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The smallest combat craft of the Proxima Wars was, without doubt, the one-man atmospheric fighter dubbed the Piranha. Fast and highly manoeuverable, it proved an extremely difficult target, the only compensation being that it carried very limited armament.
Although conceived as a ground attack weapon, it was later deployed in a variety of roles, being first encountered during the Battle for Mars in 2052. Its small size enabled it to be transported by warp-equipped freighters to the area of operations. There it would operate from the mother ship, but was vulnerable to attack from better equipped deep-space interceptors until it had reached atmospheric levels. Once there, it was far more effective, and during the Battle for Mars Piranhas succeeded in tying up a considerable number of our Vulcans which should have been concentrating on the enemy troopships and nuclear weapon carriers.

While their extremely small size gave them some advantages, it also meant that they were unable to operate for long before needing to refuel. To do so they once again had to run the gauntlet of our deep-space interceptors to reach their mother ships, which were themselves extremely vulnerable. A great number of Piranhas were captured intact because their supply bases had been destroyed and they had simply ran dry.

Once the war had reached the Proxima Homeworlds themselves, it was a different matter, as they were operating continually in atmosphere from permanent and protected bases. The greatest advantage of this type of craft was the fact that it could be produced in great numbers at a fraction of the cost of more conventionally sized warships. As even the most advanced defence shield is limited in the amount of energy it can absorb at any one time, the survival of a warship depends very much on its ability to avoid contact, either through evasive action or by destroying its attacker.

The Piranha made both courses of action difficult. Though unable to withstand much damage and limited in firepower, it was no easier a target than any other type and could attack in sufficient numbers for its corportae volume of fire seriously to damage the target.

Piranhas continued to be a threat throughout the conquest of Proxima as after the successful campaign to destroy their main bases they were able to operate in small packs from easily concelaed field depots scattered throughout the battle zones.

After the war, hundreds of them, stripped of their military hardware, were shipped back and made available to the public. In spite of their short operational range and limited capacity they provided a fairly cheap form of private transport until manufacturers could re-equip for civil development and production. Many are still in use but they are rapidly becoming collector's items as good examples are increasingly difficult to find.