Song of War

"Launch all fighters! Knock out that Super Star Destroyer at the docks along with anything else you can get. I want this to be messy!"

- Isolder commands the Song of War over Dathomir

The Song of War was a Hapan Battle Dragon produced by Olanji/Charubah which served as both a flagship in the Hapes Consortium's Royal Navy and Hapan Prince Isolder's cruiser from 8 ABY to at least 25 ABY. Colored red, the Song of War was used by Isolder in 8 ABY to pursue the smuggler Han Solo to the planet Dathomir after Solo abducted Princess Leia Organa. There, the Song of War encountered and engaged the forces of Warlord Zsinj while Isolder and Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker followed Solo and his captive to the surface of the planet before the Battle Dragon departed the system. Later, during the initial year of the Yuuzhan Vong War in 25 ABY, the Song of War led a fleet of Hapan warships to join the New Republic's fight against the Yuuzhan Vong species. The Battle Dragon participated in a battle at the world of Fondor that saw the majority of the Hapan war fleet destroyed by a blast from the Centerpoint Station superweapon.

Description
A Hapan Battle Dragon produced by the company Olanji/Charubah, the Song of War was a heavily-armed cruiser consisting of two saucers stacked upon one another, and measuring 500 meters in length. Like on other Battle Dragons, the guns of the Song of War could rotate around the edges of the saucers, allowing recharging guns to move out of optimal position in order to permit fresh guns to take their place; this gave the Song of War the ability to maintain a steady rate of fire, despite the use of archaic recharging Hapan weapons. With a hull colored red, the Song of War had an armament consisting of torpedo tubes, ion cannons, and turbolasers. In battle, the weapons of the Song of War could drain so much power that some corridors would only be illuminated by emergency light buoys. The Battle Dragon also had a deflector shield generator, though starfighters would be able to punch through the shields with their fire and potentially knock out the rotating gun emplacements. Equipped with a hyperdrive and a Hapan navigation computer, the Song of War could travel sixty-four parsecs to the planet Dathomir in seven days with the help of a Jedi to navigate; without a Jedi, the Song of War could only make it in seventeen. The Battle Dragon had a bridge with a viewscreen, which was used as the ship's control room, and an alarm system that was used to deliver warnings about potential threats. Possessing flight decks, the Song of War had a complement of starfighters, with enough room in the hangar bays to accommodate that complement, Prince Isolder's personal fighter Storm, and at least two X-wing starfighters.

History
"Captain Astarta. Take over the attack. I'm going down to the planet."

- Isolder gives command of the Song of War to Astarta

In existence by the year 8 ABY, which was at the time of the Galactic Civil War between the New Republic and the remnants of the Galactic Empire, the Song of War served the Hapes Consortium as a Hapan Royal Navy flagship under the command of Prince Isolder of the planet Hapes. In 8 ABY, the Hapans looked to unite themselves with the government of the New Republic by wedding Isolder to Princess Leia Organa, a prominent New Republic politician. However, former smuggler Han Solo, who had feelings for Organa, abducted her and took her to the world of Dathomir in the Outer Rim Territories. Not willing to let Solo waltz off with his potential bride, Isolder decided to pursue the man and did so in the Song of War, leaving behind the fleet that Isolder's mother Ta'a Chume was taking to go after Solo. With the aid of Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, who was willing to help Isolder because he believed that his sister Organa was in danger, the Song of War only took seven days to reach Dathomir, as the Jedi's abilities let Isolder take a more efficient route.

On arrival at Dathomir, the Song of War found an orbital shipyard that was being used by the forces of Warlord Zsinj to repair his damaged warships; additionally, the docks were guarded by two Imperial Star Destroyers. Using his Jedi abilities, Skywalker was able to locate Organa, and he informed the prince that she was safely en route to the surface of Dathomir. Isolder ordered the Song of War to launch all fighters to engage the enemy, attacking the helpless ships being repaired on the dock in order to get the attention of Zsinj's forces. Ceding control of the Battle Dragon to Captain Astarta so that he could accompany Skywalker to the surface of the world to pursue Solo and Organa, Isolder ordered Astarta to continue fighting Zsinj's forces until the prince made it safely onto Dathomir. In addition, the prince commanded Astarta to warn Ta'a Chume's Hapan fleet of what to expect when they arrived at Dathomir after the Song of War retreated and to join the fleet in fighting against Zsinj.

In response to the barrage of fire from the Song of War, the two Star Destroyers backed away and spread themselves apart in order to force the Battle Dragon to fire on only one of the capital ships. However, Astarta chose a different path; she took the Song of War over to the orbital docks and pounded the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Iron Fist that was being repaired there, while the two opposing capital ships retained their distance. While the Song of War distracted Zsinj's forces, fighting off starfighters launched from a pair of Victory-class Star Destroyers sitting in the shipyards, both Isolder and Skywalker safely made it onto the planet, and Asarta then withdrew the Song of War from the vicinity of Dathomir by taking it to hyperspace.

The Song of War continued to serve as a flagship in the Hapan Royal Navy and was still under Isolder's command in the year 25 ABY. It was that year that the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong species invaded the galaxy and assaulted the New Republic. Losing ground to the invaders, the New Republic convinced the Hapans to enter the war on their side, and the Song of War was the flagship of a Hapan force led by Isolder that was dispatched to engage the Yuuzhan Vong. The red Battle Dragon led a fleet of considerable size to the world of Commenor, where they were to wait until the Yuuzhan Vong attacked the Corellian system as the New Republic had planned; the Hapan fleet and other New Republic elements would then ambush the invaders in the Corellian star system.

Instead, the Yuuzhan Vong duped them, and attacked the shipyards of the planet Fondor instead in what would be known as the Battle of Fondor. With the other New Republic fleets unable to reach the Fondor system, the Song of War and the Hapan Royal Navy jumped to Fondor, and prepared to engage the Yuuzhan Vong warships. However, both the Hapan Royal Navy and the Yuuzhan Vong fleet were devastated by a blast from the New Republic–controlled superweapon Centerpoint Station that destroyed numerous vessels on both sides of the battle; the Song of War, with Isolder aboard, was just outside the blast and managed to survive the destruction, though it had to limp back to the Hapes Cluster after the Yuuzhan Vong retreated from Fondor. Around two weeks after the disaster at Fondor, the Song of War was in a stationary orbit of the New Republic capital world of Coruscant, from where it was scheduled to take Isolder back to Hapes that day.

Commanders and crew
The Song of War commander was Hapan Prince Isolder, who managed to rise to a high level of distinction in the matriarchal society of the Hapes Consortium. Despite being a prince, Isolder knew how to both command the Battle Dragon and pilot his own starfighter Storm in combat against enemy forces. In 8 ABY, Isolder's second-in-command was Captain Astarta, who was a loyal bodyguard for Isolder. Among the crew of the Song of War were those who served on the bridge of the red cruiser, and the flight crews who prepared starfighters for launch on the flight decks.

Behind the scenes
The Song of War first appeared in 1994's novel The Courtship of Princess Leia, written by Dave Wolverton. The Battle Dragon later made an appearance in The New Jedi Order installment Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse, by James Luceno and published in 2000. The Song of War has been mentioned in many sourcebooks to date, including both the Star Wars Encyclopedia and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

Appearances

 * The Courtship of Princess Leia
 * The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse