Ravager (Centurion-class)

The Ravager was a Centurion-class battlecruiser used by the Republic Navy during the Mandalorian Wars. In the final battle of the war, it was almost destroyed by the activation of the Mass Shadow Generator and lay in orbit until Darth Nihilus took control of it. The Sith Lord used the Force to hold the ship together with repairs only just making the ship habitable for Nihilus and his crew of Force slaves.

After receiving a tip-off about a Jedi Conclave, the Ravager was taken to Katarr where Nihilus drained the planet of life. He kept Visas Marr, one of the native Miraluka, as his Shadow Hand. Nihilus later allied with General Vaklu, the leader of the separatists on Onderon, so that he could use the planet as a staging ground for the Sith. However, the plans were thwarted by the Jedi Exile by her assistance in stopping the separatists and killing Vaklu, leaving Colonel Tobin as Nihilus' contact. Nihilus then took the Ravager to Telos IV to feed on the Force energies of the planet.

In an attempt to protect Telos, the Jedi Exile, Visas Marr and Canderous Ordo boarded the Ravager to kill Nihilus and destroy the ship. They planted proton charges at weak points in the capital ship superstructure before dueling Nihilus on the bridge, killing him. The strike team then finally destroyed the Ravager when they detonated the charges they had set.

Description
The Ravager was technically unspaceworthy and, under normal circumstances, would be impossible to pilot or live within. Its hull was broken and blasted open with holes, dents, and other places where it was torn apart by Mandalorian guns. Damage had been caused when it was crushed by the Mass Shadow Generator and further strained when drawn out of that gravity field. The infrastructure was exposed in many places where the outer plating had been torn off. Parts of the vessel were missing and the original color had long faded, replaced with the burn marks from its last battle. Sparks leapt across the hull at intervals and pulsated along the surface. The starship was open to space in many places, with Darth Nihilus allowing the particle shields to contain only a minimal atmosphere. However, despite these problems, the flagship proved itself powerful in battle. The 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 in no better condition than the exterior. The halls had not seen maintenance in years, with dust collecting across the dead computer readouts and the empty mess halls. The lighting was dim and yellowed, near-orange in places, and then only where the lighting still worked. Sparks flew from the walls and exposed piping and wiring as they too malfunctioned and shorted out. The worn metal floor was rusted as were the control panels on the walls. Bare power stations stood uncared for in years. The halls, with a rectangular or rhombic cross-section, wound through empty rooms, several leading out into nothing but space beyond broken walls. However, most of the doors still functioned and one small docking bay was in usable order. Armories still held supplies, though some of their contents had fallen into decay through years of disuse. Barracks contained beds and quarters although the beds were frayed and the lights were almost out. There was a single, inactive missile bay with one missile still in the tube.

Visas Marr's cell was carved out of the rear starboard hull of the ship, and was somewhat unique. It was dull and dim like the rest of the ship and consisted of a small bedroom quarter with two spacious living quarters, bare of any furniture except a table and several chairs bolted to the floor around it. A 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. Rectangular pillars bent outwards along the walls, with blue writing adorning the sides that glowed at times. 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 deactivated computers, surrounded by dust-covered seats. Behind this were six other large rooms arranged in a tight, rectangular "C" shape, connected to the main level via a large, hexagonal elevator that still operated. 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 glow lamps, shaped like thorns, rose 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 infrastructure of the ship showing everywhere. The center of the ceiling was made of metal with most of the wiring and components hanging down precariously. A bare, clamshell-shaped command station stood at the end in front of a large viewport, void of any computer terminals.

History


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 and then impossible to salvage when the Mass Shadow generator was activated, crushing everything within its reach in the sudden surge of intense gravity. There the ship lay for a time, floating about Malachor V when Darth Nihilus took it for his use 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 Nihilus became aware that a Jedi Conclave was to be held on Katarr, due to information spread by Jedi historian Atris to draw him out, the Ravager soon arrived on the scene. Consequently, the Sith 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, searching for worlds on which its master could feed. As it traveled, Nihilus gathered several Sith troopers to defend his flagship.

As they traversed the stars, 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 them to the Sith Lord to be consumed by his growing hunger.

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

This loyalty proved true when Colonel Tobin of the Onderonian military heard from Kreia that a Jedi Academy could be found on Telos IV and alerted his dark master. He was unaware, however, that it was a trap. 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 Neo-Crusaders she had befriended concocted a plan to destroy the Ravager and its master. A secret detachment consisting of the Exile, Visas Marr, Mandalore the Preserver, and several Neo-Crusaders boarded the ship and planted several proton charges along weakened areas in the outer hull. They knew they could not leave Nihilus alive, however, as he could have had the power to prevent the ship from being destroyed as he had been doing for years.

As the Exile made her way to the bridge, she met the shell of the man that was Tobin; a slave to Nihilus who slowly drained away the Colonel's life leaving him with only enough to survive. After she convinced him that serving Nihilus would not help Onderon and that the planet would likely be just another place for Nihilus to feed, the Colonel agreed to set off the charges for her. The Exile continued to the bridge where she confronted the Sith Lord, with the help of Visas and Mandalore. In one stroke, the Exile killed Nihilus and freed Visas from her link to the Dark Lord. With this completed, they detonated the charges, destroying the ship once and for all.

Commanders and crew
During the Mandalorian Wars, the command of the Ravager fell to the Republic Navy. Darth Nihilus then assumed command of the ship when he recovered it from the orbit of Malachor V after the Mass Shadow Generator was activated. The running of the vessel itself fell to a skeleton crew of Force slaves under Nihilus's control with security provided by Sith troopers. When Nihilus attacked Katarr, he brought Visas Marr to his ship and took her as his Shadow Hand. She was given her own quarters on the ship complete with a meditation chamber for her to center herself in. When Nihilus sent her to find the Jedi Exile, Marr did not know where the Ravager would be, thus preventing the Exile from finding Nihilus. After Vaklu was arrested by Queen Talia, Tobin became Nihilus's contact and ended up on the Ravager where the Sith Lord gradually drained his life. The Exile convinced Tobin to detonate the charges that would destroy the ship, killing him in the process.

Behind the scenes
Like the Leviathan, the appearance of the Ravager is similar to the Imperial-class Star Destroyers of the Star Wars films.

When the Mandalorian crew assaulted the Ravager and Mandalore entered it, the whole scene may be regarded as an homage to the raid on the Tantive IV, with Mandalore thus "impersonating" Darth Vader.

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 didn't set the last proton core, the Ravager would spiral into the Citadel Station, similar to the Executor 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