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Lusankya

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This article is aboutthe Star Dreadnought namedLusankya.
You may be looking forthe prison therein housed, also namedLusankya.

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Lusankya

Production information

Manufacturer

Kuat Drive Yards

Model

Executor-class Star Dreadnought

Technical specifications

Length

19,000meters^[1]^[2]

Armament

Some heavyturbolaser batteries exchanged for more point-defense guns.^[2]

Complement

Usage

Present for battles/events

Affiliation

Owner(s)

Commander(s)

Crewmembers

TheLusankya(Pronunciation (help·info)), originally known asExecutor II, was anExecutor-class Star Dreadnought built byKuat Drive Yards, as the sister ship to theExecutor, which was built atFondor.

Following its construction, the ship was buried beneath the surface of Coruscant as an emergency evacuation craft for theEmperor, where it served asYsanne Isard's private prison after his gifting it to her as a loyal supporter, and later as her command ship during theBacta War.

When Isard was defeated, theLusankya was acquired by theNew Republic. It served in the New Republic fleet until itsdestruction in theYuuzhan Vong War.

Characteristics[]

The Lusankya command tower — TheLusankya command tower

TheLusankya was the secondExecutor-class Super Star Destroyer to be constructed.^[6] It was 19 kilometers long, twelve times the length of anImperial I-class Star Destroyer. It could carry more than 5,000 weapons,^[7] at least 12TIE Fighter squadrons,^[8] at least 200 other combat and support ships, threeprefabricated garrison bases,^[7] and enoughstormtroopers andAT-ATs to impose the Empire's will on any star system.

TheLusankya was designed to be a variant of theExecutor-class, focusing more on planetary occupation without a need for supporting vessels. As such, it dispensed with some heavyturbolaser batteries in exchange for more point-defense weaponry.^[2]

As a personal ship for the Emperor, its command quarters were extremely luxurious, featuring various furniture of exotic woods, xenoscapes with living creatures and a private library.

History[]

Construction and placement on Coruscant[]

TheLusankya was built concurrently with her sister-ship, theExecutor. During construction, both ships were provisionally namedExecutor to make it appear as if only one ship were being built. However, while theExecutor was commissioned into Imperial service after completion, theLusankya was taken toCoruscant and buried beneath the planet's surface. The vessel and its repulsorlift cradle were hidden inside a superframe of girders and electronics before the burial, and were claimed to be a large power generator, one out of thousands of identical power sources on the planet.^[2] The cityscape was subsequently rebuilt over the ship to hide its location.^[6]

symbol on the Lusankya — Alliance Starbird symbol on theLusankya

Not knowing all of the details surrounding the burial, some New Republic observers later confirmed thatEmperor Palpatine had usedthe Force on a massive scale to command everyone to forget what they saw.^[9] As for the purpose of the burial, it was theorized that theLusankya was meant to provide Palpatine with a secure means of escape, in case Coruscant was invaded by hostile forces. Only a select few were made aware of its existence, location, and purpose, among these being Darth Vader, and later, Ysanne Isard.^[2]

Ysanne Isard's private prison[]

A portion of theLusankya served as a private prison managed byDirector of Imperial Intelligence Ysanne Isard. Isard was able to travel back and forth to theLusankya by a network of private tunnel shuttles that were connected between thecity and the ship. One of these shuttles went to the Galactic Museum, another to a 43rd-floor foyer in theImperial Palace, wherein her office was held, and another to an old subcommittee room in the former ImperialSenate Building. This same prison facility served as a database or surveillance area and as Isard's secret headquarters. In interrogating theLusankya's prisoners, Isard was ruthless, employing any means necessary—includingtorture,drugs, and psychological conditioning—to learn what she desired. She even turned prisoners, usually captured Rebels, intosleeper agents. These agents would then be returned to their families, friends, and colleagues, where Isard would use them to spy on theRebellion, perform sabotage, and assassinate enemies.

Corran Horn learned of the prison when theCorellian Diktat's greatest rival was murdered by his aide. The aide had been taken to theLusankya and turned into a sleeper agent, then returned to perform the assassination. After committing the murder, the aide repeated the word "Lusankya" over and over.

