Battle of Centerpoint Station (Second Galactic Civil War)

"Admiral, we've just won this war.''" "Say that again?" "''The Corellians just handed us the trillion-credit game prize. The solution to our problems. We've won."

- Jacen Solo and Admiral Niathal

The Battle of Centerpoint Station was a pivotal conflict during the Second Galactic Civil War, fought between the Galactic Alliance, the Confederation, and the Jedi Coalition. The Galactic Alliance launched an attack to capture Centerpoint Station, the millennia-old artifact constructed by the Celestials c. 1,000,000 BBY, so that it could be used against the Confederation. Meanwhile, the Jedi wanted to destroy the station and rescue Tenel Ka Djo's daughter, Allana, from her father, Jacen Solo. The battle resulted in the rescue of Allana by the Jedi, and the destruction of Centerpoint Station.

Prelude
"The Corellians just used Centerpoint Station to destroy elements of the Second Fleet. They also tried to kill Jacen. Now, thinking the way Jacen does, the way we must, it's inconceivable that he would not make an all-out effort to capture the station and have in his possession the most powerful weapon in the galaxy. We're not going to let the Corellians have it, and we're not going to let Jacen have it. We're going to destroy it... probably at the same time Jacen mounts his operation to capture it."

- Luke Skywalker

While the Corellian leadership, during specious negotiations, had used Centerpoint Station to destroy much of the Galactic Alliance Second Fleet, they had been unable to eliminate their true target, the Anakin Solo, flagship of co-Chief of State Jacen Solo. Once Solo discovered that Centerpoint was once again operational&mdash;the station had been disabled since the start of the war&mdash;he conceived a plan by which the Galactic Alliance would capture the station and force the Confederation-aligned worlds to surrender. Corellia remained isolated from the rest of the Confederation on account of its independent use of Centerpoint Station, which Supreme Commander Turr Phennir felt had been harmful to the overall war effort. Therefore Solo decided a more opportune moment would be unlikely, and assembled a fleet to invade the Corellian system and seize the ancient space station.

Concurrently with Solo's preparations, Grand Master Luke Skywalker and the Jedi Order, with the allegiance of Hapes and a veteran starfighter squadron, the Rakehells, readied themselves for strikes on both Centerpoint Station, which Skywalker felt had to be neutralized as a threat entirely, and upon the Anakin Solo, aboard which Hapan Chume'da Allana was being held prisoner. Solo, who was, unbeknownst to many, Allana's father, had taken the young girl from her mother, Queen Tenel Ka Djo of Hapes, and sequestered her aboard his flagship to secure Hapan cooperation. When the Queen Mother visited Skywalker and the Jedi at their hidden base on the forest moon of Endor, the Jedi Order agreed to stage a rescue mission. While Jedi Master Kyp Durron and his team infiltrated Centerpoint Station in order to destroy it, Skywalker, his son and Saba Sebatyne would attempt to neutralize Jacen; at the same time, Han and Leia Organa Solo would exfiltrate Allana. To provide cover for both missions&mdash;as the Jedi faction was opposed to the goals of both the Confederation and the Galactic Alliance&mdash;Wedge Antilles and the Rakehells would defend the various transports and shuttles which would deliver and extract the strike teams. Galactic Alliance General Tycho Celchu was "forced" to allow the Skywalker team to board the Anakin Solo on his shuttle, the Reveille, and Durron's team disguised themselves as Galactic Alliance Guard troopers for their mission to destroy Centerpoint Station. Fortunately for the Jedi, they were apprised of the Anakin Solo's location due to a holocomm beacon planted aboard the Star Destroyer. Thus, when Solo's battle group emerged in the Corellian system, the Jedi Order were close behind.

Boarding the Anakin Solo and Centerpoint
The Jedi, Rakehell Squadron, the Reveille task force, and the troop transport Broadside, dropped out of hyperspace near Centerpoint Station. The Reveille and Rakehell Squadron started toward the Anakin Solo and the battle raging on between the Galactic Alliance and the Confederation. The squadron shot at the shuttle, intentionally missing it, while the shuttle was granted emergency permission to land in the hangar of the Star Destroyer. Turbolasers came very close to hitting the starfighters, but the skilled pilots were able to avoid them. As the shuttle started to land inside the hangar, Tycho, against orders from Wedge, landed in the hangar too. Tycho alerted the GAG forces that a Jedi team was inside the shuttle and that he was in the starfighter. All of a sudden, however, smoke started pouring out of the shuttle, confusing the GAG troopers inside the hangar. One trooper yelled for the others to look at the shuttle, and as the troopers turned to look, one of them, startled by the shout, shot Tycho. Jacen was alerted of the Jedi right away, and immediately he felt Luke, Ben Skywalker, Saba Sebatyne, and his mother. YVH droids were sent around the ship to stall the Jedi, and possibly kill them, as Jacen knew that if he were to confront both Luke and Saba, he wouldn't win.

