Space Fortress
During the Aquilaean campaign, the Space Fortress, a spherical war station, was deployed by the New Galactic Empire.
Upon discovering the Empire's plot to assault Aquilae, Jedi General Luke Skywalker dispatched Devil Squadron to engage the Space Fortress as it approached the planet. Skywalker instructed their commander to implement a Ranger Defense strategy against the station, targeting its locking mechanisms and ventilation shafts. This resulted in numerous Imperial personnel being ejected into the void of space and significant damage to Sectors 2-A through 1-7. The droids C-3PO and R2-D2 eventually made their escape using escape pods.
The initial assault on the station proved unsuccessful. Later, Princess Leia and Annikin Starkiller were taken prisoner and brought aboard the station by the Empire, but they subsequently escaped with assistance from Valorum, a former Knight of Sith. Shortly thereafter, General Skywalker, leading a squadron of Wookiees, ultimately destroyed the Space Fortress.
The Space Fortress made its debut in the 1974 first draft of the screenplay for A New Hope. In the second draft, it evolved into the Death Star. It resurfaced later in The Star Wars, a comic adaptation of the original draft released by Dark Horse Comics in 2013.