Malevolence/Legends

The Malevolence was a Subjugator-class heavy cruiser active during the Clone Wars. It served as the flagship of Confederacy General Grievous. First spotted by Republic forces in 22 BBY by Jedi General Ares Nune and Clone Commander Kite in the Phu System. The battle was the first time the massive Malevolence used it's ion pulse cannons to disable an enemy fleet. The battle resulted as a major CIS victory due to the deaths of Nune and Kite and their fleet. The overwhelmed Jedi took note on the separatist's new deadly superweapon.

Jedi Master Plo Koon had tracked the fleeing General Grievous and the Malevolence in the Abregado system. After attempting to make contact with the Jedi to report his location, his transmission was jammed by the oncoming Malevolence which engaged Koon's fleet in battle. The victorious General Grievous yet had another victory over the Republic as Koon's fleet was eradicated by the ion cannons. Koon and few of his clone troopers jettisoned in escape pods. Count Dooku was on board at the time of the battle and ensured Grievous that the battle has been lost due to Koon had escape death and might have contacted Republic forces of the ion cannons. Grievous ordered to seek and destroy those pods, but failed to kill Koon following the arrival of Anakin Skywalker and his padawan, Ahsoka Tano who rescued Koon and his clone troopers. Dooku was not impressed with Grievous's efforts and had to discuss this situation with his master.

Grievous wanted another come back at the Republic forces who by the end of the Battle of Abregado, knew of the Malevolence ' s ion cannons by Plo Koon. After Dooku's report to Grievous, The Malevolence was on it's way to a major clone trooper medical center near the Naboo system. Much to Grievous's dismay, Skywalker as planning counter attack to stop the Malevolence from destroying that station. The group of fighters, along with Koon intercepted the massive Malevolence in the system. However, by the time of the ion cannon was fully charged, Skywalker and his fighters fired their torpedoes at the port side ion cannon which caused the ion cannons to explode, thus ending the threat of the ion cannons. The explosion also had caused the Malevolence ' s hyperdrive to fail. A swift victory for the Republic ensured that Grievous would have to surrender.

Following the battle, the hyperdrive systems on the Malevolence were near ready. Grievous knew that the battle would be a loss if the Republic forces kept on firing at the disabled Malevolence. Dooku had mentioned to Grievous that he already had told his master to send a senator so Grievous can take a hostage and end the further damage to the massive ship. Upon arriving, Padmé was unaware of the situation. Tano had found a oncoming vessel that was approaching the battle site and ordered to identify itself. Upon hearing the voice of Padmé and that she was in trouble, Skywalker had told Obi-Wan Kenobi that he must rescue her. After short briefings with Grievous, whom manged to escape. Skywalker, Kenobi, Amidala and C-3PO boarded the twilight and went back to the Negotiator. Grievous, who feared that he had lost the Malevolence fled the fiery docking bay on his personal starfighter, the Soulless One. Unknowingly to Grievous, Skywalker had tampered with the hyperdrive system of the Malevolence. The battle droids whom were controlling the bridge at the time, activated the hyperdrive once it was ready. The Malevolence crashed to its destruction on a nearby moon.

Description
"Our ship is unstoppable."

- General Grievous The Malevolence was a Subjugator-class heavy cruiser. Around 5,000 meters, It possessed two twin ion cannons. Once fired, the wave from the cannons would expand over greater distances and disable any enemy spacecraft upon impact. After the ion cannon had disabled an enemy warship, approximately 500 turbolasers were mounted on the ship's enormous hull to fire upon the disabled vessel to it's destruction. Designed with an internal rail jet system, which was a hover train that traveled on one single rail and transported ammo, supplies and sometimes troops throughout the ship. Its cars were similar in appearance to the Multi-Troop Transport. Equipped with 16 massive sublight engines, the Malevolence also had a powerful hyperdrive and at one point leading commander General Grievous was told that the Malevolence was fast enough to outrun Republic forces. The ship carried 2 tractor beam batteries that would force any freighter or small vessels to enter the Malevolence ' s port docking bay. Complementing the ship, roughly 144 vulture droids were on board to eradicate enemy fighters. At least 1 pod hunter was also boarded, a Droch-class boarding ship, which was used to seek and destroy any enemy escape pods that have been jettisoned. The Malevolence held General Grievous's personal starfighter.

