THE FANATICAL
GUIDE TO DEATH STARS
Varn Battlemoon
Weapons: Superlaser
Construction Site: Moon of Varn, Varn System
Date Destroyed: 3 ABY
“The Dark
Side never rests! Although the Death Star
is no more, already the Empire has built another tool of terror and destruction
on the airless moon of Varn!”
--Jedi Master
Yoda
The
Tarkin was not the only resurrection
of Death Star technology. After the
first Death Star was destroyed, the Empire installed a superlaser on the moon
of Varn. The Varn weapon was extremely
crude compared to the Tarkin,
suggesting that the moon was an experimental prototype for a smaller station,
or that it was a research station similar to the one at Equanus. The superlaser was fed by eight tributary
beams, which converged at a pole set in the middle of the dish. An airlock below the superlaser allowed
access to the interior of the station; shuttles had to land on the moon’s surface
and could not dock inside. In case the
station should fall into the wrong hands, the Empire also installed a
self-destruct area.
Following
the Tarkin’s destruction, Jedi Master
Yoda informed Commander Luke Skywalker of this new threat. After capturing an Imperial shuttle, Skywalker
boarded and infiltrated the moonbase.
Drawing on the Force (and perhaps his previous missions on the Death
Star and the Tarkin) Skywalker
battled stormtroopers and planted sequencer charges in the self-destruct
area. The charges blew out the superlaser,
scuttling the Empire’s project.