Moldy Crow/Legends

The Moldy Crow was a Corellian Engineering Corporation HWK-290 light freighter that was used by Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors on their missions. It was later replaced by the Raven's Claw.
==Description==
The Moldy Crow was a modified HWK-290 light freighter and transport. By its tenth year of service, it looked badly hit, as if the hull was barraged by asteroids; its bow was also much scarred, after multiple atmospheric entries. Along its both sides, the name Moldy Crow was painted. Despite these, it enjoyed a recent overhauling of its drives, its shield operated almost at one hundred percent, and Kyle Katarn equipped it with a reconditioned navcomp.Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire
Its security systems included external rivet-size microcameras. The emergency bypass switch skipped normal safety procedures, and the nav computer took exception to the breach protocol. In cases of haste, the faster start-up sequence brought the drives online, which in turn brought up the navigation, weapons, and life-support systems. 
The Crow was quite fast and heavily armed, relative to other ships of its size.
==History==
The Moldy Crow was built circa 10 BBY. It was part of the Corellian Engineering Corporation's Hawk series of transports. Its original role was delivering small shipment between asteroid mines and orbital stations.Dark Forces: Jedi Knight
===First owners===
One of the ship's earliest owners was the smuggler Roark Garnet, who used it until he inherited the Dorion Discus from his dead sister, Neena. He used the Crow as payment for debts incurred to Grappa the Hutt.
It was eventually stolen from Grappa by Dace Bonearm and IG-72. The two bounty hunters were after the Imperial bounty on Rebel commander Winfrid Dagore, and used the ship as a decoy to capture her, before dumping it on the planet Teth. The abandoned Crow then fell into the hands of Lieutenant Palob Godalhi, who gave up the beat-up freighter to the Rebel Dreadnaught New Hope.
===Use under Kyle Katarn===
In the hands of the Rebels, the ten years-old Crow stayed in the hangar bay of the New Hope. Although its external appearance looked much abused, its engines had an overhauling and its last maintainers kept her logbooks up to date.
Mon Mothma assigned it to Kyle Katarn, along with a gig and a slouching courier ship, and after performing several lengthy checks on their weapons, defenses, engines and systems, the Crow proved better conditioned than either. Preparing for the Mission to Danuta, he spent several days complementing it with several pieces of equipment, from a new navcomp and parts, to tools and commodities. Rebel experts forged documentation so that it appeared as a civilian freighter delivering high priority spares from Drog VI for the Brodsport Mining Corporation on Danuta.
====Mission to Danuta====
The trip took five days, mostly piloted by the navcomp; and arriving at the planet, the Crow was approached by two patrolling TIEs, and Katarn stated his identity to X-Ray 291, before landing the Crow on the Trid spaceport. Katarn spent his first day on Danuta in recon and while the Crow stayed in the spaceport, three times common thieves approached and tried to break in; their unsuccessful attempts were caught on video by the Crows rivet-size microcameras wired to its security system. Kyle returned to have his dinner and sleep.
The next day he arranged with Jan Ors to pilot it herself and land on the top of the Danuta research facility in order to pick him up with the Death Star plans. In the meantime the customs agent and some Stormtroopers had realised that something was not right with the Drexel character who was using the ship right when Jan was attempting to board it. The ramp retracted as they ran towards her, and while the emergency start-up sequence was coming online, the soldiers started shooting, although their bolts were useless against the Crows shields. Jan lifted it off and swung it, and fired the belly gun against then, then headed for the nearby TIEs parked in the spaceport, in order to have less pursuit on their way out. She raised the Crow for three meters and shot at the TIE pilots running towards their ships. One managed to lift off one TIE while the Crow needed time to stabilize. While the TIE pilot missed his shot, Jan's detonated the enemy vessel, and proceeded with the other pursuit craft, before heading west to the research complex. The same patrolcraft that contacted "Dan Drexel" earlier, X-Ray 291, ordered the Crow to reverse and circled around the ship shooting, but the TIE was also shot down by the belly cannon.
