Braha'tok-class gunship

The Braha'tok-class gunship, also known as the Dornean gunship or simply Braha'tok, represented a specific type of gunship that measured 90 meters in length. This size positioned it on the cusp between being classified as a gunboat or a corvette. Manufactured by the Dornean Braha'ket Fleetworks Conglomerate, the gunship had a production cost of 1,400,000 credits and could achieve speeds of 800 kph within a planet's atmosphere. Its design was characterized by a narrow profile, bearing a resemblance to a CR90 corvette. Hazram Namir, a rebel soldier, famously described a Braha'tok as a "mean, compact, dagger of a ship." Furthermore, it featured a durable, silver-plated hull designed to deflect solar radiation. This durability was enhanced by rapid-cycling deflector shield generators, offering protection against rapid-fire weaponry, with the primary generator located dorsally on the gunship's midsection.

The Braha'tok-class gunship had a complement of 70 officers and enlisted crew members, in addition to the capacity to carry 15 passengers. Moreover, it possessed an encumbrance capacity of 300 and sufficient consumables to sustain operations for eight months. Regarding onboard systems, the vessel was equipped with a navigation computer and long-range sensor systems, although it lacked interstellar encryption capabilities. The Braha'tok featured a class 3 primary hyperdrive and a class 15 backup hyperdrive, situated between two of its three sublight engine units at the ship's rear. The command bridge was strategically located within the armored command module constituting the ship's bow.

Braha'tok-class gunships were recognized for their substantial firepower relative to their size, equipped with an armament consisting of eight concussion missile launchers and eight double turbolaser cannons. The gunship's bow featured both dorsal and ventral twin turbolaser cannons, while the vessel's center housed turbolaser cannons on the port, starboard, dorsal, and ventral sides. The final two twin turbolasers were positioned beneath its rear wings. In addition to these armaments, the gunship could deploy flares. Furthermore, the Braha'tok had the capability to carry two starfighters, secured via attachment clips located on the port and starboard sides near the vessel's center. Modifications could enable the gunship to transport additional starfighters and even a small freighter.

The Dornean species designed the Braha'tok-gunships, which became the iconic vessel representing their civilization. They were primarily designed as anti-starfighter platforms, serving as screening vessels to protect larger ships from starfighters and smaller capital ships like corvettes or frigates. Typically deployed in pairs, these gunships were capable of engaging swarms of TIE fighters and posed a threat to small capital ships, although they were not intended for prolonged engagements with larger warships. The Braha'tok-class gunship could also function as a mobile base of operations.

Originally manufactured as patrol ships to safeguard the planet Dornea, the Dornean homeworld, from the Galactic Empire, many Braha'toks were later integrated into the Rebel Alliance and its successor, the New Republic. Within the Alliance Fleet, these gunships continued to serve in anti-starfighter roles, in addition to fast attack, bombardment, screening, and escort duties for larger vessels like CR90 corvettes. Instances of Braha'toks being utilized by pirates were also documented.

Initially, the Braha'tok-class gunship served to defend Dornea and patrol its star system against the Galactic Empire. The Dornean treaty with Senator Mon Mothma's clandestine rebellion, which was later formalized as the Rebel Alliance, led to some of these gunships being incorporated into rebel service during their Galactic Civil War against the Empire. Mon Calamari aides Caitken and Shollan listed these vessels as a significant component of the rebel starship composition—alongside Pelta-class frigates, CR90 corvettes, CR70 corvettes, Sphyrna-class Hammerhead corvettes, and GR-75 medium transports—in a document sent by Admiral Raddus to Mothma following the Blockade of Ibaar, which occurred in 4 BBY.

