Well May the 4th didn’t fall on a Spacedock upload day this year, but here we are on Revenge
of the 5th and it’s a Friday so here’s my top 5 Sith Personal Starships.
NUMBER FIVE The Sith Meditation Sphere as used by Naga
Sadow, was a lightly armed ship, ten meters across, in use during the Great Hyperspace
War in 5000 BBY.
The purpose of the sphere was to act as a conduit for Battle Meditation, a force technique
that allowed an individual to influence an entire battlefield telepathically, boosting
the stamina and morale of his own troops whilst demoralising the enemy and eroding their will
to fight.
The Sphere’s interior was filled with Sith artefacts and focusing relics, allowing the
occupant to extend his will through the force over great distances and effect and part of
a large battle.
As well as the spiritual artefacts, the sphere housed various command and control systems,
including a large holoscreen displaying tactical information and informing the pilot of his
minion’s current status.
On multiple occasions a meditation sphere has turned the tide of a hopeless battle,
with some Sith such as Sadow himself being able to create vast illusions in space to
confuse enemy commanders and ensnare them in traps.
NUMBER FOUR Though Asajj Ventress was not a full Sith,
she did serve as a Sith Assassin and Acolyte to Darth Tyranus, and her advanced Ginivex
Fanblade starfighter only added to her effectiveness as a dark enforcer.
Designed by the Geonosian Huppla Pasa Shipyards, the Fanblade employs many of the same features
as Count Dooku’s Solar Sailor, but applied in a far more combat-focused configuration.
The Fanblade’s Energy sail supplements its primary engines rather than replacing them
entirely, and allows the fighter to operate in two separate modes.
Either by folding the sail to create a smaller target, or extending it to provide greater
engine and shield power, whilst increasing the ship’s silhouette.
Only 6 Ginivex Fanblades were ever assembled, as the ships were extremely expensive and
difficult to replace, but most of those that were constructed were personally used by Asajj
Ventress, who’s aptitude with the force only added to the starfighter’s lethality.
NUMBER THREE The TIE Advanced X1 represents Sienar Systems
first foray into advanced space superiority fighters, featuring both a shield and Hyperdrive,
and of the few prototypes that were produced, none were more famous than the X1 piloted
by Darth Vader, a ship that claimed the lives of countless rebel pilots and achieved victory
against steep odds on many occasions.
Equipped with a pair of gimballed laser cannons, layers of reinforced durasteel armor and a
powerful cluster missile launcher, the X1 was a formidable opponent in combat, able
to match an Alliance X-Wing singlehandedly, and endure far heavier damage than any existing
TIE Variant at the time of its development.
Though the X1 was not produced in great numbers, it’s design ultimately led to the development
of the TIE Avenger and the TIE Defender, two of the most deadly and sophisticated starfighters
of their time, and while Vader’s X1 was a highly uncommon model while in service,
it’s endurance and interstellar range ultimately saved the Sith Lords life, in the wake of
the Battle of Yavin.
NUMBER TWO Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator, known as
the Scimitar, was assembled from a heavily modified Republic Star Courier, and was outfitted
to be the perfect vessel for a Sith Assassin.
Equipped with an incredibly rare stygian crystal cloaking device, the ship was able to completely
shield itself from both visual and technological detection, and should it find itself engaged
in battle, the Infiltrator was armed with six retractable solar ionization cannons,
a viciously powerful energy weapon, illegal in republic space, which could bypass some
conventional shield systems entirely and was known to melt through durasteel plating on
impact.
Maul’s ship was specially outfitted to assist in his role as a Sith enforcer, and was loaded
with 3 DRK-1 Dark Eye probe droids for target detection, as well as Maul’s personal Razalon
FC-20 Speeder Bike, the Bloodfin.
The Scimitar carried Darth Maul to various missions and assignments though his career
as the apprentice of Darth Sidious, and with it’s sophisticated concealment systems and
cloaking technology, the vessel represented one of the few true stealth ships of it’s
time.
NUMBER ONE The Fury Class Interceptor of True Sith Empire,
was assigned to countless Sith across it’s service history.
The Fury was built from the ground up to be a personal transport and pursuit vessel for
members of the Sith Order, armed with 4 precision laser cannons and an advanced cluster missile
launcher, the Fury was able to serve in the role of a heavy starfighter, whilst also offering
the range and utility to carry it’s Sith owner and their subjects to objectives across
the galaxy.
During the great galactic war, Furies piloted by lower ranking Sith were often employed
as elite units in crucial space battles, while other Sith used the vessels to pursue their
own agendas with both efficiency and discretion.
For the many years of it’s long career the Fury was by far the most popular mode of transport
for Sith Lords and apprentices, with ships of the class being used by many famous members
of the order, including Darth Nox, Darth Thanaton and the Emperor’s Wrath, but even as early
as It’s first year of service, the ship’s brutal effectiveness as a combat fighter had
become obvious to most, being famously described by Darth Mekhis as “The hammer that will
shatter the ribcage of the Republic.”