It's part of the hull, you can disembark from it and shoot at it. Otherwise you could deploy with it hanging over the deployment line.
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"Oh how awful, did he at least die painlessly? To shreds you say? Well, how's his Dracon holding up? To shreds you say? Very well then... Sad, sad, terrible gruesome news about my colleague Archon Mhu'bhutu." - 'The Feather', Dracon of the Bladed Lotus