In 2 BBY, shortly after the Alliance's formal declaration, three Braha'tok-class gunships belonging to the Massassi Group rebel cell, including the Orion, were part of a fleet under the command of General Jan Dodonna. This fleet converged with another rebel cell, Phoenix Cell, above the planet Atollon. These forces gathered in preparation for an attack on the TIE defender factory located on the planet Lothal. However, Imperial forces led by Grand Admiral Thrawn emerged from hyperspace and initiated a blockade of the planet. A battle ensued, and despite the destruction of numerous rebel starships in the initial stages, the three Braha'toks remained intact. As the Alliance's initial tactics proved too costly, Commander Jun Sato of Phoenix Cell ordered the fleet to charge the blockade, positioning the three Braha'toks at the forefront of the assault. Nevertheless, the Imperial-class Star Destroyers thwarted the attack, resulting in the destruction of the Orion by TIE fighters.

With increasing rebel vessel losses to Thrawn's fleet, Sato deliberately crashed his flagship, the Phoenix Nest, into an Interdictor-class heavy cruiser to facilitate the escape of one of his ships to seek assistance from allies. The remaining rebel forces then retreated to Phoenix Cell's base on Atollon's surface after Dodonna's flagship was rendered inoperable. The starships sought refuge under the base's shield, awaiting the arrival of Thrawn's ground forces. Shortly after the Imperial forces overran the base, several rebel vessels, including a Braha'tok-class gunship, managed to escape and ascend to Atollon's orbit in an attempt to circumvent Thrawn's blockade. During this escape attempt, the Braha'tok was lost.

In 1 BBY, Raddus, aboard his flagship, the MC75 Star Cruiser Profundity, assembled vessels of the Alliance Fleet above the moon Yavin 4, where the Alliance's headquarters was situated at the time, in preparation for assisting a rebel attack on the planet Scarif. He dispatched a report to Mothma, informing her of his deployment of Alliance forces, noting an expected fleet composition of two to four Braha'tok-class gunships. Ultimately, at least three Braha'toks accompanied Raddus to Scarif. While some rebel starfighters successfully navigated through Scarif's Shield Gate to support the ground forces, the remaining fleet engaged the pair of Star Destroyers and their TIE fighters above. The Braha'tok-class gunships played a role in combating the TIEs as they maneuvered among the rebel starships.

Once the primary objective was achieved, Raddus ordered the fleet to jump to hyperspace. Although many ships managed to escape, the Star Destroyer Devastator arrived and intercepted the remainder. One Braha'tok-class gunship narrowly avoided a collision with the Star Destroyer but managed to escape shortly thereafter. The Battle of Scarif ultimately proved successful for the Alliance, and following another rebel victory at Yavin, Dornea decided to align itself with the rebel cause, providing additional Braha'tok-class gunships to the Alliance fleet.

During the Galactic Civil War, a rebel Braha'tok-class gunship named the Apailana's Promise, or simply Promise, served as the escort for the CR90 corvette Thunderstrike, the carrier of the Alliance's 61st Mobile Infantry—commonly known as Twilight Company. The gunship transported two X-wing starfighters for the company, and the vessel's crew of several dozen navy veterans collectively owed Twilight Company nearly 50,000 credits.

In 3 ABY, the Promise accompanied Twilight Company to the planet Haidoral Prime, where the company defeated the defending Imperial forces and extracted Governor Everi Chalis, who wished to defect to the company. Three days later, the two ships encountered an Imperial reconnaissance squadron, leading to a brief battle between the opposing sides. The Thunderstrike and Apailana's Promise sustained minor systems damage during the exchange of fire, and the Promise suffered three crew casualties. Days later, the gunship's X-wings assisted Twilight Company during a campaign on the jungle planet Coyerti.

Three days after departing Coyerti, the Thunderstrike and Apailana's Promise were attacked by an Imperial destroyer. The Promise and its X-wings promptly defended the Thunderstrike, facilitating their subsequent escape. The two starships were then ambushed thirty hours later in the Enrivi system by a light cruiser and a TIE fighter squadron. The Thunderstrike and Apailana's Promise neutralized the attackers, and the pair were attacked again nineteen hours later in the Chonsetta system by a squadron of TIE interceptors that had been concealing themselves within a comet trail.

