Corsair (Derriphan-class)

The Corsair, a Derriphan-class battleship, was a heavily armored capital ship capable of withstanding substantial damage despite lacking shielding. Its robust armor enabled the ship to concentrate its fire on individual enemy vessels, although its limited complement of six starfighters necessitated reliance on point-defense weaponry for the majority of its anti-fighter protection. Spanning 215 meters in length, the Corsair required a crew of merely twenty-five individuals, yet could accommodate up to 850 passengers, 5,000 tons of cargo, and one year's worth of provisions. Capable of housing two shuttles in addition to six starfighters, the battleship was equipped with both point-defense laser cannons and heavy concussion missile launchers, each possessing a payload of sixty missiles. The ship featured several antenna-like extensions protruding from its dorsal surface, along with two banks of six engines each located at its stern. The Corsair utilized a navigation computer and possessed a Class 4 hyperdrive. The Corsair exhibited a somewhat conical form, with the bridge situated at the apex and a series of jagged spires at the bow. Comparable appendages were also positioned along the ship's ventral side.

Enclosed by viewports, the command deck served as the operational hub for many of the ship's crewmembers, overseeing the vessel's systems and armaments. The bridge also housed at least one laser cannon. The ship was adorned with light-green plating. The Corsair demonstrated remarkable agility for its size, even capable of navigating between stars within densely packed clusters. These attributes were typical of the Derriphan-class battleship. However, the Corsair transcended the ordinary battleship. Within the Corsair's command deck, a platform bearing numerous Force-enhancing Sith magic crystals ascended from the ship's floor. These crystals possessed immense, almost unfathomable power; they could manipulate stars themselves, with capabilities ranging from generating solar flares to extracting the star's core. Nonetheless, the extraordinary power of these crystals proved exceedingly challenging to control by individuals lacking specialized training.

The Corsair was among the battleships in service to Dark Lord of the Sith Naga Sadow during his reign over the Sith Empire in a remote region of the Outer Rim, around 5000 BBY. The Corsair differed from other Derriphan-class warships used by the Sith at that time due to its powerful Sith magic crystals, capable of extracting a star's core. That year, the arrival of two explorers from the Galactic Republic, Human siblings Gav and Jori Daragon, led the expansionist Dark Lord to learn of Republic space and prepare to invade. The Corsair was chosen as a main flagship in Sadow's invasion fleet. After gathering a large force, the Sith armada jumped through hyperspace and attacked the Republic. Near the end of the war, Gav Daragon, by then a high-ranking general in Sadow's service, began to question his allegiance.

After meeting his sister during a battle at their homeworld planet Koros Major, Gav decided to rebel against the Dark Lord. Daragon confronted Sadow at the star Primus Goluud, where Sadow oversaw the war, and fired on his Sith Meditation Sphere. Sadow tricked Daragon into a face-to-face meeting on the Sith craft, but had escaped by the time Daragon arrived. A Republic fleet arrived, and when Gav offered to help them fight the Dark Lord, Sadow recalled his forces and returned to Primus Goluud in the Corsair. A brief skirmish followed, ending when Sadow used the Corsair's power to trigger solar flares in Primus Goluud, killing Gav Daragon and covering the Sith retreat back to their worlds.

After fleeing the Republic fleet at Primus Goluud, the Corsair and Sadow's battered fleet returned to Sith Space, where they were met by Ludo Kressh, a rival Sith Lord of Naga Sadow's presumed dead. Kressh had faked his death, built a large fleet, claimed the title of Dark Lord of the Sith, and awaited Sadow's return. After some words between Sadow and Kressh, a battle began. Sadow, commanding from the Corsair, won the battle after ordering a damaged ship to crash into Kressh's flagship, killing him. Sadow's forces had little time to recover, as they were soon attacked by a Republic fleet led by Empress Teta of the Koros system, who had followed coordinates given to them by Gav Daragon to reach the Sith worlds.

The Corsair was heavily damaged during the second battle, with failing systems and spent weapons. The battle was lost, but Sadow had one last plan. He ordered his remaining ships to form a barricade and maneuvered the Corsair between the twin stars of the Denarii Nova, using the ship's power to create solar flares and destroy any pursuing ships. Teta's forces left, believing him dead, but Sadow had escaped in the Corsair. The only remaining ship from the invasion fleet, the Corsair jumped to Yavin 4, an isolated moon in the Outer Rim. Sadow landed the Corsair in a burned clearing on the forested moon and started a new life with his Massassi followers. The exiled Dark Lord built the Temple of Fire around the Corsair, where it remained for over a thousand years.

