Great Hyperspace Disaster

Background

The Legacy Run

The Legacy Run, a Class A modular freight transport of Kaniff Yards construction, had been in service for a considerable duration, exceeding a century before 232 BBY. Throughout its operational lifetime, the vessel transitioned into the ownership of the Byne Guild, ultimately coming under the command of Hedda Casset, a retired Malastare-Sullust Joint Task Force official, who meticulously maintained the Run during numerous voyages. Nevertheless, the Legacy Run was nearing, or perhaps even past, the end of its operational lifespan. On what would prove to be its last voyage, the Run was ferrying approximately nine thousand colonists hailing from the Core Worlds and Colonies toward the Outer Rim Territories. Additionally, it carried various goods, including a consignment of supercooled liquid tibanna.

The Starlight Beacon

At that juncture, the Galactic Republic was under the leadership of Supreme Chancellor Lina Soh, who championed an ambitious vision for the galaxy that emphasized augmented outreach for both the Republic and the Jedi Order. To realize this ambition, the space station known as Starlight Beacon was erected in the Outer Rim's frontier. Following the station's completion, the Republic and Jedi convened a conclave at the station, drawing numerous distinguished individuals, including Jedi Master Avar Kriss and Admiral Pevel Kronara of the Republic Defense Coalition. After the conclave concluded, the departure of prominent figures such as Kriss and Kronara, along with the admiral's capital ship, Third Horizon, was postponed due to Shai Tennem, the supervisor of the station's construction, insisting on providing her guests with a comprehensive tour, much to Kronara's particular annoyance.

The Nihil

The Nihil, a piratical group operating from the Outer Rim, had been gaining infamy in recent times. Possessing the capability to navigate the uncommon hyperspace Paths, they could launch attacks at will and disappear without a trace using their Path engines. Despite remaining primarily marauders, Eye of the Nihil Marchion Ro harbored ambitions for the group, intending to strike against the Republic and Jedi, driven by motives rooted in his family's past.

The Catastrophe

Demise of the Legacy Run

While traversing hyperspace along an established hyperspace lane, the Legacy Run encountered a devastating event. Captain Casset had just reassumed control of the command deck from her second-in-command, Jary Bowman, when the astrogator, Trainee Kalwar, alerted her to an obstruction that had materialized unexpectedly within the hyperlane, leaving only moments before impact. Unbeknownst to the vessel's personnel, the obstacle was a Nihil Stormship traveling via a hyperspace Path. Although Casset was taken aback, considering the lane's frequent use made such an occurrence highly improbable, she assumed command of the Legacy Run and endeavored to steer it clear of a collision. She nearly succeeded, but the Legacy Run's age proved to be its undoing, causing the ship to disintegrate. Casset and her bridge crew managed to isolate the ship's various sections before they perished when the bridge was breached, unaware if they had managed to save any of the passengers. Fragments of the Legacy Run were propelled through hyperspace and subsequently back into real space, resulting in widespread chaos.

The Hetzal system

Emergency Broadcast

The Hetzal system, a triple star system situated in the Outer Rim Territories, faced a particularly severe threat from a multitude of hyperspace distortions. These anomalies were initially detected entering the system by two sensor technicians, Merven Getter and Vel Carann, stationed at a monitoring outpost on the ecliptic in the system's outer reaches. Perplexed by the unfolding events, Getter and Carann transmitted a system-wide alert, but were subsequently killed when their station was obliterated by debris ejected from hyperspace, preventing them from providing further explanation.

The alert triggered confusion throughout the Hetzal system, as the reason for the warning remained unclear. Within the Ministerial Residence on Hetzal Prime, the system's leader, Minister Zeffren Ecka, and his counselors attempted to decipher the situation. Ultimately, Keven Tarr of the Ministry of Technology managed to compile a map illustrating the debris and the devastation it was already causing within the system, prompting Ecka to issue a system-wide evacuation directive. This order incited panic, as there were insufficient starships to evacuate the system's population of forty billion, and most individuals remained unaware of the underlying circumstances. Some residents chose to disregard the order, dismissing it as a hoax. Ecka and his administration also dispatched a mayday, despite their belief that no Republic assistance could arrive in time.

