“At 2:05, the signal from Recon #16 at Polneye abruptly terminated, the tracking feed freezing with only 42% of the planet scanned. Moments later, Recon #19 at Morning Bell and Recon #5 at Tizon also went dead.
The losses did not stop there. All over the wall, the individual feeds for each scout went out one by one. Within a few minutes, two full squadrons of the New Republic’s 21st Recon Group was wiped out. No Recon X-wing managed to scan more than three-fourths of a Duskan League world before being destroyed.
On Coruscant, the entire War Hall was hushed. All eyes turned from the frozen images on the wall to the woman standing alone in the center of the room. Chief of State Leia Organa-Solo spoke quietly as she struggled to contain her emotion.
“Controller, show the pilots’ visual IDs on the screen while we analyze the data. I want to see the faces of the people who sacrificed their lives just now.”
TrendingTears formed in Leia’s eyes as one by one, the faces of fifteen New Republic pilots replaced the static. After a moment, she walked out.”
“Shield of Lies”,
Book II of the Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy
The Black Fleet Crisis was a disaster for the fledgling New Republic. War had not yet begun, yet they had already lost 15 pilots to the enemy. Worse yet, a short time later the New Republic Fifth Battle Group would be defeated and Han Solo himself captured by the Yevethans.
The war left a deep impact on Han. He saw how reconnaissance pilots sacrificed their lives to gain valuable intelligence, and how their deaths greatly affected his wife. After he was rescued from the Yevethans, Han resolved to do something about it.
He started by talking with the best of Incom Corporation’s designers and engineers. Is there some way they could improve the Recon X-wing to make it faster, less detectable, and increase the pilot’s chances of survival?
As it happens, Incom had been working on a black project to replace the Recon-X with an entirely new ship. But it was shelved due to lack of interest from the New Republic. Han kickstarted the project again. For months, he and Chewie worked long nights alongside Incom engineers on the sole prototype.
This resulted in the T-71, a next-generation recon platform.
Luke’s battered X-wing next to the T-71 prototype
Unlike the Recon-X that was merely a modified T-65 X-wing, the T-71 was designed from the ground up to be a reconnaissance and intelligence snoop. To do this, it used absolute speed. One of the pitfalls of the original project was the inability to mask the T-71 from the enemy. Han took a different approach: instead of stealth he went for all-out speed.
The ship was stripped of everything except the pilot, the sensor package, and 4 highly modified sublight engines. Two primary engines came from the A-wing, while two secondary thrusters came from the X-wing. To further reduce mass, the back panels were removed. This also allowed the ship to bleed off heat off faster during its top-speed runs.
Han worked tirelessly with Incom techs and engineers, sometimes using his own credits to fund development work.
This resulted in the fastest sublight speeds on galactic record. The T-71 could outrun turbolaser bolts, missiles, and ion cannon blasts. When faced with trouble, the pilot simply accelerated.
Even though the ship had no room for weapons or even defensive systems, its phenomenal speed was enough to accomplish the mission. A Recon-X on an intel mission had to use stealth and radical maneuvers to evade defensive fire from its target. The T-71 simply flew right over it at full speed before it could even be tracked. As Han remarked, “It’s basically a hot rod with a holocam and wings. But it’s a damn good one.”
The T-71 didn’t even have a life support system. Pilots had to wear full environmental space suits, compared to the open flight suits worn by X-wing pilots.
At full acceleration, it could outrun Star Destroyer turbolaser fire during an intel pass.
Opposition senator Borsk Fey’lya discovered the black project. In a highly publicized press conference above Coruscant, he criticized Leia’s government for “squandering valuable resources on a useless project run by a scruffy nerfherder.” The event was disrupted by a T-71 performing multiple passes over the assembled press, before landing right in the middle of the conference.
Han emerged from the cockpit and faced the astonished crowd. “This useless project is fast enough to leave black burns on Imperial hulls before they even know it’s there. I’d say saving pilot’s lives is more important than counting credits, Senator. “
After climbing down from the cockpit, Han turned to the reporters. “But what do I know, I’m just a scruffy nerfherder.”
The iconic moment was captured on the holonet. Borsk’s conference backfired as thousands of volunteers from dozens of worlds signed up to join the New Republic pilot corps. Han later thanked Borsk for being “our biggest recruiter and cheerleader.”
From then on, the T-71 became known as the Black Burn. The crack Incom team that worked on the project also turned Borsk’s nerfherder comment into a badge of pride. They became known as the Incom Nerfworks.
After Senator Fey’lya’s untimely reveal of the Black Burn, Incom featured it prominently in their marketing. Among its fans was a young Poe Dameron, who later copied its color scheme for his T-70 X-wing.
Where to Buy
This is actually the XL-01 ship from Lightyear Hyperspeed. It’s down to $8 on Amazon, or $9 when bundled as a two-pack with the XL-15 ship. They come with a pilot figure and firing cannon.
Form your own T-71 squadron today before they run out!
Before and after
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