Force-drive

This hyperdrive variant, the Force-drive, supplied energy to military vessels by harnessing the Force energy present within sentient slave populations to act as its fuel source. These Force-drives were a standard component on Rakatan starships. On these ships, dedicated chambers were constructed to house the enslaved fuel source in large containment structures. Each of these structures held several "tomb-like shells," which were basically cells that held the slaves face down, connected to electrodes. These slaves were transformed into organic batteries, enduring constant pain. The dark side energy produced was then extracted and transferred to the Force-drive.

Although functional, the Force-drive's primary reliance on the Force for power imposed certain constraints. The most significant of these was its inability to navigate between any two random locations in realspace. This meant the Force-drive could only target planets with potent Force signatures. This limitation resulted in an empire that, although vast, only encompassed a little more than five hundred worlds throughout the galaxy. Furthermore, a particularly strong-willed prisoner could potentially overcome the system's effects and escape their confinement.

Well before 36,453 BBY, the Kwa elevated the Rakata civilization residing on Lehon. The Kwa imparted knowledge of the Force and provided advanced technology to the Rakata. In the aftermath of a destructive conflict with the Kwa, the Rakata rapidly developed the first known hyperdrive. They discovered that the energy from Force-sensitive slaves, taken from conquered populations, could power their warships. This led to the rise of the Infinite Empire, which expanded with each new conquest and the discovery of Force-rich planets.

When a plague deprived the Rakata of their Force abilities, they were no longer able to use their Force-based technology. Consequently, the Infinite Empire fell apart, and the remaining Rakata sought refuge in an isolated area of the Unknown Regions, known as the Rakatan Archipelago. While many tribes in the Archipelago regressed to a primitive state, some managed to recover their ancestors' technology. Skipships recovered from burial sites on Makatak and Tulpaa allowed the Rakata to travel through space once more. However, their Force-blindness meant they could only operate the ship's machinery at a reduced capacity. The ship's Force-drives targeted planets abundant with life across the Rakatan Archipelago, but the Rakata lacked control over this process. The Makatak and Tulpaa Rakata's Force-drives repeatedly brought them to the same pristine planets, sparking resource conflicts between the tribes.

Despite the Rakata not sharing the secrets of their technology with their slaves, the slaves eventually uncovered the workings of the hyperdrive and other technologies. Even before the Infinite Empire's collapse, the Gossams and Devaronians had developed a tumble hyperdrive. Meanwhile, the Coruscanti were traveling without hyperdrives, deploying colonial sleeper ships across the Core Worlds. Separately, the Corellians and Duros independently reverse-engineered hyperspace cannons from the Rakatan hyperdrive. However, it was the development of the modern hyperdrive by Corellian scientists around 25,000 BBY that truly opened up the galaxy for interstellar trade and facilitated the establishment of the Galactic Republic. The latter, as a union of diverse emerging civilizations, also incorporated developments based on Rakata technology.

In 1 BBY, Dr. Insmot Bowen, a pre-Republic history expert from the Obroan Institute for Archaeology, briefed General Arhul Kurumenga of the Imperial Department of Military Research, Admiral Conan Antonio Motti of the Imperial Navy, and Master of Imperial Projects Bevel Lemelisk regarding the history of the Rakata and their technology, including the Rakatan hyperdrive.