Packered mortar gun

"The mortar gun lobs shells that explode on impact."

- Jan Ors' description of the packered mortar gun

The packered mortar gun was a mortar weapon that was employed by the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War. The mortar gun could quickly fire a barrage of explosive projectiles, or shells, that had a wide explosive radius. Unlike a missile or rocket launcher, which "dumb fired" projectiles in a straight path, the mortar launched its shells in an arced trajectory, allowing the weapon to be fired over obstacles. The higher the user aimed, the further the shell would fly. The mortar shells exploded on impact with an object or person. They were stocked in various Imperial bases and supply caches.

In the aftermath of the battle of Yavin, Rebel Alliance mercenary Kyle Katarn commandeered packered mortar guns during his efforts in stopping the Dark Trooper Project, effectively using the weapons against their original owners. Katarn used one against Imperial stormtroopers during his mission to Orinackra, where he stormed an Imperial prison in order to rescue the Rebel informant Crix Madine.

Description
The packered mortar gun was a personal weapon that fired explosive shells. The weapon was cylindrical in shape, featuring a barrel with a bore large enough to launch the shells it could carry. Three tubes were attached to the midsection. Every time the weapon was fired the tubes would rotate. The stock was thin, and had a flat end to rest against the user's body. The trigger, protected by a trigger guard, was located in front of the stock. A perforated shroud covered the barrel.

The weapon could be held and fired in at least two ways. The first method of operation is holding and firing the gun like a rifle. Another possible mode of operation was for the user to rest the end of the stock on their thigh and then hold and fire the weapon using only one hand. The weapon fired silver colored shells with brass colored linings and a red tip. Rather than firing projectiles in a straight path, the mortar gun's shells were lobbed in an arc. The higher the user aimed, the further the shell would fly, with the furthest distance achieved by holding the weapon at a forty-five degree angle. Although the weapon served as an alternative to the use of thermal detonators, the mortar's shells were actually weaker. The barrel was silver in color and the rest of the weapon was a dark, gun-metal gray.

History
"You know as well as I do that the Rebellion is low on resources and most of these go straight to the front, so on this type of operation we have to scrounge what we can from the Empire."

- Jan Ors advises Kyle Katarn to use the Empire's weapons against them.

Packered mortar guns were utilized by the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War. The weapons could have been found on the Imperial capital planet Coruscant and in an Imperial prison located on the world of Orinackra, among other locations. At some point, the Rebel Alliance agent Jan Ors briefly described the weapon in a coded transmission to mercenary Kyle Katarn.

During the year 1 ABY, the Empire was worked on the Dark Trooper Project, an initiative to create droid soldiers. The Imperial officer Crix Madine gave information about the project to the Alliance, which eventually led to his arrest and a sentence on Orinackra. In a bid to retrieve their agent, Katarn, who had been making waves in disrupting the project with Madine's information, set out to the prison to rescue the informant. At some point during the rescue, Katarn came across a packered mortar gun and used it inside the prison against the Imperial troops. Eventually, Katarn rescued Madine.

Katarn later visited other worlds as a part of his campaign against the Dark Trooper Project, including the planets Cal-Seti, Anteevy, the moon Nar Shaddaa, and Coruscant. When he was captured by the Star Jewel, the personal yacht of crime lord Jabbe the Hutt, Katarn was stripped of his weapons. He later regained his gear and escaped the ship. Katarn eventually made it to the dark trooper factory starship Arc Hammer after infiltrating Fuel Station Ergo and the Super Star Destroyer Executor. Katarn was able to carry up to fifty mortar shells at a time.

Throughout all of these missions, Katarn kept a mortar gun on hand and used it throughout the dark trooper campaign against Imperial stormtroopers, Imperial commandos, officers, phase I and phase II dark troopers, various kinda of droids, Jabba's henchmen, and a variety of bounty hunters. He continued to use the gun up to his infiltration of the Arc Hammer, which ended with the destruction of the ship and the death of the project's originator.

Behind the scenes
"I like Packard cars, what can I say? Sounded cool. This mortar gun is another favorite of Kyle's. He used this thing heavily when he freed Jan from her imprisonment."

- Justin Chin

The packered mortar launcher first appeared in the 1995 video game Star Wars: Dark Forces. Justin Chin, the game's story writer, named the packered mortar gun after one of his favorite automobile companies, Packard. According to Chin, the mortar gun was a personal favorite of Kyle Katarn, and he used it extensively when rescuing Jan Ors from Imperial imprisonment. The story of Ors' imprisonment was detailed in Dark Forces Manual: Coded Transmissions, the game manual.

However, much of the manual's backstory was contradicted by the novella Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire. In an attempt to explain this, authors Abel G. Peña and Jason Fry mentioned in the second part of The Dark Forces Saga that the coded transmissions were partially falsified in attempt to better Katarn's image. However, neither the manual, novella, or the The Dark Forces Saga makes any mention of Katarn's favoritism towards the mortar gun or its use in any rescue mission orchestrated by Katarn that focused on the liberation of Ors.

It is unclear as too how many shells the gun could hold at a single time. The weapon has three visible tubes which rotate after every shot. However, the game has no reload feature. Although this can be considered to be a game mechanic, it cannot be determined as too how many shells the weapon could carry to be considered fully loaded. At least one tester referred to the weapon as "smoke."

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Dark Forces