Around that time a makeshift bomb planted by Ors had detonated at the northern perimeter of the complex, attracting the attention of some Imperial forces and the Crow exited a ravine, locking on an AT-ST; the Crow received some hits but soon the walker's command module exploded, and the legs fell on a scout car, while Ors concentrated against the command car before Major Horst had time to order a retreat. The Crow arrived on the rooftop courtyard some time after Kyle reached it holding the memory matrix with the Death Star plans, and covered him with cannon fire against his pursuers, as he hurled himself onto the ramp. The Crow left Danuta's atmosphere in hypersonic speed, and returned to the Rebel base.
====The Dark Trooper Project====
Despite his initial reservations for the ship, Kyle would grow attached to it during his career as a mercenary, and one reason would be its name: he also considered himself a bird estranged from his flock. While the ship was registered and belonged to Katarn, it was Ors who piloted it most of the time, being a better pilot.
He would utilize it later in his mission to discover and then destroy the Dark Trooper Project. More often than not, though, it was Ors, Kyle's partner and mission coordinator, who piloted the ship for pick-up and drop-off. The Crow travelled to Talay after some massacre, where it left Katarn near Tak Base, to discover the existence of the battle droids. Following the leads, the Crow travelled to Anoat where Katarn captured Moff Rebus for interrogation by the Alliance. Further investigation led the Crow to Fest, Gromas, Orinackra, Cal-Seti and Anteevy.
The ship travelled to Nar Shaddaa to disrupt smuggling operations and discover the location of the Arc Hammer; however as they lifted from the Smuggler's Moon, the Crow was near-immediately snared in the tractor beams of the luxury yacht Star Jewel, the personal craft of the crime lord Jabba the Hutt. As it turned out, it was Jabba's smugglers that had been helping the Empire make the necessary trips to deliver the materials that the Dark Trooper Project needed across the galaxy. Ors was held captive and Katarn was almost executed if it weren't for his fighting and combating skills, who eventually retrieved his gear, rescued Ors and the pair found their way back to the Crow. Then they went to Coruscant where Ors was involved in an orbital skirmish against TIEs, before finally dropping Kyle off to Ergo.
====New Republic====
The pair continued to work for the rest of the civil war. 
Sometime after the Battle of Endor Katarn left the Rebellion to return to Nar Shaddaa for some unspecified errand, and Ors traveled there with the Crow to find him. Kyle had fell on a platform with a TIE bomber of the Imperial Remnant about to shoot at him if not for Ors's firing. Kyle refused to board and they agreed to meet again at the top after he finished his task. Katarn did not respond to the radio and Ors moved towards the flashes of light and explosions, the Crows sensors showing a commotion of various beings. The bounty hunters who turned around when they heard the ship approaching, attempted to shoot their blasters but the Crow evaded them and swung firing the cannon, killing them. Ors dragged Kyle unconscious up the ramp. In the trip back to Rebel space Katarn's health fluctuated, with Ors trying to find help in the ship's limited medical references. Three days later they reached the hospital ship Mercy.Dark Forces: Rebel Agent After Katarn recovered, the ship had to stay at some repair bay for several days and Jan had to stay behind when Katarn left for Sulon;Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II once the repairs were complete, they met there.
====Sulon====
On Sulon, the Crow once again saved Kyle's life as he was escaping from his old farmlands along a highway in a T-4. Se saw him fighting a gang of Grave Tuskens while running straight towards a barricade. She lowered the Crow and started to extend the ramp, and immediately a droid grabbed Kyle and lifted both of them inside the ship. That was moments before the T-4 impacted the barricade resulting in an explosion that killed both Tuskens and Imperials. It turned out that Kyle brought with him not only his family droid WeeGee, but also a lightsaber and some important knowledge about the Map to the Valley of the Jedi, although it was too late for it.