It was soon discovered that the Thunderstrike's hyperdrive was leaking hypermatter, enabling the Empire to track their movements. Captain Micha Evon, the commanding officer of Twilight Company, convened a meeting with the bridge crews of both the Thunderstrike and Apailana's Promise, as well as senior members of the company, to devise a solution. During this meeting, it was decided that Twilight Company would seize supplies from an Imperial cargo transport. Consequently, the Promise accompanied the Thunderstrike to the Redhurne system and concealed itself behind an asteroid belt, a remnant of a former planet, awaiting a suitable target. The two vessels waited for two hours until an Imperial heavy freighter appeared and they ambushed it from both sides.

Outflanked, the freighter opted to veer away from the Promise to avoid the gunship's considerable firepower and head towards the Thunderstrike. The corvette returned fire at the Imperial heavy freighter and launched at least six boarding pods carrying squads of rebel troopers to infiltrate the cargo transport. The Promise repelled the TIE fighters defending the freighter while the Thunderstrike continued to fire upon the transport to keep its crew occupied. When an Imperial Gozanti-class cruiser arrived to reinforce the battle, Evon expedited the withdrawal of the boarding party back to the Thunderstrike. As the two ships jumped out of the system under heavy fire, the Promise lost its deflector shield generator while attempting to shield the Thunderstrike. Nevertheless, the mission was a success, with the required supplies secured.

Having acquired the necessary supplies to repair the Thunderstrike, Evon arranged for the corvette and the Promise to rendezvous with three other battle groups in the Elochar sector, allocating a month for both to undergo repairs while the captain, Chalis, First Sergeant Hazram Namir, and two others visited the Alliance High Command on the planet Hoth. Ten days after the Thunderstrike and Apailana's Promise joined the flotilla, the former took aboard survivors from the light freighter Trumpet's Call after the vessel arrived without functioning life support. However, these survivors were actually Imperial spies. The spies attacked the Thunderstrike's bridge, killing the officers, but not before Lieutenant Sairgon managed to alert the rest of the flotilla. Only the Thunderstrike and Apailana's Promise remained as the other rebel starships fled.

When the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Herald arrived to apprehend Chalis, the Promise, whose crew was unaware of the situation aboard the Thunderstrike, positioned itself between the corvette and the Star Destroyer to protect the former from turbolaser fire. After the spies aboard the Thunderstrike were neutralized, the Promise received new coordinates and followed the corvette into hyperspace.

The Thunderstrike and Apailana's Promise retreated to the planet Ankhural, where the Thunderstrike underwent repairs on the ground while a skeleton crew maintained the Promise in orbit. Namir and Chalis soon arrived with news that Howl and the rest of their group had been killed during an attack on Hoth.

Chalis subsequently proposed a new mission for Twilight Company during a meeting of its senior members. Dubbed Operation Ringbreaker, it aimed to force redeployments from the Kuat Drive Yards by targeting vulnerable Imperial assets along the Rimma Trade Route. [Sharn](/article/sharn], the second-in-command of the Apailana's Promise, represented the gunship during the meeting and pledged the vessel's support for Twilight Company's final decision. A subsequent vote favored Operation Ringbreaker, and the Thunderstrike and Promise soon departed from Ankhural to commence their new mission. Commander Tohna, an officer aboard the Promise, was transferred to the Thunderstrike to assume command of its bridge crew, leaving the gunship with high praise from his colleagues.

During Twilight Company's deployment on the warehouse planet Mardona III as part of Operation Ringbreaker, the Thunderstrike and Promise flew through the atmosphere in close proximity, pursued by hundreds of TIE fighters. Once the company's dropships deployed the troops from the Thunderstrike, the corvette and the Promise departed the system, later returning upon Namir's signal to retrieve the soldiers under the cover of a storm. Following Mardona III, Twilight Company attacked several other Imperial installations before seeking repairs on the junk world Heap Nine. After another successful mission, only the planets Sullust and Malastare remained as targets for Twilight Company before the Kuat driveyards.

