The Mark IX Hawk was a space fighter craft developed to replace the SHADO Interceptor.
History[]
The Mark Nine Hawk is a small, medium-to-long range fighter craft developed as a deterrent to possible alien attack. There was need for such a spacecraft during the UFO offensive of the mid 1980's, when Earth's main line of defence consisted of compact one man fighters operated from the lunar base of Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization (SHADO), which is now part of Moonbase Alpha.
It became increasingly apparent that such a short-range craft would be inadequate in the event of a massive concentrated attack, and plans for a larger and more heavily armed fighter were drafted. This new attack craft, the Mark IX Hawk, was tested successfully in 1996, and eight such vessels were commissioned by the Global Defense Command in 1997. To cut launch time to the barest minimum, the eight hawks were maintained aboard the Centuri space dock, which was positioned between the Earth and the Moon.
Shortly after the Hawk support base on the space dock was completed, the UFO attacks mysteriously stopped. After two years of silence, in mid 1999, the plans for a Hawk support base on Moonbase Alpha were scrapped, and the International Lunar Commission began to imply that the Mark IX Hawk, which had never been used against a UFO attack, was a gross waste of limited funds. Plans were made to disassemble at least half of the fleet and utilize their components for other craft. It seemed that the aliens who had been attacking Earth for so long had given up, but, for whatever reason, the remaining Hawks were destroyed on September 13, 1999, when the Centuri blew up during the breakaway of the Moon.
The Mark IX Hawk is essentially a two man cockpit and life support system mounted on a single fusion engine and fuel tank. Strap on boosters provide acceleration of up to 20g, and dual weapon pods house computer targeted laser batteries, 16 independently activated missile silos, and two self guiding torpedoes housing fusion warheads. All weapons are operated manually by a gunner, or are programmed to follow a predetermined attack plan. In an emergency, the weapons pods and and engine assembly can be jettisoned and the command module can be used as a lifeboat.[N 2]