The Spectre class fighter is, pound-for-pound, the single most deadly weapon ever devised. It is a warship... nothing more, nothing less. Certainly, there are those in the Confederation that shudder at this ship's single-mindedness, but I submit that in these current times of chaos, Starfleet must have the tools to defend the Confederation's ideals from all enemies, foreign and domestic. The Spectre is such a tool.
Propulsion systems
A review of the technical specifications on the Spectre will show it has three primary drive systems, one supralight, two intersystem sublight.
The primary supralight propulsion system on the ship is the experimental soliton wave system. Rather than carrying a bulky warp core, plasma conduits, and nacelles, the Spectre replaces all of that with an array of five soliton field generators placed along the lower central edge of the ship. Much lighter than a traditional warp drive system, the field generators project a soliton field ahead of the ship, then use the impulse engines to place the ship into the field less than a tenth of a second later. The field is launched at the speed which the pilot wants the fighter to go... the Spectre is capable of generating soliton wave fields of magnitudes greater than warp 9, and can ride fields of lesser magnitude indefinitely.
The two sublight propulsion systems on the Spectre are a traditional impulse drive for maneuvering, and the so-called "sidestep" drive. The sidestep (actually, a gravimetric translational propulsion system, similar to those used in 23rd century shuttlecraft) allows the fighter to dodge beam weapon fire directed toward it. The drive moves the ship either to port or starboard several meters when engaged, "sidestepping" incoming fire without changing course or banking. This allows the fighter to close quickly on a potential target without requiring traditional evasive maneuvers, which would change the ship's course and increase closure time.
Weapons systems
There are two primary weapons systems on the Spectre, and a number of auxiliary systems. The two primary weapons systems are the pulse phaser cannons and the quantum micro-torpedo gatling cannon. While the pulse phaser cannons are, more and more, being considered almost "standard" weapons in the Confederation arsenal, the Spectre is easily the smallest, lightest ship that carries them.
The micro-torpedo gatling is another matter entirely. Unique to the Spectre class fighter, the gatling cannon launches up to 18 8-centimeter micro-torpedoes per second from a pair of launchers located on the forward underside of the ship. The normal load-out on this fighter is 100 quantum micro-torpedoes, and the highest rate of fire means the fighter can unload its ordnance in less than six seconds. However, when firing the gatling cannon, short controlled bursts are often the most adviseable -- the Spectre is uniquely survivable, and using its defensive systems, can survive several passes against even the largest, most well-armed targets.
Defensive systems
The Spectre is designed to survive closure with much larger targets, deliver its weapons with terrifying accuracy, and then fall away from the target without the loss of the ship or the pilot. Too many times, Jade pilots almost seem to boast of how many fighters have been blown from beneath them. In these times of war and chaos, it is unacceptable merely that the pilot survive -- the fighter must also survive to be rearmed, refueled, and sent out again.
The defensive systems on the fighter, including an experimental Holographic Defense System, the sidestep drive described above, the self-sealing tri-polymer sandwich hull, and the ship's immunity to most forms of sensor locks help ensure that a fully-trained Spectre driver can bring his ship home without loss 100% of the time.
In particular, the Holographic Defense System deserves special mention. The HDS allows the fighter to project any phantom image that can be programmed into the system up to 25,000 km away from the ship. The standard defensive program allows the Spectre to project up to three phantom images of itself that maneuver in a defensive way around the real fighter. With this program running, even if an enemy lands a blow on the real Spectre with its first shot, that is no guarantee it will hit with its second.
However, the standard program need not be the one that is run. The HDS is limited only by the pilot's imagination -- virtually any image that can be programmed into a Spectre's huge computer core can be used with the HDS, though larger, more complex images will consume more power than smaller, less complex ones.
Tactics
The Spectre is, bar none, the single most maneuverable ship in space. Without a warp core, the fighter lacks the weight and bulk that make many attack fighters such relatively easy targets for computer-assisted weapons. In fact, most sensor systems simply cannot lock on the Spectre -- its speed, maneuverability, and ability to sidestep incoming fire makes it the most evasive fighter ever designed. Fire directed at a Spectre must be directed manually in most cases, or your phasers will simply fire where the computer predicted the ship would be when your weapons fired; problem is, the fighter will have already been at that point and gone on, if it didn't sidestep away from that point entirely.
So, when flying the Spectre, remember: maneuverability is what will keep you alive.
Related to this, a common mistake when flying this fighter is the pilot's tendency to want to keep the ship's weapons directed on a target to the exclusion of tactical maneuvering. This is the biggest mistake you can make. Sure, the Spectre needs only six seconds to unload the micro-torpedo gatling stores on a target, but a computer-assisted fire-control system needs only a little over a second to acquire you if you maintain a steady flight profile. Translation: you won't live six seconds unless you cease firing and evade. The target will still be there. Come around for another pass.
Use your HDS to advantage -- the pilot with the best imagination will have the most luck here. With the Treaty of Algeron in place, the HDS is as close as you're likely to get to a cloaking device... and as my father always said, "Sometimes the best place to hide something is in plain sight." Is your target near an asteroid field? The HDS can disguise you as a rogue asteroid. Is the target launching fighters of its own? Do a scan on one and ask the HDS to build a holographic matrix, then use it to disguise yourself as one of their own fighters! The point is, be creative! The more creative you are, the closer you can begin your attack runs.
Learn everything you can about the Spectre before you fly one in combat, and you will be successful. Good hunting!