Ravager (Centurion-class)

Ravager

"The hunger that consumes this vessel&hellip;it is power&hellip;but it consumes without end"

- Tobin

The Ravager was a capital ship of the Galactic Republic Navy, and later joined the Sith as the ship of Darth Nihilus. It was first destroyed in the Mandalorian Wars on Malachor V, then crushed by the weight of the Mass shadow generator built by Bao-Dur. However, Nihilus tore the ship from the gravity well, along with the rest of his fleet, and used it as his flagship in his search for world with which to satisfy is eternal hunger. The ship barely held itself together, being maintained only by the Sith Lord's will, who kept only the barest of life support systems intact to sustain himself, his soldiers, and the Force-zombies under him. It was destroyed in 3,952 BBY by the Jedi Exile after the Dark Lord's death.

Description
"This ship&hellip; is it his weakness? It should not exist, yet it cruises the darkness between the stars. He tore it from the mass shadows of Malachor, along with his fleet&hellip; that is a measure of his power."

- Tobin

The Ravager was technically unspaceworthy, and under normal circumstances would be impossible to pilot or live within. It's hull was broken and blasted open, with holes, dents, and other places where it was torn apart by Mandalorian guns, crushed by the Mass Shadow generator, and strained when drawn out of that gravity field. The infrastructure was revealed in many places where the outer plating had been torn off. Parts of the vehicle were missing, and the paint had long worn off, replaced with the burn marks from its last battle. Sparks leapt across the hull at intervals and pulsate along the surface. The ship was open to space in many places, with Nihilus allowing the particle fields to contain only a minimal atmosphere. However, despite these myriad problems, the flagship proved itself powerful in battle. The dead ship was held together by Nihilus's power and will, making it comparable to the ancient tales of ghost ships held on many worlds.



Within, the ship was no better. Its winding halls had not seen maintenance in years, with the dust collecting across the dead computer readouts and the empty mess halls. The lighting was dim and yellowed, almost orange in places, and then only where the sporadic lighting still worked. Sparks flew from the walls and exposed piping and wiring as they, too, malfunctioned and winked out. The worn metal floor was rusted and yellowed, losing its color and fervor, as were the control panels on the walls that seemed to have rusted shut. Bare power stations stood uncared for for years, dead and useless and slowly returning to the basic metals from whence it came. The halls, shaped either rectangular or diamond-like, wound aimlessly through empty rooms, several leading out into nothing but space beyond broken walls, echoing with the dead, lifeless, eerie sounds of a once vibrant way of life. Amazingly, most of the doors still functioned, and one small docking bay was in halfway-decent order. Armories still held supplies, though some of its contents had fallen to decay though years of disuse. Barracks still bore beds and quarters, though the beds were frayed and the lights were almost out, killing the warm feel of camaraderie that once filled the room. A lone missile bay stood inactive, with one missile still in the tube ever waiting for use.

Visas's cell was carved out of the rear starboard hull of the ship, and was somewhat unique. Like the rest of the ship, it was dull and dim, with a small bedroom quarters, and two spacious living quarters, bare of any furniture except a table and several chairs bolted to the floor around it. The meditation room was adjoined to this, and was unique in the fact that it was roughly spherical and not squared like the rest of the ship, leaving the assumption that it had been specially made. rectangular pillars bent outwards along the walls, with blue writing adorning the sides that seemed to glow. Torn banners hung between these.

The bridge was also distinctive from the remainder of the ship. Behind the bridge proper was a command room whose middle was entirely dedicated to the now-unresponsive and deactivated computers, surrounded by dust-covered seats. Behind this were four other large, spacious rooms arranged in a square, connected to the main level via a large, hexagonal elevator, miraculously still in operation. The bridge was extremely long, with indentations along either side of the main pathway in which barely-living zombies, slaves of Nihilus's will, worked mindlessly at the ships controls. On their side of these were two other walkways. The bridge was lit dimly with red lighting, and two glowlamps shaped like fangs rising to either side of the beginning and end of the center walkway. the bridge was mostly lit by the huge windows above it which made up most of the ceiling, though these opened into space in most places, with the bones of the structure of the ship showing everywhere. The center of the ceiling was of metal, though most of the wiring and components hung down precariously. A bare, clamshell-shaped command station stood at the end, in front of a large viewport, void of any computer terminals.

