r/StarWarsShips

The month of bittersweet revelry had passed all too quickly. From the awe inspiring airshows over Alxina Secundus to Ord Mantell's intimate cantinas you had done your best to keep a spirit high, to put on the face of a hero for the crowds and a comforting friend to your coworkers. And yet, with every day that ticked down, the knot in your stomach only tightened. First it was the sleep which went. Then came the pacing. Finally, unable to contain yourself you began to spend your nights poring over datapads and old books, searching with increased desperation for some way out, some formula or theory which would offer a way out. And yet there was none. What you had been told was true. To save this galaxy your fleet, your family, your Vanguard would need to be scattered.

And so here you were, arrayed with hundreds of other ships huge and small above the swirling swampy world of Dagobah. Before you all hung that black and purple disc which seemed to consume all light, inviting-no, demanding you enter into its unknowable depths. For a brief, horrifying moment, as had happened so many times before, the thought flashes through your mind that you have been set up. The math proving Vanguard must end has been made absolutely clear, but the nature of this portal has been entirely kept from you. Nothing you have seen guarantees safety out the other end. Are you about to become one of thousands sacrificed to oblivion so that the galaxy may live?

But the moment passes, as it always does. You can't afford to linger on such thoughts. You've sailed into certain death alongside these friends so many times. What's one more?

Only, the thought nags, this time you are going alone.

That knot starts to tighten all the more just as that message you've been dreading comes down the line. A voice you have become intimately familiar with gives its final speech, some poetic words you barely hear, and then orders the fleet forward. Some surge into the black maw with enthusiasm. Others hang back reluctantly. You wish to be the latter, and yet soon find your ship swept along with the tide. The portal looms greater and greater like an approaching predator, swallowing one vessel after another to leave not a trace of the friends you once knew. As it approaches you don't even register your digits hewing their permanent deformations into the armrest, nor do you have it in you to even utter a final goodbye as you brace yourself for the familiar jolt of hyperspace. All you can do is tighten your fingers more as the portal utterly fills your vision, your ship's prow sinking into it to propel you towards-

Nothing.

There is no jump. Instead the portal is gone. Dagobah and its thick clouds continue spinning exactly as they were. The stars, so many of which you have now visited, hang there with their same promise. You wonder briefly, with a smidge of hope, if the portal failed. But then you notice what else is missing.

You are alone.

That realization falls like an axe. You are finally back, returned to your own timeline. And yet you don't actually feel home.

Then you see it. In front of you, on a small panel (was that there last week?), a low light blinks. It's clearly no communication. It's not an alert. And yet it is coming from inside the ship. Too physically and emotionally spent now for caution, you press it.

Before you a tiny hologram of your old friend, the Vanguard overseer, looks bent and weathered. They look exactly as they did when telling you that the fleet must be scattered. And yet here there is clearly some joy in the look.

"Hello, Admiral. If you're receiving this it means you all made it back to your times. Thanks to you this galaxy has been saved, and you deserve every day of retirement if that is what you desire. My only regret is that you could not take your rest here. The prospect of being without you all fills me with agony, which is why, though you may never return to this galaxy, I could not allow you to go completely empty handed."

The hologram shifts with what you might mistake for sheepishness, something which might be a first. "I know some of you were suspicious as to why we held an entire month of celebration before sending the Vanguard on its way. And as you can see, at least a portion of that was because we needed to perform some . . . unsanctioned retrofits on your starships. This console you see is to interface with a new sort of hyperdrive we have developed from research into the spacetime anomalies. We call them ultradrives. I would attempt to bore you with the details, but in truth it is all simple enough. Please do experiment."

Realizing then that they have come to the end, the person which guided you in building, naming, and commanding the Galactic Vanguard finally pauses, considering. But they pull themselves up to full height, eyes staring up to yours. "While these drives can do many things, we haven't found any way for you to return here. Goodbye, my friend. And may the Force be with you, always."

