Darksaber ( superweapon ) The Darksaber battlestation was a superweapon built by the crime lord Durga the Hutt in 12 ABY . A member of the Besadii kajidic , Durga wanted to use the superweapon to hold ransom entire planets and spread his influence throughout the galaxy . Based on the set of plans for the original Death Star battlestation stolen by Durga from the former Imperial Information Center on the galactic capital of Coruscant , the Darksaber was designed by the engineer Bevel Lemelisk , the creator of the Death Star and a number of other superweapons . Lemelisk adjusted the plans to the Hutt ' s wishes , removing all the Imperial padding and leaving only the central superlaser weapon , encased in a cylindrical durasteel shell . The resulting shape closely resembled that of the lightsaber , the traditional weapon of the Jedi Knights , so Lemelisk christened his creation accordingly : the Darksaber . Located in the Hoth asteroid field , the Darksaber Project , as it was also known , was financed by Orko SkyMine Asteroid Processing Corporation , a faux corporation owned by Durga . However , the construction of the superweapon was plagued with difficulties . The materials purchased from low - bid contractors were of poor quality ; the computer core s provided by Durga ' s ally , Sulamar , were outdated ; and the hive - minded Taurill species who assembled the Darksaber were often distracted , and , as a result , tended to make mistakes in the construction . As he witnessed this , Lemelisk started to lose faith in his project , but he continued with the work in fear of displeasing Durga , and construction on the Darksaber dragged to the closing stages . By that time , the New Republic became aware of Durga ' s superweapon and tracked his yacht to the Darksaber ' s construction site . A three - man commando team led by General Crix Madine was subsequently dispatched to sabotage the weapon and leave it adrift in space until a larger fleet could arrive to destroy it . The New Republic team failed in its mission , however , and two members of the team were killed , while Madine was captured and brought before Durga on the Darksaber ' s bridge , where he was executed as well . Just as Madine was shot by Durga , a New Republic strike force led by General Wedge Antilles arrived to engage the Darksaber . Certain that his weapon was fully functional , Durga commanded his crew to take it into the asteroid belt in order to evade pursuit , while Lemelisk , who was not so sure about the Darksaber ' s operational status , escaped . As Antilles ' s forces attacked the Darksaber , Durga took his weapon into the most dangerous part of the asteroid field , where the Darksaber ' s way was blocked by two massive asteroids . Durga tried to use the superlaser to clear the path , but the weapon did not work , and the Darksaber was crushed by the asteroids . Lemelisk was , in turn , captured by Antilles ' s forces , and , after a trial , was executed for war crimes . Description . A massive battlestation , the Darksaber Project , or simply known as the Darksaber , was a superweapon conceived by Durga the Hutt and designed by the engineer Bevel Lemelisk . The Darksaber was constructed as a stripped - down version of the first Death Star battlestation , which had also been developed by Lemelisk . Once he came under Durga ' s employ , Lemelisk modified the Death Star ' s plans to accommodate the Hutt ' s needs . Since Durga wanted only the main superlaser weapon with the ability to destroy entire planets , Lemelisk removed all the unnecessary detail — such as the extraneous superstructure , turbolasers , and other surface defenses , as well as numerous personnel quarters , TIE fighter hangars , and docking ports — from the original Imperial design . He also scaled down the project and made the superlaser the center of the construction , with the minimum required structure built around it . The Darksaber was , essentially , the superlaser encased in a kilometers - long cylindrical shell made of durasteel . Lemelisk also moved the superlaser ' s focusing eye so that the beam could be released directly out of the weapon ' s end , thus making a straight shot through the superlaser that allowed for greater energy conversion , and , as a result , potentially greater firepower and recharge rate than the Death Star ' s superlaser . The Darksaber was more maneuverable and easier to operate ; it needed only a thousandth of the computer systems that the original Death Star had required . However , the Darksaber ' s computer core s were outdated and did not function properly . Although the center of the Darksaber was its superlaser , Lemelisk ' s design still included a small outer ring of living quarters that could hold up to a hundred Hutts with their entourages . The superweapon was also equipped with necessary propulsion facilities , which consisted of a number of large engines located at its rear and separated from the weapon ' s interior by a thick shielding wall . Behind the wall were located special engine sections that contained the Darksaber ' s guidance computers , protected by a thin , transparent , flexible mesh . The guidance computers consisted of giant banks of circuit boards , with supercooled air blown through the hot circuitry . Those computers were also connected to the security alarm system that responded to any security breach . Lemelisk personally designed the alarm ' s sound to be unpleasant and attention - grabbing . However , the system was prone to false alarms due to inept construction . Such shoddy workmanship also resulted in dangling wires , darkened glowpanel s , non - working computer terminals , and clouds of steam that was either intentionally vented or was simply leaking from reactor cores , throughout the Darksaber . Among the Darksaber ' s other systems were a waste heat exhaust system , an inner communications system , a network of outer sensors , and a life support system capable of sustaining a skeleton crew . It was outfitted with a turbolift system that allowed for easy passage throughout the massive structure . Lemelisk possessed a personal office aboard the superweapon , with little furniture or any other furnishings . There were at least two docking bays : a construction access bay and Lemelisk ' s personal launching bay . A small one - person spherical scooter was kept aboard the superweapon and could be launched from either of the two bays . The entire project was operated from a central control deck on its bridge , with several crew members manning the computer consoles from their stations there , while kept strapped to booby - trapped chairs . The chairs were linked to Durga ' s personal levitating platform ; by using his personal remote controller , Durga could execute any crewmember with whom he was displeased , sending a fatal charge of electricity through the individual ' s body that instantly burned the victim to death . History . Conception . The Darksaber was the brainchild of the Hutt crime lord Durga Besadii Tai of the Besadii kajidic . In the wake of the deaths of two of the most influential figures of the criminal underworld , Jabba Desilijic Tiure and Prince Xizor , Durga secured control over the remaining Hutt clans for the Besadii , and he achieved a position of leadership in the Black Sun criminal syndicate . Having become intoxicated with the power that he had achieved , Durga wanted to spread his influence even further , eclipsing the memory of the legendary Hutt conqueror Kossak Inijic Ar ' durv . To that end , he wanted to construct a planet - destroying superweapon with which he would be able to ransom entire worlds and destroy his enemies , as part of his " out - reach " program . Through the Bothan Spynet , Durga located Bevel Lemelisk , the designer of the first and second Death Stars as well as other Imperial superweapons , and recruited him for the project . At some point in his life , Durga had also discovered the hive - minded Taurill species , which was controlled by the collective consciousness called The Overmind . The Overmind was interested in spreading individual Taurills throughout the galaxy , as this would allow itself to grow . Durga promised The Overmind to help it achieve its goals , and in exchange was assigned thousands of Taurills , whom he trained as his pets and intended to use in the construction of the superweapon . The Hutt also entered an alliance with the so - called Imperial " General " Sulamar — in reality , a low ranking technician — who bragged about his nonexistent heroic exploits and promised to provide the Hutt with computer cores for the project . Durga then put together Orko SkyMine Asteroid Processing Corporation , a sham organization whose official purpose was the exploitation of the Hoth asteroid field ' s natural resources . In fact , all of the corporation ' s funding went to the construction of the weapon , which began inside the asteroid belt in 12 ABY . Lemelisk developed the Automated Mineral Exploiter s , machines that were created to harvest minerals from the asteroids and convert them to construction supplies . Four such vessels were produced , although two of them — Exploiters Alpha and Beta — accidentally destroyed each other due to an error in programming . In order to begin construction , Lemelisk still needed the most important thing : the plans for the original Death Star , which were stored by the New Republic in the former Imperial Information Center on the galactic capital of Coruscant . Durga knew that the late Jabba had the passwords to the Center ' s secret databanks stored in his palace on the planet Tatooine , so he organized expeditions to Jabba ' s former home to retrieve them . Under the guise of