Destruction of Despayre

Destruction of Despayre

TheDestruction of Despayre was a cataclysmic event that occurred in0 BBY, following theattack on the first Death Star. TheprisonplanetDespayre was the final construction site of thefirst Death Star, where assembly of thespace station'ssuperlaser took place. After discovery of the site by theAlliance to Restore the Republic, the project's leader,Grand MoffWilhuff Tarkin, decided to move the station. The interior was near completion and thehyperdrive was functional, but the Grand Moff decided it was necessary to test the superlaser before getting under way. A proper test firing required a terrestrial world, and the penal colony was the only suitable location insublight range. Tarkin decided without hesitation to sacrifice Despayre, and a few days before theBattle of Yavin, the planet was destroyed.

The destruction of Despayre was one of only three recorded uses of the Death Star's superlaser. The incident caused a shift in thegravitational configuration of theHoruz system, and was a majorwound in the Force, as millions of lives wereterminated almost instantly. The shock was felt byForce-sensitives, both trained and untrained.

History[]

Preparation[]

For approximately two years,^[3] theDS-1 Orbital Battle Station,^[8] more commonly known as the Death Star,^[5] had undergone construction inorbit of thepenal colonyworld ofDespayre,^[3] a site chosen for its location in a distant corner of theOuter Rim Territories where theImperial Senate andHoloNet media would be unlikely to observe.^[9]Slaves from all overthe galaxy had labored long and hard in order to finish construction onEmperorPalpatine's newestsuperweapon.^[3] Leading up to0 BBY, theAlliance to Restore the Republic launched progressively grander efforts to stall the project. The Rebels captured thefrigatePriam to learn the location of the construction site,^[1] and then sent theLucrehulk-class carrierFortressa on amission to destroy the Death Star, which led to the first operational use of the station'ssuperlaser—bringing a swift end to the Rebel assault. Following this,Grand MoffWilhuff Tarkin, the overall leader of the Death Star project, made the decision to relocate the station.AdmiralConan Antonio Motti, the station's operational commander, concurred. However, Tarkin wished to test the functionality of the superlaser in a more controlled fashion than its first firing.^[3]

Tarkin himself chose the site for the superlaser's first controlled test. TheHoruz system had been largely emptied by the construction project's resource-gathering efforts, leaving Despayre itself as the only suitable target withinsublight range. The decision stunned personnel across the entire station, fromSuperlaser Fire Control to Admiral Motti himself. But ultimately, the decision was Tarkin's, and no one sought to challenge it.^[3] In fact, Tarkin had long predicted that Despayre was doomed anyway,^[10] as a cloud of industrial debris was already benighting the planet^[11] and would have remained in orbit long after the construction ended.^[10]

When Tarkin made the decision to move the station, the Death Star's engineering division wasn't quite prepared for a full-power discharge from the superlaser's main capacitors. A 33% charge was the best they were willing or able to manage. They knew 4% power was sufficient to destroy aLucrehulk-class battleship, but no one could be certain what kind of damage the superlaser could inflict at one-third of its full capacity. What was certain, however, was that even at that strength, the first shot wouldkill millions of prisoners. The duty of firing the shot fell toTenn Graneet, thechief of thegunnery crew for that shift. Thecommanding officer of Superlaser Fire Control was willing to allow alternate shift leadersBeller orReshias to substitute for Graneet, but ultimately Graneet chose carry out the order himself.^[3]

As Tarkin considered any non-essential personnel a security risk, anyone whose usefulness ended with the termination of construction wasshuttled to the planet. Prisoner work crews were returned to their compounds, and construction supervisors and other personnel were transported back to Despayre as well. As they awaited reassignment, they were unaware of their impending demise.^[11]

One of those prisoners wasRianna Saren, aTwi'lekmercenarycaptured by theZabrak slaverZarien Kheev on the planetTatooine. After being brought to the planet, however, Saren quickly orchestrated her escape. Using her concealed weapon, a spring-knife called theThorn of Ryloth, she killed the stormtroopers guarding her and tried to find a way off planet. Saren soon found her droid companion,Zeeo, in a trash compactor and met another Twi'lek slave, who informed her about a nearby air duct, which could be used in her escape. After surviving an encounter with aprobe droid, Saren and Zeeo reached the surface of Despayre through the air duct and saw the Death Star orbiting the planet.^[2]

