Scimitar/Legends

"That ship is alive with the dark side, Master Yoda. I can feel it clinging to my robes. And worse, it still tempts me, calling me back with promises of fantastic journeys to the far reaches of the galaxy."

- Jedi Master Saesee Tiin

The Scimitar (or Sith Infiltrator) was a prototype stealth-ship used as the personal starship of Darth Maul, the Sith apprentice of Darth Sidious, prior to the Invasion of Naboo around 32 BBY.

Characteristics
"There exists no other ship like it."

- Darth Sidious when granting the Scimitar to Darth Maul

The Scimitar had a pair of folding wings around a round cockpit; a design which was used on T-class long-range personal cruisers like the Valcyn which were used by Sith Lords like Darth Bane during the New Sith Wars about a millennium earlier and would later resurface in the famous TIE series of starfighters used primarily by the Galactic Empire.

In front of the round cockpit (the whole forward-center section of the spacecraft) of the vehicle was a rare stygium crystal-powered cloaking device which was capable of creating an invisibility field which could sneak through even the most advanced of security technologies and allowing its master to evade pursuit while on his missions.

Built beneath the cloak field generator was a series of compartments containing various equipment for Darth Maul's missions including three DRK-1 Dark Eye probe droids, his speeder bike Bloodfin, several interrogation and security droids, spying equipment, torture devices, bombs and mines.

The Infiltrator was protected by six low-profile solar ionization cannons which could extend and fire several bursts in the blink of an eye. It was also equipped with an experimental high temperature X-C 2 ion drive array which would resurface in future Sienar designs while the ship's hyperdrive was an unmodified Sienar SSDS 11-A system. It could also carry six passengers while its total capacity was 2.5 metric tons.

History
The Scimitar was an extensively modified version of a Sienar Design Systems prototype for an advanced Star Courier and was allegedly designed by Raith Sienar himself (though he would later dispute his involvement) for a mysterious client, later revealed to be Darth Plagueis.

Darth Plagueis used the ship to escape from an attack on his fortress on Sojourn by a coalition of forces hired by the King of Naboo, Ars Veruna. He cloaked the ship and rendezvoused with Jabba the Hutt and his ship, the Star Jewel.

Plagueis later bequeathed the ship to his apprentice, Darth Sidious, and recommended that he give the ship to Darth Maul.

Having survived a dangerous training session with deadly combat droids, Darth Maul was sent on a mission by Lord Sidious to kill the leading Vigos of the powerful Black Sun crime syndicate which dominated a significant amount of crime in the galaxy. For this mission, Maul was equipped with a Sith Infiltrator which he would christen Scimitar. The Sith apprentice then left his master's base in the galactic capital of Coruscant itself cloaked by its powerful stygium powered-cloaking device and passed over the Jedi Temple itself which only caused a slight disturbance in the Force for Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi.

After disposing of the Black Sun vigos including Master Alexi Garyn on Ralltiir, Darth Maul was assigned by his master to track down the missing Queen Amidala of Naboo, along with her entourage and her pair of Jedi guardians Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. After breaking through the Trade Federation blockade on Naboo, Amidala and her guardians made their way to the remote desert planet of Tatooine. It was to this locale that Darth Maul finally tracked Master Qui-Gon, who only narrowly escaped.

However, Darth Maul would later meet his foes again during the battle for Naboo. The Sith Lord managed to defeat Qui-Gon Jinn, before being slain by Obi-Wan Kenobi. Following that, the Scimitar passed into the hands of the Republic.



The first technicians to inspect the craft were killed by automated defenses, so Jedi Master Saesee Tiin had to help secure the craft. While he found a large amount of equipment, including torture devices and other less-sinister pieces of technology, the onboard computers had been erased. The ship was going to be transferred over to Kuat Drive Yards for study, but disappeared somewhere en route (at least officially). In reality, as of 19 BBY, the Republic was storing it in a clandestine hangar in Theed. At some point, however, the Scimitar was recovered by Palpatine, who kept it during his reign as emperor of the Galactic Empire. At some point during the Clone Wars, it was apparently in the possession of Darth Tyranus. This same craft or another like it was also used by the Nightsister Yansu Grjak. During the conflict, the Dark Jedi Garth Ezzar possessed a similar craft, suggesting that Republic Sienar Systems continued with the design, although his ship lacked the cloaking ability of the Scimitar. After the rise of the Empire, Scimitar was given to Inquisitor Valin Draco as his personal transport.

It is probable that the Scimitar was designed using concepts later used to create the T.I.E. starfighter, judging from its similarity in appearance to the later TIE Fighters of the Galactic Civil War. It was also an influence in the creation of the Rogue Shadow, which was also produced by a Sienar company.

Behind the scenes
In the book Inside the Worlds of Star Wars Trilogy, there is a ship that looks very much like the Scimitar in the section on Mos Eisley. On the deckplan of the Scimitar from Starships of the Galaxy (Saga Edition), the Scimitar's cockpit and airlock are shown to be on different levels, while in the book Episode I Adventures 3: The Fury of Darth Maul, Maul is said to have seen a Bartokk reflected in the cockpit viewscreen, while seated in the pilot's chair, and opened the airlock directly behind himself to vent the assassin.

Scimitar is playable in a bonus mission in the video game Star Wars: Battle for Naboo. In Star Wars Starfighter the Scimitar can be unlocked by beating all missions with gold or by entering the code "overseer", in the game it has lasers that are exceedingly powerful and rechargeable missiles that are even more deadly.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Darth Plagueis
 * Star Wars: The Wrath of Darth Maul
 * Star Wars: Darth Maul
 * Marked
 * Episode I Adventures 3: The Fury of Darth Maul
 * Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace novel
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace comic
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace junior novel
 * Star Wars Episode I Journal: Darth Maul
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Labyrinth of Evil

Non-canon appearances

 * Star Wars: Battle for Naboo
 * Star Wars: Starfighter
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
 * LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
 * Star Wars: Yoda's Challenge Activity Center
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace