Firehawk

Firehawk Gunship
Craft: Nammurg Aerospace Ltd.'s Firehawk-Class Heavy Gunship
Type: Archaic Heavy Assault Gunship
Scale: Starfighter
Length: 45 meters
Skill: Starfighter Piloting
Crew: 1
Passengers: none
Cargo Capacity: 250 kilograms
Consumables: 1 week
Hyperdrive: none
Hyperdrive Backup: none
Nav Computer: N/A
Cost: 69,000 (Used) Can fetch as much as 2.5 million if in mint condition
Maneuverability: 1D+2
Space: 6
Atmosphere: 330; 950 kmh
Hull: 5D+1
Shields: none
Sensors
   Passive: 20/0D
   Scan: 40/1D
   Search: 60/2D
   Focus: 3/3D
Weapons:
   30mm 7-Barreled Gatling Rail Gun
      Fire Arc: Front
      Crew: Pilot
      Skill: Starship Gunnery
      Fire Control: 2D+1
      Space Range: 3-15/35/75
      Atmosphere Range: 300-1.5/3.5/7.5 km
      Damage: 4D+1 (300 30-round bursts)
   24 Plasma Missiles
      Fire Arc: Front
      Crew: Pilot
      Skill: Starship Gunnery
      Fire Control: 5D
      Space Range: 10-75/120/175
      Atmosphere Range: 1-10/30/60 km
      Damage: 10D+2
   4 Heavy Fusion Bombs
      Scale: Capital
      Fire Arc: Forward
      Crew: Pilot
      Skill: Starship Gunnery
      Fire Control: 3D
      Space Range: N/A
      Atmosphere Range: Laser-Guided Free Fall
      Damage: 12D
   4 Fire-Linked 50mm Gauss Autocannons
      Fire Arc: Forward
      Crew: Pilot
      Skill: Starship Gunnery
      Fire Control: 1D+2
      Space Range: 5-20/47/100
      Atmosphere Range: 500-2/4.7/10 km
      Damage: 8D (40 3-Round Bursts [Each Autocannon has a 120 round magazine])
   2 125mm Mass Drivers
      Scale: Capital
      Fire Arc: Forward
      Crew: Pilot
      Skill: Starship Gunnery
      Fire Control: 1D+1
      Space Range: 7.5-30/60/120
      Atmosphere Range: 750-3/6/12 km
      Damage: 3D+1 (30 rounds per gun [Note that these cannons are NOT fire-linked])
Capsule: This relic of the Clone Wars was technically out-dated over a thousand years before that conflict shook the galaxy. With it's archaic electromagnetic mass driver technology the Firehawks would seem to be out of place and hopelessly out-matched by today's fighters. Nothing could be further from the truth! Originally constructed well over 2 thousand years ago by the enigmatic and now extinct Nammurg, this sturdy gunship was built to defend the Nammurg against the encroachment of the Mandalorian Raiding Tribes and did it's job with frightening effectiveness earning it the nickname "Chi'ap Stokor'bali" from the Mandalore which in their language means "Flying Demon of Earth and Flame". The Firehawk gunships lived up to that name, being able to deal out unprecedented levels of destruction and being faster and more maneuverable than most snubfighters of it's day. This is most impressive since it's primary mission was not the dogfighting space combat that most snubfighters are built for. Instead it was meant to fight it's way through enemy cover fire and deliver devastating bomb and missile attacks to shatter enemy ground formations and hardened bunkers. It's four fusion bombs are still some of the most awesome weapons ever mounted on a vessel of it's size. The Firehawk's 125mm mass drivers even allowed it to make sustained attacks on enemy capital ships, though the gunship's relatively weak hull limited it's ability to withstand retaliatory strikes from capital ships. However against other craft of it's class it's armor was unmatched. With a hull over 6 centimeters thick in most places it could all but ignore weapons fire from snubfighters and could even endure light artillery barrages. The incredible range of it's weapons let it stand off at range in most fire-fight situations and blast away at the enemy for several seconds before it's opponents could return fire. This ability coupled with the vessel's incredibly destructive weaponry would often lead to opposing fighters being completely destroyed before they could even begin to return fire. By today's standards the old Firehawk's are hopelessly outdated but many historians agree that it stands as a shining example of galactic society forgetting what it already knew. The plasma missiles that it carried are far more destructive and have a much greater range than today's proton torpedoes and have only been abandoned due to the maintenance and care required to keep the warheads viable and the danger of a lucky shot by the enemy gang-firing the missiles and destroying the entire vessel. Also the idea of having weapons with the penetration and power of the 2 125mm mass drivers on modern craft of similar size would strike many as ridiculous and impossible, and yet it was both plausible and very possible in this 2,000 year old relic. The archaic gauss weapons technology that produced three of the 5 weapons systems on this craft are all but impossible to recreate with modern technology due to the fact that no one has bothered to try since the technology became obsolete thousands of years ago. Even in it's day the use of such weaponry was regarded as the mark of a primitive culture. While most remaining Firehawk's are battle-scarred veterans of hundreds of conflicts a cache of 240 of these vessels was recently unearthed by a free trader on the burned-out husk of the Nammurg homeworld and are currently on the market to wealthy collectors and museums. About half of them have yet to be purchased and the sale price for them has been dramatically reduced since the trader managed to become a millionaire through the sale of the first half of the battlecraft. Apparently this is one of those few space tramps who really meant it when he said that he just wanted to make the big time and then rest on his laurels. In any event the trader has retired and is currently picking and choosing who he sells his remaining ships to and tailoring the prices to the individuals. Large organizations tend to be charged much more than private individuals and one privateer has reported purchasing a full squadron of the craft for an even million credits. Who or what eventually comes to own the remaining craft remains to be seen
 
