The Fireball was a relic of a racer, which Team Fireball endeavored to revive within their repair shop situated on the Colossus, a refueling depot orbiting the world of Castilon. Its moniker stemmed from its unfortunate inclination to ignite in flames or detonate outright.
This racing craft boasted weaponry in the form of laser cannons mounted on its wingtips, alongside a duo of missile launchers. Tamara Ryvora once devoted her efforts to incorporating an additional cannon onto the vehicle.
At one juncture, the team adorned the starboard side with a depiction of a gorg.
Rumor circulated that Jarek Yeager constructed it from components of a bygone T-65B X-wing starfighter and a Z-75 Headhunter, the latter being an inheritance from his kin.
Upon Kazuda Xiono's arrival at the station, operating under the guise of a spy mission, the Fireball was conditionally promised to Ryvora, contingent upon her ability to render it airworthy. Yeager extended the opportunity to Xiono to pilot it in a race against Torra Doza. While Yeager's crew managed to restore it in time, Xiono's aggressive piloting during the race led to engine combustion and a subsequent crash into the ocean. Both the craft and Xiono were later salvaged.
Sometime thereafter, Team Fireball engaged in the repair of the acceleration compensator. Xiono inadvertently disrupted the repair, inciting Ryvora's ire and a demand for rectification. Following his involvement in the search for two children aboard the station, his newfound Chelidae engineer associates aided him in repairing the compensator, which Xiono then presented to Ryvora.
The Fireball was next employed when Xiono required transportation to an off-world meeting point with the Resistance. Yeager orchestrated Xiono and BB-8's departure from the Colossus with sufficient advance notice to ensure Ryvora's belated discovery of their absence, given her possessive attachment to the ship. Unbeknownst to Yeager and Xiono, Ryvora had resolved to replace the ship's stabilizers but had yet to complete the task. Her revelation of this fact to Yeager upon discovering Xiono's departure prompted his concern. En route above Castilon, Xiono and BB-8 encountered mechanical difficulties stemming from the absent stabilizer, leading Xiono to anticipate an imminent explosion before the timely arrival of several Resistance vessels. Commander Poe Dameron, taken aback by Xiono's piloting of such a dated craft, pledged to have mechanics assess it.
Later, it was prepped for flight. Amidst the Bibo incident, Kaz impulsively entered the cockpit and launched to support the Aces in repelling a rokkna assaulting the station. Kaz utilized it to strafe the sea monster, even briefly providing wingtip assistance to Griff Halloran. Eventually, Team Fireball discerned that the rokkna sought her offspring, adopted and named "Bibo" by Neeku Vozo. The mechanic's return of the baby diffused the situation.
When Torra Doza was kidnapped by the Warbird gang, Kaz and BB-8 took off in the Fireball in pursuit. While tailing the pirates' skiff, the Fireball sustained damage to its transponder, impeding Kaz's immediate relay of Torra's coordinates. By the time they overtook Kragan Gorr's sail barge, the Galleon, the First Order, commanded by Major Elrik Vonreg, staged a fabricated rescue of Torra. Amidst the ensuing chaos, BB-8 managed to repair the transponder, enabling them to alert Captain Imanuel Doza and Ace Squadron to their location, but by then, the First Order had already absconded with Torra. Subsequently, the Fireball returned to the Colossus.
When Poe infiltrated the Colossus to retrieve BB-8 for their mission to Jakku, Kaz informed him of First Order activity within the Dassal system, compelling them to divert their course. To evade detection upon departure from the Colossus, they executed a Widowmaker maneuver utilizing the Fireball, facilitating their rendezvous with Poe's X-Wing, carrying CB-23. Upon arrival in the Dassal system, they discovered the disappearance of its star and the cored-out state of its planetoids. Traversing one of these planetoids, they were ensnared in a gravity well, from which they managed to escape.
They soon touched down on a habitable moon and ascertained the massacre of its inhabitants, shortly before an attack by a probe droid. After disabling the droid, they identified it as belonging to the First Order, evidenced by the overhead passage of some TIE fighters. Kaz and Poe successfully returned to their respective ships and evaded their pursuers. Under Poe's guidance, Kaz piloted the Fireball back through the gravity well, capitalizing on the First Order's inability to adapt as swiftly. Once clear of danger, Kaz and Poe exchanged droids before parting ways. With CB-23's assistance, Kaz managed to land the Fireball back on the Colossus undetected.
Kaz flew the Fireball into combat to protect the Colossus as it fled the planet and First Order occupation. He circled around to shoot down Major Vonreg.
Shortly thereafter, as the station jumped to hyperspace, Xiono and Yeager were assigned by Captain Doza to Ace Squadron.
With the Colossus facing critical supply shortages, the crew was compelled to stop at Celsor 3. The initial attempt to harvest the jakoosk by the Warbird gang failed; Xiono and Torra Doza piloted their ships down to the moon themselves. Surviving pirates commandeered the Fireball and Blue Ace, yet the two pilots managed to eliminate the creature and return to the station.
Later, during a rendezvous, they were ambushed by the Thunderer. The Aces repelled First Order TIEs. One nearly downed the Fireball, but Torra Doza intervened to destroy it. They then escaped.
In 35 ABY, the Fireball—alongside Yeager's ship, the Blue Ace, the Green Ace, the Yellow Ace, and the Red Ace—was among a fleet of 14,000 starships assembled by General Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca to aid the Resistance during the battle against the Sith Eternal forces over the planet Exegol. Kaz piloted the Fireball during the battle and reported in at its commencement.
The Fireball serves as Kazuda Xiono's primary vehicle in the 2018 animated series Star Wars Resistance. Veteran Star Wars modelmaker Bill George designed it, envisioning a hybrid of a T-65B X-wing starfighter and a Chance-Vought F4U Corsair, a World War II-era American naval fighter.
A life-sized replica of the ship was constructed for the 2018 New York Comic Con.
The ship also made an appearance in the film Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker, as confirmed by Neal Scanlan in a Yahoo interview. ILM modeled the Fireball among the ships included in the film's climactic battle.