Talaria Superiority Fighter

With the post-Conclave era of the Imperium as a backdrop, some of the miracles of the Old Night that were rediscovered were lost, but not all of them. One of those designs rediscovered on Mars of all places was the Talaria, in one of the ancient forge-cities that had been abandoned centuries ago. The resulting prototype was turned into the Talaria, a successor to the Xiphon fighter, using the hard-won knowledge of the Great Crusade to strike a decisive blow against the enemies of the Imperium.

History
Thanks to internal strife within the Mechanicus the origin of the Talaria STC has been lost along with so much other knowledge, what remained however, was a large fragment of the design, and a prototype that was housed within one of the Southern Forge-Cities of Mars. During the reclamation of the area it was rediscovered and brought to the attention of the Forge-City's new master, who immediately understood the potential of the craft. After several decades of adjustments and patching the original design's missing components over, it was brought before the ruling Magii of Mars as well as Legionary representatives.

Due to the high power and extreme manoeuvrability afforded by the craft it was decided that it was unfit for mortal use. In conjunction with the techmarines of the 13th the Mechanicus began rigorously testing and adapting the frame to a higher standard. Thanks to this it was relatively quick to be developed, taking around two decades before being put into full production. Though the fighter itself would be on front-lines before the First Ruin, it couldn't be deployed to the Imperium at large before the Second Ruin thanks to production problems. To make up for this the aircraft performed exceptionally well in the hands of trained Astartes pilots, with wings of Talaria's shredding through xenos air formations with a seemingly unending barrage of air-to-air missiles while their craft danced around any sort of return fire.

After the costly end to the Second Ruin the craft was shipped out by the dozen throughout the galaxy, their high-speed manoeuvres dogging the Necron's steps all the way back to their Tomb Worlds.

Design
Designed using the recovered secrets of humanity, the Talaria proves it's worth as a extremely capable air superiority fighter and another sword to be used against those foul xenos that would dare challenge His vision. Overall the craft is extremely manoeuvrable, thanks in part to the design, which proved so formidable during testing on Mars that a special requisition for Astartes pilots had to be made after those Mechanicum pilots who attempted to control the beast met with failure. Thanks to the specially enhanced physiology of the Astartes as well as their ability to integrate into the craft through the black carapace and MIU link it has flown untold thousands of missions to cut the enemies of mankind from both the skies and the void.

A brute of a machine, the Talaria has a raised pilot pod, with extra armour surrounding the pilots position, this sweeps downward into the main body of the plane, which is significantly wider than most aircraft, and is used to house both the laser destructor array turret as well as the missile bays on the underside. It's forward-sweeping wings are paralleled by a secondary set of variable wings mounted to the lower hull, complementing the two blocky engines whose intakes run from the front of the body to the twin nozzles at the rear of the craft, punctuated by a single razor-sharp vertical fin place between the two engines.

Between it's arsenal of air-to-air missiles and the block of lascannons mounted on the underside, wing of Talaria have been able to cut down foes many times their size, and prove that they are well-suited to keeping the skies under Imperial control.

Armament
Designed as a pure anti-air platform, the Talaria can still use it's on-board weaponry such as the lascannons in strafing runs, and even be fitted with the usually type of Hunter Killer missiles used profusely amongst Imperial forces. Make no mistake though, the sky is where this dagger of vengeance excels, stripping enemy craft down to size no matter how quick or strong they may appear.

Laser Weaponry:


 * 1x Laser Destroyer Array

Missile Weaponry


 * 3	Internal Bays
 * 4	External Pylons
 * Air-to-Air:
 * Flakk Missile
 * Mk - XII Hunter Killer Missile (air-to-air variant)
 * Dominae Missile
 * Air-to-ground:
 * MkIX - 'Voss' Hunter Killer Missile (air-to-ground variant)
 * Anti-Augur:
 * Justinian - Anti-Augur Missile

The most prominent weapon of the Talaria's arsenal is the quad-lascannon turret, more commonly referred to as the Laser Destroyer Array. Mounted on the front end of the aircraft's underside, it takes advantage of it's turret base to be able to move independent of the chassis, giving it an edge over other aircraft who's hull-mounted guns are fixed, and therefore harder to target at an enemy perfectly. Linked to the Astartes pilot through MIU and the black carapace, it increases it's killing potential significantly during dogfights, coupled with almost instantaneous travel-time of the beam, it is the perfect weapon for cutting down fighters.

