Introduction:
The Kreeghor had little real interest in this area of space but they had sold some old military equipment to various star systems. Along with equipment, technical support was supplied so that the purchaser's military forces could use the equipment properly. Rodrelle Quillian was a Wolfen that held the rank of Dread Fang within the Trans-Galactic Empire military. This was the approximate equivalent of a Commander in the Consortium Navy. He served because there was little else honorable he could do. He had been assigned to train the fighter pilots in the Ulat Military. This had been before the Dartrok had begun threatening local planets. He had been "volunteered" by the Kreeghor Ambassador to act as commander for the fighter for defense of the system.
Already, several of the inhabited star systems near Ulat had been conquered by the Dartrok. Many informed individuals considered Ulat to be attack soon if not next. The Kreeghor's plans had been to inspire the leaders of Ulat to liberate some of the local systems from their leaders. The Trans-Galactic would heavily support the system and use that as a lever to take over completely at a later time. The plan was no longer tenable but it had been decided that they would at least attempt to protect this star system. Reinforcements were on route but if the system was already in the hands of the Dartrok, the Kreeghor forces were to avoid action.
The Dread Fang had come up with a tactic that he hoped would allow the Ulat space forces to hold the system until the Kreeghor reinforcements would arrive. The Ulat military had acquired a large amount of retired Kreeghor equipment over the last century. This presently included two old Defiler class cruisers, five equally old Berserker class attack ships, and a huge number of retired fighters. The Ulat had almost six hundred flying fang starfighters and they were key to the plan the Wolfen had developed. There was no evidence that the Dartrok used fighters and his plan was to overwhelm the Dartrok dreadnoughts with point blank missile strikes. Losses of fighters would likely be extremely heavy but if several of the Dreadnoughts were destroyed, hopefully the Dartrok would become more cautious. This might give the Kreeghor ships enough time to reinforce the system.
Over the last two hours, the Ulat military had been tracking ten battle cruiser size FTL signatures. It was almost impossibly remote that these ships were anything other than Dartrok Dreadnoughts. The ships being tracked would be leaving FTL space within a few minutes. Rodrelle Quillian was on the bridge of the Defiler which was acting as the flagship for the Ulat space forces. There had been a final meeting on the flagship with the other senior officers. The meeting was wrapping up but there was not real hurry. The plan was for the fighters not to attack the Dreadnoughts until the large ships had slowed down to enter planetary orbits. Most of the other fighters were parked on derelict barges that were acting as orbital platforms. The Dread Fangs fighter and a few lucky pilots were operating from the two heavy cruisers. Once the fighters on the Defilers launched, the cruisers and the light attack ships would position themselves so they would be hidden by the planet. They were to help if an opportunity presented itself in the engagement. The first dreadnought left FTL and the Wolfen officer grabbed his helmet and headed for the fighter waiting in the hanger.
Several hours later, the fighter pilots waited nervously but were still
determined. Only a few more minutes were left before the attacks on the
dreadnought would begin. In reality, their commander was just as nervous
as the pilots under him but outwardly he did not show this. The Dartrok
vessels had been slowing down steadily for orbital insertion. The initial
attack was to concentrate on six of the dreadnoughts and hopefully destroy
them. Whatever fighters survived the initial attack would then be tasked
to engage the remaining Dartrok vessels. An alarm buzzer went off in the
Dread Fangs cockpit and he immediately checked his sensory inputs. There
was a huge number of small and hard to detect targets heading directly
toward his fighters. There were hundreds of them. Because the targets had
no gravitic signature and were small, they had not been detected until
they were very close. He ran through a mental list of what the targets
could be. They seemed to be too large to be missiles so they were most
likely fighters. He had planned his tactic based on the Dartrok not having
fighters and he had to warn the pilots under him. He was just too late.
As he opened the comm. channel, the Dartrok fighters opened fire and destroyed
almost two hundred of his fighters with the first volley of fire. The Wolfen
knew how this trap had been sprung. The Dreadnought had launched the fighters
while decelerating and inertia had allowed the fighters to pull ahead of
the capital ships. They had then just kept their drives and shields down
so that they would be difficult to detect. These thoughts occupied the
Dread Fangs final moments. Any further thoughts were stopped when his fighter,
along with almost 200 more, was obliterated by the second volley of fire
from the Dartrok fighters.
