Quote: "Parked halfway between them, perhaps a half million kilometres from either, deck lights glittering in the shadows of the blue-and-white planet, loomed a Mon Calamari battle cruiser, the Mediator, one of the newest ships in the New Republic fleet."
After the events of the discovery of the"Hand of Thrawn" and the Chiss, the engineers of the Mon Calamari began to plan the design for a new series of large battleships for the slowly aging fleet of the New Republic. The results were two gargantuan cruisers - both being longer than the Imperial Star Destroyers - the Mediator-class Battlecruiser and the Viscount/Strident-class Star Defender. While the Star Defender was the largest ship ever built by the New Republic, the Mediator-class was a bigger version of the famous MC80 and MC90 cruisers. For this reason, the battelcruiser's design is as unique as the design of its predecessors. Besides fast sublight engines and a strong hull, the ship of course features the the Mon Calamari backup-shield system as well.
A real advantage towards the older Mon Calamari Cruisers is the enlarged hangar space. Instead of 1 single wing (3 squadrons), the Mediator-class has space for 3 complete wings, featuring the New Republic's best fighters, such as new X-Wings, K-Wing bombers et cetera and thus forms a perfect battle platform. Besides the starfighters, there are also 4 drop-ships abord which can bring down troops to the surface, as well as 4 shuttles for general purposes.
The first cruiser ready for duty of the new series was the Mediator itself, commanded by the Mon Calamari Commander Ackdool. It saw some action during the incident between the two planets Rhommamool and Osarian. The battlecruiser took heavy damage when suddenly a bomb exploaded aboard the ship, induced by Nom Anor.
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| Stats: | Christopher Deck |
| Illustration: | Joe Johnston in The Art of Star Wars, Ep. VI, Del Rey. |