Stars' End
"The Prison Of The Future… Today!"
―Excerpt from pamphlet on the Corporate Sector Authority prison at Stars' End.
Stars' End was a Corporate Sector Authority prison, located on Mytus VII, a desolate asteroid in the Mytus system. CSA Viceprex Mirkovig Hirken was in charge of the facility. Stars' End was notable for its advanced defense system, including a shell of molecularly bonded armor. In 2 BBY the facility was crippled when Han Solo led a team of infiltrators on a rescue mission. However, reports indicate that the prison was restored to functionality shortly thereafter.
Description
Layout and Design
The core of Stars’ End was a 40-story tower which could hold thousands of criminals and political dissidents stored in stasis booths. The subterranean levels were taken up by an enormous power generator that provided energy for the whole installation. For it to power the stasis cells and the defensive systems, the overload shielding had to be reduced. The power output of the generator was to that of a fortress or a capital ship. The lower levels, on ground level and above, had administrative facilities, airlocks and a service-center with light-wells at the center.
Above came the main section of the tower with forty levels of detention cells. Each level had the height of three regular levels with industrial-grade energy power supply. The thousands of statsis tubes could easily be access by catwalks and walkways. Computer stations allowed quick access to system, maintenance and repair parameters. The prisoner's life signs were constantly monitored from the administrative levels.
This part also included additional docking facilities at the base and midpoint and numerous anticoncussion field generators. The top levels included medical facilities for the prisoners and interrogation rooms as well as an orbital skyhook for docking with larger Lictor-class dungeon ships. At the personal insistence of Viceprex Hirken a luxurious residence was added to the top of the tower. This residence included armored amphitheater for gladiator droid combat, a transparent armored dome and landscaped gardens, which contained miniature sun-globes and flora and fauna from many different worlds.
Additional surface and underground facilities on the planet were planned, but were still under construction when the tower was destroyed. They included a full-service starport and landing fields. Maintenance facilities were located underground, connected with the starport via repulsor lifts. The hangars could handle ships of up to 300m length with short-range shuttles servicing larger ships. Other facilities were hydroponic farms housing and medical facilities for maintenance and technical personnel, Security Division enforcers, guards and executives. Command stations for sensors and defense were also located underground, directly at the corresponding installations. All facilities of Stars’ End were connected by a complete monorail network, which also allowed a direct and quick transfer of prisoners directly to the starport to the tower.
Stars’ End featured a custom sensor and communication array specifically built for this installation. An additional network of extra-system sensor satellites allowed detection of incoming starships almost a system’s diameter away. The subspace transceiver included powerful booster to allow subspace radio communication for over 100 lightyears. Long-range hyperchannel relays allowed instantaneous holographic communication with the rest of the galaxy and featured the most sophisticated encryption protocols available.
While more permanent buildings were being built, temporary hangars, dormitories, and storage facilities, made from bi-state memory plastic, connected by mobile clear tunnel-tubes and docking bays, served as home for workers and personnel.
Capacities
Stars’ End used a unique system to lock away its prisoners. Instead of normal cells, prisoners were locked in entropy field stasis booths. This would prevent riots, violence and similar disturbances, like gangs, and cut down on food costs. That and large amounts of computerization and automation would also allow staff to be cut to a minimum—only a few dozen people were necessary to operate and maintain the facility. The prisoners could be reanimated and interrogated at any given time. The finished state of the main body of the tower could hold up to 24,000 prisoners.
Hangar facilities on the ground could service ships up 300m in length. Also, it housed smaller and larger defensive crafts, extra-system shuttles and light freighters. Additional docking facilities were at the base and midpoint of the tower. An orbital skyhook allowed the docking of larger dungeon ships.
Defences
Stars' End had formidable defenses, primarily a uniform layer of molecularly bonded armor that coated the entire tower. This dense metal armor was extremely expensive, but nearly indestructible, it could withstand sustained fire from a Star Destroyer's turbolasers. Additional strength was provided by an anticoncussion field, powered by a powerful Rampart-class anticoncussion generator. Numerous projectors, honeycombed into the entire interior of the prison created a unified field that would absorb blasts and impacts.
The facility’s stationary defences consisted of six Taim & Bak QuasarFire turbolaser turrets, as well as an Kuat Drive Yards v-180 Planet Defender ion cannon with its own power generator. Protection was provided by heavy-duty deflector shields. There was one deflector shield for the whole facility as well as one for each side of the tower.
The hangar facilities supported defensive assault crafts of smaller and larger sizes, including as least one Marauder-class corvette.
The final defense of Stars' End was its isolation and secrecy. Construction personnel were placed in drug-induced comas before being taken to Stars' End. The base was going to be officially designated a small scientific outpost, dedicated to astronomical observation of the galaxy. Cleartext messages were sent to uphold the image of a regular outpost.