Brigand
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Bulk Transport
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100 Meters
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Cruising Speed
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Unknown
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x3 (Backup x7)
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None
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60 RU
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none
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15
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75,000 metric tons
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The Brigand, originally named Cyphon, was found during a routine aerial survey mission of Clan Satal Keto’s headquarters world Erugor in the final months before the Plagueis merger. Despite repeated attempts at communication, and a minor show of force, the interlopers remained unresponsive. Only once ground forces were deployed did the truth come to light. There was no one left alive to answer.
The ship of poachers had arrived four months before Satal Keto had claimed the world, looking to capture rare and exotic species for the galactic non-sentient trade. The indigenous lifeforms gave them more than they bargained for, however. Things started out perfectly, the stasis cages filled with live specimens over the course of a week, and only a few minor injuries and one death befell the group of twenty-three, heavily armed hunters. Unfortunately, like so many things in life, it’s the little things that get you. Even if they’d had the benefit of full intelligence about the fauna they would have doubtfully been prepared for the relative rarity of a mass beetle migration.
Ketoan xenobiologists hypothesize that every one to three years the normally herbivorous, communal insects undergo a fascinating transformation into killers, likely when their local food supplies dwindle. The hive of thousands of stinging, finger-long insects strikes out to conquer new territory, turning carnivorous in a bid to eliminate predators and competing species in the process.
The hunters apparently met one such swarm head on, abandoning most of their equipment as they made an ultimately futile bid to escape. A handful managed to get back to the ship and close the door, but not before being overtaken, and soon after consumed. The ship became a tomb for the crew, their executioners, and their living cargo.
The ship was renamed Brigand under Plagueis, and served as the primary supply ship for Jusadih, traveling the galaxy abroad and bringing back cargo too large or secretive to be trusted to freelance traders bound for Shintera.
Ironically, the large, slow, and defenseless ship survived the enemy attack on the system during the Eigth Great Jedi War without a scratch. The enemy forces searched the ship after it was pulled from hyperspace on the edge of their formation, but had no interest in the “rocks”, durasteel ore, she was carrying to a then devastated Shintera. They simply left after finding no worthy sacrifices or military concerns aboard. The terrorized crew turned their ship about once the boarders departed, deciding by the look of their destination that the system and its Jedi were a total loss. The ship was likely destroyed in the latter part of the conflict, as no trace of it has been found since.
Background