Starkiller

Description

Design and transportation capabilities

The Starkiller was an early transport capable of hyperspace travel, a freighter model from the early Galactic Republic era. This thirty-meter vessel starship, designed for a crew of two, had a streamlined shape and two engine pods at the rear, each with a single ion coil sublight engine. The ship's name was written in red letters on its side, and it included a deflector shield generator, a navigation computer, and a life support system for a breathable atmosphere.

The Starkiller's cargo hold, capable of holding one hundred metric tons, was located between the engine pods. A lift at the rear could be lowered for loading, but a security lock prevented this in space. Inside, four grav-nets secured cargo crates. A hidden compartment existed beneath the floor. The engine room, with the hyperdrive access panel, was located amidships, ahead of the cargo hold. The Starkiller had a Class 4 hyperdrive without a backup.

The bridge and the lounge

The Starkiller's bridge was at the front of the ship, featuring a viewport and two chairs facing the control console. The laser cannon turret's firing computer could be linked to the console, which also provided access to the ship's computer banks. However, unauthorized access attempts triggered a trap: a blast door sealed the bridge, and ventilation ducts removed oxygen. The autopilot could be engaged on the bridge, and tampering with a computer terminal or bypassing the inner airlock hatch's security lock would trigger an alarm on the bridge.

Despite lacking passenger capacity, the Starkiller had a lounge behind the bridge, furnished with a table and two com-form chairs. It also featured a viewport, red emergency lights, and a central holoprojector. Activating the holoprojector displayed a hologram of a black creature with winged limbs and a mouth of fangs dripping venom. The hologram began with a screech, then rose from the floor and spread its wings over the viewer.

Other rooms

The Starkiller's head, located in the lounge's outer corner near the bridge, included washing and waste-disposal facilities. It also had a toilet, opposite a vidscreen with reading files and a medpack. The small airlock, at the lounge's other outer corner, consisted of outer and inner hatches, and the airlock itself, which was bare except for a security lock by the inner hatch. The lounge's interior aft corner contained a seemingly ordinary storage locker. Inside, an emergency space suit hung, with two boxes of junk on the floor. A hidden ceiling hatch led to a retractable ladder and the laser turret's firing seat.

Adjacent to the lounge was the Starkiller's galley, stocked with food storage and preparation equipment, including an autochef. The ship carried two months' worth of supplies. Behind the galley, the captain's quarters included a bed, chair, and desk. A computer terminal for accessing the ship's system was mounted on the desk. A storage cubicle in the aft wall contained bounty hunter armor, a force pike, and a heavy blaster pistol.

Changes over time

The Starkiller's upper hull was later modified, and it was publicly listed as unarmed, despite its actual laser cannon. During its twenty millennia journey at sublight speed, it became outdated, with its ion coil engines being primitive by Galactic Civil War standards.

Over the long journey, the Starkiller became damaged, with its name barely readable by the time of its encounter during the Galactic Civil War. A meteor collision jammed the airlock's outer hatch. The air became stale, and dust covered the lounge, obscuring the holoprojector. The emergency lighting activated, and the galley's autochef malfunctioned.

History

A Jedi captured

Leshy Drobo, a bounty hunter from before 20,000 BBY, owned the Starkiller. By that time, Drobo and his partner, the XT labor droid turned assassin droid XT-8, captured Roni von Wasaki, a Jedi Knight with a bounty of one hundred thousand credits offered by a crime boss. The hunters then froze the Jedi in carbonite for delivery to the crime lord. Drobo took Wasaki's lightsabers and stored them in the captain's quarters. The ship, with the frozen Jedi hidden and its cargo hold containing fifty crates of labeled repulsorlift parts (actually useless junk), set off to deliver the bounty.

