Freitek T-71 Enhanced X-Wing The loss of Incom manufacturing facilities to the Emperor during the Calamari affair was a critical blow to the Republic's starfighter corps; the much-vaunted X-Wing that had been so critical to the Republic's success was a dead project the day the Empire retook Coruscant. Fortunately, Freitek and Koensayr had enough manufacturing clout to rebuild the corps on entirely different ships such as the Freitek E-Wing and Koensayr's knockoff of Incom's deadly T-81 D-Wing split-role heavy fighter, as well as being able to keep the supply of fighters such as the A-Wing going. The New Republic's Starfighter Corps currently is based around four ships: the Freitek E-Wing Mark II, which replaced the tough but sluggish and unreliable Slayn and Korpil B-Wing; the Koensayr BTL-S6d Y-wing, the most recent in a line that many had thought obsolete years ago; the Rendili Astronautics/Santhe-Sienar Scimitar V assault gunboat (a distant relative of the Empire's notoriously rickety TIE fighters), and the Freitek T-71, a direct descendant of the Incom T-65 X-Wing. Several wings of A-Wings remain in service as well, and they are still manufactured in small quantities for customs officials as interdiction fighters (or shockhounds, as customs pilots call them). The T-71 Enhanced X-Wing doesn't look a whole lot like its predecessor from a distance. The hull is usually matte black or charcoal in color, and is a good three meters longer than the original. It has a bulkier appearance, since its atmospheric maneuvering system is based on a primitive device called a scramjet that feeds off of liquid hydrogen pumped into a tank below the cockpit. This "innovation", first introduced to the Incom T-81 by General Garm Bel Iblis when he was using them as assault ships for his private army, makes the Freitek X-Wing significantly faster in atmospheric flight than any fighter currently flying, including its Incom predecessor. The T-71 is the first starfighter-scale ship designed to carry a turbolaser. The system is a special reflexive-fire (sort of like a laser laser) system that uses a mixture of spin-sealed tibanna gas energy-amp cells and conventional overshock generators, which produces a far more efficient turbolaser than the older power hogs so common on capital ships. It is said that activating the overshock generators for the true turbolaser effect actually produces a recoil effect, something never before noticed on a capital-scale turbolaser unit. The effect is so minute even on an X-Wing that it's not even an obvious recoil, but there is enough of a jolt for the Republic Navy to look into why it happens and what (if anything) should be done about it. Even so, the FreiTek turbolaser uses barely a quarter of the power most of the older designs have, and Freitek is looking to scale up the design for use on capital ships. Like its predecessor, the T-71 is dependent on an astromech droid for hyperspace control; a key difference is that the ship's cers are designed to establish ounterpart relationship fairly quickly. The counterpart logic developed from studies done with Rogue Wing pilots, who seldom give their droids memory wipes and often had their X-Wings running on counterpart level with their favored astromechs anyway. The T-71 was thus intended early on to attune to the astromech in use most regularly; the result is a ship with a reputation for extreme reliability in flight but that quickly develops a personality that is almost always described as slightly obnoxious and distinctly flaky. Experienced pilots describe the idea of an attitude-ridden starfighter to be very disconcerting, and most simply order their ships to shut up and let the astromech do the talking. Otherwise, the pilot as often as not has to listen to the two computers bickeing with each other constantly. Generally, however, they are pretty docile and the best pilots have three or four ways of overriding the control systems should the ship itself panic. The T-71 is in primary deployment along the old Corporate Sector border, where the Republic maintains a shaky detente with the last remaining Imperial offshoot, the Pentastar Alignment, and throughout much of the Mid-Rim where the Ssiruuk still lurk. In addition, the seventy-two fliers of Rogue Wing, one of the last holdouts of the old guard, have switched over to the faster and sturdier Freitek model despite their well-known attachment to the Incom T65-Bs that were their staples as far back as Milvayne and Yavin. The T-71's popularity has led to the New Republic authorizing civilian versions (second-sourced from KDY and Santhe/Sienar) and two-seat versions used primarily by planetary defense forces and customs officials. One erratum: the two rear-mounted laser cannons are an optional attachment. The turbolaser is a standard attachment. variants: T-71si (Slayn and Korpil, modifications)--Identical to the standard model, but shipped without cockpit internals to be modified for non-humanoid or oversized species (used almost exclusively in preference to other fighters by the planetary governments of Kashyyyk and Ishi Tib, for example). T-71cs (FreiTek, KDY, Santhe/Sienar)--A civilian version with two seats and most of the weaponry stripped. The cs has heavy-duty shields and mil-spec sensors like its military cousin, but except for the automated wingtip blasters used primarily for clearing space debris when the shields are down, it is unarmed. Also, if the military version is obnoxious, the civilian version is downright cranky. It's said that a T-71cs will argue over anything if you let it... T-71dsi (FreiTek, KDY)-- A two-seat mil-spec version of the above, with full weaponry. Due to the nature of their work, the dsi's tend to develop rather belligerent personlities; most have the cockpit wired through a slave circuit. Freitek T-71 Enhanced X-Wing (standard) Type: Space superiority fighter Scale: Starfighter Length: 15.5 meters Skill: Starfighter Piloting: X-wing Crew: 1 and astromech droid (can coordinate) Crew Skill: Starfighter piloting 5d, starship gunnery 4d, starship shields 3d Cargo capacity: 250 kg Consumables: two weeks cost: 200,000(new) Hypedrive multiplier: .85x Nav computer: uses astromech droid with number of jumps varying depending on droid; standard R7 can handle up to 15 Maneuverability: 4d+2 Space: 14 Atmosphere: 760; 2200 kmh Hull: 4d Shields: 2d Sensors: passive: 15/1d scan: 50/1d+2 search: 70/2d focus: 4/4d+1 Weapons: 4 Laser Cannons (firelinked) Fire Arc: front Skill: Starship Gunnery Fire Control: 3d Space Range: 1-3/16/34 Atmosphere range: 150-400/1.5km/3km Damage: 6d 2 Laser Cannons (firelinked) Fire Arc: Rear Skill: Starship Gunnery Fire Control: 3d Space range: 1-3/16/34 Atmosphere range: 15-400/1.5km/3km Damage: 4d 2 Proton Torpedo launchers Fire Arc: front Skill: starship gunnery Fire Control: 2d Space range: 1/3/7 Atmosphere range: 40-110/400/800 Damage: 9d 1 Reflexive-fire Turbolaser Cannon Fire Arc: front Skill: Starfighter gunnery Fire Control: 3d space range: 2-10/24/60 Atmosphere range: 3-20/60/120 km Damage: 9