The Thunderstrike and Apailana's Promise abruptly exited hyperspace a mere half-million kilometers from Sullust, the abrupt shift in gravity nearly tearing the two ships asunder. Twilight Company was deployed, successfully seizing the Inyusu Tor mineral processing facility. However, upon the arrival of the Thunderstrike and Promise, they encountered a significant number of TIE fighters, with a gunship escorting the corvettes' flanks. Realizing they had stumbled into a squadron of TIE fighters' ambush, the Promise relayed the situation to Namir on the ground, who ordered the ships to retreat. The Thunderstrike, however, plunged toward Sullust and crashed, leaving the Promise and its X-wings to flee the Sullust system.

Now marooned on Sullust, Twilight Company established a defensive perimeter at the Inyusu Tor facility, desperately attempting to contact the Promise to ascertain its location, but they were unable to maintain a stable communications channel for longer than a minute. After Namir went missing in action within the vicinity of the nearby city of Pinyumb, Chalis formulated a strategy to commandeer vessels from the Pinyumb spaceport and escape under the protection of the Promise. Nevertheless, Namir reappeared with Twilight Company, leading to the decision for the company to stay and defend the facility.

The Promise later returned to Sullust, accompanied by its X-wings, creating a diversion for the Herald, which had arrived to eliminate Twilight Company. As the battle raged, Chalis deliberately allowed herself to be captured aboard a stolen shuttle by the Herald, where she detonated approximately twenty Ion bombs, severely crippling the Star Destroyer's power systems and forcing it to retreat from Sullust. By that point, the Promise's laser batteries were depleted, and its deflector shields were overheating.

Sometime after the Battle of Hoth, several Braha'tok-class gunships found themselves stationed at the rebel base located on the planet designated 5251977, coinciding with the arrival of the Mighty Oak Apocalypse's crew, a light freighter, who joined the Alliance. In 4 ABY, the Alliance leadership initiated preparations for an assault on the Empire's second Death Star superweapon, positioned above the forest moon of Endor. Admiral Gial Ackbar began consolidating critical elements of the Alliance Fleet to assemble a formidable attack force, including the Braha'tok in his summary of the Alliance's main fleet structure in an official document to Mothma. Seven of these gunships met with the Alliance Fleet near Sullust as they prepared for the assault, with one flying alongside the MC80 Star Cruiser Home One. The fleet then utilized the Sanctuary Pipeline hyperspace route to attack, where they were quickly confronted by a substantial number of Star Destroyers.

During the engagement, a Braha'tok-class gunship was observed engaging TIE fighters as the YT-1300 light freighter Millennium Falcon flew past. When General Lando Calrissian issued the order for the fleet to engage the Star Destroyers, at least four of the gunships spearheaded the fleet's advance toward the blockade. As the battle reached its conclusion, at least two Braha'toks managed to escape alongside the rest of the fleet, retreating towards Endor and away from the exploding Death Star. Concurrently, Mothma's archivist, Hendri Underholt, had compiled all documents referencing the Braha'tok-class gunship within his archive, known as The Rebel Files. He was killed during a bombardment of the planet Durkteel on the same day as the Battle of Endor, resulting in The Rebel Files being buried.

In 5 ABY, the Alliance, now reformed as the New Republic, attacked the Empire on the planet Jakku. The Apailana's Promise was among the New Republic's fleet, assisting the refitted New Republic Star Destroyer Deliverance in monitoring the Empire's 204th Imperial Fighter Wing, more commonly known as Shadow Wing. The Promise reported no sightings of the fighter wing's flagship, the bulk freighter Yadeez, and General Hera Syndulla was informed of the report aboard the Deliverance. The New Republic ultimately emerged victorious in the battle, marking the end of the Galactic Civil War.

