Headsman

One of six Corellian gunships captured by House Plagueis during the taking of the new Ascendant Fleet, the Headsman has become an attack ship of the Corsair raid fleet. When outside of large engagements, it roves through both stellar and planetary battlefields, crushing fighter resistance and crippling freighters and defensive positions.

History

Built by the Empire at the end of the Clone Wars, the Duty was actually captured by brigands long before the New Order's stability was fully enforced in the Outer Rim. Taken over by pirates working under a Duro by the name of Xarg, it was renamed as Headsman. The ship became a terror of smaller settlements and lesser trade routes.

The ship was the first captured by Plagueis following the destruction of Jusadih, full of plunder and captives taken by Xarg himself. Overwhelmed by Trandoshan warriors from Saraask'ar and Dark Jedi of Plagueis, the crew soon surrendered. Xarg and his lieutenants were put to the saber by the Quaestor himself, while the rest of the crew and their captives were either sold as slaves or taken to Emar Xu for Subjugation. The ship's plunder was but the first capture by the Plagueians, and its distress beacon lured in several other small vessels. While these hulls became little more than impromptu boarding craft, the Headsman not only remained functional but managed to survive the capture of the new Ascendant Fleet.

Joining other ships of its likeness, it was soon raiding across the stars under Sith command.

Characteristics

Designed to serve more adequately as a vessel of war than its relative, the CR90, Corellian gunships had a greatly reduced amount of space for passengers, troops, or cargo. During their design phase, two words guided the shipwrights and engineers of CEC: Fast and deadly. As such, engines made up half of their available interior space, with the rest reserved for deflector shield generators and weapons systems. Because of this speed and lethality, they were ideal craft for raiders and pirate fleets, but also saw extensive use by the Rebel Alliance and were even used by local Imperial fleets.

The DP20 gunship bore a stock armament of eight double turbolaser cannons, four concussion missile tubes, and six quad laser cannons. This made the vessel useful for a number of reasons. Ideally, it was meant to destroy fighters, bombers, and other snub or shuttle craft en masse; where a capital ship's bulk made accurate strikes against such craft difficult, the gunship could pinpoint and destroy them with much greater accuracy. However, they were also capable of harrying and dealing damage to larger ships, while still being maneuverable and quick enough to evade powerful craft such as Star Destroyers. In Plagueian hands, these vessels have become central to crippling and raiding ships for supplies and slaves.

DP20 ships held accomodations for forty-five crewmen and forty-six gunners; in Plagueian hands, both posts are occupied by Subjugates. In addition, the 120-meter craft always house a Sith, and the crews rotate outward. In the close-knit environment of such a small ship, crew members become akin to families, something that increases the possibility of Subjugate crewmen finding identities and rebelling. To combat this, the crews of the gunships are routinely cycled out or, if necessary, purged. The Sith aboard is both a measure against boarders and a safeguard against slaves; in such enclosed spaces, a lightsaber and the Dark Side make them more than a match for invading soldiers or a crew of lightly-armed slaves.

Role

In Plagueian hands, all three gunships serve a similar role - hit-and-run strikes on vessels and installations. These craft are the primary raiding vessels of Plagueis, and while hauls of cargo and new slaves are taken on larger craft, it is the trio of DP20 craft that make such attacks possible. Moving through space, sometimes alongside fighters and transports, these vessels find easy targets among both commercial, civilian, and military interests, and are quick to strike at them and fade away. These ships easily see more action than any other craft in the Ascendant Fleet. Their smaller size also allows them to assault planet surfaces and land on them, destroying defenses meant more for bombers and giving the Incursion cover as it readies a landing force.

In space battles, their role changes depending on Plagueian needs; the versatility of the fleet allows them to move about, eradicating fighter squadrons and damaging vital areas on mid-sized vessels. This often shifts the dispositions in a space engagement, allowing Plagueian ships to control an engagement. However, a downfall of their size is that they must always remain mobile; should they be trapped by enemy ships, the larger vessels would most certainly tear them apart. This somewhat limits their role to one of fading strikes - they cannot risk focusing on the destruction of a picket ship, unless it is away from larger ships, and must instead disable and weaken it through several attack runs. In this way, they have been compared to oversized bombers, but remain nevertheless a deadly addition to the Plagueian war effort.