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.

After the Malevolence was revealed to Republic at the Battle of Abregado, Dooku assigned the Malevolence to a major clone trooper medical center, near the Naboo system. Several Pelta-class frigates were fleeing the Ryndellia system. The massive Malevolence destroyed all frigates and one Venator-class Star Destroyer, that was escorting the frigates. While en route to the Kaliida Shoals Medical Center, a group of BTL-B Y-wing starfighters, led by General Anakin Skywalker, intercepted the massive ship near the medical center and disabled it's ion cannons, as well as it's hyperdrive.

Senator Padmé Amidala was taken hostage inside the Malevolence, and Skywalker and High Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi left to rescue Amidala. After the group escaped, Grievous fled on his starfighter and left the system. The Battle droids stationed on the Malevolence noticed that the hyperdrive has been fixed. Unbeknowst to them, Skywalker tampered with the massive vessel's hyperdrive systems, which caused the Malevolence to crash to its destruction onto 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, Vulture-class droid fighters 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
"Until found this menace is, vigilant we all must be."

- Yoda commenting on 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. It was known that the Malevolence possessed at least one sister ship, the Devastation.

The massive Malevolence was first 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;to the 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. After the Jedi Order discussed about the new superweapon, Jedi Master Plo 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

When Koon tracked the massive Malevolence in the Abregado system, he intended to report as much information on the weapon in case of his defeat. 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 Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and his padawan, their communications were cut by the Malevolence. The Malevolence was out of the range of the advancing Republic fleet, and soon the massive ship discharged its cannons, which passed over the fleet and neutralized the Star Destroyers shields. The vulnerable Republic Star Destroyers were engulfed by the intense fire from the Malevolence ' s numerous turbolaser cannons. Plo Koon and several clone troopers were able to flee from his Star Destroyer in escape pods. As Koon's fleet was ripped apart, a debris field of the three destroyed Star Destroyers was erected in the Abregado system.

Using the last known report from Koon, Skywalker and Tano emerged from hyperspace in Skywalker's commandeered freighter, the Twilight. Both Jedi noticed the large debris field which produced as a result of the battle. The Jedi went out to look for Koon who has not contacted the Jedi since his communications had broken up after the Malevolence jammed Koon's fleet transmissions. Grievous had already sent out a Droch-class boarding ship, or pod hunter, to seek enemies that had jettisoned in escape pods. Destroying all but Koon's pod, the battle droids that controlled the boarding ship were destroyed by Koon and his clone troopers. 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!"

- Grievous commenting on the Malevolence ' s hyperdrive.

The Malevolence intercepted several Republic Pelta-class frigates that were passing through the Ryndellia system. Escorting the frigates, A Venator-class Star Destroyer tried to protect the fleeing frigates by opening fire at the massive Malevolence. However, Grievous showed no mercy and attacked the Venator and the frigates with its numerous laser cannons. One of the frigates survived the attack from the Malevolence and left the area. Grievous ordered the ship's ion cannons to be fired at the fleeing frigate. The electrical ion surge decimated the frigate’s power, and the Malevolence then directed heavy fire at the frigate, destroying it. At the time of the attack, Count Dooku had been watching Grievous’ progress through a hologram transmission and told the cyborg general of the Republic's Kaliida Shoals Medical Center, treating over 60,000 wounded clones, near the Naboo system. While Dooku assigned the medical center as the Malevolence ' s new target, the assignment boosted Grievous' confidence, and showed Dooku that Grievous had learned from his mistake at 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.

Commanders
"Do not compound your failure this day by allowing our prize warship to fall."

- Count Dooku to Grievous

General Grievous was the leading commander of the Malevolence and served as his first flagship. Battle droids assumed full responsibility for maintaining and controlling the bridge. Grievous gave out orders for the battle droids, however the relationship between Grievous and Battle droids was shaken and proved to be much of a headache for Grievous.

Count Dooku was on board at the time of the Battle of Abregado and acted as a adviser for Grievous, and served as another commander. He helped Grievous by orchestrating battle plans, as well as exploiting Republic force's maneuvers and attacks.

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
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