Many of the design principles that can be seen in the Starships of Palpatine’s Empire,
can be traced back thousands of years to the True sith Empire, and the warship designs
developed by Grand Moff Odile Vaiken during the Empire’s Exile in the Unknown Regions.
Among these designs is the fearsome Terminus Class Destroyer, the workhorse of the Imperial
Fleet.
The Terminus Class, also known as the C-Class Destroyer, provided the Empire with a smaller
alternative to the Harrower Class Dreadnought, able to fill an escort or support role in
a larger battlegroup, or be deployed alone for operations that didn’t warrant the use
of a larger vessel.
The Terminus Class was designed to engage vessels much larger than itself, and carries
an extensive array of anti-capital weaponry.
This made the vessel more than a match for its counterpart in the Republic Fleet, the
Thranta Class.
At a length of 500 Meters and bearing a narrow spaceframe, the Terminus was the largest destroyer
class vessel in service during the Great Galactic War.
The vessel displayed the classic design style of the Sith Empire, stark and angular, meant
for equal parts utility and intimidation.
The Vessel’s high-effectiveness and relatively low production cost made it an ideal patrol
craft, often seen in a defensive role around Sith Stations and Planets.
The Sith Lord Darth Marr, who became the Empire’s De Facto Leader, chose to use a Terminus Class
Destroyer as his command ship, the Sith was known to prefer the Terminus to the larger
Harrower Class, the more common choice for Sith Flagships, due to the smaller vessel’s
higher speed and manoeuvrability.
In a battle with Valkorion’s Eternal Empire in 3637 BBY, Marr was able to hold off the
full might of the Eternal Fleet for an extraordinarily long time, taking advantage of the ship’s
extreme resilience and agility to provide his crew with time to evacuate.
One Terminus Class Destroyer known as the Ascendant Spear, was converted using the Sun
Razer into a mobile superweapon.
The ship was increased in length to over 1,600 meters and equipped with an advanced laser
weapon, capable of destroying even a Valor Class Republic Battlecruiser in a single shot.
The Ascendant Spear also carried an advanced Class 0.5 Hyperdrive, affording the craft
an enormous speed advantage over other capital ships of its era.
The vessel used advanced bionic technology to directly commune with its commander, Darth
Karrid, who used this neural interface to control the ship’s systems with total efficiency.
The Ascendant Spear was one of the most advanced warships of its era and succeeded in vanquishing
dozens of republic fleets before its final destruction over Duro in 3640 BBY.
The Terminus Class proved such a popular design, that its spaceframe was used to develop a
cargo variant, known as the Gage Class Transport.
The Gage lacked the firepower of the Terminus, exchanging its gun batteries for cargo space
and troop compartments, but the vessel retained its predecessor’s heavy armour plating.
This made the Gage exceptionally resilient for a transport ship, able to survive most
attacks long enough to make an escape into hyperspace.
One famous application of the Gage’s advanced armour took place during the Great Galactic
War, when a disgraced Imperial Captain used his transport’s massive bulk to ram a republic
battlestation in an act of self-sacrifice and redemption, the vessel’s powerful armour
allowed it to pierce deck after deck of the Republic Station, inflicting mortal damage
before the Gage was finally destroyed.
Serving in countless engagements from the Battle of Kilran’s Lance to Operation Midnight
Freedom, the Terminus Class Destroyer proved its worth many times over across two galactic
wars.
The vessel became as much a symbol of the Empire’s Naval Dominance as its larger counterpart,
the Harrower Class, and helped cement the Imperial Navy’s reputation as the greatest
armada in
the galaxy.