Storm Knight Starfighter-class starship
Let's try this again now it it looks like the image links all work again:
Storm Knight Starfighter-class Starship
Storm Knight Starfighter-class Starship
The Starfighter is a ship with a clear purpose, but
it is difficult to categorize by conventional means. The 100-ton ship is
designed to be the personal craft of a Storm Knight, but it has notably been described
as a ship designed by Don Quixote. With heavy crystaliron armor and a silvery Reflec
finish, the sleek arrow-shaped starship looks like a warcraft. A ridiculous
quad turret armed with range-enhanced pulse lasers gives it significant punch,
but despite a reinforced hull, it is only a 100-ton ship, and unlikely to
survive long in battle. Carrying a full turret and targeting system the Starfighter
is a true starship with a jump-2 drive, though it requires high capacity batteries
to jump when the quad turret and 7g maneuver drive is operating. It can travel
the stars, engage enemies from very long range, and roar through the
atmosphere. In many ways it is superior to a fighter, but it extraordinarily
expensive, with a base cost greater than MCr 100.
Technically requiring a crew of up to four, a Starfighter
has only two staterooms and minimal living space. Automation, in the form of a
sophisticated computer system and repair drones programmed for a variety of
ship's roles, allows the ship to be operated by one or two individuals. Add-on
expert systems and shipboard robots can allow even lone Storm Knights without
specific starship skills to command their ships, though usually with poor
performance.
Storm Knight war doctrine is to deploy Starfighters
in wings of 40-60 ships, engaging the enemy at range, destroying enemy fighters
before they can close, and pummeling major combatants with coordinated mass
attacks. This has never been tested. In practice, fighting only scattered engagements
against ihatei forces, Starfighters are deployed in small groups as
light escort ships. Detached vessels provide escort and convoy support to
civilian vessels. Mostly, the Starfighter acts as the ostentatious steed
of a Storm Knight.
A Starfighter cannot be purchased. A Storm Knight who
achieves the rank of Knight Commander, by Rank or by Deed, may receive a Starfighter
in reserve duty, similar to an Imperial scout on detached duty. The Starfighter
remains with that Knight for as long as the Knight remains on reserve, usually
for as long as the Knight is willing and able to operate the ship. The Storm
Knight's Order is responsible for annual maintenance and will provide fuel at
Stormhaven starports, but the Storm Knight is responsible for routine monthly
maintenance and life support costs. Repairs may be covered by the Order if
damage is incurred "in the line of duty", which for a reserve Knight
usually means any action that brings honor to the Order. Disreputable actions
can cause the Order to revoke the privilege of operating a Starfighter,
though only after a thorough review and appellate process.
To cover operating costs, Starfighters often
undertake private escort and convoy missions or provide secure courier service
for messages, small cargos, or a single passenger. In some backwater systems a
single or a few Storm Knights form the system defense force, deterring piracy
for an otherwise defensibly population. In regions dominated by Humaniti, Storm
Knights and their Starfighters are often perceived as heroic, but in
Aslan space, a Starfighter is not welcome and often fired upon without
provocation or warning.
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