Black-Saber

The concept of the **Black-Saber** **Project** was originally created by members of the Tarkin Initiative, based on the plans of the Death Star along with prototype forms of the Death Star's primary firing system. The naming of this project resulted from the shape resembling that of the Lightsaber, the traditional weapon of the Jedi Knights, so the Tarkin Initiative christened the creation the Black-Saber. The idea behind the creation of the Black-Saber Project was should the Death Star's power prove as destructive as Palpatine hoped, then the Empire would be able to create dreadnoughts capable of replicating the same form of destructive power as the Death Star was able to produce, of which could be spread among several ships rather than one massive station. The plans of the still in early development Black-Saber Project were stored within the Imperial data vault on Scarif. The destruction of the data vault resulted in the loss of the data tape holding the plans necessary to construct the weapon, thus putting a hold to this potential project along with several other projects.

In the time following the Galactic Civil War and the signing of the Galactic Concordance, the Galactic Empire had been overthrown by the New Republic resulting in the Imperial Remnants retreating to the Unknown Regions where they would for decades secretly plan their retaliation against the New Republic. Without the Empire ruling over the galaxy, the New Republic established a government focused on strengthening the forces of local planetary governments and reconstruction efforts to worlds ravaged by the conflict.

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Based on the set of plansfor 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.

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 cores 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.