Morningstar heavy fighter
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The (fictional) Morningstar heavy fighter is a spacecraft in the Wing Commander science fiction computer game universe.
Developed not long before the Battle of Earth, the Morningstar had little chance to make a name for itself before being replaced by the next generation of fighters. However, it was the equivalent of the Excalibur heavy fighter for the 2660s. Fast, dangerous and sexy, the Morningstar carried three particle cannon, shields and armor 50% stronger than that of the Sabre heavy fighter, an equivalent cruising speed and jump drive, and the Confederation's newest munition--a "Mace" unguided tactical nuclear missile. The Mace was an unguided munition, but hardly a dumb-fire: if the pilot held down the "fire missile" trigger after firing, the Mace would detonate when he released it.
A squadron of Morningstars, flown by the Wild Eagles testing squadron under Maj. Todd "Maniac" Marshall, came aboard the TCS Concordia during 2667. The plane was top-secret, to the point of including a self-destruct device to avoid capture--especially as the jump drive was notoriously finicky and prone to failure. Unfortunately, one was captured, but not by a Kilrathi: a member of the secret "Mandarin" organization, a group of treasonous humans in league with the Kilrathi, had managed to work her way into the Wild Eagles squadron. Captain Maria "Minx" Grimaldi hijacked her Morningstar and fled to the Mandarins' headquarters at Ayer's Rock. Fortunately, the Concordia's flight group commander, Col. Christopher "Maverick" Blair, was on hand; he and Marshall shot down her captured ship, destroyed the Mandarin base with a Mace missile, and left Grimaldi herself floating in space, dying of radiation poisoning.
The Morningstar is, of course, named after a medieval morning star melee weapon, which is itself a variant on the mace. Curiously, the real-world prototype Russian aircraft Mikoyan Project 1.44 (sometimes called the MiG-35) resembles the Morningstar in design, lacking only a third engine and a nuclear weapon.