While the lascannon can be used against ground forces in strafing runs the Talaria is at a disadvantage while doing so, as it's main benefit of being fast and manoeuvrable, is lost as they have to line up to a ground target. The weapon has proven extremely effective against both heavy ground and air targets, but the true potential of the aircraft is brought out when it is allowed to roam the sky or the void freely.

The main weapon of the Talaria, are it's missiles. With 3 separate internal bays mounted on the underside of the hull it can pack a significant amount of firepower while not losing any of it's manoeuvrability thanks to excessive weapons mounted on wing pylons, slowing it down.

Each of the internal bays opens up and extends a pair of launching struts with which the missile slot into. Fed to these struts by a rotary internal bay system the pilot can pick and choose which specific missiles they want to fire at any given moment, being able to retrieve and slot in new missiles as the situation calls for. While this system does limit the amount of missile able to be housed internally most pilots prefer it, proclaiming the adaptability to be a feature they could not do without.

Specifically designed for the aircraft however is a variant of the much-used hunter killer missile found amongst the Imperial Army. An already solid missile system, the change-over to making it purely an air-to-air missile was simple by comparison to the Talaria's production. The on-board cogitator was altered to be able to hunt down aircraft exclusively, making use of both it's own internal augur and auspex, as well as that of the aircraft's to be able to take down foes. While the mainstay of the hunter killer missiles loaded aboard do belong to this new air-to-air mark, older patterns can be mounted that are adept at hunting ground targets, and are especially adept at doing so with the Talaria's help.

Overall this system allows for 8 missiles -Whether they are smaller flak missiles or the much larger Dominae air-to-air missile- to be housed inside and switched around at the pilot's leisure.While initially mentioned as a detriment to the Talaria's considerable manoeuvrability, it is also fitted with wing-pylons capable of carrying more missiles or other pieces of equipment to allow it to fulfil it's mission. With each pylon able to hold a pair of the larger Dominae missiles or up to 4 hunter killer missiles of various marks, it can easily add additional firepower if the mission calls for it.

Control Systems
A trait usually reserved for Mechanicum some Astartes vehicles, the Talaria features a dense integration system between aircraft and pilot, taking advantage of the marine's black carapace as well as a Mind Impulse Unit, it allows for an unparalleled amount of control over the air superiority fighter.

Through a combination of the pilot's connections and several cameras receded into the aircraft's hull, an almost full 360° view around itself, partially to combat the lack of view the pilot has due to the armoured cockpit. This level of situational awareness allows for increased reaction time to threats as well as providing assistance when firing missiles, as targeting data can be fed directly to the missile's cogitator from the pilot themselves.

This integration also allows for higher efficiency rates in dogfights when combined with the turret-based laser destroyer array, as it is able to be directly controlled by the pilot, aiming in the same direction they are looking. Though the cone of fire of the array is limited, partially due to the cockpit above and to stop wind resistance tearing it from it's housing during extreme manoeuvres, it has proven deadly, especially when facing against slower xenos equivalents.

Mounted in the blunt nose of the aircraft is a strong set of augur and auspex arrays, while mainly forward-facing they can be set to sweep in a wider arc for an all-around look. It is in conjunction with these systems that the pilot and on-board munitions interface when scanning for targets at long range or attempting to defeat enemy defences such as Eldar holo-fields. The combination of the augur array scanning long range, auspex scanning short range, the Astartes pilot giving manual guidance and the missile's own cogitator and auspex means that once someone is in a Talaria's sights, it's next to impossible to escape.