Their first task was accomplished, Rakehell Squadron had another task. They approached the troop transport, Broadside, which was headed towards Centerpoint, and once again opened fire, intentionally missing. Aboard the transport was Doctor Toval Seyah, dressed like a GAG trooper, who had several plans to disable and destroy Centerpoint, while Kyp Durron, also dressed like a GAG trooper, led the Jedi forces during this part of the mission.

Betrayal on Corellia
"What are you suggesting?''" "''Remove him from power."

- Denjax Teppler and General Turr Phennir speaking about Sadras Koyan

Around this time, the Minister of Information on Corellia, named Denjax Teppler, was plotting with Corellia's Admiral Delpin to become co-Chief of States of Corellia. He got this idea when he contacted General Turr Phennir and asked him for more military supplies and materials, with Phennir replying that he couldn't work with the Prime Minister of Corellia, who at the time was Sadras Koyan. He talked to Delpin about this, who at first thought that this idea was very wrong, but was soon convinced into getting Koyan removed from power.

Teppler, who was on Corellia, contacted Koyan, who at the time of the battle was overseeing the operations aboard Centerpoint. He told him that GAG troopers had entered the station and were heading straight towards him. He also said that there was a shuttle waiting for him in one of the hangars and that he had to leave immediately. Koyan was reluctant at first but soon left, leaving Teppler and Delpin in charged of deciding when to fire on the Galactic Alliance's forces. Koyan sprinted through the station's corridors in order to get to the shuttle in time. Little did he know, the shuttle in the hangar wasn't a Corellian Shuttle, but a Galactic Alliance Shuttle. He ran onboard and was shot by a Galactic Alliance officer.

The conflict escalates
Once Broadside was on course for Centerpoint, Rakehell Squadron stayed in space fighting both Galactic Alliance ships and Confederation ships. Soon, Twool saw incoming starfighters on his sensor board. Legendary Rogue Squadron was approaching the squadron. Syal Antilles had a bad feeling, and a feeling of guilt as Rogue Squadron approached. She didn't at all enjoy fighting her own side, but she knew what had to be done, as soon the Rakehells were being chased by enemy pilots. One came up behind Syal's father, Wedge, and she had to help her father. Again not wanting to fight her own side, she knew that her father needed help. She came in behind the starfighter chasing her father and fired. As the fighter exploded, Syal turned toward the other fighters to destroy them as well.

Rescuing the Chume'da
"These people are going to bring you home to me. Go with them, and trust them as you do me. And know that I love you, and I missed you more than I can say."

- Holoprojecton of Tenal Ka, to her daughter, Allana

Luke and Ben Skywalker, Saba Sebatyne, Leia and Han Solo, and Iella Antilles escaped the Reveille and headed out of the hangar. Luke, Ben, and Saba headed towards the bridge of the Anakin Solo to distract Jacen, while Han, Leia, and Iella went to go rescue Allana. Jacen could feel Luke, Ben, and Saba in the Force and occasionally saw them in security holocams, but he couldn't feel his mother. She had, though, slightly brushed upon him in the Force which made him think that maybe she had been wounded, or killed, by one of the YVH droids. Soon Luke, Ben, and Saba had their first encounter with four YVH droids. The droids, as always, were a challenge for the Jedi. Luke took on two while Saba took on the other two. At one point though, one of the droids turned its attention to Ben. Ben had to be quick, he brought up his lightsaber to deflect the blaster bolts, but he knew he couldn't deflect them for long. He used the Force to spin the droid around, making it shoot one of the other droids, destroying it. The Jedi were then able to take out the other three and proceed to the bridge. Jacen watched as the three Jedi approached the bridge doors and he knew that the odds that he would be able to defeat both Jedi Masters and Ben were not good. Ben began to drive his lightsaber into the doors, but Jacen opened them himself. Telling the Jedi he would never surrender, he ordered the YVH droids stationed in the bridge to kill the Jedi.

As Luke, Ben, and Saba were fighting the YVH droids, Han, Leia, and Iella were crawling through secret shafts, that held cables filled with electric currents, in order to get to Allana without Jacen knowing. They had to keep stopping in order to contact the droid R2-D2, to make sure that they were headed in the right direction. Leia was also using Allana's bright Force presence to figure out which way the three of them needed to go. They finally found a room next to Allana's, and Leia cut a hole, above her head, into the floor. They climbed out of the hole and all of a sudden one of the walls crashed inward, and in came a YVH droid. The droid aimed its blaster at Han. Hundreds of shots fired at him, but Leia was able to deflect the bolts, while Han shot the droid. He kept shooting it until it started to go on fire. It then raised its other arm, ready to shoot Han with a surge of electricity, but Leia cut it off with her lightsaber. With the droid finally destroyed, they found Allana two rooms over, who, at first, didn't trust them. They showed her a holorecording of her mother telling her to go with them. With not much time, the four headed towards the air lock where the Millennium Falcon waited to pick them up.

