The Ascendancy is a Lucrehulk-class battleship that serves as the flagship of Clan Plagueis and its Ascendant Fleet. Originally commissioned into the Confederacy Navy in the waning days of the Clone Wars, the ship was thought lost for decades after making a blind hyperspace jump. Recovered by agents of Arx Capital Exchange operating at the behest of Regent Zxyl Bes'uliik Taldrya, it was sold to Clan Plagueis in 41 ABY to replace the Imperial-class destroyer Ascendancy.
History
Clone Wars
The Liquidity during the Outer Rim Sieges. The Ascendancy originally began its life in the navy of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, constructed at the Sluis Van Shipyards. Christened the Liquidity the battleship entered service in 19 BBY and was thrust into combat during the Outer Rim Sieges in defense of the vital Separatist stronghold. The ship entered service with such speed that much of her final fitting out process, including painting her hull markings, were never completed. The Liquidity was assigned to a vital position anchoring the Separatist center, engaging various Republic cruisers and frigates. The weeks of combat took their toll on the inexperienced crew, the unending pressure of the Republic siege wearing them down.
The had just repulsed a Republic probing attack when the war, unexpectedly, reached its end when the ship received the droid shutdown signal transmitted from Mustafar. The captain saw the sudden failure of their droid crew as a result of some new Republic weapon and, instead of standing down, sought to extricate his ship from the combat zone. In the face of a renewed advance by the Republic battlegroup before him, the ship's captain ordered an immediate hyperspace jump out of the system. Without their astrogation
droids, the jump was made blind without any nav calculations. The last anyone would see of the Liquidity was a flicker of pseudomotion as the ship vanished into hyperspace.
The course of the blind jump, unfortunately for the crew, skirted too close to the gravity well of the Queyta System primary. The ship was far enough from the gravitational mass to avoid outright destruction, but it was violently ripped out of hyperspace into realspace deep in the interstellar void. The acceleration compensator overloaded and failed during reversion and the remaining organic crew were killed almost instantly. As more and more of the ship's systems went offline it was left to drift through space as a tomb, its fallen crew guarded by deactivated battle droids.
Brotherhood Service
The Ascendancy orbiting Arx following its refit.The drifting hulk of the Liquidity was located in 40 ABY by representatives of the Arx Capital Exchange. Operating deep space scout ships equipped with crystal gravfield traps, these agents had been directed by the Regent of the Brotherhood Zxyl Bes'uliik Taldrya to scour space for whatever could they could find. Tales of lost fleets, uncharted rogue planets used by long dead smugglers, and a galaxy that had seen its share of war over the last several decades promised spoils to be had. The incredible sensitivity of the crystal gravfield trap would allow these scouts to detect even the most minute disturbances in the local gravity field in interstellar space, eventually leading to one of these teams detecting the Liquidity. The Regent himself supervised the recovery of the vessel and the reactivation of whatever equipment and droids left on board that were salvageable. The vessel would have likely netted the Regent a tidy profit on the open market had Clan Plagueis not intervened.
The Ascendant Clan had recently signed the Canto Bight Accords with five of the other Clans of the Brotherhood. This had included provisions for Plagueis to free its slaves, which had a significant impact on the Ascendant Fleet. Many of the personnel that crewed ships within the fleet were now freed slaves, uninterested in maintaining their position within the military. As a result, the crew requirements of the current flagship of the fleet were untenable. Contacting the Regent, Consul Selika Roh was able to negotiate in person for the acquisition of the Liquidity, exchanging the Imperial-class Ascendancy along with a tidy sum of credits for the newly restored battleship and its remaining complement of droids.
The Ascendancy saw service almost immediately upon Plagueis assuming control over the ship. In an effort to expand the influence of a new confederation of local systems around Aliso, the senior officials of Clan Plagueis hosted representatives of the government of the Hurana system. Hurana was interested in joining this new alliance, but was under threat by a well organized pirate band operating from the planet Kyriseema. Seizing the opportunity to bring Hurana into the fold, the Dread Lord Selika Roh promised assistance and the Ascendancy was dispatched to the Kyriseema system.
Role
The Ascendancy serves as the focal point of the entire Ascendant Fleet, operating as its overall flagship. Not only does it serve as a command vessel and strongest single vessel in terms of firepower, it also acts as the primary deployment platform for Plagueis's ground forces, able to launch C-9979 landing ships from its massive hangar deck. Armed with a Kyber-Powered Bombardment Cannon, the Ascendancy is also a fearsome weapon against enemy warships as well as to ground targets during orbital bombardments. When operating as part of both individual fleet elements or the combined fleet, it served as a crucial part of the main battle line that directly engaged enemy targets.
As part of its transfer to Clan Plagueis, the newly renamed Ascendancy was equipped with several system upgrades to bring it up to more modern standards. The ship's power systems have been supplemented by an experimental Kyber Hypermatter Reactor System that was salvaged from a lost Republic warship. Both the shields as well as the hull armor were replaced with new equipment. Much of the Ascendancy's communication and droid control systems were modernized, with a new full-spectrum transceiver sensor system taking the place of the outdated droid signal receivers that ringed the vessel's circumference. Installed on the underside of the vessel's main hull ring, the primary offensive weapons of the Ascendancyare its siege weapons: a Ascendant Crystal Phase-Cannon paired with a Kyber-Powered Bombardment Cannon.
Complement
Command Staff
- Commanding Officer:
- Commander Air Group:
Attached Craft
Starfighter Squadrons
Transport Craft