Background:
Little is actually known about the Dartroks. The Dartroks are a race of very powerful beings that have just recently appeared in the Three Galaxies. The races appear to be slightly large than human sized coal black figures that appear similar in shape to man-o-war jellyfish with a huge number of prehensile tentacles. Their ships are based on a pseudo organic material and are incredibly powerful, heavily armored, and quite capable of taking on most ships of the races of the Three Galaxies. Especially since the motivations of the Dartroks is completely unknown, these ships cause all nervousness among most other races when these ships appear in their system.
These fighters are one of the most powerful fighters in the Three Galaxies. In many cases, the appearance of the fighters will cause other fighters to disperse and run. The star fighter has a similar shape to that of the dreadnought. The Dartrok starfighter looks like a manta-ray. Like the Dreadnought, the fighters are not constructed in any traditional way and the equivalent of the ships systems are biologic in design. These include computers, engines, weapons, and even the ship's hull. The computer is a powerful neural intelligent and capable of operation independently. The ship's hull has the ability to repair damage and to adapt to attacks directed at it given enough time. The fighter's systems are all based on electric and gravitic manipulation. The fighter's propulsion is based on gravitic systems, the fighter's shields are based on gravitics, and all of the ships weapon systems are based on one or the other as well. The FTL propulsion system is very similar are very similar to those operated on most ships in the Three Galaxies but as stated previously are biological. The ship has an acceleration as faster than virtually any Phase World fighters. Because of this extraordinary speed, most of the other starfighters of the Three Galaxies cannot stay at missile range to fight the fighter outside of the Dartrok's weapon systems.
Like the Dreadnought, these fighters are designed to fight in close combat. While the fighter does not have the all around gravity wake weapon like the dreadnought, destroying the fighter with missiles is easier planned than actually done. This is because the ion cannons can be set to fire to create a wide field to destroy missiles. This can be used to destroy missiles in front of the fighter. The fighter also has a gravity cannon to destroy targets that are impervious to energy.
Although it is unknown for sure, the present assumption is that the fighter is manned by a member of a slave race. It is also suspected that there is special programming in the fighter's computer that prevents a minion from using the fighter against the Dartroks.
This writeup of the Dartrok Starfighter uses modified Phase World starship rules. See Revised Starship Rules for Phase World for more details.
Model: Dartrok Star Fighter
Class: Medium Fighter
Crew: One (Believed to be a member of a slave race)
M.D.C. by Location:
| Gravity Beams Cannon (1): | 200 each | |
| Electrical Discharge Cannons (2): | 150 each | |
| Pilots Cockpit: | 300 | |
| [2] Main Body: | 1,000 | |
| [3] Variable Force Field: | 400 a side (2,400 Total) |
Notes:
[1] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will put the fighter out
of commission. All internal systems will shut down, including life support
and internal gravity. The ship itself will be an unsalvageable floating
wreck. Both the hull and the ship's systems have the ability to repair
themselves. These repairs are affected at the rate of 1D6x10 M.D.C. per
minute. The ship can only repair up to half the M.D.C. of a system or the
main body.
[2] Shields positions can be varied and all could be combined in one
shield. Shields regenerate at the rate of 5% (120 M.D.C.) per melee.
Speed:
Driving on the Ground: Not Possible.
Sublight: Gravity drive allows the ship to travel up to 40 percent
of the speed of light. The ship can accelerate/ decelerate at an incredible
rate of 1.9 percent of light per melee.
Atmospheric Propulsion: Maximum speed is mach 15 (11,121.8 mph
/ 17,898.8 kph). Can enter atmosphere and leave the atmosphere of a planet
easily.
Star Drive: The Starfighter has a Gravitic Drive system which
allows the ship to reach a maximum of five light-years per hour.
Maximum Range: Effectively Unlimited by either Drive system.
Carries about three months worth of supplies on board and power system
gives power for 20 years before the ship needs refueling.
Statistical Data
Height: 25 feet (7.6 meters)
Length: 40 feet (12.2 meters)
Width: 60 feet (18.3 meters)
Weight / Mass: 13.5 tons (12.25 metric tons)
Power System: Unknown
Cargo: It is assumed that there is a small (3 x 3 x 3 ft / 1
x 1 x 1 m ) compartment located beneath and slightly forward of the pilot's
seat.
Cost: Unknown, any culture in the Three Galaxies would pay hundreds
of millions of credits for an undamaged working model of this fighter.
Weapon Systems:
Special Equipment:
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By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune ).
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