“Imperial bioweapons Project I71A” also known as “the Blackwing virus”, “the Sickness”, was developed by the Empire as a means of suppressing dissidents and freedom fighters. This virus was an infectious viral agent seen in the expanded Star Wars universe, essentially attacking biological tissue and began transforming its victims into Star Wars Zombies – The undead.

1. “Imperial bioweapons Project I71A” also known as “the Blackwing virus”, “the Sickness”, was
developed by the Empire as a means of suppressing dissidents and freedom fighters. This
virus was an infectious viral agent seen in the expanded Star Wars universe, essentially
attacking biological tissue and began transforming its victims into Star Wars Zombies –
The undead. The events surrounding this virus are brilliantly presented by author Joe
Schreiber through two novels. Beginning with Star Wars: Death Troopers, which was
released on October 13, 2009, it takes place about a year before A New Hope. Then Star
Wars: Red Harvest – A prequel was released on December 28, 2010.
STAR WARS ZOMBIES
1. HOW WAS THIS VIRUS CREATED?
Sith Lords
Changing the order a bit, we’ll start with the prequel – Star Wars: Red Harvest, how was this
virus created? “Red Harvest” reveals the origins of this bioweapon, which dates back
thousands of years to the old empire. While the Jedi were at war with the Sith, the young
Jedi Hestizo was caring for a greenhouse and its plants. She is breeding powerful plants to
create medicine and drugs that the Jedi can use. Darth Scabrous, however, was drawn in by
this process. He breaks into the greenhouse and kidnaps Hestizo and her plants for his
purposes. He’s heard of the Black Orchid, which possesses extraordinary abilities. Hestizo is
finally able to create a new drug from the Black Orchid, but it quickly transforms into a
zombie virus, that created Star Wars Zombies. The Sickness was created because of a Sith
Lord’s quest to acquire immortality for himself. The armies of the undead it spawned were
ultimately nothing more than a byproduct of the Sith’s process of creating immortality for

2. the virus’s originator. After a thousand years, both Darth Drear, Sith Lord, and Darth
Scabrous who attempted to recreate their experiments became zombies before they could
finish the last procedure required to become immortal. And the Sickness was unearthed and
replicated by Imperial scientists during the height of the Galactic Empire, with Darth Vader
himself intimately participating in the effort, millennia after those events. The virus,
codenamed Project Blackwing, was not intended to be an instrument of immortality, but
rather a weapon to be employed against rebels and to pacify civilian populations. It was
surely appealing to a Sith Lord who spends most of his time dressed in a sealed suit of life-
support armor and has no regard for collateral damage.
2. How the virus is transmitted?
The Blackwing – Made by Sith for Sith’s immortality but it was so dangerous that even Vader
left it be – biological weapons. Darth Vader dispatched a Star Destroyer to the outer rim of
the Empire to perform viral research. When one of the tanks ruptured, practically everyone
on board the destroyer became sick, died, and worse they became Star Wars Zombies,
which also opens the first novel – Star Wars: Death Troopers. This novel will give us a better
look at the infection, effects, cures, and weaknesses of this virus.
Project Blackwing
First, “Death Troopers” revolves around an empire’s prison ship designed to transport their
inmates to a distant plant where they would work. However, the machines break down and

3. they end up with stock in the middle of nowhere. They pick up a transmission from an
imperial cruiser that is also floating in space. The spacecraft appears to be intact, but there is
now live on board. They come across hordes of Star Wars Zombies while exploring the
cruiser for spare components. It turns out that the empire was developing a new type of
bioweapon, but the test went wrong. Han Solo and Chewbacca also make an appearance,
which I thought was a touch excessive.
The virus exhibits conventional zombie characteristics, such as a bite or scratch being
enough to infect another individual within a few hours, with the added benefit of
overcoming species borders. The virus can also be carried through the air, but a fortunate
few are immune and have developed a vaccination that can reduce its impact in the air.
3. The effect of the virus on the Star Wars Zombies and how to cure it?
Waste concludes that the virus only functions when there are enough infected cells to
overwhelm the body’s defenses. Victims began coughing and sneezing a few minutes after
being exposed. They’d probably start vomiting 15–20 minutes later. They would cough up
blood, fall into cardiac arrest, hallucinate, sores, pus, graying skin, mucus accumulation in
the lungs, internal bleeding, respiratory arrest, fever, and convulsions over a few hours.
Different species reacted differently to the virus. The Wookies would have their tongues
swelled and gray goo build up in their throats to the point where they would rupture.
Rodians were also directly harmed, causing them to vomit their organs. Their bodies would
decay quickly after death, within a few hours. They would reanimate, though, and learn. The
undead learned how to utilize blasters when the few survivors boarded the Star Destroyer to
escape the infected. One of the survivors went into a ship where the original crew’s survivors
had congregated. They ultimately realized that the blasters would not be able to breach the
ship and gave up. They learned how to fly an X wing after witnessing officer Satorris use it
to fire at zombies and attempt to flee. They’d even figured out how to turn on the tractor
beam when it first appeared, barring anyone from exiting the ship.
In the case of persons who are not affected, their bodies have antibodies against the virus.
Using their blood, they can build an anti-virus to end the illness, as Zahara did.
4. The virus’s weakness
Luckily, the Blackwing virus had a flaw: Star Wars Zombies – The undead couldn’t get too
far away from the source. They lost control and ceased to operate when they disabled the
tractor beam and flew away. The spacecraft they were in collided, and the zombies on the
Star Destroyer are most likely still there, drifting further and further away.

4. All in all, the black wing virus is a nasty piece of Imperial work with the potential to spread
throughout the galaxy. Fortunately, the outbreaks were halted in both Legends and Disney
canon because if this virus was allowed to spread further, it could very well have overrun the
galaxy. It would be disastrous if this virus could damage Jedi/Sith and they became Star
Wars Zombies to be able to use force powers such as force jumping, pulling, pushing, etc…
and their ability to use a lightsaber.