Eclipse

Intended to serve as a symbol of his power and that of the Galactic Empire, the ***Eclipse*** was built as a unique prototype Imperial Super Star Destroyer commissioned and owned directly by Emperor Sheev Palpatine himself, intending for the ship to serve as his personal flagship and designed to meet his exact specifications.The first of a new line of Super Star Destroyers and the most recent of the Empire's plethora of weapon programs, construction began around the early rebel movements. The ship was made by the Kuat Drive Yards different from other classes of Super Star Destroyer such as the Executor-Class, with this breed of ship one day being branded Eclipse-Class Dreadnoughts. Although it was not the only one of the prototypes, with the aid of slave labor, it became the only ship of the class to eventually become complete. During the early construction, Palpatine visited the vessel several times. The *Eclipse* was viewed by many as emblematic of the problems with Palpatine's military policy. Some did not approve of lavish spending on one behemoth ship over several smaller ships of the line. To many it seemed as if construction would never end, with some claiming the *Eclipse* took as long to build as a Death Star. During construction, the galaxy's latest tech was incorporated by the builders, including gravity well projectors, heavy matter cannons, ion cannons, vast improvements to shield technology, and improvements to the sublight engines and hyperdrive.

Both a powerful technological tool and a potent psychological weapon, the *Eclipse* boasted a massive stockpile worth of weaponry and was deemed almost unstoppable. The *Eclipse* was equipped with a variety of weapons and forms of tech, including gravity well projectors, but the most prominent weapon it possessed was an axial superlaser similar in design to the Death Star, capable of cracking a planet's crust or destroying a capital ship in a single blow. It was believed by most to have been destroyed prior to the Battle of Jakku, though following the New Republic's decisive victory over the fallen Galactic Empire on the planet Jakku, Grand Admiral Rae Sloane discovered the *Eclipse* in the Unknown Regions of the galaxy. The Imperial Remnants used the last Imperial Super Star Destroyer of the Imperial Navy to assist in the birth of the new Empire, in the form of a faction calling itself the First Order. In the earliest days of the First Order, in addition to its use as a warship and a constant symbol of dominance and superiority, the *Eclipse* served for some time as an orbital space station, where the leaders and other high-ranking members of the fallen Imperial Military met to plan Imperial strategy for the future. The *Eclipse* would serve as the foundation of a new generation of Star Destroyers, as a weapon molded by technology the First Order had been developing and the same technology used to make each Death Star. However, with the limited resources at the disposal of the First Order, they were unable to recreate the Eclipse. And when it was finally destroyed, they had no way of replicating it.

The Eclipse was destroyed through a complicated battle; during it the First Order attempted to use their Hyperdrive to escape, because they did not want the Galaxy to know of their power at that time. However, in a classic Empire moment, they neglected to activate shields on the journey, and their ship did not survive the many ships, debris, and celestial bodies it impacted.

## Starship Overview

### Characteristics

#### Defensive and Offensive

The most prominent weapon carried by *Eclipse*-class ships was an axial superlaser, similar to but significantly less powerful than one of the component beams used in the Death Star's superlaser. This superlaser was the pinnacle of Imperial destruction in their fleets. An *Eclipse*'s superlaser easily had the power to destroy other Super Star Destroyers. The axial superlasers were capable of slashing through any planetary shield to crack open a planet's crust and sear entire continental landmasses. The massive superlaser was more widely used to destroy enemy capital ships and space stations during combat.

The class benefited from the most significant weaponry-improvements of the last few decades. This included gravity well projectors, heavy matter cannons, and improved ion cannons, the former of which were the same types included on the *Interdictor*-Class Star Destroyers. The heavy matter cannon was a special design plan proposed by the Emperor himself; what was the use of using dozens upon dozens of TIE Fighters if one fast moving projectile was capable of punching though most shields in existence? With this thought in mind, he commissioned the creation of 500 heavy matter cannons, capable of firing a projectile the size of a TIE Fighter at hyperspeed through another ship. While hardly ever used due the the limited quantity of projectiles aboard and the cost of producing an individual hyper-drive for each one, and because they had the axial superlaser, the Eclipse could still manage to fire these projectiles at ships and stations in another star system entirely if they so chose; that is if the Eclipse knew the exact location of the target. This was in fact the inspiration for Starkiller Base; a station capable of striking planetoids from across the galaxy.

The Eclipse was also armed with various ancient Sith weapons from the Sith Empire, which the Emperor managed to aquire through the use of holocrons. One of these weapon designs he acquired was the Sith Empire's Gauntlet. While it was never completed, they did have a prototype aboard that they never tested, preferring to simply use the Eclipses Gravity Well Projectors to pull ships out of FTL speeds, and then gun them down with the rest of their arsenal. Of course, this does not mean that the cannon didn't work, they just never tested it. But while it was never tested, there was no reason to assume that it wound't work, since they copied the instructions from the Emperor's notes to the letter; and the original functioned as it was designed to. Therefore, the Gauntlet should function as well.

