John Locke
V U L K A N
- Intent: To submit a specialized bomber/missile pod for use in future subs.
- Image Source:
- Top Image: Creative Uncut | Maliwan Mech Missile Pod
- Banners and Photoshop work: By me
- Canon Link: N/a
- Permissions: N/a
- Primary Source:
- Manufacturer: Locke and Key Mechanics
- Affiliation: Locke and Key Mechanics
- Market Status: Closed
- Model: Quiver Missile Pod
- Modularity: No
- Production: Mass-Produced
- Materials:
- Durasteel
- Electronics
- Classification: Missile Pod
- Length: 8 meters
- Width: 5 meters
- Height: 2 meters
- Armament: Extreme
- Defences: Very low
- Squadron Count: Extreme (24)
- Manoeuvrability Rating: Very low
- Speed Rating: Very low
- Hyperdrive: No
- Tractor Beams
- Thrusters
- Data links
- I’ll drown out the sun with arrows:
- The Quiver Missile Pods are a specialized bomber, designed to release a payload of capital missiles before returning to their carrier for rearming. Similar in concept to the MG-100 Star Fortress heavy bomber, without the extra armour and survivability.
- Each pod is capable of storing and firing upto 30 missiles, giving the little drones quite a punch.
- Flip of a coin:
- The Quiver Missile Pods can change their payload as needed to satisfy the demands of their mission profile. The pods are designed to use Locke and Key’s new missile frame, allowing them to unleash some of the most advanced missiles available including:
- Dancer Missle Mk II
- Lylek Mk I
- Ranthar Mk I
- The Quiver Missile Pods can change their payload as needed to satisfy the demands of their mission profile. The pods are designed to use Locke and Key’s new missile frame, allowing them to unleash some of the most advanced missiles available including:
- Undefended:
- The quiver pods lack shields or even any appreciable armour, leaving them vulnerable to attack by almost anything. Fighters, and shipboard weapons, they will all destroy a quiver pod with very little problem.
- Reload:
- Reloading a quiver is a far cry from the standard reload of a fighter or bomber, taking significantly longer to cycle through before it can be deployed again.
- Specialized:
- The Quiver can’t be used by ordinary ships, and can’t be used as a standard replacement for standard fighters or bombers. Instead, the missile pod requires specialised equipment that must be on board aship for them to be utilized.
A pair of missiles brought down the deathstar, destroying perhaps the largest and most devastating weapon constructed by any organics for the last 1000 years.
A single pair of missiles.
Since then, however, the missile has failed to achieve a place of prominence in the galactic pantheon of weapons, surpassed by turbolaser, ion cannon and railgun as a go to weapon for shipbuilders across the length and breadth of the galaxy. Locke and Key Mechanics aims to change that, to usher in a new wave of missile superiority.
While more capable missiles were part of the package that the engineers at Locke and Key Mechanics envisaged, they also looked to the launch platforms of those missiles. Uptil now, shipboard launchers had been required to launch missiles one at a time, the launcher providing an initial kick that gave the missiles their speed and a devastating impact when they struck their targets. However, the new generation of missiles coming out of Locke and Key Mechanics were a departure from the designs that had come before, designed as they were as long range superiority missiles rather than close range missiles. They no longer needed an initial boost to achieve higher speeds, and so the standard missile launcher was one that could be retired.
The idea was to provide saturating fire on an enemy, overwhelming their defenses so they needed a way to launch multiple missiles at once, however launching these from inside a ship provided a chink in the armour that someone could take advantage of, so instead Locke and Key moved the missile launcher outside of the ship.
The Quiver Missile Pods are droid-operated drones that serve one purpose and one purpose only. They allow a ship to fire a number of missiles without requiring weaknesses in their armour that could be exploited by their enemies.
The pods themselves have no other purpose, they are only lightly armoured and unshielded, making them extremely vulnerable to enemy attacks, especially in the form of fighters which could wreak havoc on the deployed pods.
The Quiver Pods began life built around the Assault Concussion Missile Launchers from the Nebula-Class Star Destroyer, and was expanded from there. First, the launch mechanisms were stripped away, the missiles would launch themselves, and then the pod itself was reshaped. Instead of the rounded revolver style of most missile launchers the pod was shaped into a flattened shape that made for easier storage. The insertion of thrusters and tractor beams allows the pods some degree of maneuvering, but they are slow and clunky compared to starfighters.
What the pods lack in speed and agility however, they more than make up for in firepower. Each pod contains 30 missiles, and very little else. Lacking even a launcher or engines they are very much an evolution of the bomber design that has proven so effective against capital ships before. The pods are controlled by a capital ship, and exist just to fire off their payload nad be rearmed ot do it all over again.
The ultimate evolution of the missile doctrine.
