Another Galaxy Ascendant lore post today! Another ship, the first of a number of starfighters I intend to do posts on. Unfortunately no concept art yet, but as before, I will hopefully soon commission art for these, and update these posts when the time comes.
And remember, there is still time to back Galaxy Ascendant 3: A Shifting Alliance on indiegogo!
Hawkwing-class assault fighter
Ship Type: Multirole fighter
Manufacturer: Selakar Shipyards
Operator: Snevan Grand Warfleets
First Deployment: 150 BTA (Before Tyrannodon Arrival)
Length: 18m
Width (wintip to wingtip): 28m
Height: 3.5m
Crew: 1
Armament: 4 plasma cannons, 2 light repeating plasma cannons, 1 light ion cannon, 2 torpedo launchers, grabbing/landing gear.
History & Technical Notes
The Hawkwing-class fighter, appropriately and predictably, as a Snevan ship, shaped almost exactly like their hawk ancestors and Snevan-feather-red in color, is the longtime mainstay of the Snevan Grand Warfleets. Unique among most galactic militaries, the Hawkwing is the only Snevan fighter, as opposed to most, who have dedicated interceptor, bomber, and multirole fighters. In order to accomodate its powerful engines and weapons, the fighter is much wider than most, but is shorter as well, thus giving it a comparable profile despite the additional length.
The standard Hawkwing fighter is a powerful jack of all trades; more heavily armed and shielded than all but the most dedicated assault fighters while being faster and more maneuverable than all non-interceptor fighters. That said, the Snevan military was well aware of the Hawkwing’s unsuitability for specific, narrow tasks, and designed the fighter to be very easily modifiable, and over the years, no fewer than six variants have been developed to fill interceptor, bomber, and heavy assault roles, among others. In a move typical of Snevan humor, however, they have refused to give the variants different names, and instead denote the difference between the types simply by the pitch at which they use the Hawkwing name—which, along with the very few externally visual differences between the variants, makes it very difficult for adversaries to tell which type they are facing at a given time.
The standard version of the Hawkwing is well equipped for a wide range of scenarios, with enough firepower to make a squadron of them on their own a threat to smaller capital ships, and able to overpower most opposing fighters through sheer force. Thanks to their light ion cannons, they are also extremely useful at capture missions. Additionally, the fighter’s claw-shaped landing gear are capable of latching on to opposing craft if the need arises.
Additionally, due to the fact that all Snevan warships have the same shape, the only significant variation being their size, it has become a common practice for Snevan fighters to use sensor-fooling software to pose as full-size warships both as a means to make themselves more difficult to target and hit, and to draw fire away from the more valuable capital ships.
The Hawkwing holds an especially honored place among the Snevan military due to the fact that, when it was first designed and adopted by the Warfleets, it was the first completely home-designed fighter; previously, the fleets had had to purchase their fighters from others—which, due to the Snevans’ large frames, made it a challenge to find or modfiy ships satisfactorily.
Most recently, after the Snevan Dominance withdrew from the Alliance—following the expulsion of their longtime Felinaris allies—many groups of “rogue” Hawkwing-class fighters began to prey on Alliance shipping vessels. And, due to the significant firepower and toughness most variants of the fighter possess, necessitated large—and expensive—security escorts.
With the fighter’s adaptability, and more modifications and variants being developed constantly as new needs arise, the Hawkwing is expected to be the Grand Warfleets’ mainstay starfighter for the foreseeable future.
Writing, Ascendant 