Katana fleet
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The Katana fleet (known more eerily as "The Dark Force") is a fictional starfleet from the Star Wars universe, introduced in Timothy Zahn's Dark Force Rising. The flagship of the Katana fleet was named the Katana (hence the official name), and the nickname came from the color of the ships' hulls and from the fact that high levels of automation greatly reduced the required crew of the ships, thus reducing the amount of internal lighting needed.
The fleet, consisting of 200 modified Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers, all carrying experimental AT-PTs, was launched in about 45 BBY by the Old Republic. It was intended to demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the new "slave rigged" ships being adopted throughout the galaxy. Slave rigged ships had large portions of their vital functions controlled by central computers (or sometimes even other ships), and were able to function with crews a fraction of the size they would normally require. The Katana fleet Dreadnaughts could each be crewed by an estimated 2,000 sentient individuals instead of the 16,000 required for standard vessels of the class.
At this time, the crew and it's captain, Captain Michael Tachi, the father of Jedi Knight Siri Tachi, were the only ones onboard. Unfortunately, the crew and captain of the fleet fell victim to a hive virus that was contracted at one of its first ports. Lying dormant until it had spread to every member of the crew, the virus (possibly caused by carsunum spice) wiped out the crew and captain after driving them insane. Before dying, the crew slaved their ships together and thus, when the Katana itself jumped into hyperspace, the rest of the fleet went with it.
The fleet was lost in space for many years, until Captain Hoffner and his navigator, Talon Karrde, stumbled upon it while fleeing from Imperial patrol vessels after a botched smuggling run. Hoffner, Karrde and the few other survivors of that encounter kept the information to themselves for many years afterwards. Garm Bel Iblis found three of these ships on his trolls and used them as part of his private fleet. He later revealed the existence unintentionally when Han Solo found Garm with the ships.
Nearly fifty-five years after the fleet was lost, though, Grand Admiral Thrawn became interested in it, and captured Talon Karrde in an attempt to extract the fleet's location from him. However, the Grand Admiral's treachery turned Mara Jade, Karrde's second-in-command, against the Empire. With the aid of Luke Skywalker, Mara rescued Karrde from Thrawn's forces and brought him to the New Republic.
However, there were delays in marshalling New Republic resources to recover the fleet, partly due to political infighting with Borsk Fey'lya. Although Thrawn obtained the fleet's location (from Captain Hoffner) after the New Republic received the same information from Karrde, Thrawn reacted more quickly and mounted a recovery effort first, en masse. Karrde concluded that given how quickly Thrawn was able to extract the information, he most likely did not employ torture but instead gave Hoffner a hefty bribe.
In a running battle, both sides secured some of the fleet (though Thrawn captured the vast majority - 180). The AT-PTs captured by the New Republic became vital in the campaign against Thrawn.
[edit] Notes
- ^ It was stated by Talon Karrde that the fleet was lost in 32 BBY (at the time of The Phantom Menace), but Captain Pellaeon set it at fifty-five years prior to the date of the story (which is set in 9 ABY). It is far more likely that a high-ranking Imperial officer has the correct date than a smuggling chief, especially because it was stated by Karrde as being "about ten years before the Clone Wars". This discrepancy is most likely a result of Zahn's lack of knowledge of the correct time period for the Clone Wars, as Lucas had not yet revealed most of the events and timing of the prequel trilogy when Zahn was writing Dark Force Rising. The novel implied that the Clone Wars had been fought approximately 20 years earlier than was later established in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
[edit] References
- Dark Force Rising, 1st edition, 1992. Timothy Zahn, ISBN 0-553-08574-3
- The Last Command, 1st paperback edition, 1994. Timothy Zahn, ISBN 0-553-56492-7
- The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels (Star Wars), 1st printing, 1996. Bill Smith, ISBN 0-590-02361-6
