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Katana Fleet

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this fleet of 200 Dreadnaught-class Heavy Cruisers was commissioned by the Old Republic, during a period some ten years before the Clone Wars, when such an expense was incredibly unjustified. Note that Dark Force Rising also places the loss of the Katana Fleet some fifty years before the Battle of Endor. However, the plan was approved based on the fact that they were fitted with full-rig slave circuitry to cut down on the huge crew size, as only about 2,000 crewmen would be needed. Called "The Dark Force" due to their dark coloration and lack of interior lighting, the Katana Fleet was lost on their maiden voyage when a hive virus invaded the crew. The dying crew tried to slave all the ships together, but the command crew was by this time also insane, and they blind-jumped into hyperspace and disappeared. The loss of the Katana Fleet sparked a renewed call for decentralized ship automation, away from central computers and toward a pool of droids. It also began a period fo dedicated research into the nature of hive viruses, although a cure would take decades to uncover. After the disappearance of the Katana Fleet, it became the stuff of legend. Some five years after the Battle of Endor, the rumors of the Dark Force were proven factual when the location of the ships was discovered by Talon Kaarde, who had stumbled onto the fleet's location fifteen years earlier. His information was given to the New Republic, but also stolen by Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn's forces managed to get to the fleet just before the Republic, but both sides managed to secure parts of the fleet. The ships, when found, were still in good working condition, with all lighting and life support systems still activated and running. Power and certain other systems needed some realignment, but in general the Katana Fleet was intact. Of the original 200 Dreadnaughts, more than 170 were recovered by the Imperials. Six had already been recovered by Garm Bel Iblis, leaving just fifteen - including the Katana itself - for the New Republic to recover.