Galaxy Gun

The Galaxy Gun was a fictional superweapon. It appears in the Dark Empire 2 portion of the Expanded Universe.

The Galaxy Gun was just one of several superweapons built by the Galactic Empire. The Galaxy Gun was a long tube that could fire large projectiles. Each projectile was designed to destroy an entire planet; however, there were low power settings allowing them to destroy selected cities and military bases. As an added measure, the projectiles were capable of traveling through hyperspace with a speed nearly as fast as the Millennium Falcon, allowing for quick traversal of interstellar distances and difficulty in detecting them until they struck. It could easily have been a deterrent that would frighten star systems.

The Galaxy Gun was destroyed above the planet Byss. Shortly after the Emperor's death, the astromech droid R2-D2, who had taken control of the Eclipse II's computer banks, set the ship on a collision course with the Galaxy Gun. The explosion destroyed both ships. However, one last projectile exited the firing tube just before its destruction. The unguided missile was pulled in by Byss's gravitational field and drifted toward it. The missile then destroyed Byss in a major blow against the Imperial Remnants, who had used the planet as their new base of operations.

Years later, Luke Skywalker regretted destroying the Galaxy Gun, as it could have helped the New Republic wipe out hundreds of Yuuzhan Vong world ships.