Prototype B6, also known as the Blade Wing or the Bevel Wing, was a prototype B-wing heavy assault starfighter designed and built by the Mon Calamari engineer Quarrie on the planet Shantipole as a part of Project Shantipole.
The Prototype B6 in landing configuration.
The starfighter's design was centered around delivering large amounts of firepower within a narrow, agile profile. Like its successors, the vessel featured a gyroscopic cockpit, twin S-foils with wingtip-mounted laser cannons, cannons mounted at the tail and cockpit chin, warhead launchers, and a hyperdrive. Unlike later ships, the fighter featured a number of unique features such as a gunner's turret at the tail of the craft and a composite-beam laser system that was powered by the B6's hyperdrive. In designing the ship, Quarrie intended to improve upon the designs initially created by Verpine shipwrights.
Some time after the prototype's construction was completed, Hera Syndulla of Phoenix Cell, the Twi'lek captain of the Ghost, came to Shantipole with Sabine Wren and Garazeb Orrelios in the hopes of acquiring the fighter to use against the Imperial blockade of the planet Ibaar. Unfortunately, Quarrie refused to simply give the ship to anyone who asked so Hera then turned her attention to repairing the Phantom, which had sustained heavy damage upon entering Shantipole's atmosphere and crash-landed on Quarrie's landing platform. Helping with the repairs, Quarrie spoke with Hera and became convinced she was the right pilot for his ship and allowed her to conduct the B6's flight and weapons test.
Hera Syndulla tests the composite beam laser
Following a successful test, Hera received a transmission from Kanan Jarrus that Phoenix Squadron was preparing to attack the Ibaar blockade. Sabine reported that the weapons tests had drained the hyperdrive on the B6 prototype, something Quarrie had known might happen. Luckily he had instructed his astromech droid BG-81 to install his spare hyperdrive on the Phantom, a system the ship had previously lacked. The B6 docked with the rebel shuttle and was ferried to Ibaar in time to reinforce Phoenix Squadron. The B6, once again piloted by Hera with Sabine in the gunner's turret, took the lead of the blockade assault and quickly destroyed the target Imperial cruiser, opening a gap in the blockade for the Ghost to fly through. After the squadron's supply drop was completed, the B6 docked with the Phantom and all rebel ships left the system.
Following the successful breach of the blockade, Senator Bail Organa, one of the leaders of the rebellion, secured a shipyard to resume work on Project Shantipole. Quarrie would continue to oversee the project with the goal of refining the B6's design for eventual mass production of the new A/SF-01 B-wing starfighter.
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