Nightstinger sporting blaster rifle

The Xerrol Nightstinger was a blaster rifle used for covert operations by the Galactic Empire's forces. It was generally inferior for other blasters used by the Empire, as it could only fire three to five shots before its canister of blaster gas needed to be replaced, and each canister cost about one thousand credits. Its one advantage was that it fired an invisible bolt. This made it useful for assassination missions.

One particularly clever Imperial tactic was for a sniper to use a Xerrol Nightstinger to invisibly blast a redirection crystal, forcing Tibanna gas through a blast tube. This blast tube would then fire a visible blaster bolt. Imperial agents used this tactic during the Hand of Thrawn crisis to make it appear that Han Solo and a Bothan dignitary, Askar clan leader Rayl'skar, had fired on a group of civilian rioters on Bothauwi.

Appearances
Timothy Zahn, Specter of the Past