Brute (starfighter)

The Brute was a captured TIE/rb heavy starfighter owned by Naastau after his previous small craft, a Talon I combat cloud car, was destroyed in an engagement with Imperial starfighters. Both vessels were stored in the mini-hangar of his flagship, the Faithful Iron.

History
Naastau stole the fighter while infiltrating an Imperial research facility on Quellor at the height of the Imperial Period. Two other TIE/rb heavy starfighters were destroyed during Naastau's escape. The vessel spent most of its time in the Faithful Iron 's hangar, and wouldn't start seeing active use until the height of the Galactic Civil War, during which time Naastau fought for the Rebel Alliance as a privateer.

Characteristics
Many modifications were made to the Brute, including improved engines, a powerful shield generator, reliable repulsorlifts, and an enhanced droid brain in the weapons pod with superior processing. The droid brain was also directly linked to Naastau's astromech droid, who was capable of operating some of the ship's functions such as the communications and targeting systems from several thousand kilometers away. Atmospheric shields were also integrated into the vessel to perform better during atmospheric entry in the event that the Faithful Iron could not enter a planet's atmosphere itself. These extra modifications slightly limited the Brute 's maneuverability, though made the craft much stronger, more reliable, and allowed Naastau to relax while the vessel "did his work for him". Much like his previous dogfighting craft, the Iron Talon, Naastau only deployed the Brute from the Faithful Iron 's mini-hangar during operations that called for stealth and maneuverability that the Faithful Iron was not suited for.

To distinguish his craft from Imperial vessels during large-scale engagements, the Brute was painted with orange lines on its main body and was equipped with a unique frequency that could only be detected by Rebel-operated systems, which after being decrypted would read "I am not an Imp!".