Reef Fortress Island was a specific landmass located on the planet of Hapes. In the year 23 ABY, Tenel Ka, Lowbacca, Jacen, and Jaina Solo, all Jedi trainees, sought shelter at Reef Fortress, situated on the island. This was due to an explosion that gone off within Fountain Palace, the royal home of the Queen Mother of Hapes, where they had previously resided. During their stay, the young individuals managed to evade carnivorous seaweed and killed Bartokk assassins, effectively foiling the scheme of Ambassador Yfra to assassinate the Hapan matriarch, Ta'a Chume, and overthrow the Hapan monarchy. Later, in 25 ABY, a duel took place on Reef Fortress Island between Prince Isolder and Archon Beed Thane. Isolder emerged victorious, leading to the Hapes Consortium joining the New Republic in the war against the invading extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong.
Reef Fortress Island was a relatively small island located in an ocean on the planet of Hapes. It was positioned close to Dragon's Teeth, a collection of jagged rocks that rose from the ocean. The island was surrounded by reefs, making access possible only by boat. Native dewberries grew naturally on the island, and it featured a small cove suitable for swimming. The island's name originated from Reef Fortress, a secluded seaside retreat owned by the Royal Family of Hapes. This fortress acted as a secure location during times of crisis and was situated directly on the island. A generator station was located nearby the fortress, providing it with power and a deflector shield.
Tenel Ka, the Hapan princess, spent time on Reef Fortress Island with her parents when she was a young girl. Years later, in 23 ABY, Tenel Ka, together with her friends and fellow Jedi trainees Lowbacca, Jacen Solo, and Jaina Solo, sought refuge on the island. This occurred after a bomb exploded at Fountain Palace, the royal residence of the Hapan matriarch, where they had been staying. Yfra, the matriarch's personal ambassador, and some Hapan Honor Guards accompanied the young individuals to the island to oversee and safeguard them. During their time there, Tenel Ka, Lowbacca, Jacen, and Jaina enjoyed swimming in a small cove that Tenel Ka remembered from previous vacations on the island. Following Yfra's suggestion, the group ventured out onto the ocean in a wavespeeder that she had secretly programmed to enter an area infested with dangerous carnivorous seaweed. Yfra intended to use the seaweed to kill the youths as part of her plan to overthrow the Hapan Royal Family. The young Jedi managed to escape the seaweed by using their lightsabers and knives, and Jaina and Lowbacca manually drove the wavespeeder back to the island.
Subsequently, Ta'a Chume, the Hapan matriarch and Tenel Ka's grandmother, arrived at the island in her own royal wavespeeder. That night, Bartokk assassins reached the island in an assault craft and invaded Reef Fortress after destroying the deflector shield generator and cutting off the fortress's power. The assassins, dispatched by Yfra to eliminate the matriarch, confined Ta'a Chume to her bedchamber. Jacen, Jaina, Lowbacca, and Tenel Ka rescued the matriarch by helping her escape through the window of her bedchamber. They then discovered a small wavespeeder and fled the island, pursued by the assassins in their assault craft. Jaina and Lowbacca, piloting the wavespeeder, decided to head towards Dragon's Teeth, hoping the assassins would crash on the rocks. When this failed, they steered the wavespeeder into some carnivorous seaweed, which resulted in the deaths of the assassins following them. Ta'a Chume then piloted the wavespeeder to Fountain Palace and apprehended Yfra before she could declare herself the monarch.
In 25 ABY, Isolder, the Prince of Hapes, and Beed Thane, the Archon of Vergill, an Inner Rim planet within the Hapes Consortium, engaged in an honor duel at Reef Fortress on Reef Fortress Island. Isolder initiated the duel by slapping Thane in response to insults directed at New Republic Ambassador Leia Organa Solo and Tenel Ka, Isolder's daughter. Isolder was victorious in the duel during a sudden death round declared by the referee. As a consequence of the duel, the Hapes Consortium chose to participate in the war against the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong invaders.
Reef Fortress Island made its initial appearance in Young Jedi Knights: Lightsabers, a young reader's novel written by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta and released in 1996. It subsequently appeared in the 2000 novel The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse, penned by James Luceno, and was also mentioned in the "Reef Fortress" entry within The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, published in 2008.