Blade

The Vanduul Blade (UEE designation) is a light fighter with high maneuverability that is often used as scouts and first wave assault crafts. With over a quarter-millennia of recorded encounters, it is both one of the first of the species’ spacecraft encountered by the United Empire of Earth and one of the most common. Over the decade of conflict, it has been increasingly used to take out comm arrays and early warning systems. It has also served well as skirmisher units due to their speed allowing them to chase down any ships attempting to flee the area.

History
The Blade was first sighted in 2681-09-15 in Orion while its attack on a cargo ship. Earlier models of the Blade took part in the first raids on Human colonies in the same system. Although aspects of the design have been upgraded over the decades (and like all Vanduul ships, vary slightly from clan to clan) the modern variant has retained an extremely similar silhouette with improved control surfaces and more modern weapons attachment points. Tens of thousands of individual Blades have been destroyed over more than two centuries, and countless others have been tracked by Naval intelligence.

While the Blade’s more advanced cousins, the Scythe and its offshoots, have become iconic symbols of present-day Vanduul terror, the light fighter remains a hugely important supporting element of the Vanduul frontline fleet. The most notable feature of the Blade is its shifting wingspan, which ‘cuts’ between a streamlined travel mode and a more expansive battle mode. When in travel mode, the Blade lacks significant offensive punch but improves its direct speed and maneuverability; when in attack mode, the pilot has access to three forward-firing gun positions and a pair of missile racks.