Shaped like giant cockroaches, these mystery ships appear out of nowhere along the outer spacelanes of many outlying systems, attack whatever shipping happens to be there at the time and disappear leaving nothing but wreckage. The presence of dead bodies indicates that they are probably not interested in people, though food animals are frequently taken along with everything that might be useful. Wreckage differs from incident to incident, but nothing they leave behind is whole and useful in any way. They seem to pulverize anything they don't take.
What they could possibly want with any technology is a mystery as their tech is apparently higher than that of their victims. More likely they want the raw materials. It is suspected that they have some kind of FTL drive that allows them to travel between systems with using stargates. They lie in wait, powered down, until a hapless ship comes along, then they attack with incredible speed and efficiency, reducing their target to easily processed wreckage in short order. They never attack unless they have superior firepower and numbers and will run from anything resembling a real fight.
Bug ships range from the size of a heavy fighter to a large processor ship that scoops up the useful wreckage after an attack. Their ships can get up to a little over half the speed of light when pursued and will suddenly disappear in a flash of light once they have some distance. Their propulsion appears to be based on an advanced form of nuclear energy powering unknown drive mechanisms. No one has ever been able to get close enough to a bug ship for a deep scan and survived to relate the data. Ships’ recorders seem to be on the list of useful items taken. These incursions are a major reason that most races maintain a standing space navy despite other circumstances.