Rise of the Malevolence
The Malevolence was designed by Ruggle Schmong and built by Quarren Separatists on Pammant. It served as General Grievous's flagship prior to his use of the Invisible Hand and destroyed dozens of Galactic Republic task forces, including the Galactic Republic Fourth Fleet.

The battleship's existence became known to the Galactic Republic in 22 BBY following the Battle of Phu, but the details of the ship remained unknown due to the absence of any survivors from the attacks. Commentators speculated that the weapon could be a weaponized space slug variant, or a starship equipped with cloaking devices.

Battle of Phu
"Until found this menace is, vigilant we all must be."

- Yoda commenting on the Malevolence

The massive Malevolence was spotted by Jedi General Ares Nune and Clone trooper Commander Kite as they took three Venator-class Star Destroyers&mdash;including the Laudable, Nune's flagship&mdash;on a regular patrol of the Phu system. Commanding the Malevolence, Confederate General Grievous took this opportunity to fire upon the Republic forces. The first wave from the cannons obliterated the Laudable ' s shields. However, the ship was doomed as the intense fire from the Malevolence progressed. Grievous ordered the Malevolence to leave the system as Republic reinforcements might arrive, thus confirming the first victory for the Separatist ' s new superweapon. Unknowingly to Grievous, whom was victorious, the defeat of Nune's fleet was reported in the news, to the increasing worry of the citizens of the Republic. Masters Yoda, Mace Windu and Plo Koon of the Jedi Council met with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in his office on the galactic capital of Coruscant. Koon volunteered to take several Venator-class cruisers to find and destroy the "mystery weapon," as the Malevolence had been dubbed. Aboard the Venator Triumphant, Koon tracked the Malevolence to the Abregado system.

There was also speculation among some clone troopers that the Brassbound, a Republic cruiser, was going after Grievous's secret weapon.

Battle of Abregado
"Finding it is one thing. Finding a way to stop it is another."

- Mace Windu on the Confederate superweapon

Plo Koon and his forces tracked the Malevolence to the Abregado system and approached the vessel. Koon intended to report as much information on the weapon in case of his defeat, and before proceeding, he contacted Skywalker, who were keeping the nearby Bith system secure. The Confederate Head of State, the Sith Lord Count Dooku, had arrived aboard the Malevolence to watch General Grievous' progress, and ordered the Republic task force's transmissions to be jammed. After Koon and Clone Commander Wolffe reported their position to Skywalker and Tano, their communications were cut.

Seeing this as an opportunity for another test of the Malevolence ' s ion cannons, Grievous ordered the weapon to be fired. The Confederate warship moved to attack Koon's fleet, and because they were out of range, the Republic Venators were unable to open fire. The Malevolence discharged its cannons which passed over the fleet and neutralized the cruisers' shields, and the vulnerable cruisers fell to fire from the Malevolence ' s numerous laser cannons. Shortly before the Triumphant was destroyed, Plo Koon and several clone troopers were able to flee from the cruiser in escape pods. As Koon's fleet was ripped apart, a debris field of the three destroyed cruisers was erected in the Abregado system.

Following the rescue of Plo Koon and the surviving clones, all of Plo Koon's forces except for a few clones and the Jedi himself had been killed. However, Koon, Skywalker, and Tano were able to give a report to the Jedi Council on the Malevolence, and the Republic learned of the warship and its ion cannons. Despite the fact that most of Koon's forces had been eradicated, Dooku considered the battle to be a defeat, as several survivors had escaped the battle and informed the Republic of the warship and its weapon. The Sith Lord was extremely displeased with Grievous' failure to prevent the Republic from learning of the warship. His trust in Grievous shaken, Dooku left to discuss plans with his master.

Ryndellia Conflict
"They told me this ship was fast!"

- General Grievous

A Republic medical convoy, consisting of several Pelta-class frigates as well as a Venator-class cruiser escort, was passing through the Ryndellia system when it was intercepted by General Grievous and the Malevolence. The warship attacked the Venator and two of the Pelta frigates with its numerous laser cannons, while the last Pelta frigate fled. Noticing this, Grievous ordered the ship's ion cannons to be fired at the frigate. The clone troopers piloting the frigate attempted to jump to hyperspace, but were unable to set the coordinates in time to do so. The frigate's power was neutralized from the ion cannons, and the Malevolence directed laser fire at it. Dooku was watching the cyborg general's progress through a holotransmission, and was pleased that the medical convoy had been eliminated. The Sith Lord had recently met with his master, and had learned of the Republic's Kaliida Shoals Medical Center, treating over 60,000 wounded clones. Dooku assigned the medical center as the Malevolence ' s new target; this assignment boosted Grievous' confidence, as it showed that the Count had not completely lost his faith in the general since the Battle of Abregado.

