Approved Melee Weapon BVK-091 "Nightcoil" Boarding Tendrils

[Helix]

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To create an updated boarding system for the Dzara
• Image Source: N/A
• Canon Link: N/A
• Permissions: N/A
• Primary Source: N/A

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

• Manufacturer: Helix Privateers
• Affiliation: The Dzara
• Market Status: Closed-Market
• Model: BVK-091 Nightcoil
• Modularity: Yes
• Production: Minor
• Material:
  
  • Overall Construction: Helsteel
  • Secondary Regeneration Layer: Blightsteel
  • Electronics: Helglass

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Classification: Whip
• Size: Very Large
• Weight: Very Heavy

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Designed for non-lethal capture
• Can transport objects between two vessels

STRENGTHS

• Space Kraken: The Nightcoil's tentacles can infiltrate damaged enemy vessels, where they can attack defenders, seize plunder, or transport boarding parties.
• Dragged Down: The Nightcoil's arms possess considerable physical strength and durability. They resist most small-scale forms of damage, and can swiftly overpower most lightly-armed defenders.

WEAKNESSES

• Barricaded: The Nightcoil's arms cannot penetrate energy shielding.

DESCRIPTION

A variant on the Cnidaria models used by the slaving vessels of Anoat, the Nightcoil serves much the same purpose on an even uglier scale.

Like its forbear, the Nightcoil is effectively a starship-scale melee weapon. Most Dzara vessels will bear at least a single Nightcoil battery, with some bearing several.

This ubiquity is, of course, due to the weapon's function: the capture of still-struggling gristle for the Dzara's engines.

An individual Nightcoil node resembles a long, fully-prehensile metallic arm, somewhat reminiscent of the stun tentacles found on some battle droids. These arms can stretch or contract, and can reach for nearly a full kilometer at their maximum length. As with their forbears, these arms can split the last few dozen meters of their length into finer subcilia, ideal for small-scale manipulation of nearby objects.

Should a Dzara raiding vessel manage to cripple its prey or deactivate their shields, the most common tactic to follow is to pull up next to the prize and activate these weapons. The Nightcoils immediately spring to life like a nest of serpents. Some seize the vessel's hull, wrapping themselves around it and anchoring the raider and its prey together directly. Others slither through hull breaches or other access points, and begin questing through the ship in search of prey.

Being stalked through the darkened corridors of one's own vessel by hungry metallic worms is an unenviable experience already, but the Nightcoil has plenty of horrors in store for its victims beyond this.

Should it corner a potential prisoner, the seemingly-solid metal tip of the arm unfolds, revealing that it is in fact hollow within, and large enough to admit beings of average humanoid size and build (between 1.5 and 2.5 meters tall).

What awaits next is a nightmare ride through the arm's lightless innards, as the Nightcoil functions as a transit tube for living prey. In effect, the armature "eats" and transports its victims up its entire length, where the ride exits directly into the attached vessel's slave pens. Of course, the Nightcoil can seize inanimate valuables too, sending these instead directly to the vessel's cargo holds. Occasional mistakes in this sorting process can happen, much to a living victim's detriment; the cargo holds of Dzara vessels are full of many strange and hungry things, and the ones correctly sent to the slave pens are the more fortunate by far.

Moreover, this transit-tube function goes both ways; the Nightcoil can use it to send boarders over into the enemy vessel, vomiting droids or marines directly into its corridors. While a somewhat bumpy and nauseating ride, this method is far quicker than traditional boarding pods or torpedos.

If need be, Nightcoil arms are exceedingly strong and resistant to damage. They can easily force open most interior starship doors and apertures, or simply create their own in a pinch. Likewise, they can utilize lethal force by striking or constricting potential victims if need be. A Nightcoil is quite easily strong enough to peel metal bulkheads or shatter organic bone, but will generally prioritize capture over killing where possible.

As it stands, the only way to hold back a Nightcoil for long is active shielding. The tendrils cannot bypass such barricades directly, though they are free to seek or create alternate routes as the situation allows.

 

[Krass Wyms]

Approved please use responsibly