Battle of Mustafar (Imperial Period)

The Battle of Mustafar was an isolated battle on Mustafar that took place between the Galactic Empire and Separatist holdouts in the early years of Imperial rule. The engagement was fought by the Imperial 501st Legion under the command of Darth Vader, against a secret droid army controlled by Gizor Dellso. The battle resulted in the death of Dellso and the destruction of both his ground and space forces.
==Prelude==
A Geonosian engineer, Gizor Dellso was a committed and loyal member of the CIS during the Clone Wars. After the assassination of the Separatist Council at the end of the war by Darth Vader, Dellso refused to surrender. In possession of stolen Imperial starfighter plans, fled to Mustafar in the early days of the
Empire. Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Guide: Prima Official Game Guide, p. 10
Gizor Dellso was one of the engineers who constructed the signal override apparatus of the Separatist Droid Army. He was therefore able fire up an entire droid factory sitting dormant on Mustafar, and in the short time it took the Empire to find him he had reactivated his own droid army and fleet, which did not respond to Darth Vader's deactivation of the droids. Dellso also planned to use the hidden facility on the planet to create a new type of superior battle droid.
==The battle==
===Space battle===
The members of the 501st Legion, were transported to Mustafar by an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer to destroy Gizor Dellso's uprising. However, the ship's hangar was immediately invaded by one of the HMPs from Gizor Dellso's navy, which dispatched OOM pilot battle droids and Droid marines onto the ship. Although one of the pilots panicked when the Empire failed to launch their starfighters, the Imperial Officer sent troops out, which held the droids back. To destroy the gunship, Imperial Marines used their rocket launchers and thermal detonators, while the TIE pilots deployed time bombs. After the gunship was destroyed, the marines and pilots then used their blasters to eliminate the remaining invaders and manned their starfighters.
After destroying a small number of Dellso's fighters, the pilots successfully knocked out the shields on the Providence-class destroyer. Then, at Darth Vader's unusual request, a pilot flew into the enemy hangar and stole one Belbullab-24 strike bomber. The fighter was then brought to the Imperial hangar for closer study. The vulnerable droid vessel was then pounded by turbolaser blasts from the nearby Star Destroyer, inflicting massive damage to all critical systems including the command deck.
Dellso's space blockade had been demolished. However, his ground forces, waiting in the Klegger Corp Mining Facility, were ready for attack.
===Siege of the mining facility===
The troopers of the 501st Legion were deployed on a landing platform outside the mining facility on Mustafar. Many had just stepped foot on the platform when droids shot them dead from the open windows of the entrance corridor. As B2 super battle droids scurried out onto the landing platform, the 501st was able to repel them. They managed to secure their landing zone, then taking losses flooded the corridors and stormed the lava observatory room, which gave them access to an outside walkway. Despite battle droid snipers firing at them, the stormtroopers were able to capture the walkway.
Even with remnants of the feared IG-100 MagnaGuards striking at their ranks, the 501st Legion managed to take command over an overlook station from the droid forces. Then, the regrouped stormtroopers rushed into the factory control center, where they were able to destroy both of the droid prototype schematics of a new, unfinished battle droid prototype, ruining Dellso's plans of gaining the upper hand in possible future battles.
===Ending the battle===
During the battle, a stormtrooper carrying an orbital strike beacon had been shot, and once retrieved, the beacon was set on the overlook to signal for the orbiting Star Destroyer to bombard the base. Imperial forces were tasked to recover the beacon. However, Gizor Dellso and his Geonosian bodyguards arrived to destroy the remaining stormtroopers, a wild firefight began. Though many stormtroopers were slain, Gizor Dellso's guards were killed, and he was then killed.
The troopers had just enough time to depart when their overhead forces executed an orbital bombardment command on the Mustafar complex, completely demolishing the mining facility and the droid factory.
==Aftermath==
Following the battle, the 501st Legion shifted its focus to overseeing the Empire, not constructing one.
In the years following the battle and the destruction of the droid foundry, the Mensix Mining Facility was built close to the Klegger Corp Mining Facility and was in operation during the Galactic Civil War.Star Wars Galaxies: Trials of Obi-Wan This new facility would be the site of a battle between the Imperial Remnant and New Republic forces.Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron
==Behind the scenes==
The space battle and the surface battle are two campaign missions in Star Wars: Battlefront II. The first mission, the space battle, is optional, like the other space levels in the game's campaign, whereas the battle on the planet's surface is required to advance to the next level.
==Appearances==
*Star Wars: Battlefront II 
==Sources==
*Star Wars Battlefront II: Prima Official Game Guide
*Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Guide: Prima Official Game Guide
*The New Essential Guide to Alien Species
*The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
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*The Essential Guide to Warfare 
==Notes and references==
Category:Battles of Mustafar
Category:Battles of the early Imperial campaigns
Category:Orbital bombardments