Raptor gunship commission

Raptor helping out the Claymores @ the Battle of Terra.

Bill Phillips

The Raptor backing up the Valkrie against the Kirrix, perhaps?

J B

Calara at the tactical station at least!

DemonHunterCole

Wait, close each book with a picture of the bridge with the current crew and where their stations are at. So you'd have a mostly empty bridge and slowly fills up.

DemonHunterCole

Faye on the Invictus bridge! At different angles, so I can picture it clearly.

DemonHunterCole

Aside from the armor color and the weapons, I don't think the Raptor changes all that much visually over the course of the story. The most significant changes would be from battle damage, but that's fixed relatively quickly.

Jedi Khan

Whichever scene you choose, I would suggest that it should be from near the end of whatever ebook it will eventually be the cover for. That way you get the most current upgraded version of the Raptor, up to those chapters. It wouldn't make as much sense to have the Raptor on the cover of an ebook featuring upgrades that it hasn't gotten yet. But it also wouldn't be as cool if the ebook cover featured an older more "outdated" version of the Raptor than was described in that particular group of chapters.

That would be one awesome shot.

It hasn't been posted yet. Tefler said the artists are behind schedule.

DemonHunterCole

Battle of Regulus, Jade flying the Raptor with the fleet of Rapiers.

DemonHunterCole

That was a scene in the story? Huh. I don't remember it. Must've been at least after chapter 20. I can only get that far when trying to reread before getting bored and wanting a new chapter to read.

Jedi Khan

I'd like the one where Jade(or Alyssa?) Is nose circling around John with the raptor showing all it's precision. I imagine John with his back to the 'camera' and him and the pilot looking into each other eyes.

Felipe Andrade

The Raptor standing on end blasting the tunnels on Khalgron would be spectacular...not a usual position to see it in during battle!

Arrowglass

Raptor at Underworld would be cool seeing them jumping out of the hold

There are a lot of good options listed here. My top votes would be for either the battle of Regulus or Underworld. Those both have potential as amazing cover art.

LunarLilith

The Raptor is badass, but imagine how much more powerful a bigger ship would be with even more guns.

Jedi Khan

Also why did Dana not mull ovcer the idea about making 2-3 new raptors to go in the hold instead of a destroyer class ship? As we know the Raptor is badass.

rich ed

ch 71 would be my vote, good list definitely best visual scenes

Robert, behind my suggestion (of course), I think your idea is great!

+1 for Carl's suggestion

ETNSosa

The scene where Jade pulls up to the Federation fighters and says "Hi, I'm the lioness Jade. John Blake sent me"

Hey Tefler, how about the last Awards, the Raptor setting down. The crew is all there to include Fade and twins in battle armor?

So the Battle for Regulus was damn good, like where Jade was waving the tail flaps as she raced passed, the part where the ship punched a whole in Mikaboshi's ship, the Armored Cobras fight, the Underworld drop, or one of the mundane drops showing everybody disembarking, like visiting the Fernandez family.

Roethan

Raptor taking on Mikaboshi's battle cruiser, that was a badass scene.

Hmmm, maybe dragon March port media destroying bombers? The potential scenes though are quite extensive.

HiddenShadow

i think a the Raptor in space combat perhaps with the Invictus and Valkyrie in the background.

opps,,, I didn't mean to end there - hit the wrong button :-\ What about the raptor just floating in space, all weapons exposed, gleaming in the light of a nebula or something.

Sakura fighting the Valkyrie, sword in hand, going up against the Kirrix Hive Ships, auto-defenses taking out ground troops, with the Raptor providing top cover with beams ablaze. Yeah!!!

Hey Everybody, I like all the comments above and agree that the Raptor has been in some great scraps. There is no one battle or scene that defines the Raptor for me.... Every scene that I picture is just so hard to see the effectiveness of the Raptor captured by a 'still picture'. A vessel that is an incredible combination of speed, agility and fire power captured in 1 photo...

A pissed off Alyssa flying the Raptor after John was kidnapped by Shinobi.

DemonHunterCole

The ones that spring to mind are: From Ch.33, the battle with the Kintark bombers and fighters with Port Medea in the background (this would be the black Raptor) From Ch.60, the Raptor taking on Mikabothi's Battlecruiser, The Amaterasu. From Ch.68, with the Rapier fighters and the Battle of Regulus going on in the background. From Ch.71, The view Jorgan Marharbor got of the Raptor disgorging the crew into the dock on Underworld, loads of alien ships with the Invictus floating outside.

ringill

The Raptor screaming in to cover the Valkrie during the rescue of Niskara

Dragon

Either a side view of everyone exiting while hovering in the Underworld or a scene from the battle of Regulus...one based upon one of the E-book release sections so you can use it as cover art?

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

Although one of the major battle scenes is probably the best option, you might also consider a scene where the Raptor is setting down, with the crew deploying in their combat gear. You could also show it from the front, taking off, with the team on the ground moving out in full combat suits.

Oh, maybe you can do an "evolution of" piece which shows the Raptor's progression from the stock version when the TFed handed it to John to how it is now?

Jedi Khan

Maybe a shot of the Raptor intervening in the battle of regulus (flying between terran and kintark fighters)

McNik

Well, what are our choices, Tefler? There's gotta be a short list of scenes involving the Raptor. Do you want it with the black armor, white armor and Terran armaments, white armor and Maliri weapons, or white armor and current weapons? What pops to mind for me is when Jade drops in to save the Terran fighters at the Battle of Regulus. Obviously there won't be any dialogue in the picture, but maybe the artist can somehow put Jade's sass into the Raptor and have it strut a bit. Wait...the artist isn't making an animated scene, is he? Hm. It's a tough choice really.

Jedi Khan

I had requested before the battle of Iota Leonis. Where the Raptor defends the fleeing ships that are transporting the wounded from the Kintark bomber squadron. That was a very emotional scene as Jade was sure she was done for. And that scene was referenced many times in other chapters. It would make a great cover art for that ebook

MJHSharkbait365

Yeah, I'll be using all the pictures as coverart for the ebooks. :-)

Tefler

Are you planning to use the art got a book cover?

What about when the raptor is about to ram the Amaterasu? Could be cool.

Daniel Polster

Yeah, the strafing runs over the tanks would be cool too.

I have 3 suggestions: 1. The battle of regulus taking out a wing of fighters. 2. The attack on the merc base destroying a tank. 3. The battle of Ashana taking on a cruiser. Difficult choice for me but I think the battle of Regulus would be mine.

You could double up and do the scene with the Raptor providing cover fire for the Valkyrie while Sakura was taking on the hive ships.