of the 5th and it’s a Friday so here’s my top 5 Sith Personal Starships.
NUMBER FIVE The Sith Meditation Sphere as used by Naga
Sadow, was a lightly armed ship, ten meters across, in use during the Great Hyperspace
War in 5000 BBY. The purpose of the sphere was to act as a conduit for Battle Meditation,
a force technique that allowed an individual to influence an entire battlefield telepathically,
boosting the stamina and morale of his own troops whilst demoralising the enemy and eroding
their will to fight. The Sphere’s interior was filled with Sith artefacts and focusing
relics, allowing the occupant to extend his will through the force over great distances
and effect and part of a large battle. As well as the spiritual artefacts, the sphere
housed various command and control systems, including a large holoscreen displaying tactical
information and informing the pilot of his minion’s current status. On multiple occasions
a meditation sphere has turned the tide of a hopeless battle, with some Sith such as
Sadow himself being able to create vast illusions in space to confuse enemy commanders and ensnare
them in traps. NUMBER FOUR
Though Asajj Ventress was not a full Sith, she did serve as a Sith Assassin and Acolyte
to Darth Tyranus, and her advanced Ginivex Fanblade starfighter only added to her effectiveness
as a dark enforcer. Designed by the Geonosian Huppla Pasa Shipyards, the Fanblade employs
many of the same features as Count Dooku’s Solar Sailor, but applied in a far more combat-focused
configuration. The Fanblade’s Energy sail supplements its primary engines rather than
replacing them entirely, and allows the fighter to operate in two separate modes. Either by
folding the sail to create a smaller target, or extending it to provide greater engine
and shield power, whilst increasing the ship’s silhouette. Only 6 Ginivex Fanblades were
ever assembled, as the ships were extremely expensive and difficult to replace, but most
of those that were constructed were personally used by Asajj Ventress, who’s aptitude with
the force only added to the starfighter’s lethality.
NUMBER THREE The TIE Advanced X1 represents Sienar Systems
first foray into advanced space superiority fighters, featuring both a shield and Hyperdrive,
and of the few prototypes that were produced, none were more famous than the X1 piloted
by Darth Vader, a ship that claimed the lives of countless rebel pilots and achieved victory
against steep odds on many occasions. Equipped with a pair of gimballed laser cannons, layers
of reinforced durasteel armor and a powerful cluster missile launcher, the X1 was a formidable
opponent in combat, able to match an Alliance X-Wing singlehandedly, and endure far heavier
damage than any existing TIE Variant at the time of its development. Though the X1 was
not produced in great numbers, it’s design ultimately led to the development of the TIE
Avenger and the TIE Defender, two of the most deadly and sophisticated starfighters of their
time, and while Vader’s X1 was a highly uncommon model while in service, it’s endurance
and interstellar range ultimately saved the Sith Lords life, in the wake of the Battle
of Yavin.
NUMBER TWO Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator, known as
the Scimitar, was assembled from a heavily modified Republic Star Courier, and was outfitted
to be the perfect vessel for a Sith Assassin. Equipped with an incredibly rare stygian crystal
cloaking device, the ship was able to completely shield itself from both visual and technological
detection, and should it find itself engaged in battle, the Infiltrator was armed with
six retractable solar ionization cannons, a viciously powerful energy weapon, illegal
in republic space, which could bypass some conventional shield systems entirely and was
known to melt through durasteel plating on impact. Maul’s ship was specially outfitted
to assist in his role as a Sith enforcer, and was loaded with 3 DRK-1 Dark Eye probe
droids for target detection, as well as Maul’s personal Razalon FC-20 Speeder Bike, the Bloodfin.
The Scimitar carried Darth Maul to various missions and assignments though his career
as the apprentice of Darth Sidious, and with it’s sophisticated concealment systems and
cloaking technology, the vessel represented one of the few true stealth ships of it’s
time. NUMBER ONE
The Fury Class Interceptor of True Sith Empire, was assigned to countless Sith across it’s
service history. The Fury was built from the ground up to be a personal transport and pursuit
vessel for members of the Sith Order, armed with 4 precision laser cannons and an advanced
cluster missile launcher, the Fury was able to serve in the role of a heavy starfighter,
whilst also offering the range and utility to carry it’s Sith owner and their subjects
to objectives across the galaxy. During the great galactic war, Furies piloted by lower
ranking Sith were often employed as elite units in crucial space battles, while other
Sith used the vessels to pursue their own agendas with both efficiency and discretion.
For the many years of it’s long career the Fury was by far the most popular mode of transport
for Sith Lords and apprentices, with ships of the class being used by many famous members
of the order, including Darth Nox, Darth Thanaton and the Emperor’s Wrath, but even as early
as It’s first year of service, the ship’s brutal effectiveness as a combat fighter had
become obvious to most, being famously described by Darth Mekhis as “The hammer that will
shatter the ribcage of the Republic.”