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The K4 Interceptor was popularly known as the 'Toad' with good reason. Although a squat, brutish vessel with a multitude of bulges befitting its nickname, it proved a -dangerous adversary for the first half of the War.
During these years the 'Toad' was Proxima's primary interceptor ship and was produced in high volume. Although less manoeuverable than most of our ships of the same class and even than many larger types, its inferior mobility and speed were compensated for by powerful weaponry and massive protective armour.
This was a formula much favoured by the Proxima General Staff and it was the design basis of a variety of craft produced during the war. Particular features of the 'Toad's' armour were its flexibility and the density of the material used. There were several reports of 'Toads' surviving close-proximity nuclear blasts, being hurled out into space intact and eventually rejoining the action apparently little the worse for wear.

They were designed well before the Proxima research teams succeeded in producing warp generators and could not be adapted to carry them. As a result they were used primarily as defence vessels or for attacks on Alpha Centauri, operating in packs of twenty.

In the first offensive against Proxima considerable losses were inflicted on our forces long before they had approached within what was thought to be combat range. It was some time before it was realized how far the patrol and supply network of these ships extended, as Proxima had established deep space penetration before either of us was aware of the other's existence.

Apart from its defensive capacity the role originally intended for the K4 was to spearhead any offensive against Alpha Centauri. As the War progressed it was often used as a ground attack craft but it proved unstable in the thinner atmosphere of the Alpha worlds and many were lost.

The 'Toads' were one of the few craft to have fought on both sides in any number, as nearly 200 were captured after the deep space patrols were cut off and their supply depots destroyed. Most of these were subsequently handed over to the Alpha Centaurians who had suffered the greatest losses at the outbreak of War and urgently needed ships to contain Proxima until replacements could be manufactured. Although the Alphas continued to use them they were far from ideal due to the anatomical differences between the two species and interior adaptation was never really effective: As our joint offensives took the pressure off their home defence, the captured ships were gradually withdrawn and dismantled. The principal components such as drive units and weapon systems were then incorporated into new Alpha hulls and many of the early Stingrays were equipped in this way.

Proxima's security forces still employ downrated K4s for local patrol work and our military possesses several wartime ships which are used mainly for weapon testing and as tugs. A very fine example in its original crimson livery is also to be seen in the Mars War Museum.