The EK-41 Dissident Pacification Vehicle, commonly known as the shock tank along with a variety of more colorful and derogatory epithets, was a vessel of the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob. Frequently used to make examples of rebels as well as for frontline warfare, it was hated and feared by most of the forcibly held vassal systems of the Tetrarchy.
Characteristics[]
The most prominent and infamous feature of the shock tank was its "vaporization pulse generator". Arranged as a semicircular ring around the front of the tank, the pulse generator slowly built up an electrical charge, which could take several minutes; it built more quickly when the vehicle was stationary, more slowly in motion. When fully charged, the pulse deployed forward. Combining electricity and a vibration effect, the pulse would disintegrate organic or synthetic material for a range of up to 300 meters directly forward, as well as up to 180 meters toward the extreme curves of its 180-degree arc.
The vaporization pulse killed indiscriminately, and so the shock tank had to be at the front of battle to avoid destroying allied troops. It carried a ray shield generator, although the shield had to be lowered to deploy the vaporization pulse. The charging system was buried under layers of armor to protect it from any blasts which happened to strike it, although not deeply enough that a lightsaber blade could not pierce the conduits.
In addition to its armor and shield generator, the shock tank had four point-defense laser cannons, arranged 90 degrees apart from one another. It was also equipped with two forward-mounted heavy cannons, comparable to those found on other tanks.
History[]
An invention of the Umdals of Ommol, the shock tank was quickly adopted as a mainstay of the Tetrarchy army. In warfare, it could quickly obliterate large sections of the enemy army; in supressing rebellion or protest, it could serve as either a psychological weapon or actually be used to slaughter hundreds or thousands at once. Many of the Tetrarchy's conquests were due in large part to shock tanks.
The Tetrarchy deployed its shock tanks against the Golden Empire during the Great Liberation, including at the Battles of Wemod and Tershin. But its most notorious use was at the climactic Battle of Tizgo V. The Tetrarchy attempted to vaporize Queen Rin Sakaros and much of her army, but her general Keltrayu sacrificed his life by leaping on the shock tank just as its shield dropped and impaling his lightsaber into its charging conduits. The resulting explosion vaporized the tank, ten meters of both armies, and Keltrayu himself.
Rin took out much of her grief on the shock tank itself, and sent her brother Tariun in a Raid on Ommol to destroy the shock tank factory. After the factory's destruction, Rin announced via her shadowfeed into the Tetrarchy HoloNet that any army which used a shock tank against her forces would be executed to the last man. This discouraged some use of the weapon during the remainder of the war. The Capture of the Vall`to sector and the subsequent crippling of the Tetrarchy economy undercut plans to build a new shock tank factory.
After the Tetrarchy was conquered, Rin outlawed production of the shock tank and had all existing models destroyed, and it was relegated to history.