With the exception of her human male captain Rail Magnor, the Fool’s Gold is crewed entirely by droids.
The bridge crew, engineering team, and gunnery and mining teams are all custom models designed to Rail’s specifications. They utilize dual class-5 droid brains rated for assassin droids, but reprogrammed with knowledge required to fulfill their individual shipboard functions as well as general starship operation, flying, asteroid mining procedures, ship-to-ship combat tactics, and basic first aid for many known species. Their custom brains and programming afford the droids an approximation of higher brain function strategic thinking and even limited creative thought and spontaneous action. While manning the Fool’s Gold turrets, for example, the droids have repeatedly demonstrated an ability to anticipate opponents’ maneuvers and lead their targets by shooting where an enemy craft will be rather than where it is. It was the droids who also pioneered a new asteroid mining methodology that resulted in a 19% increase in the total amount of ore the Fool’s Gold could capture and transport per outing. The droids of the Fool’s Gold are able to perform most functions nearly as well as a sentient crew, and in some cases faster and more efficiently than sentient counterparts.
LE repair droid chassis were utilized to house the custom droids because of the dexterity and speed of the LE models, and because LE droids did not draw attention from casual observers. Except for the bridge executive officer, which was a MX-36 executive droid retrofit with a second class-5 droid brain, and a stock R4-series astronavigation droid, the bridge crew is entirely the custom LE models. As custom units, they do not have official series numbers, and are named simply in correlation to their stations—Communications, Navigation, Tactical, Operations 1, Operations 2, Operations 3, and so forth. The engineering, gunnery, and mining crews, however, have names that often relate to, but do not directly describe their functions—like “Chief” for the chief engineer—while others have colloquial names—such as “Magic Fingers,” a tractor beam operator who repeatedly demonstrates an aptitude for coaxing asteroid fragments into the hold faster than his cohorts.
Given its smuggling operations and the fact that it often raids Imperial supply lines, the Fool’s Gold from time to time finds itself engaged in ship-to-ship combat with multi-person craft including picket-, frigate-, and capital-class starships (and even the occasional space station). Although, as a vessel designed to mine asteroid fields, the Fool’s Gold is heavily shielded and armored, her bulk and reduced maneuverability put her at a disadvantage against other vessels with comparable shielding and weaponry. One tactic her captain often employs is to attempt to neutralize an enemy from within—a tactic especially useful during pirate raids wherein the goal is to capture an enemy ship intact.
The Fool’s Gold boasts an impressively effective assault team consisting of two A-series assassin droids, four HA-12 heavy assault and combat droids, four K4 security droids, and two R3m-series astromechs referred to as “slicer” droids. The assault team can rapidly deploy aboard an enemy vessel through docking hatches and gantries on either side of the Fool’s Gold’s lower deck, or even launch directly from the Fool’s Gold toward an enemy vessel without first establishing a dock between the ships. Except for the K4s, who are assisted by their teammates, the droids in the assault team all carry onboard short-range, rocket or repulsor propulsion systems.
Once they reach an enemy vessel the HA-12 heavy assault droids breach the hull and enter first to absorb any initial counterattack. Next, the assassin and slicer droids enter the ship and pair off to infiltrate the target ship looking for a means of suspending weapons, propulsion, and other critical systems. Backed by the K4s, the HA-12s then proceed to distract and disable the crew. The assault team is under standing orders to take all reasonable steps necessary to minimize enemy fatalities without unduly endangering the Fool’s Gold or the assault team units.
The assault team also acts as security aboard the Fool’s Gold, monitoring ship-to-ship cargo transfers and escorting visitors.
Rounding out the Fool’s Gold’s droid crew are four large, flat-handed Binary Load Lifters, two KR-19 cargo droids with repulsor sled attachments, a G-3PO protocol and translation droid, a 2-1B surgical droid in the ship’s med bay, and a C7 chef droid nicknamed “Spice” who prepares all onboard meals and manages the consumables stock. All told, the Fool’s Gold is crewed by thirty-two droids.
Although initially anxious about the effectiveness of an all droid crew, Rail has come to trust and rely upon his mechanical shipmates as much as—and perhaps more than—he would a sentient crew. As he explained to one close associate: “I know droids won’t get greedy and shove me out an airlock just to get a bigger cut of the cargo.”
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