During the time of the Clone Wars, a lack of stygium crystals, a material that when properly energized could render a starship invisible to almost all scans, plagued the galaxy at an inopportune juncture. All sources of the crystal seemed to have been drained.
In hopes of gaining control of the Galaxy's only supply of stygium crystals, the Separatist high command dispatched forces to the Dreighton Nebula, specifically the planet of Aeten II, where stygium mines were years earlier declared dried. Yet now the mines had re-opened, and both sides rushed to claim them. The Republic fleet was aided by the independent army known as the Pendarran Warriors. When both ambitious forces came head to head, Hutt and Black Sun forces entered the system that destroyed the remainders of all three fleets in a month-long battle. It is known that the nebula itself eventually annihilated all combatants. This is the only battle of the Clone Wars not to have any survivors from any of the participating factions. Nobody won the battle.
Whatever occurred there, it would soon be declared that there were no more stygium caches on Aeten II. The aftermath of the battle also had many rumors about the nebula being haunted afterwards with ghost ships and the dead pilots of the battle, giving birth to the idea of the Dreighton Triangle. This was ratified by strange disappearances of ships flying in the nebula. Later, during the days of the Empire, this legend was useful during the development of the infamous TIE Phantoms, which had cloaking devices that caused them to be invisible. The early test appearances of these ships against Rebel fighters were believed to be a confirmation of those legends.
The Battle of Dreighton was invented in order to be mentioned passingly in Rebel Assault II for narrative reasons. Its details were later expanded in The New Essential Chronology. Rebel Alliance pilot Till mentions the battle in dialogue taking place forty years before the present in Rebel Assault II (which is set 3 ABY). This is in conflict with the timeline established by the prequel trilogy where the Clone Wars occur from 22 BBY to 19 BBY.
- The New Essential Chronology