Though no one outside Isard's circle knew of theLusankya's location, it regardless came to be infamously known as Ysanne Isard's private prison. Rebel AllianceGeneral Jan Dodonna was sent there following his capture shortly following the Battle of Yavin.Tycho Celchu was also sent there following his capture during an espionage mission to Coruscant in5 ABY. Isard tried to condition Celchu into one of her agents, but the efforts rendered him catatonic. He was eventually transferred toAkrit'tar, but escaped from that facility and returned to the Rebellion. The reputation for Isard's prisoners to be sleeper agents was so strong that Celchu was not trusted by even close compatriots. During theLiberation of Coruscant in the following year, the controls to Horn's fighter were seized by an override code and he appeared to crash into the cityscape and was presumed dead. This and other evidence pointed to Celchu, and he was branded a traitor.

However, Horn was not dead, and the events of his "crash" had been orchestrated by Isard and framed on Celchu. Horn was placed aboard theLusankya, where he eventually met Jan Dodonna. From him, Horn learned that many people washed out of Isard's indoctrination process, and were renderedcatatonic in the process—the other prisoners referred to them as "sleepers." Horn also learned of a suspicious inconsistency within the prison: in the main cavern where the prisoners worked, a rock would "fall up" if thrown high enough. This was because the artificial gravity of the Star Dreadnought was rotated so that prisoners were in effect standing upside down, a tactic employed by Isard so if anyone tried to escape by digging "up," they would actually go deeper into the prison, making them easier to capture.

Eventually Horn was able to escape from the prison complex, during which he found a library complex on theLusankya and discovered that not only had he washed out of the indoctrination process, but so had Celchu. With the addition of this information, he was able to deduce the identity of thereal traitor within Rogue Squadron. After further searching, he found a blaster in the library's copy ofThe Complete History of Corvis Minor, and a private tunnel shuttle that allowed him to leave theLusankya. The shuttle took him to a closed-off section of theGalactic Museum, which had originally housed a display honoring Jedi Masters. Here Horn learned that he had, in fact, never left Coruscant, and also found clues to his Jedi heritage,

Breaking free of Coruscant[]

Lusankya rises from . — *Lusankya* rises fromCoruscant.

After Horn escaped, Isard knew that the New Republic would soon find theLusankya and capture her if she remained. Isard had the ship break free of the planet. While leaving Coruscant, theLusankya devastated over 259 square kilometers of the planet's surface, killing untold millions.

TheLusankya blasted its way through the two planetary shield levels, pausing to exchange fire with an orbitingGolan space defense platform before jettisoning the now exposed lift cradle with the superframe's generator, and departing theCoruscant system.^[2]

The Battle for Thyferra[]

TheLusankya then traveled toThyferra afterXucphra conducted a political coup that installed Ysanne Isard as the planetary leader. Because the New Republic was unwilling to interfere with the internal politics of a world,Corran Horn,Wedge Antilles, and the other members ofRogue Squadron resigned their commissions in the New Republic fleet and began gathering resources to continue to fight against Isard without the New Republic's support.

Upon arriving at Thyferra, theLusankya was joined by theImperial-II class Star Destroyers Avarice andVirulence and theVictory-class Star Destroyer Corrupter.

Over the next few months, the Rogues slowly worked to build up their forces, while whittling down the Imperial forces to the point where the two forces could engage each other. TheCorrupter was destroyed atAlderaan when an automated Alderaanian war cruiser, theValiant, joined the Rogues. Commander Antilles was able to talkSair Yonka—the Captain of theAvarice—to take his ship and leave Isard's service. That left theLusankya and theVirulence.

Once Isard's forces discovered the Rogue'sspace station base atYag'Dhul, theLusankya and theVirulence were sent to destroy it. But when they arrived, the Rogues jumped to hyperspace, and the station appeared to bevery heavily armed, with more than three hundred proton torpedo and concussion missile launcher signals. TheLusankya was caught by the station's tractor beam, but was released when theVirulence intercepted and was caught in the beam. TheLusankya retreated from the system and left her fighters behind in her haste to flee. The station ordered theVirulence to surrender or be destroyed, to which theVirulence complied after the station's gravity well projector pulledPash Cracken'sA-wing squadrons out of hyperspace on top of the standoff. After theVirulence crew had surrendered, the pirate in charge of the station,Booster Terrik, took over the ship without firing a single torpedo. He loaded Pash's people and his own people on to theVirulence and departed for Thyferra.

