Conquest of Makeb The Conquest of Makeb was a battle during the Galactic War that pitted the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire against the ambitions of the Hutt Cartel on the border world of Makeb . Background . The war that had begun two years earlier had spread throughout the galaxy , with brutal battles taking place on Belsavis , Corellia , and Ilum . While the Republic and the Empire battled one another , they also had cause to join against mutual enemies , such as when Darth Malgus declared his " New Empire " and unleashed a stealth armada using Ilum ' s Adegan crystal s , and the siege of the palace of Karagga the Unyielding , the Hutt Cartel ' s Supreme Mogul , on Nal Hutta . After the death of Karagga , Toborro rose to power as the new Supreme Mogul of the Hutt Cartel , and sought to take advantage of the war between the Empire and the Republic in order to establish the Hutt Cartel as a dominant force in the galaxy . To achieve this , the Cartel seized control of the independent resource - rich world of Makeb , on the border between the Republic and Hutt Space . The seizure was aided by the Hutts purchasing the loyalty of the InterStellar Regulators , a mercenary army that had served as Makeb ' s defense force . While a handful opposed the Hutt takeover , the vast majority of the Regulators joined the Cartel ' s forces in claiming the planet . Toborro ' s ultimate intention was to end the war between the Republic and the Empire and bring the galaxy under the dominance of the Hutt Cartel , harkening to the glory days of the ancient Hutt Empire . The key to the Hutts ' plans for galactic conquest was a substance found only on Makeb known as " isotope - 5 " , which possessed tremendous gravity - twisting properties . Even a small amount of this substance could serve as a near - unlimited power source , giving the Hutts a tremendous advantage . The galaxy responds . The Hutt Cartel ' s power grab on Makeb raised alarms among leaders of the Republic . The Jedi High Council , after meditating on the matter , believed that the Hutts intended Makeb to be a staging ground for a greater war of conquest . Supreme Chancellor Leontyne Saresh personally traveled to Keylander Station in orbit of Makeb to oversee the deployment of Republic forces , calling upon heroes of the Republic and the Jedi Order to liberate Makeb from the Hutts ' tyrannical rule and end the Cartel ' s ambitions . In return for Republic support , the people of Makeb - long independent from the conflicts that had engulfed the galaxy - were prepared to formally join the Republic . The Empire also had a vested interest in the battle for Makeb , as their initial victories in the renewed war with the Republic had been overturned by Malgus ' rebellion and by increasing infighting among the Sith . By the time of Makeb ' s conquest , the Empire was estimated to be on the brink of collapse , which would occur within the year barring a miraculous reversal of fortune . Learning of the Hutt conquest and the discovery of isotope - 5 , Dark Council member Darth Marr devised a plan where a handful of operatives , aided by an elite support team , would secure the Cartel ' s supplies of isotope - 5 without arousing suspicion from either the Hutts or the Republic , whose forces on Makeb vastly outnumbered anything the Empire could bring to bear . The Republic forces arrive . The Republic coordinated efforts for the liberation of Makeb with Shalim Avesta , leader of the Makeb Business Council and " de facto " Chief of State . Operating from his secluded plantation , Avesta led a small band of his personal guard and loyalist Regulators who refused to betray the people of Makeb . When Saresh ' s emissaries arrived , he reiterated that the people of Makeb would be willing to join the Republic if they ended the Hutt occupation . In the first order of business , Avesta requested that the Republic forces locate his niece , Dr . Lemda Avesta , a geophysicist who had gone to find evidence that the Hutts ' deep - core drilling was responsible for the increasingly serious groundquakes on Makeb ' s surface when she was captured by the Regulators . After meeting with her rescuers in a groundquake shelter , Lemda revealed that the seismic readings proved the Hutts had sealed Makeb ' s fate . The groundquakes would increase in severity and cause entire mesas to collapse , and eventually gravitational decay would destroy Makeb ' s atmosphere , killing all life on the surface . The Ark . While imprisoned by the Regulators , Lemda overheard a conversation