If a Jedi draws his lightsabre, he must be prepared to take a life. When a Sith Lord named Darth Gadrel drew the Darksabre , he was prepared to take billions.

Lord Vader's flagship, the Executor, never matched it in splendor. The half-finished Eclipse was a display of excess. The Vengeance was just a poor player in a galaxy-wide game of destruction. The Darksabre was a capital ship designed by the most talented engineers the Empire had to offer, overseen by a man who knew the weaknesses of superweapons, inspired by possibly the greatest military leaders of the last 5000 years. What began as a half-blinded project intended to improve upon a flawed design became a masterfully crafted superweapon with the practicality of a command ship.

Following his turn to the Dark Side, Luke Skywalker's first major order of business was to stop the early construction of the Death Star II. However, the time and money already invested in the station made it a waste to simply cancel the project. Skywalker and Lord Vader contacted Raith Sienar, one of the most talented starfighter designers in the galaxy and one of the men responsible for the creation of the first Death Star. Their plan was simple: take the currently existing Death Star II plans and meld them with the Super Star Destroyer design. Sienar got to work, and within weeks he had traveled to the Maw Installation to meet with Tol Sivron and Bevel Lemelisk to discuss the best way to go about the project. With Sienar's starship design expertise combined with the experienced minds of Lemelisk and Sivron, the first blueprints of the station were ready for their new masters' approval within weeks. Details were still left to be hammered out, but the newest design met with immediate approval and construction began on the project within the month. The ship itself was based on the Super Star Destroyer design, but was altered greatly to accomodate the massive power generators needed to fire a superlaser of that magnitude. The dagger-shaped design remained, however the main power generators were housed in the center of the ship, marked by a narrow rise in the midsection of the ship in a similar fashion as the cockpit on a starfighter; in fact, when completed, the ship's design was remnant of a massive, jagged A-Wing due to the center ridge. Inside, the main power generator was housed in a cavernous chamber designed to absorb and vent the incredible heat of the core without exposing it to outside assault. Additionally, when the superlaser is not in use, the main reactor serves as the primary power core for all ship systems. Backup generators, located at the ship's vital systems, allow the warship to continue in combat while still firing the superlaser. A specialized shield generator leeches power from the main reactor to protect the superlaser's firing module, protecting the vulnerable weapon during use.

The superlaser itself was placed on the front-center portion of the ship's bow, slightly elevated from the ship's hull. The superlaser's focusing lenses were placed on what appeared to be a single large cannon jutting up from the hull, on a modular platform with advanced movement mechanisms to allow for greater firing range. Additionally, the focusing lenses themselves were made more numerous; the number of lenses was doubled, meaning the focus of the beam could be adjusted more easily, offering still more control of the weapon's path. The combination of the highly-mobile firing platform and increased focusing lenses gave the superlaser nearly the range of a turret gun; within a few short moments, the weapon could be aimed and fired along the front, right, left, and upper-dorsal firing arcs. This, way, if a capital ship maneuvered to bombard the Darksabre from above, or either side, the superlaser could be re-aimed within the span of time it took the main reactor to recharge.

One of the most important innovations in the design of the Darksabre is that the command crew is not in the top-mounted decks like on most Star Destroyers. While the bridge portions are still in place in that module, Darth Gadrel, Darth Vader, and a core command crew is in a chamber deep in the heart of the ship. The bridge itself controls the majority of ship functions, however for the safety of the commanders all orders are relayed from the bowels of the ship. In the case of emergency on the bridge, the command chamber is able to function as a secondary bridge. However, the majority of the tactical decisions are made in the command chamber as the ship's sensors and bridge crew relay tactical information down to the command chamber. In the chamber, a holographic projector gives the commanders a three dimensional representation of the battle, and technical readouts are displayed on viewscreens around the room. While this limits the actual visual capacity of the command crew, the tactical readouts and sophisticated sensor data give enough information to allow the commanders to make informed decisions. In the few small cases where the command crew is needed on the main bridge, there is a direct turbolift shaft which is sealed and heavily shielded that can quickly transfer crew members between the command chamber and the bridge.