The captain of theLusankya,Joak Drysso, returned to Thyferra expecting a battle. However, when the ship slowed to sublight, there was nothing but normal traffic. Shortly after theLusankya arrived, a Star Destroyer arrived in the system. It was theAvarice, now renamed theFreedom. TheFreedom had carried the Rogues to Thyferra. The Rogues began to attack theLusankya, and when they fired a salvo of their proton torpedoes, a large salvo of torpedoes and missiles from the freighter traffic in the system hit theLusankya. Antilles had convinced a number of freighters to join the effort. They were equipped with heavy torpedoes, but were not given targeting sensors so they would not appear as hostile on Imperial scopes. Instead, the freighter's weapons were slaved to Rogue Squadron's targeting computers.

TheFreedom and theValiant also concentrated their firepower on theLusankya. TheFreedom was severely damaged; however, theValiant, having been ignored by Captain Drysso, had outmaneuvered its huge opponent. TheValiant had managed to slip and remain behind theLusankya, where it could target the huge engine array at leisure; the lack of a fighter screen and the low amount of tail guns on theExecutor-class design allowed theValiant to escape serious damage. Soon theVirulence appeared in the Thyferra system, but it was no longer under Imperial control. A squadron of A-Wings led byPash Cracken had sprung upon theVirulence during its standoff with the Yag'Dhul station and had destroyed the ImperialTIE fighters, and now traveled on the ship after its capture by Booster Terrik. They now launched into the fray as theVirulence turned its weapons on theLusankya.

Commander Antilles then decided to ask theLusankya to surrender, seeing as how the starship would not last much longer. Drysso refused to surrender and seemed driven to insanity by the events of the past several days. He was preparing to ram Thyferra with theLusankya itself, against the wishes of the crew, when he was killed by his aide. His aide, Acting-CaptainWaroen, surrendered the ship to Antilles. Isard had appeared to have died when Captain Celchu destroyed a shuttle that was believed to have been carrying her. Celchu credited the kill to Lieutenant Horn's targeting.

After the Bacta War[]

TheLusankya was severely damaged after the battle for Thyferra. The area where the prison was had been breached. Fortunately for the prisoners, they were not on board during the battle, as Isard had them shipped to other facilities, believing Horn's escape had ruined the previously inescapable prison.

As the ship had been surrendered to him, Wedge Antilles was the acting commander of theLusankya. In that capacity, he performed themarriage ceremony of Corran Horn andMirax Terrik, with Tycho and Iella Wessiri as witnesses. Antilles, Horn, and the rest of the squadron then rejoined the New Republic armed forces, when it was discovered an "error" had occurred which resulted in their earlier resignations failing to be formally logged in the squadron member's files. The council then passed a resolution approving what the Rogues had done, making the entire operationfait accompli for the Republic.

TheLusankya then left theThyferra system and was taken to a secret location, where repairs and upgrades were made. Rumors were spread that the ship was destroyed—that either the damage was such that the ship couldn't be repaired, or that theLusankya was salvaged for parts. The ship's sharp lines were eventually restored, and two large Rebel crests were painted on its sides. The original prison complex was also removed, with a medical quarantine complex installed in its place. The secrecy over the repairs was such that even some members of the council were unaware of theLusankya's continued existence until the military made them aware of it.

Ysanne Isard, who had slipped away from the Thyferra system at the end of theBacta War, had spent several years in seclusion. She finally reappeared in an attempt to retake control of her belovedLusankya from the New Republic. By plotting the downfall ofDelak Krennel and hisCiutric Hegemony, Isard hoped to keep the New Republic distracted long enough for her to steal back her Super Star Destroyer. However, she was outguessed by Booster Terrik, Mirax Terrik, andIella Wessiri, who were waiting for her when she arrived. Isard attempted to kill Wessiri with her holdout blaster, but failed, as the latter returned fire and instantly ended her life.