The Crow then was kept hidden as Katarn tried to sneak into Barons Hed and infiltrate Jerec's Dark Tower. There however he was unable to catch 8t88 or bring the Map; Jan landed on the pad of the Tower's roof, evading some battery shots; once Kyle was safe, it flew after 8t88's shuttle, towards Fuel City. There it made a stop near station six, where Sulon Star was parked, causing Captain Zyak to scold Jan, who apologised politely. All this was just to allow enough time for Kyle to drop, after which, and Zyak's threats, she throttled away.Dark Forces: Rebel Agent audio drama
The Crow hid in a hollow, but when it was time again to pick up Kyle, it rose up, surprising a local farmer who lost control of his gravsled; flying low, it skimmed a hilltop and scattered a flock of gra. As usual, the ship arrived in the midst of lightfight between Kyle and Stormtroopers, and Zyak was trying to handle the situation. Jan ignored his orders to leave, and Zyak realised that the ship was responsible for the infiltration and the ensuing chaos. Jan detected four incoming heat-seeking missiles, and responded with chaff, four antimissile missiles, and finally destroyed a storage tank in order to distract any remaining missiles. This caused a chain reaction and tank after tank blew up in succession. The Crow flew among the control tower, fiery pillars and a communications pylon, before approaching the Sulon Star, and Kyle jumped on the open ramp. As TIEs started to emerge, Kyle suggested to retreat to the Nefra Canyons.
Jan led the pursuit far from the City, she piloted the ship between "the twins", two narrow peaks of the Hanto Mountains where a TIE crashed, before diving into a big ravine of the Canyons, pulling the remaining TIE there. Kyle emerged from the top hatch and tried to shoot the pursuer with his blaster; using the Force, he managed some hits on the pilot's transparisteel viewport, right before the Crow evaded a cliff wall, on which the TIE crashed. 
Soon after they parked the Crow in an abandoned factory while worked to obtain the map to Ruusan from 8t88's memories; they were visited by Luke Skywalker, and followed him back to the New Hope.
====Milagro====
Folowing Luke's X-wing, they hyperspaced to the Milagro system where the New Hope was, just right when the flagship was under attack; it happened that the two ships exited hyperspace just near the Star Destroyer and its escort, revealing thus its location for General Han Solo. The Crow then participated in the battle in the Milagro system. Luke and Kyle persuaded Jan to engage the Destroyer's fighters in order to buy time for reinforments, and break into the defensive screens in order to avoid fire. Imperial Captain Purdy M. Trico was frustrated that he could not destroy the two ships, and resolved to breaking formation so that his gunners get a better shot. This allowed for the Millennium Falcon, followed by the Red, Blue and "Medpac Squadron" to engage the Destroyer directly.
Thanks to Trico's mistake and the combined efforts of the ships, the Destroyer announced its surrender and it was captured along with its escort ships. In the aftermath, Katarn expressed to Mon Mothma his intention to continue pursuing Jerec even without her support. Mothma wondered how the Crow would pass through Jerec's blockade above Ruusan, and it was decided that the Crow could be stowed inside a transport carrying supplies to the Imperials. The High Hauler was chosen and the Crow was parked in her launch bay. According to the cover story, the freighter was a cheap replacement of a lost Imperial shuttle. The Hauler, pilet by Alfonso Luiz Obota, reached the Hoth's Brand system and an hour later it was boarded by an inspection party from the Vengeance, it's assault shuttle parked next to the Crow; Ors, who was the only woman of the strike force, and would seem odd in the Imperial military, remained hidden in the cockpit and tried to monitor the Imperial communications with a rigged comm set. It was only after the inspection when the Imperial Lieutenant noticed the freighter, surprising the Rebel agent who expected a question about it later; nonetheless, the Officer was satisfied with the explanation. Obota asked permission for some supply runs for the Crow, and the Lieutenant offered to clear its transponder signal with flight control on the Vengeance.
After the party's departure and the loading of cargo, consisting of much-needed (sabotaged) proton torpedoes, and for the next sixteen hours, Obota sent the Crow to some missions around the battle group in order to become accepted as part of it and its routine: picking up parts, securing rations, and a training mission which the Rebel agents used as reconnaissance of northern Ruusan. Before departing from the system, the Hauler discreetly left the Crow near the planet.
