The WSB-15 sabotage droid was a fourth-degree military sabotage droid model physically identical to the WED Treadwell repair droid. Along with sharing all the fifth-degree WED-15 Treadwell's systems and abilities, the WSB-15's differences from the latter included having a heuristic processor, military-grade sabotage and weapon use programming, and a self-destruct system unit. With most WSB-15 sabotage droids simply being WED-15 Treadwells with different processors, uses for the former included reprogramming droid factories to produce droids with very different personalities and training than intended, creating serious starfighter malfunctions that would only show up in combat or engaging in wanton destruction sprees.

In some cases, a WSB-15 would successfully perform its sabotage activities until discovered and then destroy itself. In other cases, a WSB-15 would instead fake a minor malfunction, which would then allow its owner to discretely arrange its processing core to be swapped with a normal WED-15 unit's. During the Galactic Civil War, WED-15-I7 was a WSB-15 that served the Galactic Empire as a maintenance droid.

Characteristics[]

The WSB-15 sabotage droid was a fourth degree droid that cost 13,000 credits for military purchase. It was physically identical to the WED-15 Treadwell, a fifth-degree droid with a basic processor which functioned as a maintenance droid. Along with having all of the WED-15 Treadwell's systems and abilities, the WSB-15 sabotage droid also had a heuristic processor, military-grade sabotage and weapon use programming, and a small self-destruct system unit attached to the processor. Most WSB-15 sabotage droids were simply WED-15 Treadwells with a different processor. WSB-15s could also understand the Basic and Binary languages and possessed low-light vision.^[1]

A WSB-15 additionally contained a tracked locomotion system, improved sensor package, two claws with appendages, two plasma cutters, and two each of hand, instrument, and tool appendages. Although rarely used in assignments that involved directly attacking sentient beings, they were programmed to use their plasma cutters as weapons, and were capable of killing or stunning living beings or droids in self-defense. At least one WSB-15 was physically identical to the WED-15 Septoid Treadwell. That one had eight manipulator arms, along with ten treaded wheels at its base. It had gray plating, with two red panels at the base above the treaded wheels, along with a pair of gray sensors.^[1]

Role[]

With the most effective WSB-15s being the ones nobody was aware of, most often one of the sabotage droids' owners would either deliberately damage a WED-15 Treadwell or simply wait for one to need repair or replacement. Repair technicians would be either waylaid or bribed by the WSB-15's owner, who would either substitute a WSB-15 for the broken WED-15 unit or remove the latter's processor core and replace it with that of a WSB-15. WSB-15s could be used to subtly reprogram a droid factory, producing droids with personalities and training very different to the intended product.^[1]

Other roles for WSB-15s were creating serious malfunctions in starfighters that only showed up in combat or engaging in wanton destruction sprees. Some WSB-15s would be programmed to continue performing sabotage up until they were discovered and then proceed to destroy themselves. In other cases, after completing their assignment, the WSB-15 would fake a minor malfunction that called for a repair crew, at which point the sabotage droid's owner would send agents to replace its processing core with that of a normal WED-15 unit, thus leaving sabotage victims unaware anything out of the ordinary had occurred.^[1]

History[]

WED-15-I7 was a WSB-15 sabotage droid^[1] during the Galactic Civil War.^[2] By 0 BBY,^[3] WED-15-I7 served the Galactic Empire as a fiercely loyal maintenance droid. It specialized in extending the effective operational life of Imperial resources.^[2]

Behind the scenes[]

The WSB-15 sabotage droid was created for WED-15-I7's card in the 1996 A New Hope Limited set of the Decipher, Inc. Star Wars Customizable Card Game. The droid's appearance was identical to the WED-15 Septoid Treadwell, and it was described as a maintenance droid and nicknamed the "Septoid,"^[2] which were both characteristics that applied to the WED-15 Septoid Treadwell.^[4] 1998's Star Wars Encyclopedia would later directly identify WED-15-I7 as a Treadwell droid, while its image was separately used with a caption identifying it as a WED model droid.^[5] 2002's 16th issue of The Official Star Wars Fact File magazine would also identify WED-15-I7 as a WED-15 Septoid Treadwell.^[6]

In March 2008, Wizards of the Coast's roleplaying game sourcebook Threats of the Galaxy first identified WED-15-I7 as a WSB-15 sabotage droid, coining the class name as well as contradicting previous materials.^[1] On December 9 of the same year,^[7] The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia would again describe WED-15-I7 as a Septoid and a maintenance droid.^[8] Because Threats of the Galaxy establishes the WSB-15's identical visual appearance to WED model droids and establishes its role in sabotage,^[1] this article treats all the identifications of WED-15-I7 as a Septoid maintenance droid as canon within the Star Wars Legends continuity, effectively as part of the sabotage droid's disguise.

Sources[]

•  Star Wars Customizable Card Game — A New Hope Limited (Card: WED15-I7 "Septoid" Droid) (backup link) (First pictured)
• Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 16 (WED1, WED Treadwell Repair Droid)
• Threats of the Galaxy (First identified as WSB-15 sabotage droid)
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. III ("WED-15-I7") (Picture only)
• The Official Star Wars Fact File Part 7 (WED1, WED Treadwell) (Picture only)

Notes and references[]