The Dauntless

One of the only recordings of the Dauntless in orbit

The *Dauntless*, "Dauntless", or "Pillar of Autumn", is a colossal spacecraft comissioned by the Xitus royal family of Telos IV. It was originally meant to be a luxury transportcraft, but this was taking into reconsideration as war broke loose. Project 'Autumn' has been stopped, slowed down and erased from every single database several times because of lack of funding, manpower and available technology. Rumors confirm that the Dauntless has taken several decades to construct, with work being passed through generations. It has been confirmed that most of theTelos OBS has been used to construct the initial frame of the Dauntless, thus explaining why the craft is of such massive scale. Not much is known about the further construction period of the Dauntless, for it has, somehow, been kept a secret for most of the time. The Dauntless is currently commanded by [the current EXALT CO], whom mainly uses it for transport and orbital defense.

Originally 'the Pillar of Autumn', commanded by David "Tennant" Xitus, records show that the craft has been in active service reinforcing Republic navy, Jedi starfighters and unknown forces throughout the galaxy. The Dauntless posesses some of the most advanced systems still unknown to Republic and Imperial navy alike. While the Dauntless has the ability to take on several super-heavy destroyers at once, it only has a few recorded battles.

## **History**

### **The Pillar of Autumn**

Originally known as the Pillar of Autumn, the Dauntless was a significantly smaller ship in comparison to what it is now. Though little is known regarding its past because of EXALT's secrecy, it is known that David Tennant used this spacecraft to support the Republic navy during times of war. Presumably, the ship took a bad hit during one of these battles, which forced it to be refitted.

### **Refit to the Dauntless**

For an incredibly long period of time after this presumed destruction and crashing, the royal family Xitus ordered a refit of the wreckage. Using older materials and scrap from the long-gone orbital station surrounding Telos IV, the Dauntless was refitted to be a mobile headquarter for the resurging DUBBED project, now known as the EXALT Organisation

### **The New Mandalorian War**

The Dauntless played a pivotal role during the New Mandalorian Wars, supporting the Republic navy and frequently frightening the Mandalorian navy by simply turning up to a fight.

#### **First appearance**

The first time the Dauntless appeared was during the beginning of the New Mandalorian Wars at Terrelia. The Republic navy had created an orbital blockade around the planet, but was overwhelmed by Mandalorian reinforcements aiming to aid Nadruk Xionz' BlasTech forces. The Mandalorian navy, succesfully having overcome the Republic navy, was forced to retreat after the Dauntless rammed several ships upon exiting hyperspace, not taking any damage in the process.

#### **The Battle of Ilum**

During the Battle of Ilum, the Dauntless was supporting the Republic navy and acted as their flagship. Cade Tennant, acting as admiral, ordered the Dauntless to sit back as he ordered the Republic navy on how to act. When Mandalorian reinforcements arrived, the Dauntless decloaked and forced the Mandalorian navy to head for the surface of Ilum. During the surface battle, the Dauntless provided firesupport and fighters for the small Republic army that tried to hold its ground. When it was time to evactuate, the Dauntless and her crew made sure that this procedure was completed safely.

#### **Clash over Coruscant**

During the Clash over Coruscant in the last battle of the New Mandalorian Wars, the Dauntless broke the Mandalorian/Sith blockade over Coruscant and allowed a small strike-team to head to the surface. As the battle continued, the Dauntless' crew quickly overcame the confusion of fighting mind-controlled Republic ships and Mandalorian/Sith spacecraft at the same time; disabling Republic ships and destroying Mandalorian/Sith ships with incredible ease.

#### **Sightings after the New Mandalorian Wars**

Although the Dauntless has reportedly been spotted several times after the New Mandalorian Wars, these are never backed up with evidence. Thus, the current state of the Dauntless is unknown.

## **Layout and modifications**

Due to the secrecy of EXALT, there is little to be stated about the layout of the craft and its modifications. Hence, all the presumed details and rumors about the ship are provided in this section.

The most horrifying aspect of the Dauntless are its multiple fusion-accelerator cannons, often referred to as FACs. Traditional FACs generally take a lot of energy and an incredible time to charge, but EXALT has developped a technology where multiple FACs can be fired in short succession and with devastating effect. With four fore-mounted FACs, it is clear that the Dauntless is designed for a head-on attack, yet is also has some smaller, portable FACs to provide maximum coverage.

Due to it being designed for a head-on attack, it is assumed that the Dauntless has significantly better armour at the front. This has never been tested, however. It should also be noted that the craft has incredibly advanced shielding which has not yet been mimicked by any other faction or governing body.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the Dauntless is that it can fit up to eight *Strident*-class "heavy" freighters in its launching bays, effectively making the Dauntless a platform to deploy a small fleet from. The first and only time this has been seen in action was during the Battle of Ilum.

It is rumored that the Dauntless has access to ancient technology (deemed unsafe by Republic standards) known as a "teleportarium", which its crew uses in cases of emergency. It should be noted that the Dauntless' crew prefers using Skyrangers to deploy and that only Force-sensitive EXALT operatives have been rumored to use the teleportarium.