In the years following the Galactic Civil War, Braha'tok-class gunships continued to be utilized by the Dorneans for the defense of Dornea. By this time, the gunships had also found use among pirates operating in the Outer Rim Territories, with at least one captain employing one to raid local shipping routes. A Braha'tok-class gunship was stationed at the Outer Rim pirate spaceport of Borgo Prime circa 9 ABY, coinciding with the arrival of the pirate ship Onyx Cinder for repairs.

In 34 ABY, The Rebel Files were unearthed during an excavation and made their way to the Resistance, a private military organization with roots in the Alliance, established to oppose the Empire's successor, the First Order. Numerous Resistance officers, including veterans of the Alliance, examined the documentation. Within the documentation pertaining to the Braha'tok, Admiral Ushos O. Statura inquired about the current users of the gunship in an annotation. Ackbar responded by noting that Dornea still employed them.

In 35 ABY, Calrissian and Chewbacca journeyed to the Core Worlds to gather any available starships to aid the Resistance, who were fighting against Darth Sidious and the Sith Eternal on the planet Exegol. At least four Braha'tok-class gunships joined the expansive Citizens' Fleet that answered their call, traveling to Exegol to engage the Sith Eternal's fleet, the Final Order. Despite the fleet's success in destroying numerous Xyston-class Star Destroyers, Darth Sidious unleashed Force lightning upon the starships, disabling them. One Braha'tok was flying in proximity to General Poe Dameron's T-70 X-wing starfighter when both were incapacitated. However, the fleet regained power and resumed fighting after Sidious was distracted and ultimately killed by his granddaughter Rey Skywalker. Following their victory, the fleet proceeded to the Resistance's base on the jungle moon of Ajan Kloss for the victory celebrations.

The starship that would later be known as the Braha'tok-class gunship made its initial appearance as a background vessel in the 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, the third installment of the Star Wars original trilogy, directed by Richard Marquand. Its names, Braha'tok-class gunship and Dornean gunship, originated within the Star Wars Legends continuity through the original StarWars.com Databank on August 31, 2006.

Within canon continuity, the designation Dornean gunship was first mentioned in the 2015 novel Lost Stars, penned by Claudia Gray, although it was not explicitly linked to the starship featured in Return of the Jedi. However, the background ship resurfaced in Gareth Edwards' 2016 anthology film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and the Dornean gunship was referenced in Pablo Hidalgo's visual guide for the film, released concurrently. Hidalgo subsequently identified the background ship as the Dornean gunship in "Rogue One Secrets," an episode of The Star Wars Show uploaded to YouTube in early 2017, thereby confirming that, within the canon continuity, the two were indeed the same starship. The name Braha'tok-class gunship was reintroduced into canon through the 2017 reference book and box set Star Wars: The Rebel Files, authored by Daniel Wallace.

The initial model of the Braha'tok-class gunship was conceived by Industrial Light & Magic model maker Bill George for Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi after art director Joe Johnston tasked him with creating a background starship for the film. Constrained by time, George dedicated as little as two days to designing the ship, primarily through kitbashing, constructing the main body from a very thin vacuformed fuselage sourced from an item on his kit wall. Due to the model's thinness, George reinforced it by filling it with urethane, which rendered the object exceptionally heavy for its dimensions. The completed design was designated "ROJ BG ship," an abbreviation for either 'Return of the Jedi background ship' or 'Return of the Jedi Bill George ship'.

Upon its initial presentation to Johnston, the ROJ BG ship was met with disapproval, with Johnston remarking that it resembled a starship from the Battlestar Galactica franchise. Consequently, the ship had a minimal presence in the final film. Nevertheless, fans took notice of the obscure background ship, and, according to Pablo Hidalgo, it gained recognition, earning the moniker "the Y-head corvette." The model of the gunship was archived in the Lucasfilm Archives, while black and white reference photographs were stored in Lucasfilm's image unit. In 2003, Hidalgo, while researching the "cantina aliens," discovered the photos in a manila folder within a filing cabinet. He elected to post the reference images on StarWars.com's member-exclusive Hyperspace feature Photoreceptor on June 6 of that year.