In 3997 BBY, a young Human and former Jedi named Exar Kun rediscovered the Corsair. Kun had been sent to Yavin 4 by the spirit of former Dark Lord Freedon Nadd, who wanted to turn the powerful Force-user to the dark side. However, Kun used his dark powers to dispel Nadd's spirit, claiming the title of Dark Lord. Curious about the dark side's secrets, Kun researched Yavin 4's mysteries, discovering the Corsair in the Temple of Fire where it had been for a thousand years. This was fortunate for Exar Kun, as his personal starship, the Starstorm One, had been destroyed by hostile Massassi upon his arrival on Yavin 4, leaving him stranded.

Even after a thousand years, the Corsair was perfectly preserved, though it needed maintenance to be spaceworthy again, and Kun soon set out on a mission aboard the warship. Before Kun destroyed Freedon Nadd's spirit, he felt Nadd contact other students to warn them of Kun's power, so Kun decided to find and kill these other students of Nadd. Kun flew the Corsair to the planet Empress Teta, where Human Jedi Knight Ulic Qel-Droma, another trainee in the dark ways, was staying. However, Kun did not kill Qel-Droma; instead, on orders from the spirit of dead Dark Lord of the Sith Marka Ragnos, he took the Jedi as his Sith apprentice and vowed to wage war on the Republic and the Jedi Order.

By the next year, the Great Sith War between Kun's forces and the Republic was underway. However, after a failed assault on the Republic capital of Coruscant, Ulic Qel-Droma was taken prisoner and put on trial in the Galactic Senate chamber. Upon learning of Qel-Droma's detainment, Mandalore the Indomitable, leader of the Mandalorian warrior clans that had pledged allegiance to the Sith, flew to Yavin 4 to inform Kun. The two discussed the matter beside the Corsair, and agreed to fly to Coruscant and free Qel-Droma. They did so in the Corsair, along with a large Massassi force, and succeeded in their mission. With Qel-Droma safely delivered from Republic custody, Mandalore the Indomitable revealed that Qel-Droma's lover, the Human Aleema Keto, a skilled Sith magician and ruler of the Empress Teta system, had betrayed him and allowed him to be captured. After the group's return from Coruscant, Kun and Qel-Droma planned to get rid of Keto and Crado, a Cathar Dark Jedi who had failed the Sith Lords too many times.

Assigning their targets to lead an attack on the outpost of Kemplex Nine, Kun and Qel-Droma gave Keto and Crado the Corsair to command, as Kun taught Keto how to use the ship's dark power. The Corsair traveled to Kemplex Nine and assaulted the station, luring a Republic fleet and a team of Jedi to investigate. Meanwhile, Keto and Crado hid the Corsair in the heart of the Cron Cluster, a dense group of stars near Kemplex Nine. When the Jedi arrived, Aleema Keto used the ship's ancient power to tear out the core of one of the Cron Cluster's stars and use it as a weapon, destroying the Jedi/Republic force. However, Keto and Crado then realized they had been tricked. Just as Kun and Qel-Droma wanted, the star imploded, even after Keto shut down the weapon's power source. The incident created a supernova, which destroyed the ancient Corsair and killed Keto and Crado. Around the time of the Treaty of Coruscant, Kel Dor Jedi Master Gnost-Dural mentioned the Corsair in one of his video logs about the history of the galaxy, recorded in the Jedi Archives.

The original captain of the Corsair was the Dark Lord of the Sith Naga Sadow, who used the vehicle as a flagship in his invasion fleet during the Great Hyperspace War. Sadow used it as his personal battleship, and, after action in several major battles, it was the sole remaining ship from the Sith fleet. One thousand years later, the Corsair was possessed by Exar Kun, who used the ship in his own war on the Republic. The Corsair was also commanded on its final mission by Aleema Keto and Crado, who were on board when the ship was destroyed by the Cron Supernova. The Corsair needed a crew of twenty-five; during both the Great Hyperspace War and the Great Sith War, the crew was usually Massassi.

The Corsair first appeared in a flashback in the first issue of the Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi – Dark Lords of the Sith comic-book miniseries. The issue was written by Tom Veitch and Kevin J. Anderson, illustrated by Chris Gossett, and released by Dark Horse Comics on October 4, 1994.