Death Star II/Legends

"Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battlestation!"

- Emperor Palpatine

The Death Star II was a Death Star battlestation over 900 kilometers wide, built as part of Emperor Palpatine's master plan to destroy the Rebel Alliance and turn Luke Skywalker to the dark side of the Force.

Characteristics


Like its predecessor, the Death Star II was made of quadanium steel and equally divided into two hemispheres, which were in turn subdivided into 12 zones. The newest incarnation of this dreaded weapon, however, had a monstrous diameter of over 900 kilometers &mdash;the intellectual and physical evolution of the Death Star I. If completed, the planetoid would have likely boasted a hyperdrive system similar to the original, comprised of 123 (or more, given the larger size) individual generators.

The purpose of the second Death Star was perhaps never fully known by anyone but Emperor Palpatine himself. Some rumors speculated that Palpatine had had a basic frame with an attached command module already prepared as a contingency plan if the original Death Star was destroyed. He established a garrison on Endor in 17 BBY to guard the preparations of the second battlestation. The garrison was cut off from all communication with the outside Galaxy, causing many to assume that they had deserted.

Knowing that he may one day find use for the frame regardless, Palpatine decided to keep it a secret from all of his cohorts, even Darth Vader. When the original Death Star was destroyed, the Emperor was not overly worried, knowing that he could strike the Rebel Alliance a crippling blow with a new Death Star. After murdering and resurrecting Bevel Lemelisk, the original Death Star designer, Emperor Palpatine commissioned him to solve the flaws of the former battle station, in which Lemelisk did a fine job (knowing his life was at stake).



The second Death Star was designed to take into account and eradicate the shortcomings of the original battlestation which had been destroyed over Yavin. Foremost in this redesign was the elimination of the two-meter-wide exhaust port that was the downfall of the Death Star I. Instead, excess heat and gases were exhausted to space through millions of millimeter wide tubes, with highly advanced countermeasures that would seal themselves off if the walls sensed any excess of heat or energy.

The second main advancement in the Death Star II over the Death Star I was the improvement of the superlaser. Still located in the northern hemisphere, the superlaser in the Death Star II was much more powerful, took only three minutes to recharge (compared to the 24 hours recharge for the first Death Star), and had lowered power settings and more sensitive targeting systems to better combat capital ships. The conventional armament of Death Star II was also much greater than that of Death Star I.

Construction
"The data brought to us by the Bothan spies pinpoints the exact location of the Emperor's new battlestation. We also know that the weapon systems of this Death Star are not yet operational. With the Imperial fleet spread throughout the galaxy in a vain effort to engage us, it is relatively unprotected."

- Mon Mothma



Unlike the first Death Star, which, as a result of supply and design problems took nineteen years to complete, this much larger Death Star took far less time to construct (around two to four years). Construction procedures had advanced in the intermittent years, as Imperial engineers allowed enough space for the greatest amount of self-replicating construction droids as possible.

The second Death Star's building location was unknown to the Rebel Alliance, unlike the first station's construction site. Following a failed Rebel mission to destroy it, the Emperor entrusted Darth Vader with the task of defending the Death Star at Endor, where it could be completed in secret. During the construction, Vader diverted the Death Star from its construction to destroy the subversive Rebel planet D'rinba IV, which ended up being the only planet that it destroyed and was an extremely well-kept secret.

Construction continued in the Endor system in Moddell Sector, where construction was overseen by the regional governor, the weak-willed and easily controlled Moff Jerjerrod. Endor was selected due to the massive concentration of strategic metals on the planets Dor, Eloggi, and Megiddo in the system, but the actual construction site was in geosynchronous orbit around the forested Sanctuary Moon, above a powerful shield generator on the surface. "But most important of all, we've learned that the Emperor himself is personally overseeing the final stages of the construction of this Death Star."

- Mon Mothma



Resources that could not be produced locally were secretly ferried to the distant world from all over the Galaxy along the Sanctuary Pipeline, with some of the hauliage contracted out to three hundred ships from Prince Xizor's civilian company Xizor Transport Systems. It is unclear what percentage of construction material the XTS haulers carried, or whether the outsourcing was genuinely necessary: it seems that Palpatine anticipated Xizor's decision to pass on the location of the Death Star II to Bothan spies aligned with the Rebel Alliance, and this may have been the sole reason for involving the Falleen in the first place. The Emperor even leaked his personal schedule so the Rebels would know when he would personally be aboard. This bait proved too tempting and resulted in the Battle of Endor.

IG-88A, a droid bounty hunter, had uploaded his consciousness into a computer core that was installed into the Death Star II. When his consciousness was installed, he literally became the Death Star. When Lando Calrissian destroyed the reactor core, he not only helped save the Galaxy from the Empire, but from the dangerous IG-88 as well, who had planned to use the Death Star II for his droid revolution. Emperor Palpatine was the only person on the Death Star II to sense the presence of IG-88. Before the station's destruction, he noticed a series of doors in his throne room opening and closing sporadically.

Battle of Endor
"We have no choice, General Calrissian! Our cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude!" "Han will have that shield down. We've got to give him more time!"

- Admiral Ackbar and Lando Calrissian during the Battle of Endor



At the Battle of Endor, the Death Star II was unfinished structurally, but, contrary to Rebel intelligence, the superlaser was fully operational. Through the combined efforts of a ground assault team (led by General Han Solo) and the Alliance fleet, the second Death Star was successfully destroyed.

After the ground team destroyed the shield generator, the station was vulnerable, allowing Lando Calrissian (in Millennium Falcon), Wedge Antilles (in an X-wing starfighter), and others in Rebel fighters to fly into its unfinished superstructure. There, the hypermatter reactor core of the Death Star II was annihilated with well placed concussion missiles and proton torpedoes. The resultant explosion destroyed the space station completely, bringing about the end of the Empire and the age of the New Republic.

The explosion of the station's core created a minor wormhole that some of the wreckage would enter, including Darth Vader's right glove. While some debris ended up on Mon Calamari, it is believed that more was dispersed throughout the Galaxy. The wreckage that did not enter the wormhole presumably remained in Endor's orbit or fell to the moon's surface.

Behind the scenes



 * There are discrepancies regarding the size of the Death Star II, which has generated some controversy. The West End Games RPG claimed that the second Death Star had a diameter of 160 kilometers. The majority of Expanded Universe material since then has simply repeated this number. The recent Inside the Worlds of Star Wars Trilogy fact book, via detailed scaling of the station in the film and statements by ILM visual effects designer Richard Edlund, show that the second Death Star was actually over 900 kilometers in diameter.
 * The specifications above may thusly hold some discrepancy as well: these figures are for the "incorrect" undersized version, they would be closer to what would be carried by the first Death Star. The proper figures for the second Death Star may be several orders of magnitude higher.

Appearances



 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
 * Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina
 * Star Wars: The Interactive Video Board Game
 * Star Wars: Demolition
 * Star Wars: Battlefront II
 * Shadows of the Empire comics
 * Shadows of the Empire novel
 * Star Wars: X-wing Alliance
 * Star Wars: Force Commander
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Marvel Star Wars Return of the Jedi
 * Escape from Balis-Baurgh
 * A Wookiee Scorned
 * Lucky
 * The Vandelhelm Mission
 * Marooned
 * A Credit for Your Thoughts
 * Darksaber

Non-canon appearances

 * The Return of Tag & Bink: Special Edition
 * Return of the Ewok
 * Star Wars Infinities: Return of the Jedi
 * LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
 * The Return of Tag & Bink: Special Edition
 * Star Tours