The Essential Guide to Force Exile/Knightfall

Knightfall

History
The Knightfall began its life as a surplus EF76 Nebulon-B frigate that had been reclaimed after battle damage against the Yuuzhan Vong. It was purchased by the fallen Elite Guardian Ariada Cerulaen in 29 ABY after she appropriated the assets of a group of Dark Jedi based out of Thisspias. Once purchased, she took it a secret shipyard in the Deep Core to have modifications made by hard-core Imperial holdouts that had once been loyal to the Second Imperium. The ship was refurbished in stages over the next several years while Ariada began formulating a plan to strike back against the Yanibar refuge and the Jedi. In 30 ABY, after the ship's gravity well projector was installed, she used it to kidnap several Force-sensitive Hapan children and train them as her assassins.

Further modifications completely replaced the engines with low-emission variants and added considerable mass to the hull. A layer of black defelite coating the outer hull reduced the ship's sensor signature considerably even when the cloaking device was not active. However, the most extensive modification was embedding giant Ilnash crystals into the hull that would help focus Ariada's Force-powers.

In 38 ABY, when Ariada deemed that her plans were ready, she took the Knightfall from its shipyard, crewed by as many as who were willing to join her for revenge against the Jedi, and destroying the shipyard on her way out. She flew to Manaan, where her assassins planted a virus to ravage Ahto City. From there, she traveled to Coruscant in Knightfall, unleashing the plague at the Center for Biological Advancement while her assassins planted remote-activated virus bombs as leverage against the Galactic Alliance while she waged her war against Yanibar and the Jedi. She escaped Coruscant in Knightfall, flying to Belsavis to finish off an attempted strike against a Jedi Knight and Elite Guardian stranded there by her earlier attack.

While the Yanibar Guard was able to rescue the Jedi, Jaina Solo, and the Elite Guardian, Ariada's former lover Ryion Kraen, she was able to inflict severe damage on the Yanibar Guard Fleet cruiser by firing heavy missiles while completely cloaked, using the Force to guide the munitions. Only the arrival of a Galactic Alliance task force caused her to withdraw.

Ariada's next strike took her to Bespin, where she captured Ryion's wife and defeated the head of the Elite Guardians, Morgedh clan Kel'nerh. From there, she journeyed to Dathomir, unleashing her mutation virus and forcing the Yanibar Guard to bombard a significant portion of a continent to stop its spread. She then demanded Ryion's and Jaina's surrender, which they acquiesced to. They traveled to a designated rendezvous point and were brought on board Knightfall. However, Ariada did not realize that they had planted a cloud of tracking particles to detect her ship. The Yanibar Guard mounted a rescue mission, cloaking the freighter Hawk-bat and covertly approaching Knightfall in the Mustafar system before detonating an ion bomb to disrupt her systems. The ensuing boarding action was fierce, but Ariada was defeated. However, to stop the virus bombs' failsafes from triggering, Selu and Milya Kraen sacrifice themselves to crash the ship into Mustafar, while the rest of their party escape.

Appearances

 * Force Exile VI: Prodigal
 * Yanibar Guard Sourcebook