The Condor
The Condor is the official carrier of the Storm Hawks, and is recognized as such throughout the Atmos. Unlike other Sky Knight squadrons, who may own carriers but are based on their home Terras, the Storm Hawks use the Condor as their home.
Design[]
Built by the original Storm Hawks years ago, the engines are older than the new team combined, and although temperamental, they still have the might to push the great vessel through grueling journeys. The bridge lies in the bow and has the best visibility on the ship, including a couple of sixty-foot periscopes for travelling in cloud cover. Behind that lies the blacksmith shop and Piper’s darkroom for crystal nurturing, as well as living quarters and the kitchen. Finally, hatches lead to the squadron’s Air Skimmer bay and repair area, lining the airship’s lower decks. Turret cannons can be manned on either side of the bridge, concealed within when not in use.
Skimmers[]
The vehicles held in the bay are:
Aerrow's Air Skimmer III Ultra, a significantly upgraded version of the III with a crystal fuel afterburner.
Finn's Air Skimmer III, a lightly-armored Skimmer sacrificing protection for speed and maneuverability.
Junko's Air Skimmer III EL, a heavier-armored but slower Skimmer.
Piper's Heliscooter, a very maneuverable but slow and thinly-armored vehicle.
Stork's Storkmobile, a vehicle of Stork's design, which transforms its wheels into rotors for flight.
History[]
The Condor's seen more than her fair share of battles, but though the creaking hulk may look the worse for wear, the old ship still has a few tricks up her sleeve. And no one's better at coaxing them out of her than Stork. In fact, Stork and the Condor have come to the rest of the team's rescue countless times, swooping in out of the clouds with the horn blasting out a warning to anyone who dares to get in the way. It regularly has breakdowns with things like the High-Speed Impeller, causing Stork to complain and become anxious, sometimes needing to put on his Trance Helmet to relax.
Since the defeat of the Original Storm Hawks, the Condor was grounded in the Wastelands and left in a state of dilapidation. Stork eventually found and began repairing the carrier, however he was unable to find its ignition key. Years later the rest of the new Storm Hawks found the Condor as well (though setting off booby traps which Stork laid out, intended for Cyclonians), bringing with them the ignition key.
According to Stork in "Dude, Where's My Condor?", the Condor is at least 117 years old, as that was when it set the record for the Stalso 5000, running it in under 12 hours, a record that has yet to be broken. In the same episode, it was bought by the Colonel and 'tricked out', painted in purple and gold, with its signature fog horn replaced with a novelty horn that played La Cucaracha. The Colonel acquired it to fulfill a long-held desire of his, to break the Atmos Airspeed Record. To do this, he 'restored' its original working state, including a few of his personal aesthetic changes, and installed a Velocity Crystal Array, which would allow the Condor to run at 4200 ticks-per-hour, speeds Stork informs Aerrow would rip the Condor in half.
After the Condor began to break apart, the Colonel gave the airship back to the Storm Hawks, who managed to save it by manually deploying the landing gear and releasing safety chutes from the outside of the ship to create drag, and disabling the Velocity Crystal Array in the engine core. After checking the controls, Stork was delighted to find they had broken the airspeed record, exclaiming he knew the Condor still had it in her.
In "Stratosphere", the Condor was retrofitted for high-altitude flight to reach the stratosphere with the intent of disabling the weapon platform Cyclonia had constructed there. The weapons platform was only the first stage of the Cyclonian plot, as its true purpose was to launch an 'Exopod', a massive crystal-powered orbital weapon that could be used to attack and destroy anything Cyclonia desired. The Exopod was nudged back towards the stratosphere by Radarr, and burned up in re-entry, and the Condor safely recovered both Aerrow and his co-pilot.
In "Dark Waters", the Condor (as well as the Storm Hawks' skimmers) was retrofitted for underwater navigation by the shipwrights of Terra Aquanos when they were called to rescue Triton and the Neck Deeps, who had been stuck at the bottom of the lake for three days. These modifications included making the Condor watertight, installing propellers and front-facing lights, and adding an unnamed light crystal used for illuminating the dark waters.
In "Payback" the Condor was destroyed but is later rebuilt in the following episode by countless volunteers.
Trivia[]
- The Condor's timepulse code is "1983765728947827467389283758473674365738756438", which is written on the ship's ownership card. Despite the length of the code, Stork is able to memorize it.
Gallery[]
