(Same universe as Saturnian Cloud Cities and Quazar Power Plant)
In this setting, humans (Earthborn) are the first intelligent life to emerge in the Milky Way. They have now unified and became a grand Type 3 civilization, known galaxy-wide by younger alien-races, as the "Primordials".
However, the Primordials are now waging war on a emerging Type 2.7 civilization (i.e. a civilization that has colonized multiple solar systems, but not the entire galaxy yet) that is ready to conquer the galaxy and start rebellions to overthrow the Primordial Government.
The rebels are called "Hutts" and live on a planet about 3x the mass of the Earth, and 1.7x the radius. It has a iron core, which is 20% of the radius of the host planet. The planet, called Al-Dabaran, has its own moon, albeit extremely volcanic, and releasing volcanic plumes every few months. Al-Dabaran, along with its volcanic moon, has a extremely powerful magnetic field, that causes volcanic plumes to travel in a torus. Al-Dabaran orbits a red dwarf.
In short, the Al-Dabaran system is a scaled-down version of the Jupiter-Io radiation belt system.
However, this powerful magnetic field, about 20x Earth's intensity, is what causes Primordial warships to fail, as it produces extreme radiation that damages Primordial technological and mechanical systems. So, the Primordials have to come up with a solution to defeat the Hutts. Which has only one solution-Remove the core from the planet
Primordials, however need to find out how exactly to remove the core away from the planet, so that it no longer generates a magnetic field, and no radiation belts. You cannot exactly get a starship to drill the core out of the planet without anyone noticing. So Primordials come up with another proposal- Pull it out magnetically
There are multiple magnetic sources out there in the universe that are extremely strong, like neutron stars. However, here's a drawback.
Neutron stars' magnetic field, despite being quadrillions of gauss strong, are pathetically weak at large distances, say Earth-Moon distance. The best a neutron star can do is to wipe out your credit card, and even then, they are so bright that the Hutts can detect them, and propel their solar systems away before it did any damage. Besides, neutron stars, like their black hole brethrens, have a nasty habit of sphagettifying matter and forming accretion disks that illuminate areas as much as billions of miles across. Besides, using radiation to kill the Hutts are useless, they are resillient to radiation, and cannot be damaged by even quasar-level radiation. Besides, neutron stars, are bright and tend to give away their presence easily. So, Primordials come up with a stealthy option:- Magnet Planets.
The idea is ridiculously simple. The magnetic force is the most powerful force in nature, surpassing gravity, weak and strong nuclear forces. This means that even a tiny object can have such a powerful magnetic field, that it can deflect ferromagnetic objects with devastating impact.
In practice, the Primordials begin by assembling a huge sphere of iron about 0.5 earth masses and small im radius (as iron is compact). By some methods which I shall leave to your imagination, the iron sphere's interior is cooled down to moderate temperatures about 30°C, and is kept at that temperature by some means.
By using the quasar-power plant, the iron sphere is magnetized to immense levels (~1012 gauss or even more). This means that although it only has trivial gravity, its magnetic field is so strong that any ferromagnetic substance coming near it will impact at relativistic speeds.
After the "Magnet-Sphere" has been prepared, it is now made to approach Al-Dabaran slowly and steadily. The MS cannot be detected as even if the Hutts could see it, because they are revolving around a red dwarf, it would probably resemble this:
Which can be mistaken for a distant red giant or a faint red dwarf, or just a ordinary planetesimal.
Even, then, the planet approaches from the nightside, so that it can be as stealthy as possible, and can't be noticeable with the naked eyes. Hutt telescopes are designed to detect light sources, and not magnetic fields.
Little do the Hutts know, that as the MS approaches, the magnetic field is slowly overpowering Al-Dabaran's gravitational field. Maybe their credit cards would get wiped out, but as there is no bright neutron star glowing in the sky, it could be mistaken for something else. Their compasses would get deflected, which could be pinned down on glitches.
Finally, as the MS approaches Al-Dabaran, its magnetic pull overpowers AD's gravity and pulls the iron core apart, destroying the planet in the process, thus killing the Hutt Rebels.
Is this Interstellar Warfare weapon really efficient at causing mass destruction to a planet, or is there something wrong in my assumptions?
Clarifications:
- No, it is not exactly the magnetic field that causes the Primordial technology to be dysfunctional, it is the powerful radiation belts generated by the magnetic field that causes the malfunction.