Firedrake

The Firedrake was a Star Destroyer of the Galactic Empire that served as the flagship of Grand Admiral Balanhai Savit and the Imperial Navy's Third Fleet. Its commanding officer was Captain Boulag. The Firedrake and the forces of the Third Fleet were used in a campaign against pirates in the Esaga sector, which was secretly a cover for Savit's theft of resources from Project Stardust.

After Grand Admiral Thrawn deduced Savit's treason, he led Savit's forces into an engagement with his own flagship, Chimaera, commanded by Commodore Karyn Faro, while Thrawn himself confronted Savit on the bridge of the Firedrake. Following instructions from Thrawn, Faro successfully negated the attacks of Savit's other Star Destroyers, forcing the grand admiral to bring the Firedrake into the battle. Though the Chimaera was outnumbered by the Third Fleet, Thrawn and Faro's forces managed to deal damage to the Firedrake's turbolasers.

Thrawn orchestrated the appearance of a mutiny aboard the Firedrake, having his own forces commandeer Savit's TIE fighters and prevent outgoing transmissions from the Star Destroyer. Savit was stunned and relieved of his duty by Major Dayja Collerand of the Imperial Security Bureau when the grand admiral attempted to kill Thrawn with his blaster. The Firedrake was placed under the command of Captain Boulag, who returned Savit to the planet Coruscant for a hearing.

Description

A Star Destroyer, the Firedrake was equipped with a hyperdrive and engines. The capital ship was armed with turbolasers and point-defense lasers. It was also equipped with a communications system and a short-range transmitter. The Firedrake carried a complement of TIE fighters.

The vessel had a bridge with a command walkway and possessed a hangar bay with multiple docks, including Number Seven. The Firedrake held a command conference room that was a duplicate to that of^[1] the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer^[2] Chimaera, albeit with newer and more elaborate furnishings. The table of its conference room possessed a holopad.^[1]

History

Flagship of the Third Fleet

During the time of the Galactic Empire, the Firedrake served as the flagship of the Imperial Navy's Grand Admiral Balanhai Savit and his Third Fleet and was commanded by Captain Boulag. From aboard the Firedrake and with the forces of the Third Fleet—Captain Gilad Pellaeon's Harbinger, Captain Rasdel's Misthunter, and Captain Lochry's Stormbird—Savit orchestrated a campaign against pirates in the vicinity of the Esaga sector. However, the operation was merely a cover for Savit, who was secretly working alongside pirates that were stealing components from the Kurost sector transfer point of the Empire's Project Stardust.^[1]

Shortly before the Liberation of Lothal^[1] in 1 BBY,^[3] Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin arranged a meeting with Grand Admiral Thrawn and Director Orson Krennic, with Emperor Palpatine moving the location of the meeting—previously set to be held with his attendance on^[1] the capital planet^[4] Coruscant—to aboard the Firedrake, at that time situated in the Sev Tok system, supposedly to reduce the travel time for the participants. Savit, suspecting a political motive behind the decision, was displeased with the last-minute scheduling changes and the intrusion on his ship, but accepted the Emperor's command.^[1]

As Krennic's shuttle arrived in the Firedrake's hangar bay, Savit and Tarkin conversed on the bridge. Following the arrival of Thrawn in his flagship, Chimaera, the four attendees met in the conference room of the Firedrake, where the Emperor joined them via hologram. Aboard the Star Destroyer, the Imperials discussed the topic for which the meeting had been called—delays in Krennic's Stardust project and his request to divert funds from Thrawn's own TIE Defender program. The participants came to a resolution; if Thrawn was able to solve the problems affecting Stardust within the following week, the funding would be restored to his Defender project. As Savit escorted Thrawn back to his shuttle, Krennic had Assistant Director Brierly Ronan, who he was sending as a representative to watch over Thrawn's progress, use a terminal on the Firedrake to download the Imperial Navy's file on the Grand Admiral. Ronan joined Thrawn aboard his shuttle, departing the Firedrake for the Chimaera.^[1]

Imperial machinations

Following the conclusion of one of the Third Fleet's pirate cleansing operations, Savit was contacted by Krennic, who wished for the grand admiral to investigate Thrawn's actions. Savit keyed Tarkin into the conversation, and the grand moff chose not to back up Krennic's request. Once the conversation had concluded, Savit contacted the Firedrake's comm officer on the bridge to request information from a contact of Rasdel's in the office of Tarkin and to have a transmission sent to the Harbinger, asking Pellaeon and his first officer to meet him regarding their next pirate-hunting mission. Some time later, Krennic contacted Savit once more, demanding that he send his forces to protect the Kurost transfer point, believing it was in danger. Savit instead opted to send the ships of the Third Fleet to the Esaga sector assembly locations that fed resources to the transfer point.^[1]

Aboard the Firedrake some time afterward, Savit was contacted by Captain Lochry and Governor Haveland; the Stormbird had captured the freighter Brylan Ross, which held evidence of the theft from Stardust's supply lines, alongside Assistant Director Ronan and the undercover Imperial Security Bureau agent Dayja Collerand. The grand admiral decided against handing the prisoners over to Haveland and privately requested that Lochry meet him in the Sev Tok system to deliver both the freighter and its passengers to the Firedrake, hoping to eliminate the evidence of his treason.^[1]

