Thunderstrike

"I don't care what those rebels are blowing up! Howl's old scow is in orbit, which means Twilight Company is here and that scum is—"

―Governor Magé recognising the Thunderstrike, during the Battle of Allst Prime^[6]

The Thunderstrike was a CR90 corvette utilised by the 61st Mobile Infantry of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. The vessel was commanded by Captain Micha Evon, more commonly known as Howl, until his death at the Battle of Hoth. Soon after, Rebel trooper Hazram Namir unofficially took charge of the ship until its demise at the Siege of Inyusu Tor, where the corvette was ambushed by the Galactic Empire. The Thunderstrike was also escorted by the Braha'tok-class gunship Apailana's Promise.^[2]

History

Early use under the Rebellion

The CR90 corvette Thunderstrike began serving the alliance's 61st Mobile Infantry sometime before the Galactic Civil War. Its Captain was Micha Evon, more commonly known as Howl, who led the 61st. At some point the Thunderstrike got its own escort, a Braha'tok-class gunship called the Apailana's Promise, which could carry two X-wing starfighters into battle for the 61st. During a mission to Allst Prime, the Thunderstrike was in orbit whilst the 61st soldiers fought on the ground. The Thunderstrike caused extreme damage when it bombarded the Shield around the Crucival transmitter tower.^[2]

Galactic Civil War

The Thunderstrike served the 61st well through the Alliance's advancement into the Mid Rim and the Mid Rim Retreat when the Alliance ran back out again. During the deployment to the planet Haidoral Prime, the Governor Everi Chalis defected to the 61st and was held in one of the Thunderstrike's airlocks. Following the Coyerti campaign, it suffered three separate attacks in the Metatessu sector and was leaking a trail from its Hyperdrive. In order to get the repairs it and the Apailana's Promise attacked an Imperial heavy freighter. During the raid, the Thunderstrike shot occasionally at the freighter to keep it in an unstable condition. The battle was cut short by the addition of an Imperial Gozanti Cruiser but the Thunderstrike received the supplies it needed.^[2]

Infiltrated the Elochar Sector

The Thunderstrike and the Apailana's Promise then rendezvoused to a Flotilla in the Elochar sector where they could get the repairs they needed. Howl meanwhile had gone to Echo Base on Hoth with Chalis to see the Alliance High Command. The engineers began repairs immediately and the soldiers went on patrols or shore leave to other ships. Captain So-Hem of the Sixmoon invited 61st soldiers to visit his ship. A short while later the Trumpet's Call was over taken by Imperial spies. The Light freighter arrived to the flotilla with no life support and a lot of dead rebels and unconscious infiltrators. The Thunderstrike blindly took the spies in and when they regained mobility, they stormed into the bridge killing Howl's second in command Lieutenant Sairgon and the Naval Officer Commander Paonu. Sairgon, luckily, had sent a warning out to the flotilla and the ships retreated. The 61st soldiers then regained control of the Thunderstrike and fled the system.^[2]

Operation Ringbreaker

Howl had died in the Battle of Hoth during the commotion in the Elochar Sector and Chalis and First Sergeant Hazram Namir came back with the bad news. Commander Tohna transferred from the Apailana's Promise to be in charge of the Thunderstrike's bridge crew. The Thunderstrike was repaired fully on Ankhural where the 61st devised a plan to take out Kuat Drive Yards. It was called Operation Ringbreaker. The Thunderstrike dropped off and picked up troops of the 61st from Mardona III and then Obumubo before delivering a pay load to the Dockyards of Najan-Rovi. It then did its job for the attacks on Nakadia, Naator, Xagobah and the Kuliquo belt asteroid mines. It then came to Sullust where the soldiers took Inyusu Tor. But when the Thunderstrike came to pick them up, it was shot down by ambushing TIE Fighters of Vixus Squadron. TIE Bombers then ravaged the Thunderstrike shortly after a team came and rescued Commander Tohna from the wreckage.^[2]

Legacy

The Imperial forces led by Prelate Verge were determined to wipe out the 61st after stranding them on Sullust. But in the Siege of Inyusu Tor, their plan backfired when Namir, now Captain of the company, used the factory's lava against the ground troops and the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Herald took internal damage from an Ion mine causing it to retreat. After the battle, the soldiers re-grouped and the Sullustan resistance took Pinyumb with the help of the Cobalt Laborers' Reformation Front. The Thunderstrike was then scavenged and its batteries drained by Quartermaster Hober. The Apailana's Promise was back having fended off the Herald for most of the battle.^[2]