size.
The spike-like tail stabilizes the ship during FTL flight, increasing its superluminar speed and range.
A recreation of the scene shown when purchasing a Lightning in EV Nova.
(Note: damn, the upload all but destroyed the image. Those stripes in the background aren't there in the original.)