====Ruusan and destruction====
Released in Ruusan's atmosphere, the Crow, carrying Jan, Kyle and WeeGee, made a reconnaissance of the planet, flying low to avoid any detection. On their way to Fort Nowhere, Kyle picked up a signal forming a primitive binary code which beaconed to a certain location, and Kyle persuaded her to follow it. The signal became stronger as they approached the Fort, ruined in a recent Imperial attack. Failing to detect any survivors, they continued to the south for the landing zone and fifteen minutes later they landed on a flood plain between two dried riverbeds. With he weapon systems online, set for a hot start, Jan exited, holding a remote connected to the ship's sensors. A flyer came and inspected them, and then beckoned them further to the west. Jan had a hard time following the flyer's low speed, until it led them to a courtyard outside an ancient temple; as it turned out, it was the hideout of the battle's survivors led by Sulonese Grif Grawley.
For the next phase of the mission, Katarn, Grawley, a native Bouncer called Floater and Jan took the ship to an area five klicks from the Valley of the Jedi; a night move that required Jan's acute piloting skills. She landed it inside a canyon and they covered the ship with a camouflage netting. Once more, Kyle insisted that WeeGee should remain on board as Floater would guide the humans to the canyon. However their presence was reported by AD-43 and felt by Jerec. While Kyle tried to sneak into the Valley, Imperials captured Ors who remained behind, and found the Crow parked in the canyon. It was taken onboard the Sulon Star, docked on the Valley Tower. Kyle saw the Crow docked there while searching the tower, and had moments to realize that it was captured; he didn't have time to worry about Jan because he soon met Jerec and his Dark Jedi.
In that confrontation, Kyle was pushed back by Jerec's Force destruction blast, thrown inside the Sulon Star airlock. Its support systems damaged by the blast, Kyle's only option was to reach the docking port. From there, he managed to reach his ship in the docking port and escape the disaster. He activated the emergency start up and went free from the larger ship without the safety procedures. The ship gained some distance from the crashing freighter, however, the shockwave of the explosion was too strong, and the Crow broke its port wing on a rock formation, and crashed nearby.
She was soon replaced by the pair's new ship, the Raven's Claw.
==Behind the scenes==
In early production of the game, the ship was named simply Crow and was intended to be a Baudo-class star yacht. Also, it was not a 3-D polygonal object, but a two-dimensional bitmap sprite rendered from different view angles.
In the alternate dark side ending of Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, the Moldy Crow was not destroyed. Instead, Kyle managed to avoid the rocks and successfully landed the ship. It was last seen right before his rematch with Yun.
Kyle Katarn's first meeting with the Crow appears in the novel Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire and its audio drama but the way Kyle reacts is different; whereas in the novel he is allowed to choose between a number of ships and eventually prefers the Crow over others, in the audio drama he is assigned the Crow without any option, expressing his dislike for it and saying that "it is not even a ship".
The Dark Forces: Jedi Knight audio drama differs from the game Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II and the Dark Forces: Jedi Knight novella: Katarn sees the Moldy Crow captured in a dock of the Valley Tower; the confrontation with Jerec is different, and Katarn runs directly to the Crow to flee Jerec.
The Moldy Crow was slated to appear in Star Wars: Empire at War; however, it does not. It does appear in Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption as the dropship for the hero Kyle Katarn, but only in skirmish mode.
==Appearances==
*Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire
*Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire audio drama
*Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
*Star Wars: Dark Forces 
*Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster
*Dark Forces: Rebel Agent
*Dark Forces: Rebel Agent audio drama
*Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
*Dark Forces: Jedi Knight
*Dark Forces: Jedi Knight audio drama
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
Category:Captured starships
Category:HWK-290 light freighters
Category:Smuggler starships
Category:Starships of Black Sun
Category:Starships of the Alliance to Restore the Republic
Category:Starships of the New Republic