The Arc Pulse Generator, nicknamed "the Duchess" after Duchess Satine Kryze, was a superweapon designed by Sabine Wren during her time at the Imperial Academy on Mandalore. The weapon targeted the beskar alloy used in Mandalorian armor, superheating it, resulting in the disintegration of the individual wearing it, though it could also be reconfigured to target other materials such as plastoid, a component of stormtrooper armor. Wren defected from the Galactic Empire and attempted to destroy the prototype upon realizing what the Empire intended to do with the weapon, but the Empire and their regents on Mandalore salvaged and reconstructed it. The weapon was unleashed during the civil war that occurred on Mandalore during the Imperial Era until Wren and Bo-Katan Kryze finally destroyed it.
Years before the early rebellion against the Galactic Empire, Sabine Wren was a cadet at the Imperial Academy on Mandalore. Wren, the top of her class, was a highly competitive student and often took on challenges other students found too daunting. One of those was the development of a superweapon that became the Arc Pulse Generator. The weapon was cruelly nicknamed "the Duchess" after the late pacifist Duchess Satine Kryze who ruled Mandalore during the Clone Wars. Wren developed the weapon to target beskar alloy used in Mandalorian armor and disintegrate the soldier inside.
Once Wren realized that the Empire had tested the weapon on her own people and intended to continue using it, she sabotaged it, destroyed the plans, and defected from the Empire, eventually joining with rebels who became part of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Wren believed she had destroyed the weapon, but the Empire salvaged and rebuilt it. Rumors spread that the Empire had tested such a device, but there was never confirmation amongst other Mandalorian clans that the Duchess was real.
The Arc Pulse Generator targets a Clan Wren warrior's beskar armor
A civil war broke out on Mandalore after Clan Wren rebelled against Clan Saxon, the ruling clan of Mandalore that was allied with the Empire. Governor Tiber Saxon prepared the weapon for use against the insurrectionists, and fitted it on an AT-DP Arc Cannon Prototype. Though it was weaker than Wren's original design, Saxon ordered it tested against Clan Wren during the war, and the weapon was used to kill multiple members of the clan. Grand Admiral Thrawn was disappointed that the weapon was not up to its full capabilities, and suggested that Governor Saxon capture Wren so she could modify and improve it.
After witnessing the destructive capabilities of the weapon, the rebels planned to destroy it, with Wren volunteering to lead the mission, as she felt personally responsible. Wren boarded Saxon's Star Destroyer with a strike team to destroy the weapon and erase all data on it from the Imperial databanks. As Ezra Bridger, Fenn Rau, and the others engaged Imperial forces in the hangar, Wren and Bo-Katan Kryze located the weapon. However, they were captured by Saxon, who threatened to kill Bo-Katan if Wren did not fix the weapon. Thinking quickly, Wren tricked him into believing that she amplified the weapon's power. Instead, she adjusted it to target stormtrooper armor instead of the beskar in the Mandalorian's armor, and when Saxon activated it, he incapacitated his own Imperial troops. Wren then used the Darksaber to breach the weapon's core, and it exploded and destroyed the Star Destroyer as Wren and her strike team escaped.
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