The Essential Guide to Force Exile/S-5XS sidearm

While the S-1 blaster pistol was the mainstay of the Yanibar Guard, the weapon was not fully satisfactory to Yanibar Guard Intelligence, which wanted a subtler weapon. The result was the S-5XS sidearm, an effort branched off from the development of the S-5X sniper rifle. Sleek, accurate, and quiet, the design proved to be quite popular among the clandestine services.

The magnetic coils that powered the S-5X sniper rifle were produced in miniaturized form to accelerate a tungsten-durasteel slug to lethal velocities. Due to the smaller size of the weapon, the S-5XS only fired subsonic rounds, making it less useful against heavily armored targets. Like the larger S-5X, it only carried eight rounds per magazine, which meant that its use in a sustained fight was ill-advised. Operatives were trained to quickly replace the magazines, but nevertheless, use of the S-5XS was off of the battlefield. Its ammunition was also not compatible with the S-5X--while both used 10mm rounds, the hypersonic slugs of the S-5X had a different design and were too long for the magazine.

In its favor, though, the S-5XS was silent, emitting only a faint whirr-chirp when fired. It outranged most blasters, particularly when fitted with an optional telescope sight. The weapon had very little recoil and stabilizer coils helped dampen vibrations of the weapon. Furthermore, its metal slugs could penetrate most energy shields. The weapon came in one color: a dark charcoal gray designed for low observability.

Another attachment that was quite popular was a combined glowlamp and laser sight that could be fitted to the attachment slot at the front of the weapon. This detrimentally affected the weapon's balance, so many operatives had backweights they could fit to the grip to stabilize its feels, though this did add weight to the otherwise fairly light S-5XS. Years later, alternate ammunition was developed for the S-5XS. A popular round was a soft-pointed round with a thinner nose core of hfredium that would expand upon striking a target. Another ammunition type that saw extreme popularity was a more expensive acid-filled round. The round had a tungsten-durasteel casing to allow it to be magnetically accelerated, but inside contained a small vial of liquid tibrium, which would rupture on impact,allowing the powerful industrial agent to interact with the metal alloy. The resulting exothermic reaction would completely evaporate all forensic evidence within minutes, leaving behind nothing but a smoldering mess that resembled a heavy blaster impact, confusing investigators. After the Yuuzhan Vong invaded, Kraechar Arms developed an armor-piercing round with geometry specially designed to punch through more heavily armored targets. While not as small as a hold-out blaster, the S-5XS could be carried concealed or broken down into its components for transfer. The pistol grip was the hardest part to disguise and was frequently shrouded as a grip for a hydrospanner or umbrella wand along with the barrel. The trigger assembly was hidden into jewelry such as rings, necklaces, or earrings. The rounds were often studded into clothing as decorative metal spikes, particularly belts&mdash;often at a cost of reduced capacity. The magazine was easily disguised as a cigarra holder. The magnetic coils were most commonly incorporated into datapads. As such, Yanibar Guard agents were able to pass standard weapons scanners with disassembled S-5XS sidearms as long as security wasn't too rigorous.

Appearances

 * Iron Maiden
 * ''Hard Code'
 * Force Exile IV: Guardian
 * Deception on R'alla
 * Force Exile V: Warrior
 * Force Exile VI: Prodigal