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527-series Armed Pinnace
MANUFACTURER/AFFILIATION -
Produced by the FabriCom corporation and sold on the open market; available to all.
MODEL -
527-series Armed Pinnace.
CLASS -
Pinnace (starfighter/courier).
ROLE -
Combined starfighter and super-light transport, suitable for scouting, light cargo transport and nekfighting.
COMPOSITION -
Durasteel hull, transparisteel cockpit canopy.
DIMENSIONS -
Length - 40 meters.
Height - 12 meters.
Width - 8 meters.
HANGAR CAPACITY -
N/A.
CREW -
1x pilot.
PASSENGER CAPACITY -
1x standard-size humanoid (without cargo).
CARGO CAPACITY -
1 standard ton (without passenger).
CONSUMABLES -
2 standard weeks.
SPEED/MANEUVERABILITY -
The 527 can accelerate at just 70 MGLT flat out, but is surprisingly maneuverable for a ship of its size. Optimized in accordance with its intended role, scouting and light attack, it is nimble enough to weave through debris fields and enemy flak. It is slower than most starfighters, however, putting it at a disadvantage in a nekfight.
ARMAMENT -
- 2x light triple blaster.
- 1x concussion missile launcher, internal magazine carries 10x missile.
EQUIPMENT -
- Class 4 hyperdrive.
- Navicomputer.
- Standard communication suite.
- Standard sensor suite.
- Standard targeting computer.
- Standard life support system.
- Civil-grade deflector screen generator.
- Cockpit escape pod.
- Cofferdam system around cockpit hatch for linking to the docking rings of other vessels.
Produced by the FabriCom corporation and sold on the open market; available to all.
MODEL -
527-series Armed Pinnace.
CLASS -
Pinnace (starfighter/courier).
ROLE -
Combined starfighter and super-light transport, suitable for scouting, light cargo transport and nekfighting.
COMPOSITION -
Durasteel hull, transparisteel cockpit canopy.
DIMENSIONS -
Length - 40 meters.
Height - 12 meters.
Width - 8 meters.
HANGAR CAPACITY -
N/A.
CREW -
1x pilot.
PASSENGER CAPACITY -
1x standard-size humanoid (without cargo).
CARGO CAPACITY -
1 standard ton (without passenger).
CONSUMABLES -
2 standard weeks.
SPEED/MANEUVERABILITY -
The 527 can accelerate at just 70 MGLT flat out, but is surprisingly maneuverable for a ship of its size. Optimized in accordance with its intended role, scouting and light attack, it is nimble enough to weave through debris fields and enemy flak. It is slower than most starfighters, however, putting it at a disadvantage in a nekfight.
ARMAMENT -
- 2x light triple blaster.
- 1x concussion missile launcher, internal magazine carries 10x missile.
EQUIPMENT -
- Class 4 hyperdrive.
- Navicomputer.
- Standard communication suite.
- Standard sensor suite.
- Standard targeting computer.
- Standard life support system.
- Civil-grade deflector screen generator.
- Cockpit escape pod.
- Cofferdam system around cockpit hatch for linking to the docking rings of other vessels.
- INTENT -
To create a type of utility starship suitably maneuverable and at least marginally armed for combat against starfighters and other vessels, while still accommodating the wanderer's desire to live out of their vessel, carry the odd passenger and occasionally partake in a little transport of high-value cargo. Given that the average starfighter offers little in the way of cargo capacity or living space, they do not lend themselves particularly well to this lifestyle.
- DESCRIPTION -
The 527-series Armed Pinnace is a type of light, multi-role starship which straddles the line between a scout ship and a starfighter. Designed to act as a kind of "combat launch" for larger vessels, the 527 falls into the somewhat archaic classification of "pinnace," able to carry a single passenger and a small amount of cargo, but still armed and maneuverable enough to be pressed into service as a (rather sluggish) snubfighter, when necessary.Pinnaces were once much more common, back in the days when naval engagements relied primarily on the main guns and other armaments of capital ships to decide the outcome of an engagement, and space for the carriage of fighters was limited. Thus, ship-borne fighters tended to function more as utility spacecraft, able to fight, but also expected to perform scouting duties and carry light cargo. Pinnaces were among the earliest truly small craft to be fitted with hyperdrives, which allowed them to undertake long-range communication flights, a necessity in the days before reliable hyperwave relay networks, let alone the advent of the Galaxy-wide holonet.
