Missile Boat

XM-1 Nova Wing "&hellip;Admiral Thrawn has developed the trump card&hellip; the Missile Boat, which you proved in the last battle to be the ultimate starfighter in the galaxy!"

- A flight officer to Maarek Stele

The XM-1 Nova Wing, commonly referred to as the Missile Boat, was an advanced Imperial starfighter designed by Grand Admiral Thrawn and built by Cygnus Spaceworks.

Designed as a countermeasure against the rogue Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin and his supply of TIE Defenders, the Missile Boat was a descendant of the Alpha-class Xg-1 Star Wing, also manufactured by Cygnus Spaceworks. The Missile Boat relied primarily on warheads for dogfighting and assaults, a notable difference from other Imperial starfighters, which relied more heavily on laser cannons. The Missile Boat also included an innovative propulsion feature known as the SubLight Acceleration Motor (SLAM).

Though they proved instrumental in the defeat of Zaarin's rogue faction and in executing Emperor Palpatine's plan to lead the Rebel Alliance to Endor, they were removed from Imperial Navy operations by the Emperor's own orders and were not seen in use after 4 ABY.

Characteristics
The Missile Boat loosely resembled the general body style of its predecessor, the Alpha-class Xg-1 Star Wing. The XM-1 had a bulky profile in comparison to the Star Wing, yet both models shared a pronounced fuselage with dorsal stabilizer, flanked by the craft's primary warhead launchers. The Nova Wing's second set of warhead launchers extended from pylons attached to the dorsal surface of the primary launchers. This secondary set rested at an angle reflexive to the lateral wings. Extremely uncommon among Imperial starfighters, portions of the pilot's flight input displays were located on the cockpit exterior. The deflector shield configuration and beam weapon displays were attached to the port and starboard nose surfaces, outside the cockpit, just forward of the viewports.

Weapons
The Nova Wing was armed with two high-capacity twin warhead launchers and a single nose-mounted laser cannon. The secondary pair of warhead launchers was exclusively assigned to carry a payload of concussion missiles, while the primary could be outfitted with an array of space-borne projectiles. Each individual launcher had a concussion missile capacity of twenty missiles, affording the Nova Wing an impressive maximum load of eighty concussion missiles. This immense warhead capacity greatly overshadowed the TIE Bomber and Assault Gunboat magazines by more than sixty projectiles. The primary launcher's individual magazine capacity was either fifteen proton torpedoes, ten heavy rockets, or five proton bombs.

The most noteworthy weakness of the Nova Wing was its single laser cannon. Should the craft's warhead stores run empty, pilots were forced to dogfight with a single cannon. Dogfighting in general could be problematic due to the fact the that Missile Boat pilots had only a single cannon reserve from which energy could be transferred to deflector shields. However, this single laser cannon could charge to full capacity in just ninety seconds, a major difference from other laser cannons used by Imperial fighters.

Missile Boats were frequently equipped with a beam weapon system. The tractor beam was another tool the Missile Boat employed against TIE Defenders, robbing the Defender of its superior maneuverability and holding them on course while Nova Wing pilots attained missile locks. Alternatively, Missile Boats could be fitted with a jamming beam, a weapon that disrupted the fire-control systems of spacecraft, which allowed Missile Boats safer transit on bombing runs against capital ships.

Propulsion
The Missile Boat was equipped with dual ion engines and a hyperdrive. Hyperdrive capability permitted the Missile Boat to compete with the more advanced fighters of the era, and assume multiple mission roles. The XM-1 was faster and more maneuverable than the Assault Gunboat, and its engines were also equipped with the new SubLight Acceleration Motor(s). The SLAM was an overdrive system that drained laser cannon energy reserve to boost the craft's engines to two hundred percent output. Comparable to the Alliance's A-wing, the Missile Boat boasted a respectable maximum cruising speed of one hundred and twenty five MGLT. Provided with SLAMs and a pilot competent in energy management, this speed could be pushed beyond two hundred and fifty MGLT.