As the hologram flickers away you are faced again with the void and its blackness. And yet your eyes are drawn to that panel. You flick a switch, only to hear static. You turn a knob and that static becomes voices . . . voices you know! It's Byss and some of the Furies in frantic, excited conversation. Another switch and you find yourself facing a screen swimming with names, each for a different Vanguard member. You work your way through the list, unsure what even to make of the swimming characters, before punching as if by random at the Dominion.

Immediately, without ceremony, you are plunged into darkness. Flinching upwards you see through the windscreen that massive Death Star-sized Lucrehulk blotting out the very stars themselves. It is only through some truly unsafe maneuvers and whole lot of expletives that you avoid becoming a negligible black stain across her surface.

But as you wrestle back control of your craft and swing around Dominion's massive equatorial ring, the sight all around leaves you a new sort of speechless. Through your improved communications you can listen to the chatter or Vanguard members across all time and space. As you look starships blink in and out between timelines, a twinkle of purple light the only sign that they were even coming or going.

Your family may never be able to share one timeline for long. But when it matters, across all realities, you will be there for one another. Long live the Galactic Vanguard.

Afterword:

Thank you once again to everyone who has contributed and continues to contribute to the Galactic Vanguard project. If you made it this far, congratulations on finding the secret unlisted part six! I don't anticipate doing any more of these myself, as I do feel the Vanguard has grown well beyond my own personal abilities to create scenarios for. And so my parting gift is to offer a true multiverse of possibilities, allowing anyone who has a story or prompt to throw our heroes and antiheroes into any scenario across the Star Wars or other universes. And even if nothing comes of it, I like to imagine the cozy ending of our characters popping into one another's timelines whenever they please for a little chat and maybe some tea. It's what they've earned.

Despite being over a year old now I'm still blown away by the passion people have had for this little project I started. It's become one of if not my single favourite piece of creative writing, and directly inspired me to copy it in other settings.

Truly, from the bottom of my heart, you have my gratitude. May the Force be with you all.

Eriadu Authority fleet:

1x Executor SSD(Knight Hammer)

1x Praetor Mark 2 BC(Thalassa)

16x ISD1s

9x ISD2s

15x VSD1s

10x VSD2s

12x Venator SD

12x Broadside Frigate

24x Arquitens Class 546 Frigate

48x Vigil Corvette

30x Lancer Corvette

36x Ton Falk Carrier

48x Marauder Corvette

Greater Maldrood's Crimson Command:

1x CC Secutor SD(Durin's Bane)

7x CC ISD2s

14x CC Gladiator SD

100x CC VSD2s

6x CC Interdictor Heavy Cruisers

Kosh Teradoc's Empires' Fleet:

4x ISD2s(Including Lancet, flagship)

2x ISD1s

3x Dominator InSD

3x Tector SD

3x VSD1s

9x Gladiator SD

3x Ton Falk Carrier

4x Pursuit Light Cruisers

6x Carrack Frigates

6x Quasar Carriers

12x Arquitens Command Frigates

24x Consular Corvette

Losing one of his captains due to Draco’s amusement (Draco Darkstar freaking Nihilus’ed that poor captain even after a successful mission), his girlfriend threatened by Draco and his inability to touch the Dark Jedi due to him being one of Reborn Palpatine’s favorite Dark Adepts. Hanzo Ozawa would swore one way or another he would end the Dark Jedi.
After 9 years of waiting and fighting the NR, the permanent death of Palpatine, the Gavrisom-Pellaeon treaty and the Empire’s decision to help the New Republic against the Dark Jedi, Ozawa now has the perfect chance along with the necessary fleet needed to assist the New Republic against the Dark Jedi with his volunteer fleet.
Literally a Dark Jedi so hated that an Imperial Admiral would rather work with the New Republic and the Jedi Order against him.

Pictured is an M3-A Scyk Interceptor. An excellent little modular Starfighter with tons of potential.