Destruction of the Malevolence
"Skywalker! The enemy has attacked our convoy of medical transports near Ryndellia.''" "Medical transports? Only General Grievous would go after clones who can't fight back." "''The Ryndellia system... Near Naboo? Isn't that where our medical base is? I bet that will be his next target."

- Admiral Wullf Yularen, Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker

Following the battle, Dooku had ordered General Grievous to attack the Kaliida Shoals Medical Center, which housed over 60,000 wounded clones and was the primary Outer Rim medical facility for the Republic. In an attempt to stop him, the Republic sent a squadron of brand-new BTL-B Y-wing starfighters, nimble bombers that could avoid the ion cannon's bursts. The Republic force, led by Skywalker, managed to damage the two heavy ion cannons, causing them to overload and eventually explode. The Malevolence ' s hyperdrive was also disabled from the effects of the damaged ion cannons.

The Republic forces kept firing at the disabled Malevolence. Count Dooku contacted Grievous and told Grievous that his master had sent Senator Padmé Amidala and her protocol droid, C-3PO to the Malevolence ' s location to negotiate with the IBC officials for a peace treaty that would lead them to leave the CIS. However, Padmé wasn't fully aware of the situation. In reality, it was a trap set up by Darth Sidious to ensure that the Malevolence could escape. They were captured by a tractor beam, but evaded capture by destroying their ship.

Skywalker, Kenobi, and astromech droid R2-D2 entered the ship in the chaos and began searching for Amidala. Padmé contacted them, leading Anakin to find her, but C-3PO got lost and Kenobi went looking for him. R2-D2 then found him and Kenobi went to damage the hyperdrive further, which had almost been fixed at the time.

In the generator room, Kenobi was attacked by General Grievous, but escaped and met up with Skywalker, Amidala, C-3PO, and R2-D2, who hijacked the hyperdrive beforehand and escaped aboard the Twilight. Grievous attempted to give chase in his starfighter, together with several Vulture droid fighters. Meanwhile, the droid crew aboard the Malevolence, believing the hyperdrive to be fixed, prepared to jump to CIS space, but Skywalker's "hijacking" caused it to jump into a nearby moon. Grievous frantically ordered the droids to reset the navicomputer but they failed to do so, resulting in the destruction of the ship. Grievous, however, escaped to his secret hideout in Sector 4 and the Twilight returned to the awaiting Republic ships. The Malevolence's threat was over.

It was known that the Malevolence possessed at least one sister ship, the Devastation.

Behind the scenes


Count Dooku named the Malevolence meaning "wishing evil to others."

The Malevolence was originally based on a concept art for a Separatist communications ship meant to be used in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The finished version was designed by Russell Chong and is based upon the GR-75 medium transport. According to Director Dave Filoni, the Malevolence and its story was based in part on the real-life German battleship Bismarck, which was hunted relentlessly by the British Royal Navy during World War II.

In the The Clone Wars episode "Shadow of Malevolence", Anakin Skywalker commands the Y-wing bombers to attack the starboard ion cannon, but the visuals show that it is the port cannon that is destroyed. The explosion takes out both cannons, however, therefore making this statement moot. It is possible however, that due to either using the same power generator or really just being one, big, 2-way shooting cannon that can pick which side to fire from, that cause the destruction of one to cause a chain reaction that destroyed both guns, as well as causing extensive damage to most of the ship.

Henry Gilroy has suggested that the reason the Malevolence is able to receive holographic communications while in hyperspace is due to the size of the ship's internal gravity field.

Appearances



 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars novel
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars Volume 1: Shipyards of Doom
 * The Clone Wars: Prelude
 * HoloNet News — A Galaxy Divided
 * The Clone Wars: Shakedown
 * The Clone Wars: Procedure
 * The Clone Wars: Agenda
 * The Clone Wars: Departure
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels
 * The Clone Wars: Departure
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels

Notes and references
Malevolence Malevolencia Malevolence Malevolence Malevolence Malevolence