Fortressa

Originally a Lucrehulk-class LH-3210 cargo freighter from Hoersch-Kessel Drive, Inc., the Fortressa was transformed into a battleship by the Trade Federation megacorporation as part of their military expansion. Despite its classification as a Star Destroyer, the Fortressa differed significantly from the Anaxes War College System definition, which specified lengths between 1,000 and 2,000 meters. The Fortressa was approximately three kilometers in diameter, with dimensions of 3,356.9 meters in length, 3,009 meters in width, and 1,028.77 meters in height. Lucrehulk-class vessels had a distinctive ring-shaped design with a gap at the front leading to two truncated prongs containing vast hangars and cargo bays. A spherical command section was positioned at the ring's center, connected by a rear spar. The reactor core resided within the command sphere, while the engines were located at the ship's rear. By 0 BBY, the Fortressa served as a starfighter carrier for the Alliance to Restore the Republic, accommodating five hundred T-65 X-wing starfighters in its hangars.

Initially built as a cargo freighter for the Trade Federation, the Fortressa was repurposed into a warship after the megacorporation secured approval from the Galactic Senate to establish a military force for enhanced convoy protection. The Fortressa underwent upgrades, joining the ranks of what became known as Lucrehulk-class battleships. During the Clone Wars from 22 BBY to 19 BBY between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the Fortressa served within the Confederate Navy as the Trade Federation had pledged its allegiance to the Confederacy. The conflict concluded with the implementation of Order 66, a contingency order mandating the termination of the Republic's Jedi commanders if they were deemed a threat, and the execution of the Separatist Council on Mustafar. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine then declared the Republic's transformation into the Galactic Empire, with himself as Galactic Emperor. The Empire nationalized the Trade Federation and sold off its fleet of Lucrehulks, including converted battleships like the Fortressa that had survived the war.

While most Lucrehulks were sold to commercial entities, the Alliance to Restore the Republic, a resistance movement against the Empire, acquired the Fortressa. It functioned as a starfighter carrier, housing five hundred X-wing starfighters. Although the early Alliance Fleet depended heavily on starfighter operations, Chief of State Mon Mothma insisted on establishing a naval battle line, with the Fortressa serving as an anchor alongside the Mon Calamari flagship Independence and the modified Providence-class carrier/destroyer Rebel One.

In 0 BBY, the Alliance discovered the location of the Death Star, a massive battle station wielding a superlaser capable of destroying planets. The Death Star was guarded within the Horuz system, situated in the Atrivis sector of the Outer Rim Territories, and the Fortressa was tasked with attacking the station before its operational status and attempting to destroy it with its starfighter complement. Strategically, the Fortressa offered the best chance of success. Instead of deploying the Alliance Fleet against the Star Destroyer force protecting the Death Star, which would have resulted in significant losses for the nascent Rebellion, the Fortressa's large number of starfighters had a better chance of penetrating the defensive screen and damaging the battlestation. Even a delay in the superweapon's construction would be a tactical victory for the Alliance.

Emerging from hyperspace, the Fortressa encountered the Death Star, a Star Destroyer escort, and ten squadrons of TIE/LN starfighters engaged in a training exercise. Upon the Fortressa's detection by Imperial sensors, the TIE fighters and Star Destroyers were immediately ordered to intercept, with an additional thousand TIEs launching from the battlestation. The Fortressa responded by deploying 250 X-wings in the initial wave, followed by another wave of the same size, totaling five hundred. A squadron of Alliance fighters detached from the main group to engage a starship carrying Admiral Natasi Daala to the station. The Imperial ship destroyed its attackers, but lost its bridge deflector shields in the process. An explosion on the command deck caused by the attack injured Admiral Daala, leaving her with a head wound.

Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, in command of the Death Star, initially planned a conventional space battle with the Alliance ship but changed his approach, ordering the TIEs and Star Destroyers to disengage. Instead, he instructed the gunnery crew manning the superlaser to target the Fortressa. The crew complied, and using only four percent of the weapon's power, vaporized the Fortressa with a single shot. The launched fighters continued their mission; the first wave of X-wings outnumbered the initial TIE picket line by two-to-one and flew in a non-evasive pattern to break through the TIE defense and attack the Death Star directly. The defending TIEs employed a zone defense, and the X-wings did not engage the Imperial force, only firing at TIEs in their path to the battlestation. Approximately eighty X-wings breached the first TIE line but were soon destroyed by the second wave of Imperial fighters launched from the station. None of the X-wings from the second wave broke through the TIE defensive line.

The Fortressa became the Death Star's first kill and the first successful test of the battlestation's superlaser. However, the carrier's attack prompted Tarkin to relocate the Death Star to avoid detection and a potential full-scale battle with the Alliance Fleet.

The Fortressa made its debut in Death Star, authored by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry in 2007.