I base my modifications on the FFG Star Wars Rule-Set, not because it is objectively "correct" but, because it offers a framework for making reasonable design choices and because the information is relatively coherent.

Premise: In the wake of the Battle of Nar Shadda (Star Wars Legends), Mawla Qunaalac Knyaz of the Qunaalac Kajidic was granted permission by his uncle Grand Lord Vidar Qunaalac Badr to invest in a rationalized naval militarization program based out of the Kajidic's Throneworld Kor Qunaalac. As a whole, Qunaalac Kajidic had maintained a more ancient military tradition in line with the long faded glories of the Huttese Empire.

Mawla was thus created "Lord-Commodore" second only to his uncle who stood as "Grand Lord-Admiral" and proceeded to construct the Grandiose Goss Huttan Navy.

The first ship being addressed is the M3-A Scyk Interceptor. Which serves as a dedicated patrol-interceptor organized into Screening Flights comprised of four of these optimized Scyks.

Being relatively cheap, Mawla made his design goal to counter the most common fighter he expected to encounter - the TIE/Ln.

Coming in at a total of 73,500 Credits per unit after upfitting the M3-A replaces it's twin light laser cannons with a trio of Linked medium lasers acknowledging the need for endurance and fire superiority against what is anticipated to be a fast, maneuverable but lightly armored and, unshielded opposing fighter screen reliant on swarm tactics. Enhancements to the Ion Turbines bring the M3-A's speed on par with that of a TIE/Ln while it's inherently superior sensor package allows it to secure early positional advantage.

The M3-A (like most MandalMotors/Ubrikkian Yards Designs) boasts excellent survivability with System Strain and Hull Trauma Thresholds on par with those of a TIE or A-Wing as well as light shielding and, acceptable armor.

Rather than attempt to engage and endure, Mawla's doctrine relies on genuine interception, persecuting the early positional advantage offered by unusually long range sensors to score opportunistic kills before disengaging via two-stage hyperspace jumps so that a flight can rejoin the fight from behind it's capital ship screen once the fighter engagment carries to close range.

To do this, it hands off the engagement to a pair of Superiority Flights each comprised of three similarly optimized HH-87 Starhoppers and, an optimized M-22T Krayt.

These ships, in conjunction with the likewise upgraded M12-L Kimilogas - four of which, supported by another M-22T Krayt comprise a Goss Huttan Fighter Wing's Strike Flight are based out of Mawla's militarized Rendili Stardrive Neutron Star Bulk Cruisers.

A novel tactic is that the Strike Flight is withheld until the fighter engagment closes near to the Huttese Capital Ship Line so that it may launch without direct opposition forcing the enemy starfighters to choose between pursuing the Huttese Capital Ships and, attempting to respond to the threat of the outbound bombers.

Looking forward to discussing the ships of Mawla's fleet in more detail if there's any interest.

Overall though, at least for the purposes of the TRPG the HH-87, M3-A Scyk, M12-L Kimiloga and other Hutt ships are actually among the best available in terms of price, modularity and, weird little advantages their upgrade potential is generally through the roof.

Part four of the series, see earlier parts for an explanation of my generic thought processes on the categories I include.

Star Destroyers:

• MC80a Home One type-class Star Cruiser
  • A converted civilian ship, the Home One-type was armed and armoured by rebel engineers in secret shipyards after being donated from the Mon Calamari civilian navy. They can carry 144 Starfighters of various models, as well as 12 X4 gunships, and have a respectable heavy weapons load out.
• MC80a Liberty type-class Star Cruiser
  • Converted civilian ship, armed by rebel engineers after being donated from the Mon Calamari. The Liberty is slightly smaller than the Home One type, and this is reflected in its stats, but is present in sightly larger numbers. They carry 72 Starfighters of various models, two Rebel Wings
• MC80b-class Star Cruiser
  • The MC80b is the first purpose-built star destroyer sized warships, being built by Mon Cala Shipyards just before the Battle of Endor. They were first deployed in the Perlemian Campaign as a distraction from the massing fleet preparing to assault the Second Death Star. Available in limited numbers and combat theatres. They have a focus on anti-capital warfare, capable of engaging ISD’s on an equal footing. A complement of 72 Starfighters and 6 X4 gunships serve to support this.