negotiating with New Republic Chief of State Leia Organa Solo , Durga then made the journey to Coruscant to obtain the plans . While the Hutt distracted Organa Solo , his Taurills accessed the files in the Information Center and copied the Death Star ' s schematics to a data cylinder , and the Hutt safely handed them to Lemelisk upon his return to the asteroid field . Having analyzed the plans , Lemelisk made the necessary adjustments to the design , in compliance with the Hutt ' s needs . The resultant cylinder - shaped construct closely resembled the weapon of the Jedi Knights , the lightsaber , so Lemelisk chose an equally suitable name for his creation , the Darksaber . Construction and destruction . The Darksaber was an ambitious project , but its realization was flawed . The Taurill were clever and hard - working , but were often distracted by passing asteroids or smuggler ships , and each member of the species was unable to see beyond the particular part that it was working on . The result was shoddy construction , with parts of the weapon built in the wrong place , or the wrong way , or left out altogether , and having to be rebuilt . On one occasion , the Taurills ' distraction resulted in an entire section of the Darksaber ' s outer framework being assembled incorrectly : girders were welded to incorrect counterparts , the computer core receptacle was connected to the waste - heat exhaust , and superlaser anchor points were offset ninety degrees from each other , which was a completely wrong configuration . Lemelisk found himself forced to rebuild that section from scratch , further offsetting the overall construction . Fearful of Durga ' s wrath , Lemelisk did not tell him about the delay . Durga , however , did not personally oversee the project , having delegated that responsibility to Sulamar , who was too busy enjoying his authority to notice the mix - up . Moreover , the metal plating for the Darksaber ' s durasteel hull had been bought from low bid contractors , and it had millions of micro - holes in it . Another aspect that further complicated the construction was the fact that Sulamar ' s computer cores were outdated and malfunctioning . Lemelisk was initially hopeful that he would be able to make them operational , but he found himself having to constantly reprogram and back them up . As Lemelisk witnessed those flaws , he began to lose faith that his creation would ever work . Somehow , though , the project began nearing its completion . Eventually , the New Republic heard rumors of the Darksaber ' s creation , and General Crix Madine was assigned to investigate . While Durga met with Organa Solo on the planet Nal Hutta , Madine planted a tracking device on the Hutt ' s private yacht . When Durga returned from the meeting to the Darksaber , Madine and a two - man commando team followed him to the Hoth asteroid belt in A - wing starfighters . Although one commando , Korenn , died when his ship collided with one of the asteroids , Madine and another member of the team , Trandia , reached the Darksaber . They clung to the weapon ' s exterior in their survival suits and , after peeling off a loose plate , infiltrated the Darksaber . In an effort to sabotage the weapon , the two reached its engine section . Madine attempted to plant explosives on the guidance computers , hoping that destroying them would leave the Darksaber immobile until a New Republic fleet could arrive and deal with it . However , Madine ' s intrusion triggered an alarm , and several guards appeared . The two saboteurs hid themselves , but Trandia suddenly revealed herself and detonated her explosives , hoping to destroy the engines and buy Madine time to escape . She failed , however , as the thick containment wall protected the engines from the explosion . Madine tried to escape himself but was captured and brought before Durga on the Darksaber ' s bridge . When he was captured , a transmitter implanted inside his body sent a distress signal to the New Republic fleet . Following the transmission , General Wedge Antilles led a strike force from the bridge of his flagship , the Nebulon - B frigate " Yavaris " , to the Hoth asteroid field to rescue Madine and destroy the Darksaber . Antilles arrived too late in the Hoth system to rescue Madine , who was executed by Durga . The Hutt then decided that it was time to bring the Darksaber online . Lemelisk advised him against doing so , pointing out that the weapon was not yet tested , but Durga was unmoved and was confident that nothing could go wrong . Believing otherwise , Lemelisk promptly escaped aboard his private inspection scooter under the pretense of going to monitor the superlaser . Soon , the Darksaber ' s sensors picked up the New Republic fleet approaching from the asteroid field . Durga ordered Sulamar , whom he had forced to pilot the superweapon , to evade