The Soulless One was a customized Feethan Ottraw Scalable Assemblies Belbullab-22 starfighter which served as the personal ship of General Grievous, the leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems' Droid Army. However, because Grievous used the fighter to retreat, some opponents nicknamed the ship Spineless One.
The Soulless One was reinforced with impervium alloy armor, and was equipped with a sensor jamming system and two rapid fire laser cannons. It was designed to be an upgrade to the CIS droid fighters, such as the vulture droid and the droid tri-fighters.
Grievous himself preferred hand-to-hand combat, although he still often flew the battle-worn fighter. After the General's death in the Battle of Utapau, Soulless One was taken by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi to escape Utapau after the execution of Order 66. Kenobi later docked it with the Tantive III.
Soulless One was made with an impervium hull.
The Soulless One was a customized Belbullab-22 heavy starfighter built by Feethan Ottraw Scalable Assemblies, which had been designed as an upgrade to the Confederacy of Independent Systems' droid starfighters such as the vulture droids and droid tri-fighters. The starfighter was 6.1 meters long and 5.4 meters wide, with a hull reinforced with impervium-alloy armor. The starfighter was initially equipped with two single laser cannons, but due to the heavily demands placed upon the cyborg general by Count Dooku and Dooku's Sith Master, Darth Sidious, a weapons upgrade was required. It was armed with two triple rapid-fire laser cannons, and also contained a sensor-jamming system.
The Soulless One had a Class 2 hyperdrive, and a maximum atmospheric speed of 1,100 kph. Grievous, its owner, preferred hand-to-hand combat himself, but still often flew the battle-worn starfighter. Equipped with a powerful compact HoloNet transceiver, Grievous has access to both Republic and pirate networks, allowing him to oversee skirmishes and conflicts across the many warring sectors, anticipate enemy operations, and avoid confrontations he can't win. The Soulless One's cockpit has a circular, pressure-sensitive panel for controlling the ship and placed within a strengthened yoke and was usable by most humanoids, similar to the controls on Grievous' TSMEU-6 personal wheel bike. While the cockpit did have a life-support system, Grievous didn't need it.
The Soulless One, dubbed by its owner, was in the possession of General Grievous, commander of the Separatist Droid Army, by 22 BBY, the first year of the Clone Wars between the Separatist Alliance and the Galactic Republic. Grievous' habit of using the starfighter to retreat earned it the nickname Spineless One from his enemies. While the general had a reputation among Republic and Jedi circles for fleeing when the odds were stacked against him, his immediate superiors praised his cautious selections and astute tactical judgements.
Grievous fleeing the doomed Malevolence
During the Battle of the Kaliida Nebula, Grievous used the Soulless One to chase Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker after they boarded the Subjugator-class heavy cruiser Malevolence to rescue Senator Padmé Amidala, whom Grievous had attempted to take hostage in order to prevent the warship's destruction. Piloting the G9 Rigger-class light freighter Twilight, Skywalker engaged in some tricks, including spinning his starship, in order to evade the Soulless Ones cannon fire. The Malevolence was destroyed when it flew into the nearby Dead Moon of Antar while attempting to jump into hyperspace due to sabotage by Skywalker. When Grievous was subsequently contacted by Separatist Head of State Count Dooku regarding an intended rendezvous for the Malevolence, Grievous cut off the transmission and himself escaped into hyperspace.
Grievous later used the Soulless One to escape the Battle of Bothawui, another engagement with Skywalker's forces in Bothawui's planetary rings. Skywalker attempted to pursue Grievous in his own starfighter, but was knocked unconscious due to shrapnel damage from an exploding Munificent-class star frigate, allowing Grievous to escape. Subsequently, Skywalker and a team tracked Grievous to Skytop Station, a secret listening outpost in the atmosphere of the moon Ruusan 2, and destroyed the facility, leading Grievous to once again depart the scene in the Soulless One.
In 21 BBY, Grievous flew the Soulless One to his personal fortress on the moon Vassek 3, landing it inside the hangar before going to see his EV-series medical droid EV-A4-D for maintenance. The General soon discovered that Dooku had lured Jedi Master Kit Fisto, Jedi Knight Nahdar Vebb, and a squad of clone troopers to the fortress as a test of Grievous' skills, leading to a confrontation which only Fisto and his astromech droid R6-H5 would escape.
For months, Grievous had docked the Soulless One at a small landing platform above the city's sinkhole on the planet Utapau in the Outer Rim. During a lightning attack on the Republic capital world of Coruscant, Grievous was unable to use the fighter, which worked in his advantage because he would have lost it along with his flagship, the Invisible Hand, if not for that circumstance. In the final days of the Clone Wars in 19 BBY, Grievous was stationed on the planet Utapau, keeping watch over the Executive Separatist Council while occupying Pau City. As Grievous had become the Separatist Head of State with Dooku's death during the Battle of Coruscant, Obi-Wan Kenobi and his clone forces set out for Utapau after learning of Grievous' location from Republic intelligence, beginning the Battle of Utapau. Kenobi engaged Grievous in a lightsaber duel which ultimately ended on the Soulless Ones landing platform, the Jedi resorting to the use of an "uncivilized" blaster to kill Grievous as he had dropped his lightsaber earlier in the fight.
Kenobi docked the Soulless One inside the Tantive III after using it to escape Utapau.
As the battle against the remaining battle droids continued, Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, publicly the Republic's Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, issued Order 66, a command which compelled the Grand Army of the Republic's clone troopers to turn on and execute their Jedi commanding officers. Kenobi was shot at by the cannon of an All Terrain Tactical Enforcer while he was riding the varactyl Boga on the side of the sinkhole, but survived the fall. Sneaking back up through Pau City, the Jedi Master evaded notice and appropriated the Soulless One to escape Utapau. Once off-planet, Kenobi was contacted by Alderaanian Senator Bail Organa, who had rescued Grand Master Yoda, and a rendezvous was arranged. Upon meeting Organa's corvette, the Tantive III, Kenobi docked the starfighter with the larger ship, where it remained.
The Soulless One was the personal starfighter of General Grievous, the leader of the Separatist Droid Army. After Grievous' death at his hands during the Battle of Utapau, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi appropriated the starfighter upon surviving Order 66, using it briefly until he went into exile on Tatooine.
The Soulless One first appeared in the 2005 film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. It was first canonically identified as the Soulless One in the 2015 reference book Ultimate Star Wars, and as Spineless One in the 2018 edition of Star Wars: Complete Vehicles.
- LEGO STAR WARS: Celebrate the Season — "All I Want For Life Day"
- LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga