Bothawui/Legends

Bothawui was a cosmopolitan planet, located in the center of Bothan Space of the Mid Rim. It was the homeworld of the Bothan race as well as a major hub for information trafficking. It was also the center of the Bothan Spynet, widely agreed upon to be the best network of information gathering in the the galaxy. The Imperial name for the planet was Bothawui Proper.

Early history


Bothawui was home to both industry and grain farms. The planet was mined for indigenous ores such as lidium.

The planet was an old member of the Galactic Republic, having joined years before the Great Sith War. Bothese was one of the languages from which Basic developed. The Bothans colonized many nearby worlds, such as Kothlis, and Bothawui became the capital of Bothan Sector. The Bothan Spynet also dates back to the days of the old Republic.

During the turbulent time of the Great Galactic War, the galaxy faced a deadly threat in the form of the resurgent Sith Empire which began conquering system after system. In 3,671 BBY, after a string of victories in the Outer Rim, the Sith turned their attentions to the Bothawui system with the intention of conquering it. This culminated in the First Battle of Bothawui where a squadron of Imperial warships attempted to conquer the planet - however, they were ambushed by Republic forces who achieved their first victory in the Great Galactic War.



Fortifying the planet with a planetary shield generator, the Republic left a garrison force to protect the world which they did from a renewed Sith attack who deployed ground forces to take the Bothan homeworld. It was only the heroic sacrifices of hundreds of Jedi Knights and Republic soldiers who fought against impossible odds. The Republic defenders were killed in the struggle but the losses they placed on the Sith Empire forced the enemy to retreat.

In the years preceding the Clone Wars, the planet was represented in the Galactic Senate by Polo Se'Lab. It attempted to remain neutral during the Clone Wars. Despite its neutrality, a battle took place in the system. The forces on the ground were tired out after hard combat, when a fleet of Munificent-class star frigates entered the system to reinforce their own troops. Anakin Skywalker used a strategy for stopping them that saw AT-TE walkers deployed on local asteroids to ambush the warships from behind. The Munificent unshielded sterns were bombarded.

Galactic Civil War
While officially a part of the Empire during the Galactic Civil War, the Imperials maintained little presence on the planet, apparently having decided that the world was little threat. A figure-head governor and a small contingent of Stormtroopers was the only outward sign that the world was under supposedly Imperial governorship. During the early years of the conflict, Imperial Security Bureau Agent Mar Barezz intercepted Rebel agent Tiree at Mesa 291 on Bothawui while Tiree was recruiting support for the Rebel Alliance, but failed to capture or kill him.



Both the Imperial and Rebel Alliance intelligence services apparently decided to let the planet serve as neutral ground, where they could both spy on one another with no open conflict.

Despite its neutrality, upon learning that Bothan spies had acquired the Death Star plans and given them to rogue Imperial Moff Kalast, who in turn delivered them to the Rebels, the Emperor traveled to Bothawui with two Royal Guards. The Emperor personally slaughtered hundreds of Bothans. Learning from one begging for his life that the plans were to arrive at Tatooine, Palpatine dispatched his servant, Darth Vader, to the Tatoo system to retrieve them.

Shortly before the Battle of Endor in 3.5 ABY, the Bothan Spynet and Spynet leader Koth Melan discovered evidence revealing that the Empire was transporting a freighter supposedly carrying fertilizer from Coruscant to Bothawui, when it fact it was transporting a closely guarded computer core containing plans to a top secret Imperial construction project. Luke Skywalker, along with Dash Rendar, traveled to Bothawui to aid in the capture of the information.

Accompanied by Rendar in his YT-2400 light freighter, the Outrider, and twelve BTL-S3 Y-wing starfighters piloted by eleven Bothans sympathetic to the Rebellion and Alliance pilot Ace Azzameen, Skywalker, in his personal X-wing, led an attack to intercept the freighter as it exited hyperspace on the fringes of the Both system. When the squadron intercepted the freighter, named the Suprosa, and demanded its surrender, the ship unveiled its heavy armaments and shields. Before Skywalker and Azzameen could disable the ship, the freighter had destroyed six of the Y-wings. After the computer was secured, it was taken to the Bothan colony world of Kothlis where a special team would attempt to decrypt it.

