Millennium Falcon This Corellian stock light freighter may look like 'a piece of junk,' as Luke Skywalker called it when he first saw the ship, but the Falcon is one of the fastest, best-equipped crafts in the galaxy - when some malfunction or other isn't giving its crew headaches. For years, that crew has consisted of daredevil pilot and smuggler-turned-Rebel Alliance-hero Han Solo and his trusty Wookiee co-pilot and engineer, Chewbacca. The Millennium Falcon may appear old and battered, but constant modifications make it something special. Intimately involved in the destruction of both of the Empire's Death Star battle stations, it's probably the most famous ship in the galaxy. The Falcon apparently had a number of owners before it fell into the hands of roguish gambler Lando Calrissian, who then lost it in a Sabacc game to Solo. (He actually won it back twice but eventually returned it the ship to Solo.) The exterior of the ship is left dilapidated deliberatly - its appearence helped Calrissian and Solo aviod both Imperials and Customs officials on their frequent smuggling runs. But beneath th eskin of the Corellian Engineering YT-1300 transport beats the heart of a taopari. Inside the twenty-seven-metre-long ship has a hyperdrive nearly twice the fast as any Imperial warship's - although both it and the sublight engines can be very finicky due to all the modifications they've undergone. The well-armored Falcon has a top-notch (if illegal) sensor-suite array to detect distant Imperial ships before they notice the Falcon. There are shielded smuggling compartments throughout the interior. For combat, the ship sports a top-of-the-line Imperial deflector shield system, two qual laser cannons, and two concussion missle launchers, along with a retractable light laser cannon. But its speed - which lets Solo get under way and leave the scene at an incredible speed - and its agility, often make the weapons' use unnecessary. |
