The city fortress was surrounded by extensive farmlands where the citizens worked during the day
Desix City was a fortified, self-sufficient city on the planet Desix. It was situated on top of the Governor's Mesa surrounded by high, impenetrable walls. Inhabitants could only enter or exit the city through a large main gate that led to a bridge connecting the farmlands on another mesa, which were used to grow crops to feed the city population, to the one the city was situated in. The bridge could be used by the inhabitants as a chokepoint to thwart or ambush invaders. The main gate to the city could be opened or closed remotely and the city was equipped with a siren in the event of an emergency to notify the citizens to retreat inside.
The streets inside the city consisted of narrow and dark passages
The city itself was cramped, containing narrow, winding pathways that were hard to navigate through. The homes were compact and were no higher than two stories. The bell tower was the largest structure and dwarfed all other city buildings; it functioned as a control and command center for the fortress and it was from there that Governor Tawni Ames ruled the city and coordinated her forces. During the early reign of the Galactic Empire, many of the buildings were coated in rust. Many of the inhabitants who lived inside the city worked in the farmlands.
Governor Ames took Grotton hostage upon the latter's arrival in the city
After the Clone Wars ended and the Galactic Empire was founded, the Empire appointed Governor Grotton as the new Governor of Desix. As the new Governor, he arrived on board a Nu-class attack/transport shuttle along with a TK stormtrooper squad to supervise the transition of governments. When the shuttle carrying the Imperials arrived at the planet, the siren inside the city was activated to inform the citizens of the incoming Imperial shuttle leading to them rushing back to their homes and locking their doors. When the shuttle landed at the city, Grotton and his squad met with the current Governor Tawni Ames to inform her that he would be replacing her. Due to the Empire still not recognizing the planet as being independent, Ames instead took them hostage with the help of reprogrammed Separatist Droids.
When Vice Admiral Rampart was informed of the hostage crisis, he deployed Clone Commander CC-2224 "Cody," CT-9904 "Crosshair," and a squad of clone troopers to the city under the guise of a diplomatic resolution. Knowing that the clone troopers were sent to rescue Grotton, Ames ordered a T-series tactical droid to fire at the shuttle. The droid complied and ordered the city's air strike team to fire at the shuttle resulting in the ship crash landing at Sector Five in the Farmlands at the outskirts of the city.
The Nu-class shuttle carrying Cody's squad was taken down and crashed outside the city
With no choice but to walk on foot to the city to rescue Grotton, Commander Cody, Crosshair and his squad fought against the reprogrammed Separatist Droids. They managed to destroy an Armored Assault Tank Mk I at the bridge and entered into the main city. The squad split into one team going north with Crosshair and Cody with the other team going south into the city. North Team managed to enter into the bell tower and found Ames with a blaster at Grotton's head. Cody instead of killing Ames convinced her that a peaceful resolution can be reached if she drops her weapon and lets Grotton go. Convinced, Ames let Grotton go however after being released, Grotton ordered Cody to kill Ames. Unable to, Crosshair instead killed her with Grotton ordering the clones to hang her body in the city square to teach them to not rebel against the Empire.
The city on Desix under Imperial occupation
Although the mission was successful, the squad suffered high casualties. After the incident, a Venator-class Star Destroyer arrived at the city and many stormtroopers were deployed to occupy the planet where the soldiers' conducted searches of homes inside the city that were supervised by Grotton. Distraught over what had transpired, Cody left with Crosshair and some clone troopers in a shuttle leaving the planet.
Chris Madden's concept art of the city.
Desix City first appeared in "The Solitary Clone," the third episode of the second season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch that released exclusively on Disney+ on January 11, 2023. Desix City was first identified in concept art by concept designer Chris Madden which was released alongside other concept art of the episode on StarWars.com on 8th February 2023. In the concept art by Madden, the city was depicted as two large and small three-quarter circles fusing. The bell tower was located in the larger three-quarter circle section and was illustrated as being one of the largest buildings in the city alongside a few column-shaped buildings. Near the city was a large mesa called the Desix South field which was connected to the city by a long bridge. In the art and episode, all upper surfaces in the city were shown as sand covered. The lighting concept of the city was done by Molly Denmark.