Starfighters are small craft carried in the hangars of larger ERSN ships, capable of launching with specialized pilots into the stellar medium to carry out dogfights with other small craft, do bombing runs, perform reconnaissance activities, and carry personnel to away missions. Using afterburners, they can travel very quickly in space.
Starfighters are not hyperspace capable (except in the case of a few experimental craft), and will be damaged and destroyed almost immediately upon entering the hyperspace medium, where their stellar drives no longer function. Starfighters are distinguished from other ERSN small craft, like Combat Shuttles, which do not have the same capabilities.
Classes of ship carrying Starfighters:
- Star Destroyers (Manticore class carries twelve Apexes; Daimajin class carries six Apexes)
- Valkyrie class (standard complement is three Blades, but variations abound)
- Odyssey class (has a large hangar with several types of small and medium craft)
- Corsair class (an escort modified to shield four externally-attached Blades)
Starfighter Types[]
- Apex: The standard issue Starfighter, common in the hangars of Star Destroyers. An Apex can carry up to 12 people for an away mission. A medic can also travel aboard an Apex, in case of medical emergency. The Apex can act as a combat transport, delivering security teams or marines for a boarding action. Apexes possess a high-powered, short-range main gun and two hardpoints for carrying missiles. It is unshielded.
- Blade: Often seen on smaller capital ships (Valkyrie-class and Corsair-class ships), the Blade is newer than the Apex and slightly smaller. The Blade can carry only one individual at a time, making them unsuited to away and rescue missions. The space that would normally be accorded to passengers is dedicated to the addition of a one-point warp shield generator. Blades can use the same ordinance as the Apex, through they possess only one hardpoint.
- Guardians: Guardians are specialized Starfighters made for the smaller hangar of the ERS Phoenix, allowing it to have a larger wing of four Starfighters. Guardians fold their wings origami-style upon docking, and can then be elevated to the machine shop for repairs.
- Starflare: The Starflare is a field-constructed Starfighter that any complete Engineering section, with the required parts and components, can build. It is clumsy, and only recommended in extremis. Starflares possess the same cannon as Apexes, but only half the ammunition capacity and no hard points for missiles.