Emperor Palpatine Surgical Reconstruction Center

The Emperor Palpatine Surgical Reconstruction Center (commonly referred to as the EmPal SuRecon Center, originally named the Chancellor Palpatine Surgical Reconstruction Center, or ChanPal SuRecon Center, during the time of the Galactic Republic) crowned one of the tallest buildings on Coruscant, an imposing spire that dominated its particular stretch of the Galactic City&mdash;later Imperial City&mdash;skyline.

Dark designs
It was this gloomy location that served as the site of Darth Vader's rebuilding. The Sith stronghold hid in plain sight with large windows that seemed to show that there was nothing to hide. In addition, it relied on the Jedi's weakness of reluctance to attack a hospital and risk the patients inside. It featured four landing pads for emergency cases near the top of the structure. The interior was lined with ultra-dense walls of neuranium shielding to conceal any radiation leak from the building's reactor. Surrounding this shielding was an exterior shell of durasteel built with armor of a lanthanide and duralium alloy. It was within the ChanPal SuRecon that Palpatine performed acts of Sith alchemy.

Darth Vader
After Darth Vader's duel with his former Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Sidious brought his badly wounded apprentice via shuttle to the Reconstruction Center where he was to be rebuilt. During the duel, Vader had sustained near-fatal third-degree burns, severe lung damage and the loss of his remaining limbs, as well as emotional pain.



The damage to his body would be repaired through intensive cybernetic enhancement at the main laboratory. Palpatine also ordered the medical droids&mdash;two 2-1B surgical droids, one FX-6 medical assistant droid, and one DD-13 cybernetic surgical droid&mdash;to keep Vader awake during the process so the pain would make him stronger. Many of these droids had either participated in or observed the transformation of Qymaen jai Sheelal into Grievous. Upon his revival as a cyborg, Vader questioned his master about Padmé Amidala. Sidious told him that he had killed his wife in his anger. Overwhelmed by his despair in the belief he had killed his wife and their unborn child, Vader broke his bindings on the operating table and struggled to walk under the sheer weight of his new mechanical legs. His subsequent rage destroyed the medical droids that had worked on him to save his life and severely damaged the interior of the main laboratory. It also caused a worker to go deaf permanently.

The workers didn't know it was Vader who was being worked on. They thought it had been either a ghost or all the beings who had been killed in the Clone Wars screaming one last scream. This rumor continued through 18 BBY.



Galactic Empire
In the first months of the Galactic Empire, Emperor Palpatine used the EmPal SuRecon Center as his headquarters building. He hosted meetings with members of the Imperial Senate in a throne room below his private chamber and Sith medical facility. He eventually moved his base of operations to the Imperial Palace once it had been rebuilt to his specifications. Darth Vader returned to the facility for repairs to his prosthetic right arm, damaged in a duel with Bol Chatak on Murkhana.

Later in the time of the Empire, the EmPal SuRecon Center became known to citizens as one of the most prestigious medical treatment centers in the galaxy. Its architecture included VLD2261 laser cannons, Royal Guard emplacements, a private meditation chamber for Palpatine, and other facilities used for training Dark Jedi. Korriban lightsaber crystals, Sith scrolls, powerful Sith artifacts, bio-details of hundreds of generations of Sith, and a dark force reservoir were also housed in the building's center.

Behind the scenes


The Center was designed to resemble an archetypal "Dr. Frankenstein" environment.

Appearances

 * Sithisis
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith junior novel
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith comic
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * Star Wars: Dark Times 12: Vector, Part 6
 * The Last of the Jedi: Against the Empire
 * The Last of the Jedi: Master of Deception
 * Star Wars Galaxies
 * The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
 * Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor
 * Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor

Non-canon appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game