Luke and Saba flanked Ben, catching blaster bolts that came their way from the droids. Ben threw grenades down into the officers' pits, where some of the droids were shooting at them. The explosions caused the droids to be destroyed, while also shredding officer stations and setting men and women on fire. Ben repeated this, but eventually it went wrong. Luke and Saba jumped away from the grenades, but Jacen used the Force on Saba, causing her to slip and fall into one of the pits. She attempted to jump away at the last moment, but was too late, and she was slammed into the port-side wall on fire. While she still stood up, she was badly injured, and Luke told her to get out of the bridge and to safety. As a result, Luke and Ben were left to fight Jacen and the rest of the droids. The odds changed, though, when a surge of emotion went through the Force of a joyful girl knowing she was on her way home. Jacen, realizing that Allana was being taken from him, ran off of the bridge to find her.

Luke warned Leia that Jacen was coming and to get to the Falcon as fast as possible. Luke and Ben ran off the bridge and headed towards the air lock. Jacen reached the room where Allana was hidden, but all he found was the wrecked YVH-908 and a hole in the floor. Leia, Han, Iella, and Allana reached the air lock just as the Falcon got there. Kyle Katarn greeted them as they entered the ship. Luke, Ben, and Saba, being chased by Jacen, finally reached the air lock too. Jacen ran after them, but was too late, as he saw the air lock closed and the Falcon head away. Deeply saddened, and gasping for air, he felt Allana's Force presence moving farther and farther away as the Millennium Falcon entered hyperspace, and his world fell apart.

Sabotaging Centerpoint
"Here I implement my master plan to destroy Centerpoint Station."

- Toval Seyah

The landing in the hangar of Centerpoint Station wasn't a very smooth one, and Seyah got bumped around. He and Kyp left the transport into blasterfire, and the two had no choice but to start firing, though they had a mission to sabotage the station, so they ran off. His first plan (programming the station to reverse the spin which gave it artificial gravity) having failed, Seyah implemented his second plan, tapping into Centerpoint's star map databases and changing all of the coordinates to the exact center of Hollowtown. By doing this, when the station actually fired, it would fire upon itself, destroying everything that was kilometers around it, instead of destroying its intended target. Yet, in case this plan failed, he did have a third; getting to the fire-control chamber and slicing in programming which, in theory, would cause Glowpoint, at the center of Hollowtown, to overload and explode.

As the two neared the fire-control chamber they came to a battle between GAG troopers and CorSec troopers. All of a sudden the air began to vibrate and a hum came from the fire-control chamber, and Seyah knew that something bad was happening. Kyp knew that it would be tough to get into the chamber, and if he used his lightsaber he would give away that he was a Jedi, causing GAG troopers to fire at him. Seyah told Kyp that the primary weapon was being fired up, and both knew that they didn't have enough time to get into the chamber. With the hope that Seyah's second plan was going to work, the two abandoned their third plan, and started sprinting back toward the Broadside to get off the station immediately.

Destruction of Centerpoint Station
"Hey. Watch this."

- Rikel, right before firing Centerpoint's primary weapon.

A technician named Rikel wanted revenge against the Galactic Alliance because his wife was killed on Coruscant at the hands of the GAG. In order to get revenge, he plugged in Coruscant's coordinates and fired Centerpoint's primary weapon. He knew that if Coruscant was destroyed, the Galactic Alliance would crumble, which would allow the Confederation to win the war. The problem was, however, that Seyah's second plan worked and Coruscant's coordinates turned into the coordinates of Hollowtown. When the station fired, it was literally aiming at itself, and so it was destroyed along with most of the Confederation's fleet. The Galactic Alliance's fleet was also destroyed, but the Anakin Solo was lucky enough to be out of the range of the explosion. The Falcon also made it to safety, along with Rakehell Squadron, and the Reveille.

Aftermath
"You're Jacen's mommy. He's my daddy."

- Allana to Leia

Most of the Confederation and Alliance forces were destroyed, which cost both sides much of their naval strength. After being rescued, Allana told Leia and Han that they were her grandparents. She knew this because Jacen had told her in order to gain her trust and love back. Meanwhile, Jacen could barely function after the taking of his daughter, and he killed Lieutenant Patra Tebut for allowing the Reveille to board the Anakin Solo. Back on the Forest Moon of Endor, Ben finally told Leia and Jaina that Jacen had to have killed his mother. Leia told him that even though Jacen has done dark deeds, it doesn't mean that he killed Mara. Ben replied that he told his mother about the missions Jacen had been giving him, and how it was too much of a coincidence that Jacen knew exactly where he was on Kavan. Ben then vowed to use his investigation skills in order to find his mothers true killer and punish them, even if it turns out to not be Jacen.

Behind the scenes
The events at Centerpoint Station form a large part of Fury by Aaron Allston, the seventh novel in the Legacy of the Force series.

Appearances

 * Fury
 * Revelation
 * Crosscurrent
 * Outcast
 * Abyss

Notes and references
Schlacht um die Centerpoint-Station