Valkyrie

The Valkyrie missile frigate was an anti-fighter spacecraft designed by the United Earth Directorate and first seen in the Koprulu sector during the Brood War. Equipped for both atmospheric and space flight, it specialized in ship-to-ship combat against massed light aircraft, firing clusters of rockets capable of tearing through a formation of fighters or zerg flyers in a single salvo. After the Brood War the Valkyrie passed into the service of various terran factions, and its design later formed the basis of the Dominion's Liberator.

Design#

The Valkyrie was equipped for both atmospheric and space flight and built for ship-to-ship combat. Its main armament was the H.A.L.O. system, short for High Altitude Long Operating, which fired cluster rockets in salvos of eight that impacted with a large area of effect. The dispersal radius of its targeting system was designed to inflict maximum damage not only on the intended target but on adjacent targets caught within the blast, so that a single cluster could quickly shred a formation of light fighters or mutalisks.

The frigate lacked the maneuverability of lighter craft and relied instead on heavy armor to survive engagements, able to absorb substantial fire before suffering core systems failures. It was fitted with dual VTOL engines for speed and handling. Sound files from its development suggest the craft was originally to be called the frigate, and Blizzard once described it as a modern redesign of the earlier raider.

Service history#

The Valkyrie first appeared in the Koprulu sector as part of the United Earth Directorate pacification force at the beginning of the Brood War, with several wings included in the invasion fleet. In the aftermath of that conflict it entered the service of various terran factions, although the precedent was questioned: the war had exposed critical weaknesses in terran anti-air capability, and combined Valkyrie and Wraith formations proved unwieldy against agile zerg airborne organisms. With the shortcomings of ground-to-air support from the goliath also made plain, research turned toward a more flexible craft, the Viking, which eventually took over the Valkyrie's air-to-air role.

The Valkyrie continued to be used by the Terran Dominion even after these advances, though it largely fell out of use during the Second Great War. By 2511 the Zerg Swarm salvaged technology from Valkyries to build rudimentary psi-to-voice communicators, which Abathur used to relay orders to his renegade chitha during the One-Day War. A vessel of this class, the Anglia, was among the named Valkyries to see service.

Legacy#

Though the Valkyrie itself faded from frontline use, its design endured. The Terran Dominion reused the frigate's design as the basis for the Liberator, a craft developed to ensure terran air superiority and built on the patterns of the UED Valkyrie. Initially intended only for air combat, the Liberator was later fitted with transformation technology and a powerful air-to-ground plasma cannon, extending the Valkyrie's lineage into a far more versatile machine.

A separate vessel sharing the same name, a transport used by the Confederacy during the Fall of Tarsonis, was an unrelated ship class that merely shared the designation. Writer Keith R. A. DeCandido confirmed the two were distinct vessels.