The Jade Spike
Ever since the amazing first iteration of “Order of Battle” by u/Storytellerrrr, I’ve found myself getting quite a bit more into Star Wars-related creative writing, and am currently writing out a proper story focusing on the character I had created for OoB, the Kage Dark Side adept Krosa Lim.
With my writing underway, and the second iteration of Order of Battle seemingly not all that far away, I figured I’d go ahead and come up with both a command ship and personal starfighter for Krosa Lim. Ventress, Grievous, and even Dooku all had their own personal starfighters/small craft, so no reason I shouldn’t give one to Lim as well.
For hers, I went with the Belbullab-24 strike bomber/fighter, for several reasons. The primary reason being that the Belbullab was the ship of choice for Obsidian Squadron, the Ace starfighter squadron under Lim’s command during the events of OoB, and as such it only seems fitting she gets the same. Now, Obsidian Squadron flew unmodified Belbullab-22’s, with the only real difference between the 22 and 24 being the 24 possessing both dual concussion missile launchers and the ability to carry an unspecified number of proton bombs. Besides that, they are the same ship stats-wise.
Here is where I deviate and begin to modify the ship, christened the ‘Jade Spike’.
First, the hyperdrive. The base model of both the 22 and 24 only have Class 6 hyperdrives, which are (relatively speaking) quite slow. As such, it would be swapped out for the much faster Class 2, the same type as used in the ‘Soulless One’, General Grievous’ personal Belbullab-22. This beings the Jade Spike up to par with an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer in terms of hyperspace traveling speed, for comparison.
Next, the weapons. The dual triple blaster cannons possessed by both models are extremely efficient, however the concussion missiles and proton bombs would be swapped around. The bombs themselves would be dropped, thus allowing for more space within the frame of the fighter itself for other uses. One such use would be the inclusion of discord missiles, taking the place of the concussion missiles. Simply put, I fucking love buzz droids, they are both useful and infinitely satisfying to see in action (especially against TIE Defenders, as seen in Order of Battle). The Belbullab-24 is stated to hold 12 concussion missiles, 6 per launcher. Given the space freed up by the proton bombs removal, I’d imagine a maximum of 16 discord missiles could be loaded onto the Jade Spike at any given time, split into 8 per launcher. Returning to the cannons, ideally these would be swapped out for the dual laser cannons, instead of triples, with the extra space hopefully being enough for a pair of light ion cannons to be installed, one on either side. All in all, these weapon changes alone would more than likely turn the Jade Spike into an even more efficient bomber-hunter.
A general improvement to the navigation, sensor, and communications equipment almost go without saying, and given how lackluster details regarding these systems tend to be, I’ll just be pulling a Homelander and saying that they are better.
Finally, the most important part, is the livery. Clearly, I created (slightly edited) an amazing work of art in the imagine above. It belongs on the same level as Vincent Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo, no doubt. Anyways, I’ve grown to really like the idea of having the normal CIS blue being swapped out for the more muted, pale green you see above. Cant really say why, I just think the grey-pale green goes really well together, without drastically altering anything.
Pretty simple post all things considered, but I really want to share this ship regardless. I’ve written a bit for Lim’s flagship, and will more than likely make a (far more detailed and structured) post about that ship as well once I’m satisfied with it.