Pinnaces were largely supplanted by more specialized starfighters, starbombers and shuttles centuries ago. Even so, they still occasionally see use.
The 527 is the most recent - and possibly the last - in a long line of similar designs by the FabriCom corporation, an Outer Rim shipbuilder which has found its niche supplying the needs of backwater system defense forces and other military and paramilitary organizations. Constructed for much the same reason as its ancestors - to be a more broadly useful option than a dedicated starfighter - it is meant to fill the same docking berths as those same ancestors, the cramped and crowded hangar decks of third-hand capital ships which have served in the navies of remote systems since the days when pinnaces were the preferred shipboard spacecraft.
The 527 has of course found buyers in its ever-shrinking intended market, which is likely to disappear entirely as more modern capital ships left over from the many rounds of Sith-Republic and Sith-Jedi wars of recent centuries flood the market as surplus.
But those same conflicts seem to have given the 527 a new lease on life, strangely enough.
It has been found that the pinnace concept - armed, relatively maneuverable, but also hyperdrive equipped and able to carry a small amount of cargo or passengers - appeals to a subset of the population. The wars have generated a kind of "paranoid individualist," beings who seek to travel light, and to travel armed. They tend to be the disreputable types: pirates, small-time smugglers, con-artists, mercenaries and fringers, individuals who travel often, but who do not need the facilities of a freighter, and who wish to still be able to fight their way out of a dicey situation, if necessary.
Ironically, these same qualities have also made the design attractive to law enforcement agencies, which often prefer utility to pure combat performance.
The 527 is perfect for these customers. Trim and handy, it is about 40 meters in length, but only 12 high and 8 wide. Its design is fairly simple; a long, slender fuselage, with a dorsal "fin" in back for the hyperdrive, sensors and comm gear, and an under-slung cockpit pod.
The ship's cockpit is equipped with a "floating" cantilevered pilot seat inside a bubble-style all-around canopy, giving excellent visibility. Behind the cockpit is an empty "utility compartment" which can function as either a cargo bay or a tiny living space, depending on the desires of the pilot. When configured for freight, the compartment can carry up to a ton of cargo; as a living space, it allows either for carrying a single passenger, or for the pilot to rest on long-duration flights. Military 527s often use this space to accommodate a relief pilot, allowing two crewbeings to take shifts at the controls.
In an emergency, rather than being equipped with a conventional ejection seat, the 527's cockpit and utility compartment are jettisoned as a short-range, unarmed escape pod, which allows the pilot and passenger to await rescue, or to safely land on any nearby planet or moon.
The 527 is armed, although lightly, especially in relation to its size. It mounts a pair of archaic but serviceable triple-blasters, mounted in small winglets attached to the rear of the cockpit capsule, though not to the portion which is jettisoned as part of the escape system. They are sufficient for engagements with lightly shielded enemies, light ground attack and destroying debris, but are eclipsed by the shields and armament carried by most dedicated starfighters.
As a secondary weapon, the 527 is equipped with a light concussion missile launcher, capable of firing one missile at a time from a 10-round magazine.
Some operators of the 527 have equipped the ship with additional sensors and more powerful comm gear for use in the ELINT (ELectronic INTelligence) or AWACS (Aerospace Warning And Control System) role, though this requires the deletion of cargo capacity and all weapon systems due to power and space requirements.
Performance-wise, the 527 is all classic pinnace. That is to say, it sacrifices speed for versatility. The ship's acceleration tops out at 70 MGLT, more in the realm of a freighter than a fighter; this together with its relatively weak armament puts it at a distinct disadvantage in a nekfight against dedicated fighters, though it does have longer "legs" than most such craft. Also, the civilian version of the 527 is equipped only with civil-grade avionics and comm gear, again reducing its effectiveness in combat.
Regardless of its shortcomings, the 527 has proved a successful product line for FabriCom, and can be seen in military and civilian service across the Outer Rim.
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