Saving the System

The Hetzalian distress call was intercepted by the Third Horizon, which was transporting the dignitaries whose departure had been delayed by Tennem, prompting the vessel to divert to the endangered system. Alongside Republic personnel, at least one hundred Jedi participated in the rescue effort. With Master Kriss assuming command of the mission's coordination, she sent a message to Hetzal Prime en route, assuring Minister Ecka that assistance was imminent. Republic Longbeam cruisers and at least fifty-three Jedi Vectors were mobilized.

The Third Horizon entered the Hetzal system relatively close to its suns, setting a course for the primary planet. The Longbeams and Vectors were deployed, heading toward areas where their aid was needed. Kriss, remaining on the Third Horizon's bridge, utilized the Force to coordinate the Jedi efforts.

As the Jedi and Republic personnel hastened to provide assistance, they initially failed to grasp the true nature of the anomalies tearing through the system at such speed. They dispersed throughout the system to wherever their help was required. The Longbeam Aurora IX, commanded by Captain Finial Bright, proceeded to assist Solar Array 22-X, which had sustained damage from debris before the crew could evacuate. Jedi Master Loden Greatstorm and his apprentice Bell Zettifar discovered the Ranoraki compound on Hetzal, where the wealthy Ranoraki family's security force was threatening a crowd of terrified civilians seeking to board the family's space yacht to escape.

Three Jedi protectors, Te'Ami, Mikkel Sutmani, and Nib Assek, along with a Longbeam piloted by volunteers Joss and Pikka Adren, were preparing to obliterate an anomaly hurtling toward Hetzal's Fruited Moon when they were stopped by Assek's learner, Burryaga Agaburry, after he sensed lifeforms within it and realized it was starship wreckage. After Te'Ami relayed this information to Kriss through the Force, she extended her senses and identified a total of ten anomalies containing lifeforms. She communicated this information to Admiral Kronara and his crew, altering the objective to encompass the rescue of both the Hetzalians and those trapped within the debris, before conveying this revised goal to the remaining Jedi present.

The Adrens, Te'Ami, Sutmani, Assek, and Burryaga successfully rescued the passenger compartment speeding toward the Fruited satellite through a maneuver involving the Jedi employing telekinesis to create a "rope" to decelerate the container, whereupon the Adrens launched the grappling cables of their Longbeam, the Aurora III. They successfully secured the container and brought it to a halt, averting a collision and saving the individuals inside.

Beyond Hetzal

The Byne Guild shuttle Vessel, dispatched to transport four Jedi to the Beacon, was forced out of hyperspace en route and subsequently stranded in deep space. The ship's captain and copilot, Leox Gyasi and Affie Hollow, recognized the debris hurtling through hyperspace as belonging to the Legacy Run and were concerned, as Guild leader Scover Byne, Hollow's adoptive parent, was known to frequently travel aboard the ship. As the catastrophe unfolded, pleas for help echoed from across the galaxy. One transmission originated from a ship stranded in the Bespin system. The Trymant system also suffered, with several moons, including Korbatal, destroyed by hyperspace debris.

Consequences

Despite the salvation of the Hetzal system, fragments of the Legacy Run continued to emerge from hyperspace at seemingly random locations, initiating a series of Emergences. The peril was so great that Chancellor Soh mandated an interdiction on hyperspace travel through vast regions of the Outer Rim while a special team worked to contain the situation.

Entire civilizations were lost due to the Emergences. The Koboh system was impacted by the catastrophe when an Emergence destroyed its moon, sending fragments onto Koboh itself. A research facility was used as shelter by Republic scientists on its moon. The entire system was soon evacuated by the Jedi Council. The planet Brendok was affected by an Emergence as well, rendering it lifeless.

Production Notes

The Great Hyperspace Disaster is a narrative element conceived for the ongoing Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project. Its initial unveiling occurred in the trailer announcing The High Republic initiative on February 24, 2020.

Further details emerged on June 23, 2020, with the debut of the first excerpt from Charles Soule's The High Republic: Light of the Jedi, the inaugural novel of The High Republic, by IGN. In an interview with IGN, Soule characterized it as a "galaxy-spanning catastrophe." In December 2020, he elaborated on the creative process surrounding the Great Disaster's role as The High Republic's catalyst: the five writers (Cavan Scott, Claudia Gray, Justina Ireland, Daniel José Older, and Soule himself) and other executives decided to create it to subvert the traditional format of Star Wars' galactic wars, and introduce a problem that would prove not just a test of martial skill, but also a test of the system's ability to handle it.