pertaining to a Hutt contingency plan called " Project Failsafe " . After returning to the Avesta plantation , she informed her uncle and the Republic forces of her discovery , believing that it was intended to stabilize Makeb in the event of a major crisis . Ilosov , head of the loyalist Regulator forces , believed that the data pertaining to it would be found in the computers of the Hutt Cartel ' s embassy in Talaos City , the planetary capital . Chief Hurkwill , Talaos City ' s former head of security , had set up the defenses of the embassy when the Hutts arrived , and gave the Republic team tips on how to circumvent and disable them . Once inside , they convinced Ecklin , the Mon Calamari representative to the Cartel , to grant access to the embassy archives , where they found a message to Toborro from a Devaronian named Veedrig revealing the true nature of Project Failsafe : The construction of a massive starship , " the Ark " , to carry Toborro , his entourage and his entire supply of isotope - 5 , leaving Makeb to its death . Lemda determined that the Ark was being constructed as a hollowed - out mesa known as the Giant ' s Spear . The Republic forces moved in and engaged the Regulator defenders , and forced the construction crew to complete the Ark for the evacuation of Makeb . In response , Toborro sent an army of Regulator war droids to march on the Avesta plantation . Shalim Avesta worked out a plan to lure the war droids out by sending them false orders , then luring them onto a hard light bridge - the main means of foot travel between mesas - and retracting it as the droids walked onto it , sending them falling seven kilometers down into the planet ' s core . The Republic forces then boarded the " Storm Carrier " , a massive floating battle platform that acted as the Regulators ' command ship , and overloaded its reactor . As the ship ' s power failed , they also managed to defeat Vice Commandant Grevin , the Regulator commander , and his elite guard before escaping from the crashing vessel . Stubbornly refusing to give up despite the odds turning against him , Toborro unleashed a series of isotope - 5 war droids against the city of Tarlam , threatening to unleash more droids to massacre Makeb ' s citizens if Avesta and the Republic did not surrender the Ark . In response , the Republic forces went to Tarlam , destroyed the isotope - 5 droids , and evacuated the town . Though the Republic held the Ark , Toborro gloated that they would never get it to fly without the isotope - 5 fuel rods . Calling on engineer Gez Addar to examine the Ark , they confirmed this , with Addar stating outright that only the isotope - 5 fuel rods could propel such a massive vessel through Makeb ' s atmosphere . In order to gain access to the fuel rods , the Republic forces turned to an unlikely ally - Dr . Juvard Illip Oggurobb , a well - respected Hutt scientist who had designed the Ark and a series of war droids running on isotope - 5 . Dr . Oggurobb offered his expertise on Toborro ' s technologies in exchange for passage off - world . Toborro had increased his mining operations to maximum , accelerating the destabilization of Makeb ' s core . While taking control of and shutting down the deep - core laser drills , the Republic team encountered Private Vendelik , the son of a Makeb mining foreman who had joined the Imperial Military to defend his homeworld . Mortally wounded by Hutt Cartel forces , Vendelik informed the Republic team that in order to stabilize the core , they had to reduce the pressure by venting the emergency release valves . Taking over the primary control center , the Republic team managed to vent the massive heat buildup in the planet ' s core , buying enough time to obtain the fuel rods . Toborro ' s downfall . Realizing that Toborro was insane , the leadership of the Hutt Cartel turned on him and sought to negotiate with the Republic heroes who had opposed them . Shalim Avesta was outraged , given how readily the Cartel had followed him in its conquest of Makeb , but the Republic forces were able to negotiate an agreement with the Cartel leadership , allowing them passage off Makeb aboard the Ark if the Cartel ended its neutrality and aligned with the Republic in the war against the Empire . With no choice , the Cartel agreed . However , Toborro still held the fuel rods to the Ark within his palace . Dr . Oggurobb revealed that he had constructed a secret passageway into the palace that Toborro himself was unaware of . With his help , the Republic team could enter Toborro ' s palace and end his