Historian's Note: The Nammurg survived their wars with the Mandalore but were apparently exterminated by another race that at the time was completely unknown. The Nammurg lived in an area of space that even today is largely uncharted but records clearly described their destroyers. Until recently no known race matched the description of the Nammurg's killers but a race of genocidal murderers known as the Charon were discovered by then-rebel forces during the time of the Galactic Empire and almost perfectly match Nammurg records. Whether or not the Charon were truly the beings who wiped the Nammurg from the universe or not is still in debate in some circles but most historians agree that the Charon are indeed the murderers of the Nammurg race.

Designer's Note: Before I get flames and arguments from various Armchair Admirals on the possible existence of so powerful a ship so long ago in the Star Wars timeline I'd like to remind everyone that Star Wars technology apparently moves along at a mere fraction of real world technology because Star Wars assumes a galactic society of millions (yes, millions!) of different cultures all trying to get along in a sort of Interstellar U.N. type environment. Now this all changed with the rise of Palpatine and the Empire but until the Empire came along galactic society has stagnated. If nothing else the Empire sparked technological innovation in a group culture that had almost forgotten how to innovate. The Nammurg lived in an extremely violent part of the galaxy and were a naturally technical minded species. Between the constant conflict they experienced and their natural aptitudes it's no wonder they developed the ships they did. Consider the technological gap between Russia at the turn of the century and the rest of Europe and you start to see what I mean. Russia had been at relative peace for centuries (I don't consider Napoleon's attempts to invade Russia as significant since the Russians simply ran until winter hit and let nature take it's course.) and had fallen into decadence for it. The rest of Europe, on the other hand, was at least a century ahead of Russia in terms of technology. As to the assertion that some of the Firehawk's technology can no longer be duplicated, I give you this: With all our wonderful microprocessorized gadgets we cannot today build or duplicate the turrets and main guns of the Iowa-Class Battleships. And while missiles and rockets may be the way of the future there's a REASON that the old Iowas were dragged out of mothballs for service in the Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf Wars. No non-nuclear projectile on Earth can match the sheer destructive firepower of 9 16 inch high explosive warheads fired from the three triple-gunned turrets of an Iowa. And we can't build them anymore.
The Firehawk was designed by Mad Rabbit <madrabbit@netdoor.com>, and has been slightly modified with the author's permission for inclusion on this webpage.
 



Back to ships
Back home