Destruction of Despayre

For approximately a couple of years, the DS-1 Orbital Battle Station, more widely recognized as the Death Star, had been under construction in orbit around the penal world of Despayre, a location selected for its remoteness within the Outer Rim Territories, ensuring minimal observation from the Imperial Senate and HoloNet media. Slaves hailing from across the galaxy toiled extensively to finalize the construction of Emperor Palpatine's latest superweapon. In the lead-up to 0 BBY, the Alliance to Restore the Republic initiated increasingly ambitious campaigns to impede the project. The Rebels seized the frigate named Priam to ascertain the construction site's coordinates, subsequently dispatching the Lucrehulk-class carrier called Fortressa on a mission aimed at obliterating the Death Star. This endeavor resulted in the inaugural operational deployment of the station's superlaser, swiftly concluding the Rebel offensive. Following this event, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, the principal authority over the Death Star initiative, resolved to move the station. Admiral Conan Antonio Motti, the station's operational director, was in agreement. Nevertheless, Tarkin desired to assess the superlaser's effectiveness in a more regulated manner than its initial discharge.

Tarkin himself designated the location for the superlaser's inaugural controlled experiment. The Horuz system had been largely depleted due to the construction project's resource acquisition, leaving Despayre as the singular viable target within sublight range. This determination astonished personnel throughout the station, spanning from Superlaser Fire Control to Admiral Motti himself. Ultimately, the decision rested with Tarkin, and no one dared to contest it. Indeed, Tarkin had foreseen Despayre's inevitable demise, as an industrial debris cloud was already obscuring the planet and would have lingered in orbit long after the construction concluded.

When Tarkin resolved to relocate the station, the Death Star's engineering division was not entirely prepared for a full-power emanation from the superlaser's primary capacitors. A 33% charge represented their optimal achievable level. They recognized that 4% power sufficed to demolish a Lucrehulk-class battleship, but the potential damage inflicted by the superlaser at one-third of its maximum capacity remained uncertain. However, it was undeniable that even at that intensity, the initial shot would kill millions of detainees. The responsibility of executing the shot fell upon Tenn Graneet, the chief of the gunnery crew for that particular shift. The commanding officer of Superlaser Fire Control was open to permitting alternate shift leaders Beller or Reshias to substitute for Graneet, but ultimately Graneet chose to fulfill the order himself.

Considering any non-essential personnel a security risk, Tarkin had all individuals whose utility ceased with the construction's completion shuttled to the planet. Prisoner work teams were returned to their compounds, and construction supervisors and other staff members were likewise transported back to Despayre. As they awaited reassignment, they remained oblivious to their impending doom.

Among these prisoners was Rianna Saren, a Twi'lek mercenary captured by the Zabrak slaver Zarien Kheev on the world Tatooine. Upon arrival on the planet, Saren promptly orchestrated her escape. Utilizing her concealed weapon, a spring-knife known as the Thorn of Ryloth, she eliminated the stormtroopers guarding her and sought a means of departing the planet. Saren soon located her droid companion, Zeeo, in a trash compactor and encountered another Twi'lek slave, who informed her about a nearby air duct that could facilitate her escape. After surviving an encounter with a probe droid, Saren and Zeeo reached Despayre's surface via the air duct and observed the Death Star orbiting the planet.

Following the elimination of several scout troopers stationed on the surface, the Twi'lek commandeered a speeder bike and rode it to the landing pad utilized by Lambda-class shuttles, which transported Imperial personnel and supplies to and from the planet. On the landing pad, Saren once again encountered Kheev, who fired upon Zeeo before escaping on one of the shuttles. Unwilling to abandon her pursuit of Kheev, Saren, accompanied by her droid, concealed herself within a shipment crate, which was loaded onto another shuttle and subsequently transported to the Death Star itself. Upon reaching the Death Star, Saren continued her search for Kheev, defeating numerous stormtroopers and another probe droid along the way.

The initial one-third power shot from the superlaser proved to be a planet-killer in its own right. While it did not physically shatter Despayre, it extinguished all life on the surface. The atmosphere transformed into a colossal firestorm, and the planet's ground became unstable due to the blast. Tectonic plates shifted, generating massive waves in the planet's oceans and triggering extreme volcanic activity. Tarkin expressed satisfaction with the outcome. When Motti questioned the destruction of one of the Empire's primary prison colonies, Tarkin dismissed it, anticipating that the Empire would increasingly resort to the death penalty.

One hour and fifteen minutes after the initial shot, the Death Star fired a second time. This shot further amplified the seismic effects, causing mountains to rise and collapse within minutes and the surface to be engulfed in oceans of lava. Despayre transitioned from a vibrant world of deep green, punctuated by rivers and seas, to a desolate sphere of red.

The final shot was unleashed one hour and nineteen minutes after the second. Upon impact, Despayre fragmented into billions of pieces ranging in size from pebbles to mountains. The planet ceased to exist as a unified entity in terms of the star system's gravitational configuration. The Death Star itself registered the impact of thousands of fragments against the station's shields, none of which inflicted any noteworthy damage.

Concurrently, Rianna Saren had finally located Kheev, who was engaged in conversation with Darth Vader. Concealing herself in the shadows, the Twi'lek overheard Vader instructing Kheev to depart for the planet Danuta with the updated battle station plans, as requested by the engineers stationed there. Having witnessed the destruction of Despayre firsthand, Saren resolved to inform the Rebellion about the Death Star and the threat it posed.

Aboard the Death Star, untrained Force-sensitive Nova Stihl awoke with a scream. Darth Vader sensed the planet's destruction while aboard the Devastator, his flagship Star Destroyer, while in hyperspace en route to the construction site. He initially perceived it as a horrific wound in the Force, until the ship emerged from hyperspace and detected the expanding debris field on its sensors. The planet had been home to countless plant and animal species, and it was the sole habitable world within the Horuz system. Any indigenous species that had not been relocated would have been eradicated. Some personnel aboard the Death Star, particularly civilian contractors, were appalled. Others, notably military personnel with vested interests in the project, such as Admiral Motti, viewed the planet's destruction as validation of their belief in the project.

Meanwhile, Rianna Saren successfully reached the Death Star's communication center and contacted Princess Leia Organa, a prominent supporter of the Rebellion. Saren informed the Rebel Alliance about the battle station's destructive capabilities and, realizing that the Empire was her true adversary, not Kheev, requested Organa to dispatch her to Danuta alongside the other Rebel agents to acquire the battle station plans. Subsequently, Saren and Zeeo escaped the Death Star aboard a stolen Imperial vessel. Unbeknownst to Saren, the Rebel Alliance had dispatched ships to investigate following the failed Fortressa mission around the same time. However, upon arrival in the region, Rebel forces consisting of the two CR90 corvettes of Ethar group discovered only the planet's remnants. The Death Star was gone, and the Rebels were captured by the Imperials that remained in the system. It was only through the skills of Rebel pilot Keyan Farlander that those ships were later recovered by the Alliance.

The annihilation of Despayre furnished the operational testing necessary for the engineering division to authorize the superlaser for full-power operation, and shortly thereafter, a single shot at full capacity would be employed to destroy the planet Alderaan.