madness once and for all . Confronting Toborro in his throne room , the Republic forces were forced to contend with a massive isotope - 5 war droid known as " Toborro ' s Glittering Fury " , which held the fuel rods needed for the Ark . Despite the immense power of the war machine , the Republic team destroyed it , claiming the fuel rods . The mad Hutt lord ignited his private supply of isotope - 5 , intending to take his attackers with him ; the Republic forces escaped from the palace as it collapsed , burying Toborro beneath it . The ignition of the isotope - 5 caused increased tectonic activity , but the fuel rods were safely delivered and the Ark managed to lift off into the atmosphere , while the Republic forces escaped the collapsing Giant ' s Spear onboard Shalim Avesta ' s personal shuttle . The Empire makes its move . While the Republic was evacuating Makeb , Darth Marr had dispatched his strike team via shuttle to the surface , but Makeb ' s atmospheric turbulence caused the shuttle to crash on one of the planet ' s mesas . In order to maintain a link between orbit and the surface , the Sith ground force had to take control of one of the planet ' s gravity hook s , massive turbolifts running from the surface to a platform in orbit . Gravity Hook Seven , the closest one to the crash site , was chosen for the operation . After neutralizing the Regulators ' communications on the surface , the team rode up to the orbital docking ring and confronted the Whiphid Commander J ' Ruush , who commanded the gravity hook on behalf of an " Archon " . Once J ' Ruush was slain and Gravity Hook Seven taken , the Sith forces met the leaders of their support team - Katha Niar , a Human bureaucrat from the Ministry of Logistics ; Captain Hanthor , a Cathar officer recruited following Malgus ' attempted coup ; and Lord Cytharat , a Pureblood Sith who had been a student of Malgus , and continued to serve the Empire in atonement for Malgus ' betrayal . The first step in claiming the isotope - 5 was track down Solida Hesk , the Zabrak businesswoman whose corporation had initially discovered it . Niar and her team determined that Hesk was hosting a summit of three Hutt clan lords at her resort estate on one of Makeb ' s mesas . Gaining access to the estate and the Hesk corporation ' s records , the Imperial team was able to determine that a large stockpile of isotope - 5 was being held in a vault designated " Stronghold One " , initially designed for the planetary treasury . In order to ensure Stronghold One would not receive reinforcements , the Imperial team organized a revolt of the planet ' s citizens led by Pollus Avesta , the brother of Shalim Avesta , who was leading resistance forces in the field . Saving Makeb . Once the planet was in open revolt , the Neimoidian scientist Nadrin Tro of the New Thinking Division proposed that a series of explosive charges be set off in the volcanic mesa where Stronghold One stood , destroying its primary power source - including its security grid - without arousing suspicion . Once the detonation was set , the strike team went in to claim the isotope - 5 vault , with Cytharat leading troops in support to prevent reinforcements from following . Guarding the entrance to the vault was a massive prototype war droid , and the Imperial team was forced to redirect the room ' s turret defenses to make a dent in it , and also lower a forcefield holding back magma to break through its energy shields . Upon entering the vault itself , the team discovered only one full isotope - 5 container ; the rest had been used to build an army of similar battle droids . One droid came to life and activated a holocom . The Hutt who appeared identified himself as Szajin , " First Archon of the New Hutt Empire and shadow chief of the conquest - world Makeb " , and claimed that all the isotope - 5 he had not already used was in Makeb ' s core - and once the core exploded , the isotope would be destroyed with it . The droid then attacked , but was subsequently destroyed . However , all of the droids began to activate , and the Imperial team was forced to escape . Darth Marr was displeased to learn that the isotope was gone , Makeb was on the brink of destruction , and the Hutts were aware of the Empire ' s presence . The Dark Councilor was working to forge a new regime for the Empire , united in a common cause and no longer shackled to an unseen Emperor , and isotope - 5 was the key to achieving it . Consulting with the support team , as well as science and engineering experts from Taris and Quesh , it was determined