Sun Crusher

Sun Crusher

Probably the most powerful superweapon ever assembled, the Sun Crusher was a prototype superweapon developed at the secret Maw Installation.

The Sun Crusher was built by using funds diverted from the Death Star I project by the Maw Installation that was secretly built by Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin for the development of experimental weapons technologies. He then assigned the Maw Installation to Admiral Daala, a female Imperial Naval officer. Unknown even to Emperor Palpatine, the Maw Installation was quickly forgotten after Tarkin's death at the Battle of Yavin. However, a team of Imperial scientists, led by researcher Qwi Xux, continued their work despite complete isolation from the rest of the Galaxy.

Specifications
The Sun Crusher was a nearly indestructible craft no larger than a starfighter which, unlike the Death Stars that destroyed individual planets, could destroy entire star systems using a resonance torpedo that causes a star to go supernova. The key to its near invincibility was layered molecular armor, a material so strong that it could resist even turbolaser shots. Han Solo once was able to ram the Sun Crusher straight through the bridge of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer without taking any significant damage. The Sun Crusher was also equipped with a hyperdrive and was designed to slip unnoticed into a system, fire its weaponry and then escape before its presence was detected.

The Sun Crusher's primary weapon was a payload of 11 energy resonance torpedoes. Each torpedo resembled an oval-shaped plasma discharge and was activated when it passed through the Sun Crusher's resonance torpedo launcher. The energy torpedo then traveled to the stellar system's sun at near-lightspeed velocity. Upon impact, the torpedo burrowed into the star's core releasing dense packets of energy that rendered the star's core unstable, initiating a chain-reaction supernova that forced even low-mass stars to go supernova. The star would be ripped apart in the explosion, sending waves of energy and radiation out across the system that destroyed every planet in its path. The Sun Crusher could obliterate an entire system, erasing trillions of sentient lives in a few hours. Once launched into the star, it is impossible to stop the impending supernova.

History


More than a decade after the Battle of Yavin, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Kyp Durron stumbled upon the Maw Installation. By that time, the Empire had succumbed to civil war with warlords fighting both themselves and the New Republic. After they were captured by Admiral Daala's forces, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Kyp Durron, along with Qwi Xux, escaped the Maw Installation with the Sun Crusher.

The Sun Crusher was then placed deep inside the poisonous atmosphere of the gas giant Yavin, where it was thought that the incredible atmospheric pressures would destroy the craft. However, the young Kyp Durron, now a Jedi adept at Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy at Yavin IV, yet unable to control his hatred of the Empire and influenced by the ancient Dark Lord Exar Kun retrieved the Sun Crusher from the depths of Yavin. He then destroyed the Cauldron Nebula along with most of Admiral Daala's fleet.

Then Durron destroyed the Carida system, an Imperial allied system and the location of the Academy of Carida. However, Exar Kun was destroyed by Kyp's fellow students and he realized what he had done. To redeem himself, Kyp had to destroy the Sun Crusher. He destroyed it during the Battle of the Maw Installation where it was captured by one of the Maw's black holes. Kyp survived by escaping in a message pod though he suffered serious injuries in the process.

Behind the scenes



 * As shown on the cover of Dark Apprentice, there was an alternate, non-canon version of the Sun Crusher.

Appearances

 * Jedi Academy Trilogy