pursuit in the asteroid belt , while charging the superlaser in order to be ready to fire at the attacking fleet . Afraid of disobeying Durga , who threatened him with execution , Sulamar complied and barely navigated through the sea of asteroids for some time . However , the New Republic forces soon caught up with the Darksaber and attacked it , slowly piercing through its cheap armor with each fired shot . In an attempt to evade the attack , Durga gave the order to fly the Darksaber into the most dangerous part of the asteroid field , where two moon - sized asteroids were blocking the way . Durga ordered Sulamar to fire the superlaser to clear the path , but when Sulamar tried to fire the weapon , it failed to function properly . The Darksaber was consequently crushed by the asteroids , killing everyone aboard . Lemelisk was the only survivor of the Darksaber Project , and was captured shortly afterward by Antilles ' s forces ; he was subsequently put on trial for war crimes and executed four years later . The destruction of the Darksaber was considered to have put an end to the era of superlaser - based superweapons . However , during the Yuuzhan Vong War , rumors spread that the smuggler Booster Terrik had bought a secret weapon from the Hutts and installed it on his personal Star Destroyer , the " Errant Venture " . The weapon was supposedly located at the Star Destroyer ' s central axis and possessed enough firepower to destroy anything in its path within a light - year radius . Engineers who had worked on the weapon were heard whispering the name " Darksaber , " although Terrik himself maintained that he was not aware of such a superweapon ' s existence . The information about the Darksaber was preserved in the Jedi Archives on Coruscant . In 25 ABY , Jedi Knight Daeshara ' cor accessed the information — as well as similar data on other recorded superweapons — in an attempt to find a way to crush the Yuuzhan Vong invaders . After Durga ' s demise , the leadership of the Besadii clan was claimed by the Hutt crime lord Borga Besadii Diori . Overall , the Darksaber Project was viewed as a failure by the Hutts , and the mention of Durga ' s superweapon was used to insult the Besadii kajidic by members of other clans . By the same token , the Hutt species as a whole suffered by association with the Darksaber from the ridicule of other species . When Nawara Ven asked , half - seriously , if Talon Karrde was interested in buying the " Errant Venture " from Booster , Karrde replied that doing so might be better than letting such a powerful ship fall into the hands of the Hutts . Ven quipped that it might be amusing to watch the Hutts try , given Durga ' s mismanagement of both the Darksaber and the World Devastators used to construct it . Commanders and crew . Although the Darksaber was designed to hold up to a hundred Hutts and their entourages , the superweapon never actually reached that capacity during its short operational history . At the time of its destruction , the Darksaber held aboard only a skeleton crew and security force , consisting of Gamorreans , Weequays , Niktos , and Aqualish , in addition to a large number of Taurill workers , semi - sentient individually , but all part of the collective Overmind . Aside from those crewmembers , the only beings aboard were Lemelisk , Sulamar , and Durga himself . The battlestation ' s sensor chief was a Devaronian male . A Twi ' lek male acted as the security chief , and Durga wanted to execute him when he was informed of Madine ' s attempted sabotage , but he accidentally executed the Darksaber ' s Weequay navigator instead . " General " Sulamar . Sulamar was a Human , male , low - ranking technician in the Galactic Empire , who was transferred from one post to another several times and gained notoriety for his ineptitude . On one occasion , Sulamar was stationed on the Mendicat mining station . However , an error that he made in the station ' s computer programming resulted in Mendicat falling into a nearby star . Sulamar barely escaped , and came to work under Durga . While serving the Hutt , Sulamar claimed that he was a general and boasted of numerous Imperial victories in which he had taken part , including the so - called " Massacre of Mendicat . " Durga simply assumed his stories to be true and did not bother to double - check them with his intelligence network . Although Durga did not consider Sulamar a particularly good commander , he entrusted him with overseeing the construction of the Darksaber . In that position , Sulamar enjoyed his newfound power and always behaved with authority toward Lemelisk and the workers . When Madine , who had served the Empire himself before defecting to the Rebel Alliance , was captured and brought before Durga , he immediately recognized Sulamar . After the New Republic General exposed Sulamar ' s lies , Durga