Science vessel

"What's the status of the science vessel?"

A science vessel^[2] was a type of Imperial transport utilized for the capture, containment and transport of various cloning experiments conducted by the Advanced Science Division. It was manned by Imperial commandos led by Imperial royal guards. One such transport, transport 904, saw its Zillo Beast "Specimen A" escape while traveling in hyperspace; the escaped beast rampaged through the ship consuming the crew and damaging its systems, forcing it to drop out of hyperspace before reaching its destination and crash-landing on Silla. The reinforced walls kept the beast contained inside, until Clone Force 99 arrived to salvage any valuables still inside and encountered the beast, which gave chase to them and eventually escaped when they accidentally blew a hole through a wall.^[1]

Characteristics[]

The Imperial research vessel was a class of massive transport utilized by the Galactic Empire's cloning program to transport cloned Zillo Beasts from their facilities scattered around the galaxy to the Tantiss Base containment zone on Wayland. They were manned by Imperial commandos led by an Imperial royal guard commando and carried at least one medical droid for the Beast. To ensure maximum operational security, their destination was undeclared and not logged on the ship's computer to prevent enemies from finding out about Wayland; the vessels were also unmarked to prevent identification in case they crashed.^[1]

Zillo beast attacked — An Imperial research transport attacks an escaped Zillo Beast specimen

To contain the creatures onboard, they were carried in a juvenile state inside a massive glass tube-like cell filled with a clear liquid that put it to stasis. The laboratory's walls were reinforced and designed to withstand the Beast's attacks and keep it contained inside in case it escaped its tube, while the troopers carried high-volt electroprods that could severely damage the creature. Because the ships were also used to recapture Zillo Beasts in case they escaped altogether, they were armed with a single ventral NNJ-40 "Thunderbolt" long-range ion cannon that fired a powerful stun beam which could put them to sleep with as little as three repeated hits. Special intervention teams comprised of at least three Venator-class Star Destroyers carrying multiple Low Altitude Assault Transports and Alpha-3 Nimbus-class V-wing starfighters were on standby to suppress the creature until it could be stunned.^[1]