Hawker-class

A generic reclaimed Hawker-class vessel in Trident colours.

The ***Hawker*-class** is a cheap class of patrol vessels, manufactured for the military of the Trident Foundries. The class comes in three main variants that offer different capabilities.

## Description

The *Hawker*-class is one of Trident's questionable ship designs. The *Hawker*-class is technically a drone, or more specifically AI controlled. The *Hawker*-class is named after its integrated Hawker-type AI, a somewhat downgraded version of the Alcatraz-type AI such as in the P1-az unit. The Hawker AI is like a cheap man's AI unit, not quite a VI intelligence but purely built for a specific generalized task like piloting a drone craft for specific combat missions.

The recovered hulls today have been refitted with a pilot controlled system, allowing them to be good strike ships when needed; the Hawker AI holding system was removed and replaced with a rudimentary Bobby VI unit, hardly as effective as before but still quite a potent force as a drone fleet. These ships are favoured by pirates and defence forces for their cheap cost and small frame.

#### Interior

The modernized *Hawker*-class vessels have a surprisingly cosy cockpit, capable of holding two people with emergency sleeping accommodation for both of them. There is a primary piloting station, and a navigator station, though in reality only the pilot is necessary.

The cockpit was quickly jury-rigged to the craft during refurbishment and as such has a coarse finish compared to the rest of the craft.

#### Systems

The modern day versions of *Hawker*-class vessels have been retrofitted with a horizontally mounted fusion core, a strange option but it allows for much better power generation in the confined space of the ship. It also comes equipped with a relatively new shield distribution system, which is a frontal generated shield pylon system instead of the normal omni-grid charge system for shields most Trident ships use. This helps save large amounts of space for the ship's shield system, but does cause the shields to have less capacity then standard due to this.

Its primary weapon system is a standard twin output pulsed plasma beam bank, with 2 secondary fusion missile outputs set to rapid lock-on setting.

Series 1 *Hawker*-class vessels have a lower shield capacity and thrust rating than the later variants. Series 2 *Hawker*-class vessels, the newest series made before the Hawker Disaster, have utility rails mounted beneath their wings that can house various attachments such as engine pods, cargo containers, or additional weapons. Series 3 *Hawker*-class vessels lose the AI housing equipment entirely, while offering additional built-in plasma cannons designed to shoot down opposing missiles. The Series 3 vessels were specifically redesigned according to various mercenaries' wishes, and are the most expensive of the *Hawker*-class vessels.

## History

The *Hawker*-class AI ships were created shortly after the Trident Civil War as a cheap deterrent ship to patrol the crumbling borders of Trident space. These ships were to be massive hive mentality swarms, that would prioritize targets in massive swarms of 50-100s of ships, to remove any unauthorized threats in Trident space while the faction could focus on rebuilding its forces and repairing the damage done to its global infrastructure.

The Hawker AI unit was programmed to link with nearby AIs to improve combat effectiveness, thus creating a hive-like connection in combat sharing targeting information, and “processing power” as such (prioritization of information between each unit) to outwit and out gun a opponent. The system however backfired badly. The Hawker AIs had a code error that spread through the hives rapidly; this error was simply a faulty IFF guidelines system that was badly optimized and corrupted for some reason, causing the *Hawkers* to shoot literally anything. According to recorded data, it has been seen that the *Hawkers* would engage inanimate objects such as asteroids and space hulks for no apparent reason, just shooting at anything and everything until their fusion cells failed.

A mass cleanup had to happen after one of the nearby Trident colonies was attacked and seriously damaged before Trident forces arrived to clean up the mess. Unit P1-az spent approximately 2 weeks plotting round Trident border space, deactivating Hawker AIs wirelessly before the majority of the AI cores were then removed and melted down; about 83% of the ships were recovered and accounted for and a small amount outright destroyed, but 13% are still missing.

Today some of these remaining Hawker AIs have been spotted every now and then, and some intelligence companies keep constant track of remaining swarms, sometimes even guiding them to population centers as leverage for specific needs they have.

*Hawker*-class Corvettes remaining in the Trident inventory are now typically stripped of all non-essential VI and AI circuitry, a rough cockpit is typically retrofitted to the lower forward section, and the resulting ships are sold on at a loss via public channels, as an attempt to shift the huge remaining inventory of vessels deemed surplus to requirements. Many of these vessels have been acquired by pirates, mercenaries and rival corporations due to their low cost and potent weaponry for such a small vessel.