JX4 Gladiator Prototype

The JX4 Gladiator Prototype was a type of personal battle armor that was produced by Min-Dal. This type of armor was extremely rare, as only a small number of prototypes were ever manufactured.

Specifications

The battle armor was resistant towards kinetic and energy attacks and came with a Conner Ship Systems APNG3 mounted on the left gauntlet, a retractable vibro-shiv attached to the right gauntlet, and a jetpack. The armor provided protection primarily to the torso, arms, and head. The helmet was slightly reminiscent of that of a Mandalorian armor

History

Min-Dal exploited the Soruus system's tradition for sentencing criminals to death in public gladiator combats and tested their battle armor prototypes in these gladiatorial contests. Although security was high during the contests, a number of combatants managed to escape the arena, taking advantage of a diversion created by sabotage. A group of the escapees subsequently committed terrible crimes, using their newly acquired battle armors. Eventually most of them were rounded up by the Galactic Empire, who destroyed most of their JX4 armors. The incident lead to Min-Dal canceling their JX4 armor program. Some, however, managed to evade the Empire.

One of the escaped criminals, Morana Fal, evaded the Empire and had no less than two of the rare armors in her possession - one was her own and the other one used to belong to a fallen fellow escapee. Min-Dal issued a reward of 3,000 credits for each intact armor suit returned to them.

Sources

• "Outlaw Battle Armor" – Star Wars Adventure Journal 3
• Gundark's Fantastic Technology: Personal Gear
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia (As "JX4")