Imperial Vehicle: Tempest-Class Orbital Superiority Fighter

ST/HP: 80

Hand/SR: +5/3*

HT: 10f

Move: 30/750* (+15)

LWt.: 4.2

Load: 0.42

SM: +4

Occ.: 1S

DR: 10†

Range: 11,000

Cost: $12M

Loc.: g3rR2Wi

Stall: 30

*The Tempest is equipped with an Afterburner which improves handling to +6/3 the Move to 45/1000 (+16) and consumes four times as much fuel (reducing range to 2,750 miles, if used continuously). Using the afterburner counts as a high-G maneuver.

†Double DR vs plasma and shaped charges.

Notes

Standard Imperial Fighter Vehicle Electronics:

• Medium Tactical Ultra-Scanner: 30-mile scan, 3-mile imaging/bioscan; 360°;
  
  
• Targeting Computer: +5 to hit target with a scan-lock.
  
  
• Night Vision Sensors: +9 nightvision, ×8 magnification (up to +3 to aimed attacks, if the vehicle aims for three turns).
  
  
• Distortion Jammer: -4 to target with missiles; +2 to jam missiles.
  
  
• Tactical ESM: +1 to dodge missiles.
  
  
• Decoy Launcher: +1 to dodge missiles and +2 to jam missiles.
  
  
• Medium Holographic Radio: 1,000 mile range (orbital); “palm sized” holographic console.
  
  
• Security: Simple Electronic Locks.
  
  
• G-Seat: +2 to resist G-lock.
  
  

The Tempest has room for a single pilot. While sealed, the cockpit has no environmental controls, requiring the wearer to be in a vacc suit for the entire time they spend in the vehicle.

The Tempest has two, standard imperial fighter cannons mounted in the wings and two missile hardpoints (one per wing) each loaded with up to three 100mm plasma missiles.

Weapon	Dmg	Acc	Range	Ewt	RoF	Shots	ST	Bulk	Rcl
Imperial Fighter Cannon	6d×5(5) burn	9	2700/ 8000	1000	3	200/Fp	75M	-10	2
100mm Plasma Missle	6d×10 burn ex	3	2000/ 10,000	25	1	6	11B	-8	1

Look and Feel

The Tempest is an updated, elite version of a Javelin, which it resembles. Like the Javelin, it sits low to the ground on three skids with low-slung, forward-swept wings that take up a great deal of “ground-space.” The wing and body have a harsh, geometric design to them that hints at the ferocious speed the vehicle is capable of. The body is even smaller than the Javelin body and has a more delicate look, its light frame designed with more modern materials that gives its wings and its struts a distressingly thin appearance. Armored in a very light carbide composite, most Tempests have a flat black or dark grey color scheme, though ace pilots have been known to add decals and their own color schemes.

Entering the craft, the Tempest has an extremely tight cockpit that allows very little movement. Pilots describe it as feeling as though they’re strapping the whole fighter onto them. It has extremely sleek and highly modern controls, with all of its output displayed as a HUD on the cockpit window. When sealed, the cockpit hisses as it lowers the pressure slightly to prevent any explosive blow-out if the cockpit is damaged, and then sound dampens until the only sound left is the pilot’s breathing within their vacc-suit and the crackle of their comm system. Once the pre-flight checks have completed, the pilot retracts the skid and “floats” on his repulsorlift system, engages his plasma thrusters, and then launches.

The press of the acceleration is the equivalent to a shuttle taking off; a Tempest can go from “0 to 60” in less than a second, and the acceleration presses the pilot flat against his seat. Under the after-burner, it presses at nearly 5gs, which can cause blackouts in less skilled pilots and, when paired with its dark-color scheme, earns it the nickname of the “Blackout” fighter. While its extreme speeds, tight maneuverability and heavier armament make it a powerful craft, its lack of an ejection seat, uncomfortable cockpit and tendency to g-lock less experienced pilots has earned it a dark reputation among Imperial pilots: only the best dare fly them.

The craft is so light and its engines so powerful that it can take off with a mere 20 yards, and generally does so without bothering with pressor-launchers.

The Tempest has a very finely tuned design, using an advanced plasma thruster engine that produces about 25% more power per pound than most other engines, and it accounts for each and every pound it carries (thus why it eschews its ejection seat: too heavy and insufficient room in the delicate fuselage). When its perfectly maintained, they’re an amazing fighter craft, but maintenance can be a beast, and they tend to spend hours in the hangar bay after every flight, with each part being checked and rechecked. If not properly maintained, apply a -2 to HT.

A Tempest can only fly for about 8 hours, and pilots tend to complain after 4. While it can fly interception missions, imperial doctrine prefers to deploy it in a superiority role, as it can generally out-turn and outrun nearly any other fighter in the Galaxy. The Empire generally only allows the most skilled pilots to fly them, and they generally fly either defensive missions around their carrier, control orbit near the carrier, or join Javelin wings as a maverick elite to throw off Alliance or Union pilots with their unusual tactics, light missiles and extreme speed.