Slave I/Legends

"There's no star system Slave I can't reach, and there's no planet I can't find. There's nowhere in the Galaxy for you to run. Might as well give up now."

- Boba Fett

Slave I was a modified prototype Firespray-31-class patrol and attack craft used by famed bounty hunters Jango Fett and his cloned "son", Boba Fett. It was greatly modified with advanced weapons systems by both Fetts during their respective use.

Originating from Oovo IV, the ship was stolen by Jango Fett, replacing his previous ship, Jaster's Legacy. After Jango's death on Geonosis in 22 BBY, the ship was inherited by Boba Fett and used on several missions during and after the Clone Wars. It was subsequently replaced by the Slave II, Slave III, and Slave IV.

Acquisition
"Has a ruthless ring to it. Fits your personality."

- Rozatta



Originally, Slave I was a prototype police vehicle from the asteroid prison Oovo IV. There were only six of the model in the entire Galaxy, all on Oovo IV.

While on the trail for the Dark Jedi and Bando Gora leader, Komari Vosa, Jango Fett captured Bendix Fust for the crime lord Sebolto. Fett was beaten to Fust on Oovo IV by another bounty hunter, who then began a prison riot. After fighting his way through armed guards and prisoners, Jango made it back to his ship, Jaster's Legacy. Unfortunately, the rival bounty hunter attempted to slice into the old ship. After helping Zam Wesell defeat a hoard of guards, a Firespray-class starship fired upon Jango's ship, destroying it.

Acting on a tip from a prisoner, Jango made his way into the asteroid prison's hangar bays and stole a Firespray-class vessel along with the rival bounty hunter, who was known as Zam Wesell. During their escape, Jango launched several missiles into the hangar bay housing the other Firespray vessels to deny any chance of being pursued, leaving his the only ship of its type in existence. Sometime later, Jango would name his new ship, Slave I. It was not until Kuat Systems Engineering reintroduced the Firespray line several decades later that other examples of the class would again be seen.

Characteristics
"The craft is unusual, because it flies upright, with the pilot standing at the vehicle's controls."

- General Carlist Rieekan

Like all Firesprays, Slave I sat flat on its bottom surface when idle, although during flight the ship rotated 90 degrees to maneuver vertically. Boba later added a unique stabilization system which always kept the cockpit oriented "up".

Slave I was a well-armed starship, and to keep it from becoming obsolete, it was endlessly modified. It was stolen during the Vosa bounty, near the time of the creation of the Grand Army of the Republic and the end of Jango's life. While under Jango Fett's ownership, its weaponry included two heavy twin blaster cannons, as well as two rapid firing laser cannons. Rounding out the ship's armament were two projectile launchers, each holding a magazine of three homing missiles or various other payloads, and a naval minelayer equipped with seismic charges.

Slave I also possessed special dummy proton torpedoes mounted with homing beacons and S-thread trackers. By tagging a ship with one of these beacons, Fett could then utilize his contraband HoloNet transceiver to track ships through hyperspace. Most of these weapons were hidden beneath the hull; the armor plating would slide away during the ship's attacks.

Jango added a spartan crew quarters since the original Firespray was suited for short-term patrols. On top of all this, Jango devoted two-thirds of the entire ship's interior to the powerful upgraded Kuat drive engines and power generators, giving Slave I the sublight speed of an Alliance BTL Y-wing starfighter &mdash; a remarkable feat for a ship of Slave I's size.

Boba's Slave I
"My ship was built for speed, not luxury accommodations."

- Boba Fett



After Jango's death in the Battle of Geonosis, Boba took the ship. Slave I was stolen in 22 BBY by Gjon on Bogg 2, but Boba and a thief named Aia took it back. When the boy was captured by Aurra Sing, Dooku gave her the ship as a payment, but Boba eventually recovered it. Later, it was damaged in a dogfight with Asajj Ventress, and was saved from destruction only by the intervention of Anakin Skywalker, who also repaired the ship. At some point, Slave I was attacked by Prince Xizor.

Sometime after Boba took over Slave I, he took it to Kuat Drive Yards to have it re-modified to fit his profession more suitably. The two rapid fire laser cannons were replaced with an ion cannon and a concussion missile launcher. A miniature tractor beam projector was added to assist in capturing bounties. A stolen sensor masking and jamming array made the ship invisible to sensors, allowing Fett to enter any planet, even Imperial Center, without hassle. He topped the armament off by changing the main ordinance of the projectile launchers to proton torpedoes. Fett routinely stored a swoop bike aboard to make himself more mobile once on-world.



During his delivery of Han Solo to Jabba Desilijic Tiure, Fett engaged in a dogfight with two IG-88 assassin droids. IG-88C was destroyed the moment Fett emerged from hyperspace when, rather than inquiring about the other hunter's presence, he fired every weapon aboard Slave I. IG-88D followed Fett seconds after the destruction of his counterpart and began to pummel Fett's shields with laser fire.

However as the IG-2000 followed Boba into Tatooine's atmosphere, Fett activated his inertial dampers shedding his momentum and frying his hyperdrives. This move brought the IG-2000 directly into his sights, where he disabled the ship with his ion cannon, pulled it in with a tractor beam and launched a full bank of concussion missiles into it.

However, this powerful ship would eventually meet its end. During the "reborn" Emperor's attack on the New Republic, Boba Fett ambushed Han Solo on Nar Shaddaa. Fett damaged the Millennium Falcon, but still continued to chase after it. The Falcon managed to escape and be repaired, but Fett was still patiently waiting for his quarry to return. Soon enough, Solo appeared, and he demonstrated his new "lightning gun," which tore into parts of Slave I, although Fett managed to escape.

It is probable that Fett escaped through Slave I's onboard escape pod. The ship was replaced with Slave III &mdash; the second had already been used and discarded&mdash;then finally Slave IV. However, some time before the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, Fett had managed to repair Slave I and used it once more after he lost Slave IV on Shogun.

When Briika Jeban was mortally wounded tackling a Yuuzhan Vong warrior, one of the spikes on his vonduun crab armor piercing her suit's plating, it was revealed that Slave I was equipped with an emergency medical droid. Despite its efforts, the droid was unable to save Briika.



Boba was seen flying the ship at Raxus Prime and also when he rescued Han Solo at Caluula Station, where it was escorted by four Gladiator assault fighters.

Behind the scenes

 * Some people mistakenly believe the Slave I's design was inspired by a lamp post outside the ILM building. But Nilo Rodis-Jamero, an art director on The Empire Strikes Back, said that his design for the Slave I was actually based off of a radar dish. It was later on when the ship was being constructed at ILM that someone pointed out that it resembled a street lamp, and from then on people just assumed that that had been the original source of the design. Lorne Peterson was one of only two model makers to work on the Slave I.

Notes and references
Sklave 1 Esclavo I