Jack of Harts

The Republic of Texas Space Force welcomed the F-12 Avenger with open arms. It did hit the “not invented here” problem, but they wanted a hypercapable fighter badly enough that they were willing to hold their noses and license the fighter for their own factories to build. The Avenger was too large to be a true fighter, an issue many noted at the time, so it was mostly used in the attack or bomber roles alongside the B-17 Valkyries that became their closest allies. Mixed Avenger and Valkyrie forces quickly became Texas’ weapon of choice when attacking enemy starships, and they racked up impressive kill numbers when those starships came in range. And since both craft were hypercapable, they could reach out and crush someone at a range far greater than anyone had previously dreamed.

The Republic of Texas Space Force designed and deployed two new combat craft in the three decades that preceded The War. The A-7 Vigilante was expensive and complicated to build, but its heavy autocannon armament made it a superior ground attack craft. It could also perforate enemy starships, but it did not achieve widespread deployment before The War came. The F-10 Azcarate was built for the Mexican market, and its rugged and cheap design made it the new favorite space fighter in southern Texas and the Mexican States. It also carried autocannons, unusual for a space fighter, though they were light enough that it could maneuver with other fighters. They were surprisingly effective, despite requiring different tactics than those that carried guided missiles, and they were one of the more common space fighters in use when The War came upon us all.

The Republic of Texas Space Force transformed itself after the introduction of gravtech. New craft had longer range and flight duration, allowing them to easily and quickly travel anywhere inside a star system without requiring a transport. They could defend entire star systems, and they quickly built three craft to do so. The F-2 Star Fury, more of a refit of their existing F-101 Fury, was the first. The purpose-built A-2 Savage and the B-3 Tornado came next, and those three craft worked well together. Their combined mix of lasers, missiles, and autocannons proved devastating to both space and ground targets, and the dedicated hard points for external heavy weapons made them a threat to any enemy warship as well. The three craft dominated the Texas military around Earth and all of her colonies in the first half of the 23rd century, and were in fact still in service in many reserve units when The War came upon us all.