DS-1 Orbital Battle Station/Legends



"This station is now the ultimate power in the universe. I suggest we use it."

- Admiral Motti

General
The first Death Star was a massive battlestation/superweapon with a diameter of 160 kilometers. The basic structure of the station was sphere the size of a small moon, with a kilometer-wide trench containing docking bays running around its equator.

The northern hemisphere held the main armament of the station, a fearsome superlaser. This weapon had the external appearance of a kilometers-wide parabolic bowl. When activated, eight separate beams were fired, focusing into a point to form a single hideously powerful superlaser beam. This superlaser was powerful enough to destroy even a shielded planet with one shot.

The Death Star was said to be comprised of eighty-four separate internal levels, stacked south to north. Each level was separated into 257 sub-levels. A nominal amount of sub levels were then to be stacked around the surface of the sphere, encompassing the inner stacked levels. Facilities included parks, shops, and other amenities for the human crew. The battlestation also included massive sublight engines and hyperdrive systems, allowing it to move at a relatively high speed; the Death Star was able to travel thousands of light years from Alderaan to Yavin IV in only a few hours. Near the northern pole, a hundred meter tower was constructed and shielded to near impenetrability for the Emperor to use as personal quarters while on board. Operational command of the space station took place from the overbridge, which included the Conference Room.

History


The initial technical design of the Death Star was created by the Geonosians, based on the contract given by the Separatists. Poggle the Lesser, leader of the Geonosians, returned the top-secret design to Count Dooku to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Jedi just in time during the Battle of Geonosis. Dooku took the designs back to Coruscant and gave them to Darth Sidious, his dark master.

During the Clone Wars, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine sent the 501st Legion on a mission to Mygeeto where they were to collect an energy sample that would be used in his superlaser on the first Death Star.

Shortly afterwards Darth Sidious ordered the Death Star's construction after the Galactic Empire was formed, in order to secure his new-formed absolute power. Wilhuff Tarkin was appointed to mastermind the secret development project. Tarkin's creative work and thought had resulted in the realization of Death Star as the Empire's ultimate weapon.

To help build the superweapon and to get on the Emperor's good side, Tarkin had Darth Vader and an Imperial force invade Kashyyyk, where they enslaved Wookiees for labor.

However, the project nearly ended before it began. Although much of the technology of the Death Star was impressive, actually building it proved to be more difficult than anyone imagined. The project was dragged out over a nineteen year time period, with union disputes, and supply and design problems slowing the construction. Efforts were not helped by repeated&mdash;and often unsuccessful&mdash;sabotage efforts.



Of particular concern was the technology required to create the massive superlaser, the very heart of the weapon. To this end, Tarkin brought together some of the most brilliant minds of the Galaxy (including Tol Sivron, Qwi Xux, and Bevel Lemelisk) and build a proof-of-concept model at Maw Installation. This model would eventually become known as the Death Star Prototype.

Even before the Death Star became fully operational, its detention blocks began to fill with detainees. Political troublemakers, Rebel insurgents (who were beginning to organize), dangerous pirate forces, and even some survivors of the Royal Naboo Security Forces who had boldly tried to stop their Queen's assassination, as well as myriad other enemies of the Empire, were made to quietly "disappear" from public view within the enormous prisons of the incomplete battle station. The stormtroopers of the 501st Legion were among those assigned to protect the Death Star's interior. They were forced to put down a prison break that had somehow occurred within the station called the Death Star Uprising, led by a Jedi Padawan inmate. A number of prisoners were able to get a small technical readout of the station, which they managed to beam parts of offstation. Shortly after this embarrassing debacle, the 501st were reassigned and moved off the station.

It was at this time that a rumored Alliance cell on Kalakar VI had acquired the plans, and Lords Sidious and Vader investigated the matter persoanally. In the end, the effort was deemed a wild bantha chase, as the planet was devoid of any Rebel sympathizers at all; in truth, the mission was most likely a ruse orchestrated by the Emperor to test his pupil's worth against his predecessors.

With another set of plans stolen during the Battle of Toprawa, another set taken to Polis Massa, and a supplemental set at the Battle of Danuta, the three together were beamed to Tantive IV, where the 501st led a raid aboard the corvette, only to find no plans.

The Death Star was destroyed at the Battle of Yavin, just as it was positioned to destroy the newly discovered Rebel Base on Yavin's fourth moon. The Death Star was destroyed by Luke Skywalker in the Trench Run, who, with the help of the Force, successfully fired a proton torpedo into an exhaust shaft that led directly into the Death Star's main reactor. The reactor then exploded, destroying the battle station and killing everyone still on board, including Grand Moff Tarkin.

Behind the scenes
According to the West End Games RPG stats, the crew included 27,048 officers; 774,576 troops, pilots, and crewers; 378,576 support and maintenance crewers; 400,000 support droids; and over 25,000 stormtroopers. The military hardware on the Death Star was said to include 5,000 turbolaser batteries, 5,000 heavy turbolaser batteries, 2,500 laser cannons, 2,500 ion cannons, and 768 tractor beam generators.

The West End Games RPG claimed that the first Death Star had a diameter of 120 kilometers. This figure apparently came from halving the volume of WEG's Death Star II size. Unfortunately, WEG actually used the Death Star I size for the Death Star II, making both incorrect. The majority of Expanded Universe material since then has simply repeated these figures.

The fact book Star Wars Incredible Cross Sections, detailed scaling of the station in the film, and statements by Grant McCune, Chief Model Maker for the movie show that the first Death Star was actually 160 kilometers in diameter.

In the early production of the original movie, the hollow dish was designed to be on the equator, but then it was decided to be on the 'northern' hemisphere. However this old design can still be seen in the grid plan animations seen in the movie. This is because the animation was created before the prop designers decided to change it, leaving therefore a blooper. Explanations like that the plans represent an earlier version are invalid, since the original plan in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones shows the "later" form.

Also, in the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith DVD commentary, Lucas made an offhand comment that the Death Star seen at the end was the first Death Star. He explained this was due to "union disputes and supply problems". This has been conflicted by other sources in the Star Wars canon, including Jedi Search and Champions of the Force. These sources explain that what was seen in Episode III was a prototype Death Star to the one in Episode IV. This was retconned in The New Essential Chronology, where it is stated that the latter was a testbed prototype for the superlaser to be installed on the former. However, the Death Star shown at the end of Episode III is in fact the first Death Star.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (hologram)
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * Empire at War
 * Star Wars: Battlefront
 * Star Wars: Battlefront II
 * Star Wars: Death Star
 * Star Wars: X-wing
 * Star Wars: Rebel Assault
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds (via cheat code)
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope
 * Star Wars Empire 14: The Savage Heart
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
 * Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
 * Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
 * Darksaber (flashbacks)
 * Young Jedi Knights: Heirs of the Force