X-1 Viper

The X-1 Viper, also known as the Automadon, was a large military droid manufactured by Balmorran Arms. It was used during the reborn Emperor Palpatine's insurrection from 10 ABY&mdash;11 ABY.

Description
The X-1 Viper was the size and shape of a Kubindi sun beetle. The Viper was one of the products developed, manufactured and sold by Balmorran Arms without any foreign influence, most notably the Imperials.

The Viper's six-limbed construction allowed it to stand bipedally on its rear legs while firing a barrage of fire. Its middle set of appendages were fitted with boosted blaster cannons, each equipped with the knockout punch of the turbolaser of a capital ship. Two chin-mounted laser cannons were also concealed beneath the X-1 Viper's chin. Its heavy front pincers were fast enough to capture a low-flying airspeeder and strong enough to maintain its grip while crushing the craft into the ground.

However, the Vipers were effective primarily because of the advanced full-body molecular shielding which they wore as shells. This experimental technology not only blocked most conventional weapons, but also absorbed the energy of a laser blast and used it to charge the power cells of its own weapons systems. It could also absorb other energy weapons like ion cannons, turbolasers, and energy torpedoes. This battle droid also had the power to shoot these energy weapons back at their targets. These droids were also designed for supervised combat and had manual overrides in their heads as a result.

History
When the X-1 Viper was first manufactured, the company intended to sell it to the New Republic though this was interrupted by the emergence of the reborn Emperor Palpatine in 10 ABY. Balmorra's governor, Beltane, was forced to serve the Empire again though he secretly put the finishing touches on the Viper while his main assembly lines churned out countless SD-10s for the public eye. When the clone Emperor was killed at the Battle of Pinnacle Base, the Balmorrans took advantage of this newly-found freedom and revolted.



However, the Emperor was reborn in a second clone body and sent his Executor Sedriss to reconquer Balmorra and retake its massive foundries. This sparked the Battle of Balmorra which saw the deployment of these X-1 Vipers against the Empire's high-tech SD-9s, AT-STs, and Shadow Droids.

This battle ended in a truce between Beltane and the Empire though he secretly allowed New Republic agents to hijack a shipment of the new Vipers. Since these droids were equipped with manual overrides, a taskforce of New Republic commandos under Lando Calrissian and Wedge Antilles were able to stow away on their cramped innards during the journey to the Imperial throneworld of Byss, in the Deep Core.

Arriving at Byss, the Rebels activated the Vipers and marched them right up to the Imperial Citadel itself. During the battle, the Vipers destroyed several bipedal walkers, tanks and gunships. However, they were torn to shreds by Palpatine's alchemically altered Chrysalide beasts. The surviving Rebels managed to escape thanks to the arrival of the smuggler Salla Zend and her friends.

Appearances

 * Dark Empire II