Checklist: 10 Star Wars Superweapons

Destructive Potential: Indestructible quantum-crystalline armor covered this small ship. The piddling little laser cannons surrounding its cabin aren't the showstoppers -- it's the base-mounted resonance torpedo launcher that's the real threat. This little vessel can fire up to 11 of these projectiles, each one capable of triggering an explosive reaction within the heart of a star. As such, its destructive potential dwarfs that of the Death Star, as the resulting nova can take out all the planets orbiting a star.

Origins: The brain-trust that developed the Death Star (or helped to develop the Death Star, as it turns out) also cranked out the Sun Crusher. A bunch of egghead scientists were sequestered at the super-secret Maw Installation, a think-tank laboratory hidden within the "eye" of a black hole "storm." There, they developed a variety of superweapon concepts and working models, including the Sun Crusher.

Plausible Non-Draconian Reason To Keep it Around: "What? What in all the galaxy could the Sun Crusher be used for other than to completely wipe out all life in systems the Imperials didn't like? You don't even have a bogus excuse like rubble mining. The Sun Crusher has one purpose only: to bring death to countless innocent people. Nothing more." -- Han Solo, making perfect sense.

Designer Gripes: How exactly does this thing land?

Considerably Less Effective Names: The NO! Cone; the Energy Emetic.

Achilles Heel: Small enough that you can forget where you parked it, or lose it in the heart of a gas giant.

Further Reading: The Jedi Academy Trilogy by Kevin J. Anderson, published by Bantam Books in 1994.