After a series of conflicts with the Imperial Navy immediately thereafter, the plans were finally delivered to the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser Independence, where it was revealed that the plans were the construction details to a new, more powerful Death Star. It would turn out that the Emperor had intentionally allowed the plans to fall into the hands of the Alliance in order to lead them into a trap at the Death Star II construction site over the Sanctuary Moon of Endor, where he would finally destroy them once and for all.

Post Civil War eras
The planet was a founding member of the New Republic, although long represented only indirectly by Senator Borsk Fey'lya of Kothlis. When Fey'lya was elected President of the New Republic, Bothawui was again represented directly in the Senate by Mak Sezala.



During the Caamas Document Crisis Bothawui was the subject of many anti-Bothan riots. Leia Organa Solo and Han Solo were caught up in one of these attacks at a record center. Han was blamed for killing one of the rioters, though it was really an Imperial agent.

As the crisis escalated, General Garm Bel Iblis was stationed over the planet. When he and the New Republic task force had to leave, the General left Corran Horn and Wedge Antilles to guard the planet's shield generator from anticipated subterfuge. The duo met with Moranda Savich, an employee of Talon Karrde, who was also attempting to stop such an attempt. The trio was only somewhat successful, as the Imperial Intelligence team led by Drend Navett managed to bring down the shields, resulting in the Second Battle of Bothawui.

During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Bothawui and the other worlds of Bothan Space were protected by the Fifth Fleet of the New Republic Navy. This kept the Fifth Fleet out of much of the actual fighting, as Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya wanted to make sure that his home sector was safe. Still, the Bothan people served in the war in many roles, from soldiers and naval officers in the Defense Force to intelligence operatives. Their most notable contribution to the war was the famed Bothan Assault Cruiser, a powerful warship that served in New Republic fleet and later the Galactic Alliance Navy. In 26 ABY, Kyp's Dozen moved to protect the planet following the Battle of Ithor.



The world was an important member of the Galactic Alliance, though extreme fundamentalist views of some Bothans in regards to the defeated Yuuzhan Vong would cause some friction. In 40 ABY, although originally hesitant to ally with Corellia in the Second Galactic Civil War, Jacen Solo's mass assassination of Bothans on Coruscant caused them to prepare three cruiser fleets for Corellian service. The Galactic Alliance was quick to dispatch a scout screen to the planet in order to monitor the fleets. However Sith Lady Lumiya not only persuaded intelligence chief Tathak K'roylan that the GA had conclusively been behind and backed the assassinations, but also arranged for the scout screen to be disabled. The Bothans were able to send their fleets to Corellia and there they helped break the blockade. Following this outbreak of hostilities, Bothawui became a founding member of the Confederation. At the end of the Second Galactic Civil War Bothawui had rejoined the Galactic Alliance. In 43.5 ABY, Tiurrg Drey'lye was a senator representing the Bothawui Sector as well as being the head of the Senate Unification Preparations Committee for the Unification Summit.

In the Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire many Bothans with influence on Bothawui were offered prestigious positions within the new Empire, to ensure their loyalty to the new order. Imperial Intelligence operated closely within the Bothan Spynet, gathering information and looking for any sign of treason from its members.

Behind the scenes
In earlier sources, Bothawui was only known as Bothan's Planet or even as Bothan.

In the Legacy of the Force novel Sacrifice Bothawui is misspelled Bothuwai several times.

The PC game Star Wars: Rebellion mistakenly places Bothawui in the Sluis sector of the Core Worlds. The Sluis sector is actually located in the Outer Rim Territories.

Appearances

 * Timeline 5: The Battle of Bothawui
 * Timeline 6: Onslaught of the Sith Empire
 * Cloak of Deception
 * Boba Fett: Maze of Deception
 * The Clone Wars: Wild Space
 * Rebel Dawn
 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
 * Rookies: No Turning Back
 * The Game Chambers of Questal
 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * Shadows of the Empire novel
 * Shadows of the Empire comic
 * X-wing: Wraith Squadron
 * Dark Force Rising
 * X-wing: Isard's Revenge
 * Shield of Lies
 * Specter of the Past
 * Vision of the Future
 * Balance Point
 * Star by Star
 * Traitor
 * Destiny's Way
 * Force Heretic II: Refugee
 * The Unifying Force
 * Tempest
 * Exile
 * Sacrifice
 * Inferno
 * Allies
 * Exile
 * Sacrifice
 * Inferno
 * Allies

Notes and references
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