Ehhh. After some thought, I've lost enthusiasm for what's on the board. They've likely gotten some tech from that last fight, and will be bringing the hurt this turn. As such, we should cover our asses as much as possible.
Intimidator
Intimidators are a species of tall, tough humanoids of average intelligence covered in an exoskeleton of tough, impact resistant chitin. They have enhanced agility and dexterity, and are stronger than an athletic man and his athletic friend working together. They have a set of insectoid wings as well, but they are unsuited for flight. Instead, the wings are coated with an intoxicating (to humans) dust, which can be scattered or blasted when the Intimidator flaps their wings. When the toxin is ingested, or it makes contact with the skin, the human will begin to experience terrible visions and intense, irrational fear. They may even lash out in self defense, unknowingly attacking their comrades. Use the DNA Token!
This gives us an armored ground fighter, that will properly take advantage of our UP reserves, and the dust will give us a nice little X factor and give them something to waste a design on. They could tank bullets with their chitin (but I doubt The Enemy will stay with conventional firearms very much longer) and effectively function on a variety of missions. I debated giving them four arms, but perhaps that's a bit much
For our strategy, I definitely think Recruit Collaborators is the better choice, given it can both cause panic (aaaaaahhhh the aliens are among us ahhhhh) and give rewards in a variety of forms. Air Superiority should wait until we have a Big Good Fighter and can go without the rewards.
And as for the revision, most everyone is agreement that we should upgrade the fighter, yeah.
Light Fighter Mk 2
First things first, we upsize the Elerium core to increase speed and range. To accommodate this, one of the Plasma Cannons has been removed. Two is already enough. Two micro maneuverability thrusters are added the engine array, to allow for Higher Power maneuvers. The two remaining twin Plasma Cannons can now fire shorter, lower powered bursts at a higher fire rate, to allow the strafing of ground targets and a more unavoidable barrage. And the crafts armor is reinforced by a dense layer of Alien Alloy, but not enough to offset the bonus it's more powerful engine provides. Perhaps that's too ambitious for a revision, but we need it to Work.