Heavy Cruisers:

• MC75-class Star Cruiser
  • Converted civilian ships, armed by rebel engineers after being donated from Mon Cala. They have 36 starfighters, and whilst they aren’t as well armed as the MC80s they still feature impressive shielding.
• Victory-class Star Destroyer
  • Slow sublight speeds in comparison to other ships of the same size, but have a powerful array of anti-capital weaponry. A number of these vessels were captured or stolen by Alliance forces in the early stage of the war, raiding Rendili Stardrive shipyards in the outer rim with the assistance of double agents working in them. They can carry 24 Starfighters.
• Acclamator-class Assault Ships
  •  Acclamators were procured from both scrap-yards and frontier security forces. They have a respectable array of anti-capital weapons but are not primarily a combat ship. They can hold 36 Starfighters, and are surprisingly tough.
• Dauntless-class Heavy Cruiser
  • Donated from planetary security fleets, but also some directly given by their manufacturer SoroSuub Corporation after it defects from the Empire to the Alliance. Powerful brawling warships, can carry 48 Starfighters. Guns are short-ranged though, the ships have to get in close to deal maximum damage.
• Dreadnought-class Heavy Cruiser
  • Inherited from Planetary Security Forces all across the galaxy. A Rendili product. Tough and decently armed, but slow and with a very high crew requirement. Some of them are modified to reduce this number, whilst others are modified more aggressively into the Assault Frigate Mark 1. They can carry 12 starfighters.
• Assault Frigate Mark 2
  • Built by Rebel sympathisers at Rendili Stardrive as an evolution of the Mark 1 idea. Tough and well armed, but also agile and with a vastly reduced crew. However do not carry any starfighters.

Cruisers:

• Assault Frigate Mark 1
  • A rebuilding of the Dreadnought-class Heavy Cruiser to make it faster and more crew-efficient. Sacrifices some armour and weaponry though. Still, overall a marked improvement.
• Strike-class Medium Cruiser
  • Bought from Loronar Corporation. Moderately sized cruiser, with an excellent weapons package and the options to be remodelled from its space superiority role into either a garrison package or planetary assault. Loronar profit greatly from selling this ship to both sides of the war. Can carry 36 Starfighters in its space-superiority form, and 12 in the garrison and ground-assault forms.
• Liberator-class Cruiser
  • Donated by SoroSuub Corporation. Advanced cutting-edge cruisers, they’re often chosen to be command ships for small task forces even when larger warships are present. Very wide and flat vessels, carry 60 Starfighters and 6 X4 gunships.
• MC40a-class Light Cruiser
  • Inherited from Mon Cala’s planetary security fleet after its defection to the Empire. A respectable warship, a favourite of Alliance special forces. They carry 12 starfighters as well as a number of shuttles.
• Carrack-class Light Cruiser
  • Inherited from planetary security fleets. Well armed for their size. Damorian Manufacturing Corporation product.
• Quasar Fire II-class Cruiser-Carrier
  • SoroSuub production. Alliance forces acquire them through a mixture of theft from the Empire and later legitimate purchases and donations from SoroSuub. They can carry 48 Starfighters each but are not meant to sit on front lines, instead hanging back out of range of enemy turbolasers.