Additionally, these behemoths were armed with over 100, 000 heavy laser and turbolaser mountings, as well as 1,000 Resonance Torpedo Launchers, and a complement of 8, 000 Utheel Rockcrusher Seismic Charges; making the Eclipse one of the most Heavily Armoured and Weaponized ships in the Imperial Navy. In addition to its firepower, the *Eclipse*-class's armor and shields were so powerful that it could ram enemy ships without any risk of taking damage, and without hesitance. Coupled with it's massive ram situated at the stern, it was perfectly capable or performing the 'Holdo Maneuver' without any risk to it's own structural integrity (the maneuver in question being a hyperspace jump through another ship).

The shields aboard the Eclipse were capable of withstanding the heat of a G-Class star while inside of it's mass; however it was only able to maintain it's shields for 9 minutes before needing to flee the interior of the star.

### Size

The *Eclipse*-Class vessel was among the largest dreadnought-scale ship/Super Star Destroyer ever to be fielded within Galactic history. Although technically only being in length by 40 kilometers long, the *Eclipse*-Class nonetheless outranked even the *Executor*-class in terms of overall mass and volume. Its size in addition was also large enough for it to also be classified as a space station of the same classification as the Death Star.

### Complement

An *Eclipse*-Class vessel carried 100's of TIE Fighters (more specifically 130, 000), divided into dozens of squadrons. For ground assaults, they carried over a hundred thousand First Order Stormtroopers, each fully equipped with personal shields, and heavy blasters. The hangars were located at the sides of the vessel, with the fore and aft launch bays closely spaced underneath this area, towards the middle of the ship. Each ship of the class was crewed by over 700,000 personnel.

### Bridge Tower

The bridge tower contained the main communications array and sensor array, located on the port side and starboard side, respectively. These communications systems were so advanced that they were capable of receiving hologram communication while in hyperspace. In addition to containing the main command station for the ship on the lower portion of the tower, it also housed the deflector shield command center, on the top area.

The Eclipse was also equipped with a Force Command Chamber, which allowed a Force-User to bond it to a system, and then remotely control it. Darth Sidious would at times control the Eclipse by himself, negating the need for a crew.

### Propulsion Systems

The *Eclipse*-Class was more mobile than the Death Star, being equipped with both an enhanced hyper-drive and fast sub-light engines. The fast sub-light engine itself was capable of propelling the ship at near light speeds when used at full power, being capable of moving at almost 200, 000 kilometers in a single minute; while the enhanced hyper-drive was able to move the entire ship across the galaxy in a matter of minutes.

### Miscellaneous Arsenal

The *Eclipse*-Class was also equipped with a cloaking device, which they were incapable of maintaining while their shields were active. However, due to the heavy armour plating of the Eclipse, this was not usually a waste, since they could still fire their weapons without deactivating the cloak. The Eclipse also made good use of the old Separatist technology; they copied the technology used in the Malevolence. They made a Mega-Ion cannon capable of completely deactivating and immobilizing other ships and stations (including any life support they may have). This cannon was also improved, and could fire every 30 seconds. It was placed just below the axial superlaser, on the stern.

The Eclipse was also equipped with a solar array, once more similar to that of Starkiller Bases. It would absorb energy from a nearby star, and superpower the ship with near endless amounts of energy. However, this was primarily used for hyperspace jumps and the turbolasers, as it was incompatible with the Kyber technology of the axial superlaser.

The Eclipse was also equipped with 50, 000 Diamond Boron Missiles. These missiles were the staple of its attack pattern, which it would fire into the fighter complements of its foes before releasing its own TIE Fighters into the fray. Using a similar method to the Star Forge, the Eclipse was able to recreate these missiles over time on it's own.

While never tested, and presumed to not actually function, the Eclipse was equipped with a replica of the Shawken Device, which would eventually be destroyed by Luke Skywalker. The device was theoretically capable of destroying and rebirthing the universe, but it is more likely that it would simply destroy many solar systems, at least until it came across a powerful gravity well, which could stop it's advance. Therefore, it would be incapable of leaving the Galaxy and affecting the rest of the universe.

During construction of the Eclipse, Emperor Palpatine kidnapped and contracted the services of Rokur Gepta, a renowned scientist. He added a weapon to the Eclipse that was considered to be so terrible, even Palpatine eventually determined it to be to dangerous to equip any ship other than his own with them. These were the Electromangetic Torpedoes. This weapon was capable of ending all life on a planet by releasing a pale green substance lethal to all known forms of life in the galaxy. It was even capable of thriving in the vacuum of space.

The Eclipse was also equipped with an arsenal of 10, 000 Defoliators, which they would fire upon enemy ships in short bursts to deactivate them, and then striking again if they had a backup power source.