Boarding party ships

(Not having the Fleet Book yet, or a reliable FTiii
shipbuilder program, some of the numbers may be off)

Boarding Pod:					     cost
Mass 6	(So as to fit in standardized Fighter Bays)    6
Thrust 8 Drives,  Mass 2			       6
Weak Hull	  Mass 1			       2
Streamlined hull  Mass 1			       ?
Troops		  Mass 2			       ?

Great, it costs under 20 points, I thought.  That is
before the 27 points for the Bay it takes up, not to
mention the 9 points for the parent ship's hull or the
parent ship's drives, easily another 9 points.

Much, Much cheaper to stick it on a tug.

Now I have a question:	Given that a boarding pod can
empty its entire troop complement into an enemy ship in
a single turn, why would it take so long to 'arm' it by
using the fighter bay rules?

Another use for the boarding pod would be as a salvage
ship, subbing in repair crews for troops.  How much mass
does a repair crew take up?  (assume the ship they are
salvaging has lost life support...)

If a ship transfers crew off during a fight in order to
salvage another ship, do you have to refigure where the
crew boxes are on the damage chart?

What would people think of a special weapon which does
damage to crews instead of to the ship itself?	(Probably
too hard to fairly implement, but I was thinking of some
weird Star Trek monsters...)

Once I get the right numbers, I'll probably register the
'boarding pod' as a VIP passenger shuttle.  They generally
would be planet-based, but if the Admiral of the Fleet or
important politicos were travelling onboard then they'd
probably attach the shuttle in place of a fighter 
squadron.  High mucketymucks would be spared the awkward
umbilical transfers, not to mention the ability to be
greeted in style in the Hangar by a decent reception
commitee.

Michael Sandy