Starfury
From The Great Machine
The main space fighter of Earthforce, the Starfury has been in service for many decades in one form or another. They are referred to coloquially as 'Furies.
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[edit] Background
Around the middle of the 22nd century, when Human beings started moving out into the stars from Earth, the need for true space fighters came about. Until that point, all small space defense platforms had been either ground or space-launched aeroplanes with the tacked-on ability to operate in a vacuum. When the need to operate in an atmosphere is removed, those planes suffered from the mass of the redundant atmospheric equipment, making them slow to accelerate and maneuver in space.
The Starfury was designed from the get-go to be an entirely space-bound craft, being faster and agile in the vacuum of space than any atmospheric fighter craft modified for that use. Since Furies do not need to "land," per se, the need for landing gear is removed in favor of simply using racks in fighter hangars.
[edit] Design Overview
The Starfury design features a relatively small fuselage with four swept-back wings arranged roughly in an X formation. Each wing mounts a fusion-torch type engine with four-way exhaust - fore, aft, lateral, and dorsal/ventral - giving the fury the ability to accelerate in any direction and give it high angular acceleration for rapid maneuvering.
In addition to being meant for combat and patrol duty, Furies are multi-use, from being scout ships to salvage platforms. Most furies come equipped with a grappler arm / cutting torch tool, giving it the ability to cut away debris and tow a craft or object larger and more massive than the Fury itself. The sensor suite on the different Fury classes is equivalent in size to that of sensor pallets on larger Earthforce ships.
[edit] One-man Fury Classes
- Tiger-class (used from 2200's-2230's)
- Nova-class (2230's-2240's)
- SA-23E Mitchell-Hyundyne Aurora-class Heavy Fighter (2240's-present)
[edit] Two-man Fury Classes
- SA-25A Mitchell-Hyundyne Badger-class Assault Fighter (2255-present)
- SA-32A Mitchell-Hyundyne Thunderbolt-class Heavy Fighter (2259-present)
[edit] Other Fury Classes
- Mitchell-Hyundyne Construction Fury
[edit] Future Development
With the gravitic technology given to Earth by the Interstellar Alliance and already in use on the Warlock Class destroyer, it is likely that the days of the modern Starfury are numbered. As technology progresses, the fusion torch engines may be replaced by gravitic maneuvering engines coupled with fusion engines used for linear acceleration. By using gravitic principles, it is possible for ships to perform better in space and their pilots to survive harsh maneuvers due to the inertial-dampening properties of gravimetric drive.
