Miss Fortuna

The Ugly Fortuna The Ugly Fortuna was a unique pocket carrier prototype produced by Corellian Engineering Corporation. After being seized by Imperials and stolen by Rebels, the ship eventually became the mobile base of a tactical strike starfighter squadron, Arrow Squadron.

Characteristics
The ship was equipped with a landing bay and three extendable docking tubes on each side of the central spine. This allowed the The Ugly Fortuna to carry up to 14 starfighters, but the usual complement was 12 starfighters, with the pair of docking tubes closest to the ship’s main docking bays left available for emergencies.

History
The Ugly Fortuna began its life as a Corellian Engineering Corporation (CEC) prototype for a possible variant on the highly successful CR90 Corvette series around 5 BBY. Unfortunately, the Empire soon got wind of the prototype and seized it from the CEC shipyards in the Corellian system and moved it to storage at nearby Kuat. Imperial higher-ups wary of the disruption of private armies or pirate gangs decided to ban the design and told CEC to destroy the blueprints. Although no regular production ships were created, CEC secretly kept the plans and made other variations instead (including Night Caller and FarStar).

After a tip-off by CEC, the Alliance to Restore the Republic learned of the unique ship and its new location. A daring shipjacking by Rebels snatched the ship from Kuat, but they were pursued by an Imperial Law-class patrol craft. The Rebels headed for the Corellian Run, hoping to shake their follower by landing at Ryloth. Less than a day after arriving, though, they were alerted to the patrol craft's presence through a spy sympathetic to the Alliance. Jabba Desilijic Tiure's (Jabba the Hutt) network of informants had tipped off the Imperials in exchange for some credits. Bib Fortuna, Jabba's majordomo, was already on Ryloth for other business and personally delivered the information. It was Fortuna's ungainly appearance that, after later discovering the cause of their discovery, caused the Rebels to give the ship its distinctive name. (Expletives and referrals to Fortuna's ancestry were also included at the time, of course.) Backtracking towards the Core again, the Ugly Fortuna's crew made it to the Hydian Way, but veered off to Ord Mantell to finally lose the pursuer. As a smuggler's den, the Ugly Fortuna was hidden from further investigation on Ord Mantell and adopted some temporary hull plating to hide its true function. The Ugly Fortuna participated in a few (Eastern Mid- and Outer-rim) missions BBY, but remained mostly hidden until the Alliance was able to recruit a more substantial fleet after the Battle of Yavin. While in active service to the Alliance, and later the New Republic, the Ugly Fortuna served as a pocket carrier for Arrow Squadron, a specialized tactical strike group using hit-and-fade tactics. One of the several roles of the Ugly Fortuna and its fighter complement was to neutralize Interdictor cruisers to allow Alliance craft to freely jump to lightspeed. After the New Republic gained the upper hand in the galaxy (about 5 ABY), the Ugly Fortuna and Arrow Squadron were stationed at Mon Calamari. The fate of the craft during and after the Yuuzhan Vong War (about 25 ABY) is unknown; it was most likely retired from service due to damage sustained during that war.