Frigates:

• Nebulon B-class Frigate
  • Stolen from the Empire. In stock form they come with armour plating but many rebel cells strip them of this for ease of maintenance. Their hangers are designed explicitly for TIE fighters, so in rebel hands can only carry a single squadron of Starfighters. Good frontal armament but vulnerable from other directions. Laser cannon coverage is good though.
• MC30c-class Frigate
  • Inherited from Mon Cala’s planetary security fleet. Attack frigates, meant for diving through enemy lines and dealing heavy damage with its proton torpedos. Vulnerable when the shields are down though.
• CC-9600-class frigate
  • A CEC frigate design that can serve as both ship-of-the-line and an in-atmosphere troop transport to deploy forces to the ground after breaking through a blockade.
• Pelta-class Assault Ship
  • Built for the Republic Judicial Forces, and then employed for the GAR during the Clone Wars. Used in every role imaginable. Many of them left over after this conflict and bought up by PSF’s who later give them to Rebel cells.

Corvettes:

• Marauder-class Corvettes
  • Bought from the Corporate Sector Authority. Large, nearly 200m long. Respectable warships, punch above their weight. Long range firepower Can carry 12 Starfighters
• DP20-class Gunships
  • Militarised corvette built by CEC. Fast and with strong damage dealing guns. A proper warship.
• CR90-class Corvette
  • Armed diplomatic courier vessel from CEC, very common throughout the galaxy. Fast and good at taking out starfighters. But not originally military designs, and replaced by better abled ships.
• Raider-class Corvette
  • Stolen from the Empire and repainted to show new loyalties. Good at engaging both starfighters and other corvettes and gunships
• Sphyrna-class Hammerhead corvette
  • Light corvette, mostly for anti-starfighter duty. Rendili Stardrive production, slowly phased out of use by the Alliance as the war progresses and they get access to more powerful and effective warships.
• Quarren Corvette
  • Purpose built warship contributed by Quarren militias. Well armed and fast, with a small hanger able to transport a single Quarren gunship.
• Charger Corvette
  • Used in the Clone Wars by the Republic. Many remain in the galaxy in a multitude of hands, from Planetary Security Fleet, private mercenaries, and pirate groups.

Gunships:

• Braha’tok-class Gunboats
  • Large gunboat, 90m long, armed with a number of turbolasers and missile launchers. Fast, and meant to engage both starfighters and larger ships. Manufactured by the Dornean Braha’ket Fleetworks Conglomerate, and donated to the Alliance navy in respectable numbers.
• X4 Gunships
  • Built by Rebel Sympathisers at Incom Corporation in secret shipyards across the galaxy to help grow the Rebel Fleet. The X4 is armed with a number of laser cannons covering all angles of the ship, and make excellent vessels in attacking both starfighters and larger vessels.

Other:

• UT-60D U-wing.
  • An Incom design, the U-wing was primarily a heavy-starfighter/transport, though Rebels would often rig infantry guns in the door wells to allow them to be used as gunships as well. Hyperdrive equipped and shielded, they were excellent at entering hot zones quickly and their hyperdrive meant they could be launched from hidden bases systems away. Incom only made a limited supply before being shut down by the Empire but rebel leader Bail Organa arranged for a number of them to end up in Rebel hands, and as the Galactic Civil War progressed further Incom engineers would restart production in secret factories for the Rebel cause.
• Low Altitude Assault Transport/ infantry
  • Troop transports and battlefield gunships. They lack a hyperdrive, shields, or advanced space-capable engines, but are capable of carrying a number of troops to the battlefield and extracting them. Uncountable numbers were built by Rothana Heavy Engineering for the Republic during the Clone Wars, and many of them went unused in warehouses that the Alliance later appropriated for their own use.

This one features a bit of headcanoning, including speeding up the timeline of the MC80b's development such that it now dates to just before Endor. And im a bit wobbly about the position I've placed the Dauntless in, could be moved up a level. But I hope people like it, sometimes I feel like the rebels have both so much variety in some levels but too little variety in others.

If people are interested I also have similar posts in the works for the New Republic and First Order, though those require quite a bit more headcanon and Fanon ships thanks to the lack of information we have about that era. But like always I try to be canon-compliant when I can.