X-1 Viper

"I want those new droids for the Empire and I want them now. We'll agree to anything Beltane wants. Once I take possession of those war droids&mdash;and the men who designed them&mdash;I will reduce Balmorra to space dust!"

- Executor Sedriss QL during the Second Battle of Balmorra

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–11 ABY.

Description
The designers of the six-limbed X-1, who nicknamed the droid "Automadon," gave the machine speed, ferociousness, and a lethal arsenal of weaponry that could match even the Empire's AT-AT walkers.

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, including 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 torso-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. The Viper was designed for supervised combat and had manual overrides in its head.

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 QL to reconquer Balmorra and retake its massive foundries. This sparked the Second 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 task force 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, as the armor only defended against energy blasts rather than physical attacks. The surviving Rebels managed to escape thanks to the arrival of the smuggler Salla Zend and her friends.

Not long after the Emperor's final defeat, an Imperial warlord learned that a criminal sydicate had obtained an X-1 Viper, and so decided to make an example of the threat they posed to his territory by attacking the syndicate's base. During the attack, the warlord's forces entered the base and fought against the X-1 Viper.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * Dark Empire II

Notes and references
X-1 Viper Militärdroide