PM-1203, more commonly referred to as the Fort Anaxes asteroid, was a sizable planetoid situated within the Anaxes asteroid belt of the Azure system, which itself was located in the Azure sector of the Outer Rim Territories. This celestial body originated from the remnants of the planet Anaxes, which met its end in a cataclysmic event towards the close of the Clone Wars. Remarkably, Fort Anaxes, a Galactic Republic military installation on the asteroid's surface, survived the planet's demise.
Within the smuggling world, Fort Anaxes functioned as a [fuel](/article/fuel] resupply point and a neutral ground for private negotiations; however, tales of bloodthirsty Anaxes [soldiers](/article/soldier] as ghosts and other superstitions deterred the majority of spacers from visiting PM-1203. The reality behind these stories was a colony of ferocious fyrnock creatures that had made the asteroid their home. During the early rebellion against the Galactic Empire, the Spectres carried out multiple missions to PM-1203, where they encountered the fyrnock colony and faced off against the Grand Inquisitor.
The planetoid known as PM-1203 existed as a component of an asteroid belt, formed from the debris of the destroyed planet Anaxes. Its location was within the Azure system, situated in the Azure sector inside the regions called the Outer Rim Territories and the Slice. Positioned at coordinates R-7 on the Standard Galactic Grid and along the Perlemian Trade Route, this substantial planetoid possessed a temperate climate, although the sun was occasionally blocked by other asteroids in the Anaxes belt, plunging PM-1203 into periods of darkness.
PM-1203 was sufficiently large to sustain a sparse atmosphere with weak [gravity](/article/gravity], which drew in a colony of fyrnocks – savage, predatory beings that had adapted to thrive on asteroids with similarly challenging conditions. They dwelled within the caverns of the planetoid's pitted and desolate surface.
Towards the conclusion of the Clone Wars, a devastating event caused Anaxes to shatter, giving rise to an asteroid belt that encompassed PM-1203 and countless other planetoids. The precise cause remained unclear, but the prevailing theory suggested that a massive cache of hypermatter had been detonated due to a catastrophic main reactor malfunction at the planet's shipyards. Nevertheless, numerous more fanciful explanations existed, ranging from Separatist superweapons to planetary collisions orchestrated by the Jedi. PM-1203 was a strategically significant location during the conflict, as it housed the Galactic Republic military base known as Fort Anaxes. Republic engineers had constructed the fort into the side of a mountain, which, against all odds, shielded it from the planet's destruction. The planetoid later became simply known as the Fort Anaxes asteroid. Following Anaxes's destruction, a large group of fyrnocks migrated to PM-1203.
The location of PM-1203 was a closely guarded secret within the smuggling underworld, with Fort Anaxes serving as a [fuel](/article/fuel] depot and a discreet meeting place for those requiring privacy in their transactions. Perilous expeditions into the facility could potentially yield Clone Wars-era weaponry, ship components, and fuel. However, the majority of scavengers steered clear of PM-1203, citing tales of ghosts and other superstitions. Almost everyone claimed to know someone who knew the sole survivor of a scavenging attempt into the fort, and their sensational stories of the bloodthirsty ghosts of Anaxes [soldiers](/article/soldier] frightened away most spacers. The real reason for these fears turned out to be a massive fyrnock infestation.
In the year 5 BBY, Hera Syndulla and Sabine Wren of the Spectres undertook a supply run to PM-1203, intending to meet with a mysterious ally known as "Fulcrum" at Fort Anaxes. However, Fulcrum had already departed by the time they had arrived. To compound the problem, the rebels' shuttle, the Phantom, was experiencing a fuel leak, forcing them to defend themselves against a nest of fyrnocks until they could be rescued by their comrades aboard the light freighter Ghost.
In 4 BBY, the Jedi Kanan Jarrus and his Padawan, Ezra Bridger, returned to PM-1203 to lure away the Imperial Jedi hunter known as the Grand Inquisitor as part of the Spectres' mission to rescue a defecting Imperial Information Office employee named Tseebo. Upon arriving at Fort Anaxes, the Inquisitor and his stormtrooper squad were ambushed by fyrnocks under the control of Jarrus and Bridger. Ultimately, the Inquisitor defeated Jarrus in lightsaber combat, but Bridger tapped into the dark side of the Force to summon a massive fyrnock, which attacked the Grand Inquisitor, allowing Jarrus and Bridger to escape aboard the Phantom.
Sometime after 35 ABY, Ardis San Tekka, the Director of Creature Cartography for the Galactic Society of Creature Enthusiasts, mentioned PM-1203 in her journal within an entry concerning fyrnocks. As part of her research for the project, she studied at least some fyrnocks in their habitat on the asteroid to illustrate them for her publication.
PM-1203 made its initial, unnamed appearance in "Out of Darkness," the seventh episode of the first season of the animated television series Star Wars Rebels, which premiered on November 10, 2014. Its name was first revealed in Ezra's Duel with Danger, a 2015 junior-novel adaptation of the Star Wars Rebels episodes "Empire Day," "Gathering Forces," and "Path of the Jedi," authored by Michael Kogge. Amy Beth Christenson created original concept art of PM-1203, labeled "Asteroid belt planetoid," on November 22, 2013.
While the StarWars.com Databank entry for Fort Anaxes originally stated that the fort was constructed on an asteroid, the entry was subsequently updated to clarify that the base was situated on Anaxes and remained intact after the planet's destruction. Numerous Star Wars canon sources have placed the Azure system, and consequently PM-1203, within the Core Worlds, but the 2021 reference book Star Wars: Battles that Changed the Galaxy later definitively established the Outer Rim Territories as the system's location. The 2022 attraction Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, which takes place between Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi and Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker, situated Anaxes in the Core.