After killing somescout troopers stationed on the surface, the Twi'lek stole aspeeder bike and flew it to the landing pad used byLambda-class shuttles, which carried Imperial personnel and supplies to and off planet. On the landing pad, Saren once again encountered Kheev, who shot at Zeeo before escaping on one of the shuttles. Not willing to stop her pursuit of Kheev, Saren, along with her droid, hid in a shipment crate, which was picked up by another shuttle and was then brought to the Death Star itself. After reaching the Death Star, Saren continued her search for Kheev, defeating many stormtroopers and another probe droid along the way.^[2]

Destruction[]

The first one-third power shot from the superlaser was a planet-killer in itself. Though it didn't physically destroy Despayre, it did terminate all life on the surface. Theatmosphere itself became a massive firestorm, and the planet's groundbecame unstable from the blast. The tectonic plates shifted, causing massive waves in the planet'soceans and extreme volcanic activity. Tarkin was pleased with the results. When Motti questioned the destruction of one of theEmpire's primary prison colonies, Tarkin dismissed it with the expectation that the Empire would employ the death penalty more frequently.^[3]

One hour and fifteen minutes after the first shot, the Death Star fired a second time. This shot further intensified the seismic effects, causingmountains to rise and fall in a matter of minutes and the surface to be covered with oceans oflava.^[3] Despayre had gone from a verdant world of deep green,^[10] broken by rivers and seas,^[12] to a lifeless sphere ofred.^[1]

The final shot was fired one hour and nineteen minutes after the second. When the final shot hit, Despayre shattered into billions of fragments ranging from pebble- to mountain-sized. The planet no longer existed as a single entity in terms of thestar system'sgravitational configuration. The Death Star itself recorded the impact of thousands of fragments against the station'sshields, none of which caused damage worth mentioning.^[3]

At the same time, Rianna Saren had at last found Kheev, who had been talking toDarth Vader. Hiding in the shadows, the Twi'lek overheard as Vader ordered Kheev to leave for the planetDanuta with the updatedbattle station plans, which had been requested by the engineers there. After witnessing the destruction of Despayre first-hand, Saren decided to inform the Rebellion about the Death Star and the threat it presented.^[2]

Aftermath[]

Aboard the Death Star, untrainedForce-sensitiveNova Stihl awoke screaming. Darth Vader felt the planet's destruction while theDevastator, hisflagshipStar Destroyer, was inhyperspace en route to the construction site. He knew only that it was a terriblewound in the Force, until the ship dropped out of hyperspace and saw the expanding debris field on its scopes.^[3] The planet had been home to countless plant and animalspecies, and was the only habitable world in the Horuz system.^[12] Any native species that had not been transplanted would have been exterminated.^[10] Some personnel aboard the Death Star, civilian contractors especially, were shocked. Others, especially military personnel whose careers were heavily invested in the project, like Admiral Motti, considered the planet's destruction to be vindication of their faith in the project.^[3]

Meanwhile, Rianna Saren managed to reach Death Star's communication center and contacted PrincessLeia Organa, one of the major supporters of the Rebellion. Saren informed theRebel Alliance about the battle station's destructive capabilities and, realizing that the Empire was her true enemy, not Kheev, asked Organa to send her to Danuta along with theother Rebel agents to steal the battle station plans. After that, Saren and Zeeo escaped the Death Star using a stolen Imperial ship.^[2] Little did Saren know that near the same time, the Rebel Alliance had sentships to follow up after the ill-fatedFortressa. However, when Rebel forces comprising the twoCR90 corvettes ofEthar group arrived in the region, they found only the planet's remains. The Death Star was absent and the Rebels were captured by the Imperials that remained in the system. It was only thanks to the skills ofRebel pilotKeyan Farlander that those ships were later retrieved by the Alliance.^[1]

The destruction of Despayre provided the operational testing necessary for the engineering division to clear the superlaser for full-power operation,^[3] and a short time later a single shot at full capacity would be used todestroy the planetAlderaan.^[5]

Appearances[]

• Death Star
• Star Wars: Lethal Alliance
• Star Wars: X-Wing(First appearance)
• Darksaber(Mentioned only)

Sources[]

• Death Star Technical Companion
• Death Star Technical Companion, Second Edition
• The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels
• Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Essential Chronology
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 74CRE 1-4: Creation of the First Death Star
• Inside the Worlds of Star Wars Trilogy
• Death Star timeline onKeeper of the Holocron — Leland Chee's StarWars.comBlog(original site is defunct)
• Star Wars: Complete Locations
• Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 9
• The Essential Atlas
• The Essential Reader's Companion
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars Comic 6.45
• Death Star Owner's Technical Manual

Notes and references[]