Unidentified moon (Tribunal)

For other uses, see unidentified moon.

"We're caught in that moon's gravitational field."

―Rex, to Ahsoka Tano —

An arctic and rocky unidentified moon was located in the galaxy. Shortly after the initiation of Order 66, the Venator-class Star Destroyer Tribunal, which had been carrying former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, fell out of hyperspace above the moon after the former Sith apprentice Maul, previously a prisoner on the vessel, destroyed its hyperdrive. Caught in the moon's gravitational field, the Star Destroyer was set on a collision course. Tano and Clone Commander Rex managed to escape before the starship crashed, but the remaining clone troopers aboard were killed.

Around 17 BBY, during the reign of the Galactic Empire, Imperial forces led by the Sith Lord Darth Vader visited the crash site of the Tribunal, where Vader discovered the abandoned lightsaber of his former apprentice.

Description[]

"We've entered the atmosphere. Fire retrorockets!"
"We've lost lateral control! We're gonna break apart!"

―Two Republic officers, during the crash of the Tribunal —

Listen (file info)^[1]

Although it lacked a name,^[2] an arctic,^[3] remote,^[4] and rocky moon was situated in the galaxy^[1] somewhere between the Outer Rim planet Mandalore and the Core Worlds planet Coruscant,^[5] near a larger blue-and-white astronomical object. It appeared brown with some green patches visible from space along with white clouds, and had an atmosphere breathable to humans and Togrutas.^[1] Its climate was frigid,^[2] with the barren area where the Venator-class Star Destroyer^[1] Tribunal^[6] crashed at the end of the Clone Wars^[1]—a three-year^[7] conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems^[8]—becoming covered in snow by the time the crash site was discovered by the Galactic Empire^[1] some years later.^[9]

History[]

Order 66[]

"We need to get out of here."

―Ahsoka Tano, upon seeing the moon approaching through the Tribunal's hangar doors —

Listen (file info)^[1]

TribunalCrashing-VaD — The *Tribunal* careens towards the moon.

In 19 BBY,^[10] the Venator-class Star Destroyer Tribunal crashed into the^[1] unidentified moon^[2] after its journey from Mandalore to Coruscant was interrupted when^[11] Dark Lord of the Sith^[8] Darth Sidious issued Order 66, a secret directive which compelled the clone troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic to turn on and execute their Jedi commanders via inhibitor chips implanted in their brains. Former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano was aboard the Star Destroyer, having captured the renegade Sith Lord Maul, a former apprentice of Sidious, during the Siege of Mandalore. She and Clone Commander Rex intended to deliver him to the Jedi High Council.^[11]

After Tano narrowly escaped the bridge, she reluctantly released Maul from the Mandalorian vault he had been imprisoned in as a diversion for the mind-controlled clones, allowing her the time to follow up on a clue Rex had given her before capturing him to remove his inhibitor chip and bring him back to his senses.^[11] Left to his own devices, Maul destroyed the starship's hyperdrive, severely damaging it and forcing it out of hyperspace, where it was caught in the moon's gravitational pull and set on a collision course. As the Tribunal fell, Tano and Rex reached the hangar control room and discovered the situation the ship was in. However, as they were fighting their way to a Nu-class shuttle to escape, Maul seized the craft for himself. Tano attempted to prevent Maul from leaving, but chose to let him go in order to defend Rex from clone reinforcements that had arrived.^[1]

AhsokaSkydiving-VaD — Ahsoka Tano falls through the moon's atmosphere

As the Tribunal hit the moon's atmosphere while falling apart, Tano and Rex found a working BTL-B Y-wing starfighter/bomber in the repair bay to escape in. Using the Force, Tano threw Rex over to the starfighter while holding off more attacking clones. On one of the bridges, a naval officer ordered the Star Destroyer's retrorockets fired due to the atmospheric entry, but was informed that they had lost lateral control just before everyone on that bridge was killed by an explosion, throwing the ship completely out of control. Rex entered the Y-wing and yelled for Tano to get over to the fighter. The Y-wing was knocked free of the Tribunal as Tano leapt for it, sending her tumbling through the atmosphere. Rex gained control of the starfighter after some difficulty and flew back for her, Tano running over falling debris to reach him. When the Tribunal crashed, tearing a gouge into the lunar surface, everyone still onboard was killed.^[1]

The crash site[]

Afterward, Tano and Rex landed at the crash site, salvaging useful items from the wreckage, as well as the remains of her personal astromech droid R7-A7, who had been taken out by blaster fire during the hangar firefight.^[1] To honor their comrades,^[3] they buried the bodies of every clone trooper they could find^[1] in a makeshift graveyard,^[3] marking the graves with the clones' helmets on sticks.^[1] Despairing, Tano abandoned her lightsabers^[12] at the crash site^[1] in order to fake her death. After leaving the moon, Tano and Rex parted ways in order to hide,^[13] leaving the repaired R7 with the Martez sisters, two smugglers^[14] who were friends of Tano^[15] and worked with Rex in efforts against the newly-formed Galactic Empire.^[14]

Ahsoka Venator wreckage — The snow-covered wreckage of the *Tribunal*

Around 17 BBY, during the Imperial Era,^[4] the crash site, by then covered in snow, was discovered by Imperial forces.^[1] In an effort to explore the destroyed cruiser,^[3] stormtroopers and snowtroopers inspected the wreckage with Viper probe droids. All of the grave markers erected by Tano and Rex had since fallen down, with the graves themselves hidden by the snow. The Sith Lord Darth Vader,^[1] who had been Tano's Master prior to her departure from the Jedi Order and his fall to the dark side,^[6] visited the crash site and recovered one of her abandoned lightsabers. After finding and igniting the weapon, Vader saw the convor^[1] Morai, a mystical creature^[16] who watched over Tano and lingered in places important to her,^[6] flying above him. He watched the bird for a moment before leaving with the lightsaber,^[1] paralleling how he had once given her the lightsaber as Anakin Skywalker.^[17] Despite assuming that Tano may be dead after not sensing her presence at the crash site,^[2] the visit to the moon, deep down, proved to the Sith Lord that his former apprentice survived.^[3]

Behind the scenes[]

The moon first appeared in "Victory and Death",^[1] the series finale of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated television series that premiered on Disney+ on May 4, 2020^[18] as part of the show's seventh season.^[19] Concept art of the moon was done by Molly Denmark.^[20] Rex's Databank entry on StarWars.com states that the moon was small,^[21] while Tano's entry states that the moon was large.^[12] This article does not assume the correctness of either claim.

"Darth Vader finds Ahsoka Tano's Lightsaber - Chrome Legacy - 2021 - Base", a Star Wars: Card Trader release from September 23, 2022, established that the moon was not identified in-universe. The digital card also states that Vader took both of Tano's lightsabers with him from the moon.^[2] However, "Victory and Death" shows that Vader only found and departed with one of the blades.^[1] This article assumes the episode is correct.