that an energy pulse in Makeb ' s core was required to map out all of the deposits of isotope - 5 , and from there a way would be developed to stabilize the core . The abandoned drilling station where the isotope was first discovered was determined to be the ideal place to set off the pulse , but it also caused a groundquake . After initiating the experiment , the team raced to an emergency bunker , they were confronted by a Regulator squad , sent by the Archon , who had been keeping tabs on the mine . After defeating the Regulators , the team made it to the bunker , where they were trapped for six hours before Katha Niar and a squad of Imperial troops came to rescue them . After rescuing local engineers to run the drilling platforms , the Imperial support team developed a plan to restore the core ' s equilibrium , disrupted by the rapid removal of isotope - 5 , by firing the mining drills into it and accelerating the destabilization process . The destabilization would be too rapid to cause the projected core explosion , and eventually the core would achieve a new state of equilibrium . The Imperial team moved to capture the three mining platforms - the same platforms that had been initially shut down by the Republic . Once all three drills were taken , the drills were fired into the core , causing massive tectonic and volcanic activity planet - wide . However , the intended aim was achieved , and the core achieved equilibrium . The team then received a transmission from Darth Marr , informing them that the Republic and Hutt forces were fleeing the planet , believing it was now in its death throes ; the team informed him that the core had been stabilized . The increase of isotope - 5 energy had begun to disrupt offworld communications , and it would be some time before they would be restored . Showdown with the Archon . Upon returning to the abandoned drill station , which had become the Imperial base camp for the stabilizing operation , the Imperial strike team learned that the Archon had sent an elite Regulator squad in an assault shuttle , and took Katha Niar and others prisoner for interrogation . From them , Szajin could learn exactly what the Empire was doing on Makeb . To stop him , the Imperial team traveled to the outskirts of the Archon ' s palace , not far from that of Toborro , finding it was protected by a powerful energy shield . Taking control of each of the three laser batteries , the Imperial team was able to penetrate the shield and make their way inside the Archon ' s stronghold . There , they found Niar nearly dead , having been tortured by Szajin to obtain information of the Empire ' s movements on Makeb . Entering the Archon ' s throne room , they found him in conference with three Regulator commanders who were evacuating their troops , and reassured them that he had proof Makeb was not in imminent danger of exploding . Once the atmospheric interference cleared , he would recall the fleet . The Archon ' s throne moved back to reveal a gigantic war machine powered by isotope - 5 , and he took the controls to face his Imperial opponents personally with a rain of missiles and a powerful laser beam , reinforced by refueling droids empowering his creation with isotope - 5 . The Imperial team stood their ground and destroyed the Archon ' s war machine , and managed to preserve the secret of their success . Katha Niar succumbed to her wounds shortly thereafter . Aftermath . After the successful evacuation , Shalim and Lemda Avesta met with Supreme Chancellor Saresh on Keylander Station . Saresh chastized the Avestas for concealing the fact that Makeb was unstable , to which Shalim , and the Republic team that had aided him , replied that the Hutts ' deep - core mining had caused the instability . The Chancellor was less than pleased with having to ally with the Hutts after what they had done to the planet , but recognized the necessity of an ally in the conflict with the Empire . The Empire , however , managed to achieve the goal they had set out to accomplish : securing Makeb and its supply of isotope - 5 for the Empire , all without attracting the notice of the Republic . However , it came on the heels of an announcement by the Republic leadership that the Sith Emperor , whose disappearance had triggered Malgus ' attempted coup , had been slain by the Jedi . Darth Marr confirmed that the Emperor was gone , either dead or dying , and it would be up to the Dark Council to reform the Empire into a more stable regime , and the isotope - 5 they had secured would be a major step in that direction .