Shields and armor
While the defensive armor plating was nothing to brag about&mdash;comparable to that of all types of TIE fighters&mdash;the Nova Wing's deflector shields were heavily reinforced, rated at one hundred and twenty SBD, comparable to the Alliance's B-wing starfighter.

Role
The Missile Boat was specifically designed to counter the menacing TIE Defender. As byproducts of the space superiority role, shield and hyperdrive systems permitted the Missile Boat to assume various other starfighter roles. Missile Boats were used on several occasions as reconnaissance scouts to inspect enemy craft in distant systems. Considering the immense payload and deflector shield systems, the Nova Wing was also well suited as a heavy bomber, frequently inserted into enemy territory to destroy enemy capital ships. While these heavy bomber roles typically came with the assistance of fighter escorts, Missile Boats could operate autonomously in light of their dedicated concussion missile launchers, most appropriate for destroying enemy fighters. The Missile Boat was also frequently deployed on heavy assault missions. A major drawback to this role was the Missile Boat's lack of ion cannons. Missile Boats would be reliant on Assault Gunboats or TIE Defenders to disable mission critical craft for capture, thus making the Missile Boats responsible for the livelihood of the disabling craft.

History
The advent of the Missile Boat was a result of a chain of events put into motion by the technologically driven Grand Admiral Zaarin. Zaarin was a highly respected officer in the Imperial Navy, and like many other noteworthy Imperial officers, Zaarin sought to increase his power. He chose to stage a coup against Emperor Palpatine, placing himself against the rest of the Imperial Navy, primarily Admiral Thrawn. Zaarin's defection posed great danger to the Empire considering his possession of the more advanced Imperial starfighters like the TIE Avenger and TIE Defender. Knowing this, Thrawn collaborated with Cygnus Spaceworks to design a new starfighter to counter the threat of Zaarin's treachery; the Missile Boat was the offspring of this collaboration.

While planning the Rebellion's ultimate defeat at Endor, the Emperor ordered Thrawn to pursue and destroy Zaarin and his advanced TIE starfighters. It was at this time that Thrawn revealed his new starfighter, the Missile Boat, to the Emperor.



The Missile Boat's debut was during Thrawn's campaign to police various factions who mysteriously came into possession of TIE Defenders. The Missile Boat's first mission was to lead an assault on the Nami Strike-class cruiser Nuance, which was carrying an arms merchant who planned to sell TIE Defenders to the Rebel Alliance. Following this sortie, a lone Missile Boat was responsible for the destruction of three Carrack-class cruisers on a mission to wrest captured TIE Defenders from Thrawn's grasp. The Missile Boat accomplished this mission with only a squadron of TIE Fighters as cover. With the Rebel strike force destroyed, another solo Missile Boat was utilized to destroy a TIE Defender factory controlled by the Nami pirate Ali Tarrak.

Upon completion of a campaign to rid secondary forces of their TIE Defender possessions, Thrawn utilized the Missile Boat on a direct campaign against the rogue Zaarin. The Missile Boat was used extensively to raid Zaarin's supply convoys, and defend loyal Imperial forces against attacks by Zaarin's rogue forces. During this campaign, Missile Boats were frequently employed as bait for the technologically greedy Zaarin. Missile Boats were responsible on more than one occasion for protecting convoys carrying other Missile Boats from Zaarin's raiders. Moreover, Nova Wing pilots were specifically instructed not to permit the capture of the new Missile Boat; the Missile Boat would not even be deployed, they were told, if not for the dire circumstances facing the Empire. In addition, during this campaign, Missile Boats were instrumental in the protection of the cloaking shield project aboard the CR90 corvette Vorknyx. Research personnel were quite shocked by the arrival of only a single fighter, but stated that there were rumors about its prowess. The Missile Boat designated Mu 1, along with two scout craft, faced off against Nebulon-B2 frigate Z-Borus and its compliment of TIE Bombers and Interceptors. As the battle progressed Zaarin brought more of his TIE Avengers to bear down on the research facility. Failing at their initial attempt to capture the facility, Zaarin's forces followed up the previous sortie with a larger onslaught of three Carrack-class cruisers and assault transports, all the while aided by traitorous TIE Defenders. A lone Missile Boat, backed by escort transports, repelled this intense attack, while the Muurian transport Shadow docked with the Vorknyx to enable its hyperdrive. Despite all efforts by Missile Boat pilots, the research platforms were evacuated, but the Vorknyx was safeguarded and escaped to hyperspace.