History
"This ship&hellip;it is a graveyard of a terrible battle. Everything on it slowly dies as long as he hungers."

- Tobin

The Ravager was one of a fleet of Galactic Republic capital ships that saw service during the Mandalorian Wars. The well-known ship was destroyed, along with most of its brethren, at the Battle of Malachor V. It had first been rendered useless by Mandalorian guns, then unsalvageable and decimated when the Mass Shadow generator was activated, crushing everything within its reach in the sudden surge of intense gravity. There the ship lay for an unknown time amidst the death of that graveyard world, when Darth Nihilus snatched it out of it's slumber and once again willed it with the power to fly and destroy in his need to feed his insatiable appetite for power as he escaped imprisonment on the world.

After being aroused of the fact that a Jedi Enclave was to be held on Katarr, information spread by Jedi historian Atris to draw him out, the Ravager soon arrived on the scene, and consequently the Dark Lord destroyed all life on the world, save one. Now bearing two lives not bereft of soul, as the twelve pilots were Force slaves whose life energy was slowly being drained to sustain Nihilus, the Ravager traveled the galaxy, ever searching for worlds on which its master could feed. As it traveled, Nihilus gathered several Sith troops to defend his flagship.

As they traveled, Visas, the Miraluka Nihilus had spared on Katarr, reported seeing a great Force-user, but Nihilus bid her no mind. However, eventually she was sent to discover this Jedi, and bring him or her to the Sith Lord to be consumed by his growing hunger.

After noticing a small insurgence on Onderon, Nihilus took the Ravager to the world to make a kind of pact with General Vaklu's dissension, offering to aid them, offering to give them power if they would do as he dictated. However, after making the deal, Nihilus proved to be to powerful for Vaklu's military to control, but by then it was too late, and, in fear of the Dark Lord, they remained loyal.

This twisted kind of loyalty proved true when Colonel Tobin of the Onderon military heard from Kreia that a Jedi Academy could be found on Telos, and alerted his dark master. He was unaware, however, that it was a trap, and that Nihilus, finding only Atris, would drain all life from the world in a last-ditch effort to save himself, and be soon thereafter killed, thus killing both Atris and Nihilus in one stroke. However, neither of them counted on the Jedi Exile, who, after defeating Atris in a lightsaber duel, was on Telos at the time of Nihilus's attack on the world.



She and the Mandalorian Crusaders she had befriended concocted a plan to destroy the ghost ship. A secret dispatchment consisting of the Exile, Visas Marr, Mandalore Canderous Ordo, and several Neo Crusaders who boarded the ship and planted several proton charges along weakened areas in the outer hull. Knowing they could not leave Nihilus alive, as he could have the power to prevent the ship from becoming totally uninhabitable as he had been doing for years, The Exile thus made her way to the bridge, where she met the shell of the man that was Tobin, a slave to his master, who slowly drained away his life, leaving him with only enough to survive. After convincing him that serving Nihilus would not help Onderon and that the planet would likely be another planet to target, the Colonel agreed to set off the charges for her. The Exile continued to the bridge, where she confronted him, with Visas's and the Mandalore's help. In one stroke, the Exile killed Nihilus and freed Visas from her bind to the Dark Lord. With this completed, they detonated the charges, finally laying the ghost ship to rest.

Behind the scenes


Like the Leviathan, the appearance of the Ravager was clearly influenced by the later Star Destroyers of the films.

Originally, during the game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, after the Exile and her companions defeated Darth Nihilus and set the mines, the Ravager would spiral into the Citadel Station, similar to the Executor's crash during the Battle of Endor, and destroy it. This can be seen in secret movies in the Prima Guide DVD.

Appearances

 * Unseen, Unheard
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

Notes and references
Ravager