Kill-ship
Kill-ships are unique weapon relics used by the Deathwatch.[1]
Overview
They are actually automated drone-ships guided by the most sophisticated of War-spirits, designed with the singular task of conducting Exterminatus operations in the most extreme of circumstances on worlds that are believed to be completely lost to the Imperium.[1] Due to their cogitator and logis-engine banks, Kill-ships operate nearly autonomously, needing only a tiny crew of hardwired servitors and savants, giving host to rumours that the crew is little more than a puppet of the Kill-ship's war-spirit. The Deathwatch itself is not concerned with such theorising, maintaining large numbers of these vessels at their Watch Fortresses and other secret void-docks. Watch Fortress Erioch alone features dozens of kill-ships docked at its underside, enough firepower to wipe out every planet in the Jericho Reach many times over.[3]
To aid them on their missions, Kill-ships are equipped with the fastest drives, the most arcane of shielding devices[2] and unique examples of long lost cloaking technology that date back to the Dark Age of Technology. This allows the drone-ship to enter into a target system completely undetected where it can manage to slip past any defensive sentries and reach the target world itself. Once there, the Kill-ship drops its lethal payload onto the planet below whereupon it performs a slingshot manoeuvre to escape the region by using the world's own gravity well. As the vessel escapes, its actions are felt by the apocalyptic devastation it leaves in its wake that serves as a final act of denial and vengeance upon the enemies of Man.[1] Though kill-ships are sometimes destroyed by the planetary defence systems of the worlds they are attacking, enough vessels are assigned to the task to guarantee that at least some ships will slip through to accomplish the Exterminatus mission. This practice is sometimes referred to as 'Over-Kill'.[3]
Kill-ships are also equipped with self-destruct mechanisms to prevent the vessel's weapons and technology from falling into enemy hands in case of damage, an event considered a catastrophic loss with unthinkable consequences.[3]
Sources
- 1: Deathwatch Core Rulebook, pgs. 309-310
- 2: Tactica Imperialis (Background Book), pg. 69
- 3: Deathwatch: Rites of Battle, pg. 247