Another unique aspect of the bridge is that it is shielded on the front and back with quantam molecular armor. The viewport areas and the most vulnerable areas of the bridge are quantam molecularly bonded to prevent any damage to the bridge crew. The command chamber is similarly bonded, however to a much smaller degree. In any case where the command chamber could be damaged, chances are the ship would have been beyond saving, and emergency escape pods were placed beneath the floor to allow for the safe escape of the command crew while the ship was breaking apart. Of course, this was a last resort, as the rest of the ship was designed to be nearly indestructable. While the ship's hull integrity is not that much greater than any other starship of its size, the ship's weapon placement was designed to deter intense starfighter assault while the superlaser repels capital ships with extreme prejudice. With a nearly invincible bridge, powerful anti-capital ship weaponry, a hidden command crew, and a weapon compliment that can intimidate even the most determined of opponents.

Upon completion, the Darksabre was taken on its first test run against a target both Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader were anxious about visiting. Looming over the planet of Dagobah, the Darksabre met with no opposition, visibly at least. The truth is that Lord Vader and his son and apprentice were engaged in a fierce duel with Master Yoda over the span of thousands of miles, the Light Side of the Force vs. the Dark Side. The crew of the Darksabre waited nervoulsly for several minutes while their masters stood stock still, seming to strain without ever moving a muscle. Finally, Skywalker was able to relay the order to fire down to the commander on the gunnery deck, and in the flash of an eye the full might of the Darksabre 's superlaser ripped apart the swamp planet in a matter of moments. Master Yoda, the last true Jedi Master in the galaxy, perished among the shattered remains of his sanctuary planet thanks to the betrayal by Luke Skywalker. It was fortunate that Leia Organa had already completed her training in the time it took for the Darksabre to be constructed, but the loss of a powerful servant of the Light Side was a great blow to the galaxy.

The next several years saw great successes for the Darksabre . The rebellious planet of Kashyyyk was eliminated in the pursuit of Jedi Knight Leia Organa, which killed much of the spirit of any who thought to rise up against the Empire. In the years to come, the Darksabre was used to wipe out the major portions of the Rebel fleet that remained around the galaxy. Along with the new Death Squadron, which was headed up by the Darksabre and filled out with several Star Destroyers and Interdictor Cruisers, the Empire used its new, more versatile superweapon to crush any opposition. Within a short amount of time, the Rebellion was no more and the galaxy could offer up no more opposition to the Imperial war machine.

After initial tests of the Darksabre proved successful, Darth Gadrel and Darth Vader commissioned 4 decoy vessels in the same style as the Darksabre . These ships lacked a main reactor and a superlaser, cutting the majority of the development cost drastically. The bridge and the command chamber were not reinforced with the quantam molecular armor, but the rest of the ship was designed as per the specifications of the Darksabre . These decoys were spread throughout the galaxy not only to act as intimidating presences who used fear to keep their sectors in line, but also to help draw away any direct attacks on the command ship. These decoys, known among the Imperial Navy as the Darkstar, Whitesabre, Bane, and the Palpatine, were commanded by Admiral Daala, Admiral Drommel, and Grand Admiral Grunger respectively.

When the Yuuzhan Vong invaded, the Darksabre became a major target, as it was one of the few weapons the Empire had to throw against the alien invaders and their strange biotechnology. It met with much success, and was one of the principle weapons which brought the war to a standstill in the middle of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. As the situation became more dire, construction began inside the Maw of three more functional superlasers. As the Palpatine was being refitted with a superlaser, the Vong discovered the facility and brought the full might of their invasion force down on the researchers. The Palpatine had reached roughly 80% completion, and managed to make a break for it as the invaders decimated the facility. The last two superlasers produced were destroyed along with the major advancements the Maw had made in that time, and the Palpatine barely escaped destruction with an incomplete superlaser mounted to the hull. With the destruction of the original Darksabre at the hands of Chewbacca, Master Organa, and the Liberators, Darth Gadrel assumed command of the Palpatine and made it his new command ship, seeing it through to completion, and bringing its full might to bear against the recently-victorious Vong invasion force...

* Quantam molecularly bonded armor has a resiliency of 5 times the normal amount.

** The Darksabre 's superlaser can recharge at a rate of 2d10x10 damage per minute. It may fire at any time during that recharge, dealing an amount of damage equal to the current recharge.