During Thrawn's campaign against Zaarin, Darth Vader also employed Missile Boats in his campaign leading up to the Battle of Endor, involving the Bothan spies. Missile Boats were responsible for destroying a Bothan Dreadnaught-class cruiser attempting to transfer information to the Rebellion, performing raids and reconnaissance on the Rebel buildup, and wearing down the Alliance starship reserves prior to the battle. While Mon Mothma was not referring to the Missile Boat when she spoke of the Bothan sacrifice, Bothan blood was spilled at the hands of Missile Boat pilots.

The Missile Boat played a key role defending the Emperor himself, perhaps the most prominent of its accomplishments. Immediately following Darth Vader's preliminary arrangements for the impending battle at Endor, Emperor Palpatine boarded his private passenger liner Excalibur, en route to Endor. During its voyage, it came under attack by more of Zaarin's traitor forces. Maarek Stele and his Missile Boat, escorted by TIE Avengers, repelled an attack composed of the Victory-class Star Destroyer Zeplin, the Nebulon-B frigate Kimik, and a number of Assassin-class corvettes. With the Missile Boat having thwarted the bulk of the attack force, the Excalibur escaped into hyperspace.



After Darth Vader's strategic campaign against the Bothans, Admiral Zaarin became privy to the Emperor's plot to destroy the Rebels. While Zaarin too detested the Rebellion, his henchman, Namuura Din, sought to defect to the Rebellion. Missile Boats played a role in the capture of Namuura Din and his flagship, the Victory-class Star Destroyer Zeplin; moreover, Missile Boats were responsible for the inspection of a Rebel craft carrying a stolen Missile Boat, dubbed Sealion, and information concerning the operational status of the second Death Star. Upon this discovery, the Empire was faced with the perilous task of retrieving this classified information. Missile Boats led an assault on the Rebel cruiser carrying the stolen Missile Boat; although Imperial forces captured the Rebel cruiser, the captured craft escaped, but was quickly located on a Rebel platform. In what would prove to be their last sortie, Missile Boats facilitated the capture of the Rebel platform and the stolen Missile Boat. Following interrogation, it was assumed that the Rebels had insufficient time to reverse engineer the Missile Boat, exposing its secrets. Despite this fact, the Emperor deemed the loss of the Missile Boat too great a threat to his elaborate plans to crush the Rebel Alliance; thus it was ordered that all Missile Boats would be put into storage until the Rebel "problem" was solved. Imperial Missile Boats were never again seen in combat.

As an experimental craft, the Missile Boat never achieved fruition as a result of the Emperor's recall. Training facilities had begun training elite pilots to form a new Missile Boat unit, from which some anticipated impressive results; this was subsequently halted by the Emperor's command. Maarek Stele, however, was among the small number of pilots who were known to have piloted the Missile Boat.

Behind the scenes
The appearance of the Nova Wing differs significantly from Star Wars: TIE Fighter to Star Wars: X-wing Alliance. In its original appearance in the earlier game, the Missile Boat appeared sleeker and more aggressively contoured. Yet in the later display, the Missile Boat bears a stronger resemblance to the Lambda-class shuttle. The reason for this inconsistency remains unknown.

Although this craft was initially left out of the multiplayer-oriented game Star Wars: X-wing vs. TIE Fighter for the sake of balance, the game data files still have an entry for the craft library which reads, "This is the King Hell God Emperor Starfighter of Death and you can't fly it yet!"

Conforming to the standard Imperial doctrine of naming starfighter flight groups by the Greek alphabet, the Missile Boat also shared the designations Tau and Mu with its predecessor the Assault Gunboat, which had some of the same letters in its callsign. (I.e. Tau 1, Mu 1)

Appearances

 * Star Wars: TIE Fighter
 * Star Wars: X-wing Alliance