Ione / Legends Ione was a thriving spaceport world lying along the Corellian Trade Spine in the Greater Javin region of the Outer Rim Territories . Originally settled by the Galactic Republic centuries before the Galactic Civil War , Ione occupied a critical intersection on the Trade Spine that made it the sole hyperspace entry point to the region ' s four Mining Worlds . The Figg Excavations mining company used Ione as its staging point for operations throughout the surrounding area . Years later , Imperial Star Destroyers from Darth Vader ' s personal Death Squadron likewise used the Ione system as their staging point for launching reconnaissance probe droids to neighboring planets in search of the secret Rebel Alliance base . Description . The planet Ione was the namesake of the Ione system , located in the Anoat sector of the Greater Javin , a remote region of the Outer Rim Territories . A thriving spaceport world , Ione lay at the heart of the sprawling Ivax Nebula and sat at a strategic intersection point along the Corellian Trade Spine hyperlane . Ione ' s position made it the sole link between the Trade Spine and the four Greater Javin planets known collectively as the Mining Worlds : Burnin Konn , Allyuen , Tokmia , and Isis . Ione featured a primarily terrestrial surface of urban development , seas , and plateaus , and the planet offered a temperate climate . A day on Ione lasted twenty - three standard hours , and a year 390 local days . The planet had standard gravity and a Type I atmosphere breathable for Humans . History . Republic settlement and FiggEx mining headquarters . A thousand years before the onset of the Galactic Civil War , the planet Ione lay in a largely uncharted region of space beyond the Mid Rim , which was considered then to be a part of Wild Space . Only scouts and the most daring traders traversed this imperfectly surveyed frontier region of the galaxy . Efforts by hyperspace explorers to chart the region surrounding Ione were long hampered by the dominating presence of the giant Twin Nebulae gas clouds , which proved a great impediment to navigation . Eventually , following a brief , one - sided war between the Galactic Republic and the region ' s native Mugaari , the Republic was free to colonize the area , and a host of planets running Rimward along the Corellian Trade Spine , including Ione , were settled . Republic traders , staging from these newly settled planets , then continued to search for a hyperspace shortcut through the Twin Nebulae , although it would be centuries before the entrepreneur Ecclessis Figg succeeded in finding a route . Figg ' s success turned Ione ' s region into an economic powerhouse . As the Figg conglomerate established its economic stranglehold on the Greater Javin , Figg Excavations , the mining subsidiary of Figg ' s Outer Javin Company , began using Ione as its entry point for operations throughout the Ivax Nebula , including the four systems known as the Mining Worlds branching off from Ione . Figg Excavations , a less - than - loyal member of the Mining Guild , represented the public face of the Figg conglomerate in the area around Ione . Galactic Civil War . During the Galactic Civil War , a once - secret hyperroute connected Ione with the one - time Rebel Alliance safe world Isis . In 3 ABY , the Ione system served as the staging point for the Imperial Star Destroyers " Avenger " and " Stalker " , temporarily detached from the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader ' s Death Squadron , as they launched reconnaissance probe droids to the surrounding planets Allyuen , Tokmia , and Hoth in search of the secret Rebel headquarters . Ultimately , the probot dispatched to Hoth led to the Imperial discovery of the Rebels ' Echo Base and the subsequent Battle of Hoth . Inhabitants . Ione boasted a mixed - species population of one billion inhabitants . The population was evenly distributed among Humans , Lutrillians , Nothoiins , and Ugnaughts . Ione ' s populace was governed by a corporate entity . The planet ' s primary imports included technology and foodstuffs , and its exports included ores and gems . Locations . Regarded chiefly as a port world , Ione featured two stellar and three standard spaceports . Behind the scenes . Ione was created for " " , a 2004 Wizards of the Coast online " Star Wars Roleplaying Game " supplement . " The Essential Atlas " , published in 2009 , established the Ione system as the setting for the opening scene of the film , in which an Imperial Star Destroyer launches the probe droid that discovers the Rebel base on Hoth .