Grand Admiral Thrawn later made contact with Savit on the Firedrake's bridge, asking that Ronan be returned to him, along with the freighter. Thrawn requested that Savit rendezvous in a star system that contained evidence of the threat that the Grysk species posed to the Empire, and Savit reluctantly agreed. Savit made preparations to enter hyperspace, placing the Firedrake on full alert and sending the location to the the rest of the Third Fleet. The vessels arrived far from the center of the system, near an abandoned Grysk observation post. As Savit sent the Harbinger over to the space station, a Lambda shuttle approached from the Chimaera.^[1]

Treachery uncovered

Three against one

Unknown to Savit, his fellow grand admiral had deduced his treachery—Thrawn himself was aboard the shuttle, secretly accompanied by his death troopers and several pilots. As the shuttle landed in the Firedrake's hangar, Savit went to collect Ronan, finding that the other prisoner had disappeared; Collerand had escaped, making it appear as if the drifter he had been posing as had been taken for interrogation. While Savit escorted Ronan to the hangar, Thrawn made his way to the bridge, and Savit was forced to return to meet him. On the bridge, Thrawn confronted Savit about his theft from Stardust. At the same time, the Chimaera, under the command of Commodore Karyn Faro with instructions left by Thrawn, approached the Firedrake, and Faro ordered Savit to surrender, sending the evidence of his treason to the other officers of the Third Fleet.^[1]

Despite Faro's accusation, the Misthunter and Stormbird moved to support the Firedrake. Not wishing to involve his own ship immediately, Savit had the other two Star Destroyers fire ion cannons in an attack on the Chimaera. When the Chimaera neutralized the attacks, Savit had the Stormbird launch its TIE fighters, which Faro managed to disable. With the Chimaera having countered all his previous maneuvers, Savit finally ordered Boulag to move the Firedrake in and fire upon Thrawn's flagship with its turbolasers. As the Firedrake began to fire, several undetected TIEs that had been launched by the Chimaera began to destroy the turbolaser targeting sensors on the Firedrake's portside. Savit subsequently had his gunners fire upon the Chimaera, though his reliance on computerized targeting systems led them to miss.^[1]

When the Chimaera moved to the Firedrake's portside and rose upward above the plane of battle, Savit's Star Destroyer angled its bow upward, rotating to direct its starboard turbolasers at the enemy vessel. As the Star Destroyer moved, Thrawn's death troopers incapacitated the Firedrake's TIE commander, allowing his pilots to commandeer four TIE fighters and leave the hangar alongside the shuttle. The stolen TIEs began to eliminate the Firedrake's starboard turbolasers, while the shuttle landed on the vessel's short-range transmitter, jamming its outgoing signals. Additionally, a Grysk gravity well projector, previously launched at the Firedrake by Faro, landed in the Star Destroyer's hangar bay as a result of its upward tilt, hitting the aft racks and preventing any further TIEs from leaving.^[1]

Losing control

Commodore Faro subsequently contacted the vessels of the Third Fleet, citing the actions of the stolen TIEs as a mutiny against Savit's attack and ordering the grand admiral's other vessels to similarly defy his orders. As Thrawn's shuttle was jamming the Firedrake's transmissions and Hangar Master Llano had lost control of the hangar to Thrawn's operatives, Savit was unable to reach out to the rest of his fleet. He ordered Boulag to resume the attack on the Chimaera, but the captain refused, believing it was unwise to continue their course of action. At the same time, Pellaeon moved the Harbinger to assist Faro, ordering Savit to surrender.^[1]

Having realized that he could no longer win, Savit pulled his blaster on Thrawn, intending to kill the grand admiral. However, Savit was stunned by Collerand, who cited a regulation that required blasters on the bridges of capital ships to be set on stun. With Savit removed from his duty until a hearing could be held, Collerand placed Boulag in command of the Firedrake. Boulag took the Firedrake back to Coruscant, where Savit was to be subjected to an inquiry.^[1]

Commanders and crew

The Firedrake was the flagship of Grand Admiral Balanhai Savit, while Boulag served under Savit as the vessel's captain. Llano held the rank of Chief Hangar Master, stationed in the Firedrake's hangar bay. Other crew of the Firedrake included its comm officer, Savit's TIE commander, and the chief warder. The Firedrake was also crewed by numerous officers and navy troopers, and had stormtroopers stationed on its bridge. As Savit preferred to use automated targeting systems for his turbolasers, the Firedrake's gunners were unprepared for sudden combat operations. The vessel carried TIE fighter squadrons designated Squadron One and Squadron Two.^[1]

Behind the scenes

The Firedrake appeared in the novel Thrawn: Treason, written by Timothy Zahn^[1] and published on July 23, 2019.^[5] Prior to the release of the novel, it was first mentioned in an excerpt released on StarWars.com on June 26 of that year.^[6]

Appearances

• Thrawn: Treason (and audiobook) (First appearance)

Sources

• The Grand Admiral Crosses Paths with the Emperor in Thrawn: Treason - Exclusive Excerpt on StarWars.com (backup link) (First mentioned)
• Star Wars: Unlimited — Secrets of Power Card: Budget Scheming (backup link) (First pictured)

Notes and references