K9 Canine starfighter

Canine

The Canine was a standard-issue starfighter class ship of the Greater Commonwealth.

Controlled by a pilot and co-pilot aided by a weak AI, with an efficient, durable and lightweight design and a variety of armament options, the K9 saw action in almost every major conflict of the era.

The name of the ship was a result of the often underestimated process of free, alcohol-induced brainstorming. Dacre Areonautics and Space Corporation (DASC), the manufacturer of the ship, introduced K9 as a successor to the K8 Firecat. Since the name K9 already had a long history in the police forces of old Terra, DASC wanted the new name to be both original, yet evocative of the old police units. A committee of media consultants, PR experts and creatives was formed with the sole task of coming up with such a name.

Three months and several hundred thousand golden credits later, the Board of directors called an emergency meeting to finally put an end to the search. The committee members were told not to leave unless a name has been agreed on. Food and drinks were on hand. According to historic records, a delivery of wine much improved the mood  at the meeting and at some point, somebody suggested that “K9 Canine” would be a fun name. The idea quickly became popular with the rest of the committee. An email was hastily drafted and sent to the Board.

Unexpectedly, the Board also had a team building event at the same time and the mood was apparently similarly festive. As a result, they summarily approved the email with Marketing in cc.

The morning after, over a fresh cup of Alca-Seltzer, both the Board and the Committee members discovered the groan-inducing headlines:

“K9 Canine ready to dogfight”
“The new dog of war: the K9 Canine”
“This bitch bites! K9 Canine bares its teeth!”,

But by then it was too late. The K9 Canine was born.

The ship itself was an amazing success. Thanks to the clever wing design, it was possible to transport it even on smaller carrier ships in significant numbers. The ship had a very low mechanical and software failure rate, acquiring a great reputation for reliability.

The weapon systems were flexible, with the same K9 often switching between light bomber and dog-fighter configurations from mission to mission. In addition, DASC offered scout (with additional fuel containers),  police and customs variants (with enhanced scanning abilities), as well as a civilian model aimed at corporations and universities mostly for scientific research.

“K9 Canine was later replaced by the K10 Kayten, getting rid of that ridiculous name once and for all.”

– “Military anecdotes” by Pierre Delaford

Notes

  • this is an alternate build for the Super Soarer – I really liked the challenge of building with a limited set of bricks, like I did for Volksraumschiffe Dragonfly, and wanted to try it with a smaller set
  • a single hinge is all that holds the wings. I tried to make them as light as possible and they do hold pretty well with new bricks. Your mileage might vary though.
  • I am thinking of returning to this one in the future and rebuilding it without the “single set” limit.

Building instructions

Canine building instructions