ordered Sulamar to take the position of the dead Weequay pilot . Strapped to the booby - trapped chair , Sulamar piloted the Darksaber during its fateful maiden voyage and , as his last action , tried to fire the superlaser , to no avail . Durga the Hutt . Durga Besadii Tai , the offspring of crime lord Aruk Besadii Aora , lived his first century on Nal Hutta , constantly enduring the ridicule of other Hutts due to a dark birthmark that stretched over his right eye , until he inherited the leadership of the Besadii kajidic following Aruk ' s death . Durga eventually joined the Black Sun as one of Prince Xizor ' s vigo s . Jabba the Hutt ' s and Xizor ' s deaths allowed Durga to achieve great power over the years , but he dreamed of even more . He viewed the Darksaber as his means to control the galaxy and was so intoxicated with that prospect that he did not notice of the obvious flaws with the weapon . Durga did not care about those who served him , and he did not flinch to execute them . The Hutt also personally executed the captive General Madine , shooting him in the chest with a blaster . However , the Hutt died shortly thereafter in the destruction of his Darksaber superweapon . Bevel Lemelisk . A talented and respected engineer , Bevel Lemelisk was responsible for creating many of the Empire ' s superweapons , most notably both Death Stars . When the first was destroyed by the Rebel Alliance during the Battle of Yavin because of a flaw inherent in Lemelisk ' s design , the engineer was summoned before Galactic Emperor Palpatine himself . Displeased with Lemelisk ' s performance , Palpatine executed him , but instead of killing him permanently , he transferred the engineer ' s essence into a clone body . As he continued his work for the Empire , Lemelisk found himself executed again and again for any mistake that he made . Although initially hopeful at the prospect of creating the Darksaber , as the disastrous construction slowly progressed , Lemelisk found his hopes getting lower with each moment , to the point that he was unsure if the weapon would ever work . As such , Durga ' s order to activate the Darksaber frightened the engineer , and he promptly evacuated and was captured by Antilles ' s forces . Tired of constantly being killed and reborn , the only thing Lemelisk asked from his captors was that they kill him for real this time . Behind the scenes . The Darksaber first appeared in Kevin J . Anderson ' s 1995 eponymous novel . Its creation and subsequent destruction was one of the two major plotlines in the novel , the second being Admiral Daala ' s attempt to re - unify the splintered Empire . Over the years , the Darksaber was mentioned in several subsequent novels and reference books . Although several older sources — such as the Expanded Universe timeline found on the " " interactive CD - ROM and in " Star Wars Gamemaster Screen , Revised " — placed the events of " Darksaber " in 13 ABY , newer sources established the 12 ABY date , which was backed up by Lucas Licensing ' s Holocron continuity database keeper Leland Chee in his blog on StarWars . com . " Rough and Tundra " , a 2004 web supplement for Wizards of the Coast ' s " Star Wars Roleplaying Game " , included the Hoth asteroid field as one of the potential adventure locations . If the adventure is set in 12 ABY , the players will have to account for the presence of the Darksaber in the system . The eleventh issue of the " Star Wars Adventure Journal " , published in November 1996 , included the ongoing " Fragments from the Mind ' s Eye " department , which consisted of a one - page humorous illustration , drawn by Pablo Hidalgo and depicting several superweapons being sold at B ' hob ' s Discount Superweapons . Along with the depicted weapons , the image included a sign that said that the Darksaber was " coming soon , " as a humorous take on its unfinished state in the novel . In 2008 , Hidalgo included the Darksaber in his StarWars . com article " Checklist : 10 Star Wars Superweapons " at number eight , noting its inability to work properly and suggesting a number of alternate names , such as the " " Hutt Hammer " , " the " " Girth Star " , " or the " " Bootleg " . " He also suggested that one alternative usage of the Darksaber could be to fry entire planets worth of meals for the Hutts . Kevin J . Anderson indicated in an interview that the Darksaber is actually an allegory for the real - life proliferation of weapons of mass destruction : " That ’ s the point of Darksaber : once you have these weapons , they start to proliferate and get out . So it was based on something I was working on , something that ’ s realistic in politics , not “ let ’ s build a new toy that dominates the last big new toy ! ” , also asking , " . . . what happens when Russian mobsters , Middle Eastern terrorists get control of nuclear weapons ? "