Unreviewed Nightcoil Vector Matrix Mk. I

[Darth Prazutis]

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• Intent: To create an advanced Sith tractor guidance system for the Kainate, capable of manipulating energy weapon and kinetic trajectories and disrupting hostile sensor logic with superior precision and resilience.
• Image Source:
  • Headers - Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax
• Canon Link: N/A
• Permissions: N/A
• Primary Source:
  • FAE/C-02 Tractor Guidance Network

• Manufacturer:
  
  • Malsheem Hypernautics and Manufacturing
• Affiliation:
  
  • The Kainate
• Market Status: Closed-Market
• Model: Nightcoil Vector Matrix Mk. I
• Modularity: No
• Production: Limited
• Material:
  • Alchemized Sarrassian Iron Framework
  • Crystallite Amplification Lattice
  • Obsidian Alloy Tractor Emitters
  • Bloodsteel Conduction Filaments

• Sovereign Vector Cognition Core: A dark droid brain cultivated in ritual vats, trained on millenia of Sith fleet telemetry and combat engagements. It continuously predicts target evasion paths, recalibrates tractor pulses in real time, and optimizes bolt correction to exploit gaps in defensive formations. Unlike conventional logic cores, it can simultaneously manage multiple energy streams without significant latency.
• Bloodsteel Convergence Projectors: An array of miniature tractor beam emitters woven with bloodsteel conduits, enabling fine manipulation of energy bolts and kinetic projectiles across complex trajectories. These projectors are capable of maintaining control even under active jamming or counter-tractor interference, using harmonic modulation to stabilize guidance pulses. This array also projects faint interference fields that distort enemy fire control algorithms.
• Gravitic Override Protocols: Embedded crystalline nodes generate precise gravitic ripples that subtly shift local mass signatures. This allows guided bolts to follow erratic paths and approach targets from unexpected angles, frequently bypassing shield harmonics or reflecting layers. When combined with the Sovereign Cognition Core, the protocols can orchestrate synchronized salvos from multiple weapons into coordinated strike patterns.
• Oblivion Shroud Encryption Layer: Every guidance pulse is wrapped in an encrypted carrier wave seeded with shifting dark side signatures. These encrypted streams resist sensor decryption, making it exceptionally difficult for enemy targeting systems to anticipate bolt paths or disable guidance. This layer also masks the system's own emissions, confounding enemy attempts to track or triangulate the host vessel's exact position.

• Adaptive Homing Fire: The Nightcoil Vector Matrix enables energy bolts and kinetic projectiles to arc, spiral, or break trajectory mid-flight to track moving targets. Unlike simpler guidance suites, it can do this in dense battlespace, coordinating with host sensors to continually recalculate optimal flight paths with unnerving accuracy. This system enables bolts to strike targets even if they are behind obstructions.
• Trajectory Deception: Gravitic Override Protocols allow bolts to appear to approach from conventional angles, then swerve unexpectedly in the final moments before impact. This often defeats reactive shielding and leaves defenders unable to predict incoming vectors.
• Electronic Resilience: The system's encrypted Oblivion Shroud carrier waves and harmonic modulation render it highly resistant to most electronic warfare suites. Even advanced jamming nodes struggle to sever guidance locks before impact.

• Power Demand: Sustained multi-bolt manipulation, especially when executing sharp trajectory shifts or extended flight times, draws immense power from the reactor. Overuse can drain reserves critical for shields or propulsion, forcing the pilot to prioritize.
• Heat Buildup: The bloodsteel projectors and crystallite nodes generate significant thermal energy under prolonged use. If the pilot fails to throttle usage, heat accumulation can trigger automatic cooldown cycles or disable the matrix until the system stabilizes.
• Force Nullification: The Nightcoil Vector Matrix relies partly on the dark side resonance patterns encoded in its Sovereign Cognition Core and Oblivion Shroud Encryption Layer. When exposed to Force Nullification, the system's predictive targeting logic and encrypted carrier waves degrade significantly.

The Nightcoil Vector Matrix Mk. I was conceived in the hidden manufactorums of Malsheem as a definitive evolution of tractor-guided weaponry. Where the Geonosian Nantex fighters first demonstrated the potential of tractor beam-augmented targeting, the Sith envisioned something more, a system that would not merely guide energy bolts and kinetic projectiles, but weaponize uncertainty itself.

Developed at the directive of the Shadow Mind in cooperation with First United Astral Engineering, the Nightcoil project fused esoteric gravitic research with millenia of Sith combat lore. Its designers began by cultivating Sovereign Cognition Cores, artificial minds soaked in the memories of countless fleet actions, honed to anticipate not just motion but intent. From this foundation, bloodsteel convergence arrays were woven into the projectors, their resonance-lattices capable of shaping bolt paths with hairline precision.

Field trials aboard Kainate warships quickly demonstrated the Matrix's superiority. Squadrons armed with the system would unleash volleys that split in mid-flight, doubling back around defensive screens or striking from angles no opponent could anticipate. Commanders reported entire formations collapsing under the psychological weight of a barrage that seemed to defy physics and intuition alike.

Yet mastery comes at a price. Each activation drains reactor reserves and accelerates heat saturation. Pilots must carefully balance ambition against restraint, lest their systems overload in the midst of combat. Even so, to the Sith, these demands are nothing, proof that power worth wielding always exacts its toll. Where the Nightcoil Vector Matrix finds its mark, no shield is unassailable, no maneuver sufficient to escape. It is not merely a targeting tool, it is an instrument of dread, a herald that the Kainate will not be denied its strike.