Peragus II

"You know the planet with the exposed core you saw flying in?"

- Atton Rand

Peragus II was an Outer Rim planet that was a major source of low-grade engine fuel. First attempts at siphoning fuel off the planet resulted in the near-destruction of Peragus II, and in the signature hole that exposed its core. Following the events of 3,951 BBY, when the Peragus Mining Facility was destroyed, further mining projects were virtually abandoned.

History
In approximately 4,000 BBY, a fuel mining colony was established on Peragus II. Its life proved to be short, however, when an accidental blaster shot triggered an explosion of flammable substances in Peragus II's crust and mantle, so powerful that it turned a large chunk of the planet into an asteroid field and exposed its core.

No more attempts were made to colonize the planet, and the newly-constructed Peragus Mining Facility instead extracted fuel from one of the asteroids, delving deeply into it. To prevent a repeat of the Peragus II disaster, blasters were forbidden in the facility; mining droids used underpowered lasers, and miners relied on safer weapons, such as sonic and ion charges, for self-defense. To allow freighters to safely dock with the facility, astrogation charts were constantly updated to reflect asteroid drifts and transmitted to navicomputers on inbound ships.

As of 3,951 BBY, Peragus was the only exporter of fuel in its sector. After the Jedi Civil War, Telos IV relied on this resource to keep Citadel Station in orbit, and with the most humanitarian elements of the Senate putting their careers at stake in the restoration project, any interruption of the work on the Peragus mining facility was likely to have greater repercussions throughout the Republic. And if the fuel supply was somehow compromised, Citadel Station would risk falling onto the planet's surface, dooming the restoration efforts there and throughout the Outer Rim.

Skirmish at Peragus II
In 3,951 BBY, the Ebon Hawk, a small freighter badly damaged by a Sith attack, headed towards the Peragus system. On board were Kreia and the Jedi Exile, both unconscious, and T3-M4, a small astromech droid who was able to get the ship through the asteroid field. The facility personnel tractored the freighter in, but neither them nor the droid knew what disaster was about to take place.

A stowaway HK-50 Jedi Hunter, who had incapacitated the Exile on the Republic warship Harbinger shortly before it was taken over by the Sith, deactivated T3 and introduced himself as the Exile's protocol droid. Willing to make himself "useful", he was assigned appropriate duties while his master recovered in the medical bay.

The assassin droid told the administrator of the Exile's standing with the Jedi, so he tried to get her picked up by the Republic as soon as possible, fearing trouble among the miners. Eventually, however, the knowledge leaked out and miners such as Coorta advocated taking her to Nar Shaddaa to collect the bounty Goto had placed on Jedi. To keep the Exile for his own, HK-50 started to sabotage the facility by triggering explosions, staging accidents, and reprogramming mining droids to attack the miners. The maintenance officer, with whom HK-50 worked, was unable to find the source of the malfunctions and died along the rest of the miners when the droid caused an emergency lockdown to seal off the hangar and keep Coorta from fleeing the facility with the Exile.

When the Exile finally awakened, she pieced together what happened from holorecords of the miners as they were desperately yet fruitlessly trying to bypass the station's security systems. The Sith arrived aboard the Harbinger providing a means to get to the hangar, and the Exile, with the help of Kreia and Atton Rand, destroyed HK-50 and made for the Ebon Hawk, which ironically, the droid had made spaceworthy again for his own getaway.

As they got to the ship from the docking bridge to the Harbinger, Sith Assassins stalked them and Kreia had to duel Darth Sion to allow the others to escape to the hangar through the fuel line. When a shot from the Harbinger hit an asteroid, it exploded, along with the rest of the asteroid field and the ravaged facility. The Ebon Hawk and Darth Sion both barely escaped the detonation.

Aftermath
The destruction of the mining station had a deeper impact than the Exile could probably imagine. Even though the explosion was technically the fault of HK-50 and the Sith, the Exile was repeatedly blamed for it, first by Lieutenant Dol Grenn and later by Atris and G0-T0. However, when the Telosian government completed its inspection of what was left of the Peragus facility, logs recovered from the wreckage indicated that the miners perished as a result of sabotage, which began while the Exile and her companions were either incapacitated or incarcerated.

To save Citadel Station and the Telosian Restoration Project, the Exile, on behalf of Grenn and the Telosian Council, persuaded Vogga the Hutt to start providing Telos with fuel from Sleheyron. This was something G0-T0 strongly opposed, believing that deals with the Hutts would bankrupt the Republic, but in the end, it proved to be the only way to secure the successful completion of the project and the future of Telos.

Behind the scenes

 * The planet Peragus II is often confused with the Peragus Mining Facility. To add to the confusion, the developers of Knights of the Old Republic II labeled quests received in the facility with "Peragus II".
 * In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, the player character has the option to have the Ebon Hawk fire upon the asteroids itself. Choosing this action, rather than allowing the Harbinger to destroy it, will give the Exile dark-side points.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

Notes and references
Peragus II (Planet) Peragus II