Drobo recorded Wasaki's capture in his personal log on the Starkiller's computer. Wasaki, retaining his mental abilities and Force powers while frozen, began to telepathically influence Drobo to release him. Shortly after jumping to hyperspace, Wasaki successfully implanted a suggestion that Drobo began to act on. However, XT-8 discovered his partner's plans and confronted him in the engine room. The assassin droid opened fire with its built-in submachinegun, killing Drobo with bullets, but also damaging the hyperdrive access panel, causing the ship to revert to realspace.

The long journey

Unable to repair the Starkiller, XT-8 continued at sublight speed, turning a thirty-day trip into a twenty-thousand-year journey. The droid's mission—to deliver the cargo at any cost—became ingrained in its memory circuits, and by the Galactic Civil War, most of the ship's power was directed to its sublight engines.

Wasaki, kept alive by his carbonite imprisonment, continued reaching out through the Force for liberation. The loneliness, nightmares, and sensory deprivation drove him insane. Over millennia, failed Jedi and drunken spacers claimed to have encountered the Starkiller, leading to rumors of it being a pirate ship. The rumor stated that the Starkiller had depressurized during a raid, killing its crew, who remained connected to the material world. However, the ship's name, model, and its owner's real occupation were also preserved in history.

An encounter in deep space

During the Galactic Civil War, another ship traveling through hyperspace unexpectedly dropped into realspace near the Starkiller. The latter ship, while silent, was on a collision course with the newly arrived vessel. The astrogator pointed out the Starkiller to the crew through the cockpit viewport.

A crew member familiar with ancient criminal history identified the ship and shared its story, and another noticed the modified hull. The sensors detected no life-forms and indicated that power was routed to the engines. A Force-sensitive member's attempts to sense life were also unsuccessful, but Wasaki finally made telepathic contact, albeit vague and incoherent, with one of the crew members.

Exploring the Starkiller

As the ship approached for boarding, the Starkiller opened fire and tried to escape. After the chase resulted in severe damage, its engines shut down. XT-8, at the bridge console, repeatedly struck the viewport to shatter it and expose the boarders to vacuum. The pilot pulled the ship alongside and attached the landing claw, allowing the crew to enter through the airlock.

Onboard, the explorers accidentally activated the lounge hologram, startling one of them into firing and damaging the room. They found the ladder to the laser turret and, upon entering the bridge, were attacked by XT-8, who tried to move the fight to the lounge to avoid damaging the ship. The group defeated the droid and accessed Drobo's log and the shipping manifest from the computer, triggering a trap they eventually escaped.

During their exploration, the group repaired the hyperdrive and found the secret compartment with Wasaki's frozen body. After de-carbonizing the Jedi, both the explorers and Wasaki left the Starkiller on the other ship.

Owners and operators

The Starkiller was privately owned by Leshy Drobo, a bounty hunter posing as a wealthy merchant. Drobo partnered with XT-8 and Gammid, who Drobo considered incompetent and who died during Wasaki's capture. After XT-8 killed Drobo for planning to release Wasaki, the droid became the sole surviving crew member. The droid controlled the ship's flight and weapons from the bridge and monitored the alarm system.

Behind the scenes

The Starkiller was the setting for "Disturbance in the Force," a roleplaying mini-adventure by Chris Hind for West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, illustrated by Paul Daly, and published in Challenge 66 in November 1992. Besides the deckplan, "Disturbance in the Force" included an illustration of two ships, but it did not specify if either was the Starkiller.

"Disturbance in the Force" suggests the airlock as the most likely entry point, but also notes that characters can create an entrance using explosives, a lightsaber, or a fusion cutter. Damaging the engine pods is described as potentially "messy." If the characters fail to find the secret compartment with Wasaki, one may receive a telepathic suggestion to aid the search.

During "Disturbance in the Force," the player characters disable the Starkiller. The adventure notes that "if" this occurs, XT-8 tries to shatter the bridge viewport. However, it also states that XT-8 abandons the bridge if an alarm is triggered by hacking a computer terminal or the airlock's security lock. This article assumes the scenario plays out as described.