It is thanks to the direct interface though, alongside the superhuman gifts of the Astartes, that the Talaria has proven itself as one of if not the most manoeuvrable fighters in Imperial history. Thanks to the design of the aircraft's forward-swooping wings, multiple control surfaces, and thrust-vectoring engines it can pull off extreme feats of aerodymanic agility, this proving to be the main reason the aircraft was distributed to Astartes only, as they are the only beings able to push the machine to it's limits. Through extensive training and experience, a pilot can prove to be a significant threat, whether it be diving down upon targets, performing sideslip manoeuvres or deliberately stalling to shake off an enemy pursuer.

Defensive Systems
While the Talaria's main defence is to use it's speed and manoeuvrability to get itself out of danger there is not aircraft alive that is indestructible, and therefore it was fitted with several systems as a measure to limit pilot death, even at the cost of the aircraft itself.

The entire pilot pod and nose section is raised above the body of the craft for several reasons, one of which being the placement of the laser destroyer array turret for maximum efficiency, but chiefly among them is the fact that in case of an emergency, the pod can fully detach from the body of the plane. While other aircraft would usually include an ejection system for the pilot, the Talaria instead uses the whole pilot pod to ensure survivability. This is partially thanks to the extra armour around the pilot's position, meaning it can survive direct heavy weapons fire for a time, and partially due to the already-existing manoeuvring thrusters that dot the plane's body. Using these small thrusters as well as several parachutes and small grav-plates built into the underside, mean pilot can survive the pod falling and landing, and hold supplies that will allow the Astartes to survive to fly another day.

This focus on pilot protection has proven to be a solid idea, as thanks to this Astartes have successfully escaped and gone on to avenge the death of their previous machine. Although some legions have chosen to have this feature removed completely, citing a lack of honour in escaping while the aircraft's machine-spirit dies for your lack of skill.

Like most other aircraft though, the Talaria mounts an extensive decoy system on board, allowing it to throw out many different kinds of munitions to fool incoming ordnance. With two of these pods mounted on the machine, one on the spine, right behind the cockpit and one on the underside between the engines, it gives ample coverage and redundancy should one pod malfunction.

Engines
Both the best offensive and defensive element of the Talaria lies within it's pair of powerful engines. With twin plasma reactors feeding into thrust-vectoring engines and ramjet intakes for in-atmosphere work a formidable amount of speed is available to the pilot as they fly through the sky. With the combination of the engines thrust-vectoring capability, the abundance of control surfaces spread out amongst both sets of wings as well as the extra forward planes on either side of the cockpit, the extreme control is what necessitated the use of Astartes pilots. The extreme tolerances that the pilot is put under both fit the aggressive nature of Astartes as well as their physiology proving to be a perfect match for one another.

As previously mentioned the front of the engine blocks are ramjet intakes with pneumatic covers to keep them safe when not in use. While in-atmosphere they can be used to give a boost of power to the already formidable plasma engines output, and usually activated when a pilot needs a boost of speed to engage or disengage targets.

For work in the void the aircraft has a several banks of manoeuvring thrusters set across it's hull that allow small jets of plasma to change it's course and direction. This is used to great effect in hunting down other void fighters, dodging incoming enemy munitions and ship defensive fire.

Dune Serpents - Mustatir Strike Fighter
Developed as part of a suite of necessary changes demanded by legionary higher-ups, the Mustatir removes a lot of it's ability to engage air targets for it's stealth and ground-attack upgrades.

Halcyon Wardens - Ascension Superiority Fighter
Creating a psychic bastion in the sky, the Ascension is a specialist variant designed to take advantage of the Vth legion's warp-based capabilities as a defensive and offensive measure.

Sky Reavers - Sahaquiel Superiority Fighter
Created as part of the accord with Mars, the Sky Reavers improved upon the already formidable Talaria to turn it into a veritable monster of the skies.

Notable Talaria Fighters
Touch of Death – Lieutenant Goremal – Obsidian Guard

Void Claw – Commander Bruczhan Hell – Obsidian Guard

Hearth Beacon – Commander Mislak Fulman – Fire Keepers

Eye of Rang – Captain Lok Dusir – Shadow Warriors

Razorwing – Lieutenant Rafael Schalcher – Alabaster Order

Pillar – Captain Qiáng – Warriors of Peace

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