New Republic Service[]

"I'm not exactly going to miss you."

―Wedge Antilles on theLusankya's destruction^[10]

Lusankya engages Reaper over Orinda — *Lusankya* engagesReaper over Orinda

After Isard's death, theLusankya entered regular New Republic service. The ship spent much of its time until11 ABY in theScarl shipyards, acting as a medical research facility^[5] in case the Empire attempted further biological warfare after seeing the devastation done by theKrytos virus during the Liberation of Coruscant. The ship was designed with new quarantine facilities which included a containment zone where no living creature was allowed to enter. This area was serviced strictly by droids so that, if necessary, the containment zone could be destroyed with minimal loss of life.

When the surviving original prisoners of theLusankya were freed, they, along withRogue Squadron, were held on theLusankya quarantine facilities so that medical experts could confirm that neither the prisoners nor the Rogues were carrying any biological weapons within them. In addition to refitting it for biomedical operations, the New Republic also succeeded in reducing the crew requirement for the warship. Further, theLusankya was refitted with better armor than Star Dreadnoughts still in Imperial service. Several other systems were also redesigned to take advantage of having the extra available space.

The ship was placed under the command of Wedge Antilles and used as a base for the reformed, multi-fighter Rogue Squadron he had been assigned to oversee. Besides Rogue Squadron itself, over 100 other ships also assigned to its service were stationed aboardLusankya. The first mission it undertook for the New Republic was theBattle of Phaeda in11 ABY.

The destruction of the Lusankya in the final moments of "Operation Emperor's Spear" — The destruction of theLusankya in the final moments of "Operation Emperor's Spear"

Later in 12 ABY, it again served with the New Republic at theOrinda campaign.^[5] TheLusankya served in the New Republic fleet for nearly twenty years. It participated in theBattle of Borleias during theYuuzhan Vong War, where it helped protect the Republic stronghold on Borleias over the course of a month. After taking heavy damage due to attrition, it was decided that it would be abandoned. TheLusankya's crew was slowly taken off, while her weapons were dismantled and transferred to other warships. In their place, New Republic engineers installed a massive hollow spear, known as theBeltway that ran the length of the ship underneath her hull, which was then filled with high explosives. When the time came to finally evacuate Borleias, theLusankya was sent tocollide into the Domain Hul worldship. With a fleet of Republic warships escorting him, CommanderEldo Davip was able to reach the worldship and impale theLusankya's hull into it before escaping the doomed ship. Both vessels were obliterated, allowing New Republic forces to withdraw among the chaos.

Commanders and crew[]

The names of most of theLusankya's command officers during theBacta War are known. With the exception of herCaptain and theColonel commanding her twoTIE Fighter wings, most were apparently relatively junior in rank, perhaps a reflection of the irregular circumstances in which the ship had been put into service.

Captain Joak Drysso (commanding officer)
Colonel Arl (starfighter commander)
Lieutenant Waroen (captain's aide/sensor officer)
Lieutenant Gorev (gunnery officer)
Lieutenant Rosion (Chief Navigator)
Ensign Yesti (communications officer)^[6]

Less is known about her officers and crew in New Republic service; it was commanded byGeneral Wedge Antilles for several years beginning in11 ABY,^[11] and at the time of her destruction in28 ABY, it had been assigned a crew of politically inconvenient misfits led byCommander Eldo Davip.^[12]

Behind the scenes[]

TheLusankya was named after theLubyanka, the infamousKGB prison. AuthorMichael A. Stackpole stated, "I wanted it to sound much like the inescapable prison in Moscow because I wanted theLusankya to be inescapable."^[13]

In his endnotes, Jason Fry, one of the writers forThe Essential Guide to Warfare, cited theLusankya's emergence from the cityscape of Coruscant as the goofiest thing in the entireExpanded Universe, also claiming that the only way it could get any goofier is if "[theLusankya's] bridge crew wereJaxxon,Reist, andWaru."^[14]