Fighting Mongoose

The FAC Fighting Mongoose is a Fast Attack Corvette that, as of the 74^th Solar Century, is in service to the Space Exploration Consortium (S.Ex Con) of the Free Worlds Alliance and is flagged and registered under the planet Wolf’s Head.

Fighting Mongoose was constructed at the Wolverine Shipyards on the Wolverine moon of Wolf’s Head and launched in the Solar Year 7364. Its design was based on FAC Specifications developed by Sapphire’s Cloudbuster Corporation.

The ship is ~300 meters long and weighs 60,000 tons.

Crew[]

“We’re the baddest motherjankers alive. We drink more, fight harder, and jank harder than any other race in the galaxy, am I right?” - Captain Woden

Fighting Mongoose carries a crew of 120-150 depending on how many casualties it has suffered recently. Most of the crew are from Wolf’s Head (Wolverines, they like to be called), but as the Captain is free acquire crew at his discretion, almost a third of the crew comes from other worlds, including Boon, Bella la Cava, Furlong, Gander, Guelph, Aneirin and Sapphire. These people come from a number of colonies, as the crew recruits at colonies and space stations it pays call on when it has space to fill. The entire crew is cross-trained; any one on the crew is proficient in at least functional roles (e.g. helm – weapons – cooking). As of 7381, it was commanded by Commander Erik Woden and his Executive Officer, TyroCommander Philip John Miller Redfire. It has a Memn Navigator named Oscar.

Selected Crewmembers, some of whom are actually referenced in-series[]

Commander Erik Woden – Wolf’s Head Colony – A tough old bastard who has gotten his crew out of many a scrape and has the scars to show it, on the inside and the outside.
Tactical Chief Phil Redfire – Sapphire Colony – Recruited by Captain Woden from Pegasus, an amnesiac who left his memories behind on a planet thousands of light years away.
Oscar – Navigator – Memn species – The ship’s navigator is big squishy telepathic jellyfish.
Nerrik – Crewman – Manitou Colony – A young boy abandoned by his people, adopted by the crew, just trying to learn to fit in and find his way and all that; only about 1/100,000,000^th as annoying as Wesley Crusher.
Tru Amberlamps – Assistant Chief Engineer – Aneirin Colony – A woman in a girl’s body with a chip on her shoulder and something to prove.
Maylene Dorn – Specialist/Helmsman/Systems Officer – Boon Colony – A woman with a past she would rather forget and a future that somehow involves dragons
Monica Reyes – Specialist-Telepath – Bella La Cava colony – A beautiful woman with a distinct weird-girl vibe, a sensitive telepath whose mind is constantly intruded by the thoughts of those around her.
Nero Tanaka – Fighter/Junior Tactical Officer – Wolf’s Head Colony – A young tactical officer with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove.
Connor Blue– Specialist/Helm/Pilot – Wolf’s Head Colony – A loudmouth whose mouth begs to be punched, redeemed, of course by being maybe the best pilot on the ship, but also possibly not. Needs to be taken down a notch every once in a while.
Dante Colt – Fighter/Ground Vehicle Specialist/Weapons Technician– Wolf’s Head Colony -- Descended from a long line of swordsman and weaponsmiths, an indispensable man to have in the danger zone, in his off-hours, a philosopher and collector of the stories and mythologies of the worlds they visit.
Brink Holland – Specialist/Medtech/Biologist – Bella La Cava Colony – Fighting Mongoose is frequently without a doctor, the big dopey avuncular kid with red hair halfway to his waist is the next best thing.
Dacia Roswell – Specialist/Communications/Logistics/Sensor Systems – Furlong Colony – A very sensible woman forced to contend with a most unsensible crew; often threatens to leave but never quite does, for reasons not entirely clear.
Natan Krull – Chief Engineer – Wolf’s Head Colony – He keeps the ship flying, so who cares how much he drinks.
Faritirikka “Fred” Eiland – Crewman/Fighter/Scientist – Wolf’s Head Colony – A formidable woman with a quiet authority about her that makes her quiet suggestion more compelling than a shouted order.
Jason Kantara – Crewman/Flight Technician/Pilot – Wolf’s Head Colony – As comfortable taking apart an engine or troubleshooting a control system, not a flashy pilot, but he gets the job done, also notoriously shy around women.
Handsome Lars – Weapons Officer/Field Equipment and Weapons – Furlong Colony – Unlike some of the others in the crew, he has no chips on his shoulder and nothing to prove. Maybe he has a cybernetic arm. That would be kind of cool.
McKee "Wood" Brown – Boon Colony – Technician/Structural Engineer – A rather husky, chunky, well-upholstered, well-rounded individual; a very good engineer, so, naturally, a socially awkward individual, but generally a good egg… and rather egg-shaped, as it happens.
Jules Winchester Hubris -- Ship's Physician, on temporary assignment from the Defender Ship Axiom of Force.

Propulsion[]

In normal space, Fighting Mongoose is propelled by three Graviton Engines located in its tailfins, powered by a Quantum Reactor in the ship’s engineering section.

In Hyperspace, the ship projects a Limited Planar Graviton Field (Hyperdimensional Sail) that carries the ship with the flow of H-Tachyons at multiples of the speed of light.

The ship has ion-powered thrusters for conventional maneuvering.

Armament[]

Fast Attack Corvettes were designed and built during the war as fast, highly maneuverable, and if necessary, expendable, gunships.

The ship is built around a powerful anti-proton gun aligned with the keel. It also carries missiles and ion cannons for close defense.

Missions[]

Fighting Mongoose’s primary mission was an advance scout ship, sent to explore and make contact with lost colonies in advance of larger parties of Explorer and Defender ships. [The following Missions are referenced in Book 11: Charlemagne]

Circinus Sector – Fighting Mongoose had complete a two year exploratory mission in the Circinus Sector before proceeding to Charlemagne Station.
K527 – Fighting Mongoose paid a port-call here before proceeding to Charlemagne Starlock.

Manitou – Fighting Mongoose found Manitou a human colony devastated by a highly contagious disease that turned people into violent, raging maniacs. Six of the ten crewmen who went to the surface died or became infected, but a boy named Nerrik, who was immune to the disease, was rescued. The planet was subsequently quarantined by the Free Worlds Alliance and the New Commonwealth.

'Rosetta Colony' – Rosetta was founded by a group of pacifists and philosophers who fled the Orion Quadrant during the Eighth Crusade. Fighting Mongoose found the planet divided between two brutal, totalitarian regimes who had been at war for over a thousand years. Half the planet was a radioactive wasteland. The inhabitants fired over a hundred missiles at Fighting Mongoose, which took minor damage but completed the Survey.
Fighting Mongoose re-charted five previously lost colonies in the Pavo Sector.

'Paraíso Colony' – Fighting Mongoose recharted this colony, which could be considered a paradise planet; warm suns, crystalline seas, gold sand beaches. They have this custom of letting visitors choose a nubile youth for their pleasure during their visit. 16 of the crew remained behind when Fighting Mongoose left.
Fighting Mongoose fought against an Aurelian Battle Fleet to cover the escape of the Fleet of Orion from Charlemagne Starlock, taking severe damage. Fighting Mongoose became part of the Fleet of Orion when it traveled on to Earth.