Steel Fist

The Steel Fist was a heavily modified Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1300 light freighter owned and operated by the bounty hunter Kolig during the early years of the New Republic. The craft also served as the main vessel and command base of Qulok's Fist, a small group of criminals who engaged in bounty hunting, smuggling, slavery and mercenary work. The ship was used by the gang throughout the Outer Rim Territories, the Minos Cluster, and the Kathol sector. Well armed, it was a considerable threat to smaller ships and merchant vessels.

In 8 ABY, Qulok's Fist used the vessel to tail the New Republic CR90 corvette FarStar on the orders of Moff Kentor Sarne, an Imperial warlord who had been ousted from the planet Kal'Shebbol. Shortly after being contracted for that work, the Steel Fist briefly engaged the FarStar in combat in the Shintel system as part of a trap for the corvette set by Sarne. Following the terms of their agreement, the Steel Fist only harassed the FarStar, causing limited damage before retreating.

Description
The Steel Fist was a heavily modified Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1300 light freighter. The main cockpit was located over the port forward mandible, and the sensor dish was on the starboard side. Although standard YT-1300 models were 34.75 meters long, the Steel Fist measured only 26.7 meters. In addition, the semi-circular rear engine housing had been removed and replaced by two large engines that were mounted to the stern of the vessel. These modifications gave the Steel Fist a distinctive profile.

The ship's owner, Kolig, had considerably adapted the freighter with reinforced armor plating, shield generators, and increased maneuverability. Armed with two quad laser cannons and a proton torpedo tube with a magazine of six warheads, the vessel was more than capable of engaging in combat and intimidating merchant craft. While the proton torpedoes were designed to be launched from a separate gunnery position, the weapon could also be fired from the cockpit, although this greatly reduced the effectiveness of the computer's internal fire-control programs.

A Class One hyperdrive allowed the freighter to quickly traverse the galaxy, with a Class Ten back up for emergencies, and the ship had a top speed of 800 kmh in atmosphere. The ship was capable of carrying 75 metric tons of cargo, and could store consumables to sustain the crew for two months. The ship was designed to be crewed by a total of four beings; one pilot and three gunners. It could also support 4 passengers.

History
The Steel Fist was the personal vessel of the bounty hunter, Kolig, and the primary spaceship of Qulok's Fist, a group of bounty hunters that also performed mercenary work and other illegal endeavors. The group's membership included the Corellian murderer Sufar; the armored warrior Padak; and Thanis Gul-Rah, a former Imperial soldier. The vessel had been extensively modified by Kolig over a number of years, and served Qulok's Fist as its base of operations and transport for missions throughout the Outer Rim Territories, the Minos Cluster, and the Kathol sector.

In 8 ABY, following the fall of Kal'Shebbol to the New Republic, Qulok's Fist was contracted by Moff Kentor Sarne&mdash;the warlord of the Kathol sector who had broken from the Empire following the death of Emperor Palpatine at the Battle of Endor&mdash;to trail the New Republic CR90 corvette FarStar. The FarStar was on a mission to locate Sarne and his forces following the Moff's flight from his capital of Kal'Shebbol. The Steel Fist was employed to track the New Republic vessel, and was later used by Qulok's Fist to attack the FarStar in the Shintel system.

Sarne had arranged for the FarStar to divert to Shintel by using an undercover agent on the planet Gandle Ott, Colonel Olaver Lansel, to pass on falsified information to the FarStar command crew. The information implied that Sarne was heading for Shintel after departing Gandle Ott, and the FarStar crew duly followed the lead. At Shintel, the vessel encountered an Imperial base that had been abandoned by Sarne, who left most of the base personnel stranded as well because he felt that they were more loyal to the Empire proper than to him personally. Another agent of Sarne's, Lieutenant Palme, managed to upload a computer virus into the FarStar systems via a navigational datacard that he claimed was a copy of Sarne's maps of the Kathol sector. While the information on the card appeared genuine, it contained triggers that activated programming trapdoors aboard the FarStar that caused the corvette's hyperdrive to blow out when the crew attempted to engage it to leave the system. While the corvette was stranded, Qulok's Fist used the Steel Fist to conduct several fast attack runs on the ship before withdrawing once the corvette appeared to be recovering from the initial surprise. This was on Sarne's orders, as the Moff's ultimate plan for the FarStar relied on the ship following him, then calling in a larger New Republic force to engage Sarne and his forces. The warlord then intended to destroy these forces in one battle, allowing him to take back control of the Kathol sector unopposed.

Owners and operators
The Steel Fist was owned and flown by Kolig, a well-presented bounty hunter. He was the unofficial leader of the criminal group known as Qulok's Fist, which used the vessel as a command base and transport. Other members of the group included Padak, Sufar, and Thanis Gul-Rah, who assisted in crewing the ship. By 8 ABY, Gul-Rah had left the group, leaving only Kolig, Sufar and Padak to man the vessel.

Behind the scenes
The Steel Fist was created for The DarkStryder Campaign, a supplement for the Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game by West End Games as the ship and base of operations for the Qulok's Fist bounty hunter gang. It appeared in the "Rogues Gallery" section written by Peter M. Schweighofer, and was included so the gamemaster could use it&mdash;and Qulok's Fist&mdash;in an original adventure. The Steel Fist would go on to appear in the adventure Shintel Downtime written by Paul Sudlow.

During the Steel Fist encounter with the FarStar at Shintel, the battle can be played out in several ways. The player characters may use an ion minefield orbiting Shintel to their advantage by leading their opponents into it and successfully piloting close to the mines in an attempt to disable their attackers. If, however, the players are struggling to recover from the initial attack, the gamemaster can have Colonel Heget, the Imperial commander of the supply depot on the planet, order his TIE fighters into battle, or have them rescued by the Verpine adventurer Kyli Ned'Ix. This article makes no assumptions as to which course of action is chosen by the players.

Players can also avoid the encounter with the Steel Fist by simply not uploading Lieutenant Palme's datacard. However, the adventure continues on the assumption that this has happened as it leads into the events of the second part of the adventure. This article assumes the encounter happened as scripted in the adventure.