Approximately three years later, the StarWars.com member "Ello137" authored a fan entry for the Braha'tok-class gunship, introducing its in-universe model names and backstory for the first time. Submitted to the forty-eighth contest of the Hyperspace feature "What's The Story?," the entry emerged victorious and became the Databank entry for the "Dornean gunship." Ello137 viewed the competition as an opportunity to connect obscure elements of the Expanded Universe with obscure details from the movies. The user conceived the names Braha'tok and Torktarak as gunships of the class, envisioning them as mythical Dornean names.

The Braha'tok-class gunship experienced a resurgence when its own animation model was ultimately created for the television show Star Wars Rebels' season three finale, "Zero Hour," which was directed by Justin Ridge and premiered on March 25, 2017. The animation model was also adapted into a photo-realistic version for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Hidalgo later disclosed details regarding the Braha'tok's behind-the-scenes history in "Rogue One Secrets" and "Animated Origins and Unexpected Fates," a panel featured at Celebration Orlando in 2017.

The Braha'tok was also integrated into a depiction of a Corellian spaceport, positioned above a landing area, in concept art for Ron Howard's 2018 film Solo: A Star Wars Story. In 2020, the Braha'tok-class gunship was incorporated into the JOYMAX mobile game Star Wars: Starfighter Missions. The gunship served as the adversary in one of the missions of the Empire faction, engaged in combat above the gas giant of Bespin, with the objective being the vessel's destruction. During the mission, the Braha'tok would launch concussion missiles that maintained a straight trajectory or eventually broke into bi-directional curved arcs, while the turbolasers fired slower-moving explosive particles that partially dispersed before detonating. The Braha'tok-class gunship could be destroyed by sequentially disabling its weapons before targeting its engines and ultimately destroying the gunship.

Star Wars: The Rebel Files and DK Publishing's 2018 reference book Star Wars Encyclopedia of Starfighters and Other Vehicles, authored by Landry Q. Walker, assert that the crew complement of the Braha'tok-class gunship is 75, whereas the 2018 and 2020 Fantasy Flight Games roleplaying game sourcebooks Knights of Fate and Starships and Speeders specify it as 70. Star Wars Encyclopedia of Starfighters and Other Vehicles indicates the gunships hyperdrive rating to be class 1, but Knights of Fate and Starship and Speeders contradict this, assigning it a class 3 rating. This article adopts the information from Knights of Fate and Starships and Speeders as the more recent sources.

The armament of the Braha'tok-class gunship as described in Knights of Fate and Starships and Speeders—two proton torpedo launchers, four concussion missile launchers, two twin light turbolaser cannons, and eight quad laser cannons—also conflicts with Encyclopedia of Starfighters and Other Vehicles and DK Publishing's 2019 reference book Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition, both of which claim the armament consists of eight concussion missile launchers and eight turbolasers. Star Wars: The Rebel Files and The Art of Star Wars Rebels, the book of concept art for Star Wars Rebels authored by Daniel Wallace and released in 2020, also state that the armament comprises concussion missile launchers and turbolasers. This article prioritizes the information on the armament provided by Encyclopedia of Starfighters and Other Vehicles and Ultimate Star Wars: New Edition.

The Art of Star Wars Rebels asserts that starfighters could dock within a hangar in the Braha'tok-class gunship, whereas numerous other sources, including Rebel Files, Encyclopedia of Starfighters and Other Vehicles, Knights of Fate, Starships and Speeders, and Alexander Freed's 2015 novel Battlefront: Twilight Company, contend that the gunship carries the fighters on its undercarriage. Encyclopedia of Starfighters and Other Vehicles further clarifies that the Braha'tok possesses attachment clips for carrying the starfighters. This article disregards the information presented in The Art of Star Wars Rebels in this instance.