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| Scorpio
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Corvette
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- Class 3 (primary)
- Class 15 (backup)
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- 150 passengers (maximum capacity)
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- 4000 metric tons of cargo
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- "'Just for once I'd like for us to gain a ship, and it not be old enough to be my grandfather."
- ―Nikora Rhan
The Scorpio was a salvaged and refitted Sphyrna-class Hammerhead corvette owned by the Dead Ends, a failed prototype group of organic salvagers in servitude to the Collective. One of the first of its run and considered to be too far gone to be worth restoring to military standing, the corvette was refitted to pilot with a minimal crew and stripped of anything of worth. The Dead Ends would use the ship to scavenge from battlefield relics like so many salvagers, to bring weapons and equipment back to their masters. An ambush by pirates while attempting to prize weapons from a Resurgent-class Star Destroyer would leave the ship crippled and left as bait. This would lead to a chance encounter with the crew of the Yastobaal and the Free Droid Enclave, and allowing them to defect to Clan Odan-Urr. After the Yastobaal's departure along with the more frustrated elements of the Enclave, the damaged Scorpio would become the group's mobile HQ in the Kiast system.
Description
At the time of its crew defecting to Clan Odan-Urr, the Scorpio was on the verge of total collapse. Between age, damaged inflicted upon it by the pirates, its systems and weapons stripped and given to the Yastobaal, it was little more than a pressurised hull with a set of engines fixed into place. Tellingly, much of the vessel had been patched up with multiple jury-rigged repairs and patchwork fixes.
Internal Layout
History
Salvage Scow
The exact origins of the Scorpio remain unclear. Already decades old and with little more than a name an markings of an obscure fleet upon her hull, the vessel was found in orbit above Yavin 4, having seemingly drifted to the gas giant after being abandoned by her previous crew. With severe damage in multiple locations and her escape pods all having been launched, the Technocratic Guild opted to salvage the vessel purely for the value of its hull. Though initially planning to repurpose the vessel as a freighter, the effort put into reconstructing the ship proved to be far more arduous than first planned. As such, the repair crews involved were ordered to stand down, and the vessel was instead pressed into service as a flying test-bed for Collective technologies.
The reconstruction process was used to experiment with automation technologies that were being utilised across the Collective fleet, serving to better refine the process and integrate them with older technologies. At the same time, the older and mor modular construction of the Sphyrna-class allowed for weapon pods to be freely added and removed, with its primary reactor serving to test-fire new weaponry that was deemed too hazardous to be trialled on valued vessels. As the Collective fleet rapidly expanded, the need for the Scorpio was gradually lost. The ship would have been sent to be broken down for scrap, were it not for the emergence of a failed experiment. Despite the project having been rejected, a number of tank birthed beings were already complete. Originally planned to serve as an expendable batch of figures to handle logistics and support operations while freeing up droids for more pressing duties, the need for them had disappeared as the Collective's ranks had swelled. Rather than wasting the opportunity, they were instead granted the Scorpio and tasked with hunting down and salvaging anything of worth from old battlefields.
It was evident that their long-term survival was not planned. Even after being largely refurbished and up-gunned with additional turbolasers, the Scorpio remained a sub-par corvette with little beyond its cargo capacity as a noteworthy addition. Even as a salvage ship, it lacked the tractor beams, cargo pods, and equipment which would have made the task viable. Seemingly realising this, the group began referring to themselves as the Dead Ends in a moment of gallows humour, and the name soon stuck. However, proving the strengths that they had initially been sold to the Collective's overall command on, the crew quickly adapted to the tasks they had been given.
Typically utilising the ship's bulk and relative firepower to threaten rivals into backing off, the corvette was used for quick smash and grab operations. The Dead Ends would use their knowledge of vessel layouts and identifying the most valuable components for retrieval, use small groups in EVA to dismantle and then retrieve the parts needed. Although far from foolproof, the general plan proved effective enough for the group to typically salvage any item they were sent after with few complications. Dispatched further afield as the years went by and to more remote derelicts, they were nevertheless still regarded as ultimately expendable by the Collective. Even the loss of Nancora and later Meridian Prime space station did little to change matters, in spite of hopes from the crew that they might earn their place.
Eventually, isolated and learning of events more by second hand accounts than direct sources, the Dead Ends began using their limited freedom more to their own benefit. With Nat having emerged as the group's de-facto leader after developing a talent for command, they brokered a handful of deals with other groups. Always concealing their true role and never departing with enough to raise concerns with their leaders, they traded basic supplies and even some secondary salvage to make their lives somewhat easier.
Burning the Flag
After nearly eight years of operation, the Scorpio's voyages would be brought to a sudden and violent end. Given the task of hunting down a Resurgent-class Star Destroyer which had been damaged and then abandoned in orbit over a gas giant, the Dead Ends would pursue their usual strategy to claim the wreck. After seemingly finding it with no opposition, the corvette isolated one of several large breaches in the hull which had seemingly caused by high power energy mines. Seeing it as an easy operation, the ship was brought in to close proximity against the Star Destroyer's hull, enough to directly deploy a crew to its interior. This would soon prove to be a mistake. Although undetected by the initial scans, several ion mines activated and took the Scorpio offline. This was then followed by an assault from several gunships, emerged from the other side of the Star Destoyer. Utilising pinpoint torpedo strikes they severely damaged the ship and left it drifting before disappearing once more.
Modifications
Automated Systems
Although the Sphyrna-class could be piloted by a single crewman if required, an extensive series of autonomous systems throughout its design served to significantly reduce its optimal crew requirement. Even in its severely dilapidated state, each of these were functioning at maximum capacity and allowed the entire vessel to be controlled from either the bridge or engineering if needed. These were further augmented by the Brotherhood upon its defection, but only enough to remove any safeguards left over by the Collective and improve upon the cruder original designs.
Smuggling Compartments
Due to its nature as a salvaging vessel of legally dubious nature, areas across the ship had been hollowed out an enlarged. Various service hatches, utility ducts, and other locations served as easy smuggling compartments. While relatively small scale, along with being hidden only from visual scans and searches, these were intended to transport the most valued salvage pillaged from derelict vessels. Even prior to their defection, the Dead Ends used several of these as rare placed of privacy and celebration, with one area a short distance from the bridge being barely large enough to serve as a small lounge.