"Of all the new weapons that have come about with the Emperor's recent resurrection, the trend towards automated systems has been most distressing. One of those systems is the subject of this briefing.
"This is the Imperial Naval Ship/Experimental Stinger. She is a modified Kuat Drive Yard's Aegis-class heavy cruiser. The Stinger has a very powerful control computer, modeled after those used on the World Devastators. With one major difference. The Devastators required a crew- the Stinger IS the crew.
"Half the length of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, she is believed to carry more firepower than a Impstar Deuce. The exact disposition of the weapons systems is unknown, but they are extensive and dangerous. There is an unknown number of droid starfighters, possibly as many as a wing, for screening and surface strikes. It carries an unknown number of combat programmed droids of unknown models for boarding and surface actions."
[Mon Mothma] "General, you are telling us what you don't know. What DO you know?"
[Cracken] "My apologies, Madame Chief of State. Most of the memory cores at the facility in question were either destroyed ore heavily damaged int he fighting. Those cores that remain are well encrypted. Since most of the senior researchers and officers of this project have either disappeared, or been reported missing, the only information we ahve to go on is from low-ranking techs and supply records.
"The Stinger was assembled in the Imperial yards in the Byss system. When our forces entered the system, a large number of ships fought their way out of the yards and left for parts unknown. We believe that one of these was the Stinger, but it is possible that it was launched earlier than that.
"Based off the few records we have, it seems that the design crew rushed to load the combat and starfighter droid contingents aboard. It is possible that they only loaded standard TIE/d's, or TIE'd memory matrices fitted to whatever TIEs they could find. There are signs that the combat droids include everything from gladiator droids to assassin programmed protocol units.
"We do know that the Stinger is almost as well armoured as an Imperial Mark One, is better shielded, and more maneuverable. It does contain an automated assembly line capable of building whatever the Stinger needs. Fortunately, it is merely an compressed version of the line attached to an Army Corp HQ, not a miniature of a Devastator.
"It carries ore reprocessing equipment to purify natural ores, and fuel scoops and solar converters. Even without this equipment, the Stinger carries enough fuel and spare parts to remain in hyperspace for ten years. Conceivably, it will be doing just that. Or, it could be bidding it's time somewheres.
"It is a stealthy ship. It carries a sensor mask and a baffled drive. It has excellent passive sensors. It's memory banks include all of the Imperial Order of Battle, personnel files, and all Intelligence data about our organization and personnel. It is believed to be carrying a full set of BOSS records, and can shift it's transceivers to match almost any profile.
"It is also very smart and inventive. Our data indicates that it has a level of sentience usually found only in protocol or astromech droids that have not been memory wiped in several decades. Treat it as you would a living opponent. More importantly, it seems that the Imperials have made a breakthrough in multi-tasking. It can handle up to one hundred tasks per minute without a loss of effectiveness.
"All of our fleet and sector commanders are being appraised of the danger that his craft poses. I am, however, for keeping this out of the public media. If the people were to know of this, private shipping would grind to a stand still. The demands for convoy protection AND re- enforcement of system defense forces would tie up every ship we have.
"I can only say this. Be glad that the Imps were only thinking small at this point. We were able to take an Executor-class SSD that was being fitted with similar systems before she left dock, and some documents indicate that the fifth of the Sovereign-class SSDs was to be similarly outfitted. The situation is bad, but not grim."