Flashpoint Stellar Research Station

Flashpoint Stellar Research Station was a Galactic Republic scientific research station on the Outer Rim planet of Flashpoint that was captured by the Mandalorian warrior clans in 3964 BBY. Originally intended for the study of stars and related phenomena, Flashpoint Station was located inside a powerful magnetic shield—the planet Flashpoint was located extremely close to its star, and organic life usually could not survive on the world's barren surface. In the beginning stages of the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders' war with the Republic, Flashpoint Station was taken by the marauders and turned into the operating base for the notorious Mandalorian biologist Demagol. From Flashpoint Station, Demagol furthered research into the source of the powers of Jedi Knights, conducting brutal live experiments on Jedi captured near the front lines.
Demagol's collection grew to include a number of Jedi crusaders captured on Suurja, led by the Human Alek. After the Mandalorians mistakenly captured and brought to Flashpoint a non-Jedi named Jarael, the Arkanian Offshoot's friends, including fugitive former Jedi Padawan Zayne Carrick and escaped Mandalorian warrior Rohlan Dyre, formulated a plan to rescue her. With Carrick posing as a Jedi whom Dyre had captured, they were able to incapacitate Demagol and simulate a fake Republic attack to clear the other Mandalorians off the station. The captive Jedi were freed, although Demagol escaped Republic custody by knocking out Dyre and switching armor with him. After the ordeal was over, the Jedi destroyed Flashpoint Station.
==Description==
Located on the Outer Rim world of Flashpoint, the Flashpoint Stellar Research Station was a Galactic Republic scientific outpost established to study the life and death of stars and other solar phenomena. Flashpoint Station was located on a small, desert world with no atmosphere, as the planet was extremely close to its star. The massive amount of heat and radiation produced by the nearby star necessitated the creation of a powerful magnetic shield—without it, nothing could survive on the planet's surface during Flashpoint's hour-long days. The magnetic shield protected a roughly circular area of the planet's surface and was generated by several towers. For a starship to land at Flashpoint Station, the magnetic field had to be lowered, although this was unsafe to do during Flashpoint's brief and dangerous days.Knights of the Old Republic 10 During the Republic's tenure in charge of the station, their scientists employed heavily shielded Ministry-class orbital shuttles while carrying out research.Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide
Even with the magnetic field, the planet had no atmosphere, requiring all present at the station to wear airtight suits while outside. The station's main structure was a bunker near the center of camp, surrounded by a larger outdoor area that was big enough to hold several starships. The station was equipped with guns to repel unwanted intruders and a comm system to contact nearby starships. The bunker itself was pressurized and featured a large, open entrance room that led into much narrower corridors. Deeper within the compound was a central research room, which the Mandalorian doctor Demagol made into his office during the Mandalorian occupation amidst their war with the Republic. Demagol adorned the room with the bones and skulls of several victims, as well as a number of lightsabers; the room itself was covered in bloodstains. The room also featured a vertical board to which Demagol strapped his Jedi test subjects and thereupon working on them with his vast array of medical tools.
==History==
Flashpoint Station was originally constructed and staffed by the Galactic Republic, which defunded a solar observatory on the moon of Metellos 3 in order to pay for the station.Knights of the Old Republic 37 In 3964 BBY, the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders, who had previously carved out their own empire beyond the reaches of the Republic, began to encroach upon Republic space in the name of the Mandalorian warrior clans. With Flashpoint Station sitting on the edge of Republic territory, the Mandalorians captured the facility. After Flashpoint Station fell into Mandalorian control, they began to use it to their own ends—the station was given over to Demagol, the top Mandalorian biologist, as a base where he could advance his studies into the powers and abilities of Jedi. As the first Jedi scouts were discovered investigating the frontier, the Mandalorians were ordered to bring all captured Jedi alive to Demagol, who conducted experiments on his living prisoners, with many dying under his watch. During the early days of the war, the Mandalorian Teroch-type gunship was primarily used to ferry prisoners to Flashpoint.
During Demagol's reign on Flashpoint, a number of Jedi attempted to escape their predicament, but all died within minutes under Flashpoint's unforgiving sun. As the Mandalorians continued to threaten the Outer Rim, a group of Jedi, led by the charismatic Revan, defied the Jedi High Council's wishes and set out to battle the Mandalorians. However, many of these Jedi, including Revan's right-hand man, Alek, were captured on the war-torn world of Suurja and brought to Flashpoint Station as a fresh crop for Demagol. The new arrivals were relentlessly tortured, especially Alek, who proved willing to subject himself to more suffering in order to protect his fellows. While Demagol busied himself with his test subjects, the Mandalorians ramped up the fight against the Republic, launching a major offensive aimed at taking the valuable world of Taris. In one major battle at Vanquo, the Mandalorians mistook the Arkanian Offshoot Jarael as a Jedi—she had posed as one in a previous caper on the world. She was promptly taken prisoner and brought to Flashpoint Station, where Alek, recognizing that she was not a Jedi, protected her by volunteering himself for "research" in her place.
Unbeknownst to Demagol, Jarael's friends—including the fugitive former Jedi Padawan Zayne Carrick—had set out for Flashpoint to rescue her and the other Jedi trapped there. Assisted by escaped Mandalorian warrior Rohlan Dyre, Carrick developed a plan to sabotage Flashpoint Station from the inside—he would pose as a Jedi whom Dyre had captured on Vanquo and thus gain entry to the heavily guarded station. After landing safely within the magnetic shield, Dyre marched Carrick into Demagol's office and demanded that Demagol get to work on the young Padawan. Demagol acquiesced and brought Carrick to his operating room in the back—once there, Dyre knocked Demagol unconscious. Dyre locked Demagol in a storage closet, while Carrick put the scientist's armor on and posed as Demagol while proclaiming to the captive Jedi that Carrick had died during an experiment. Not realizing the situation, an enraged Jarael attacked the false Demagol, although she relented after Zayne whispered her name and confused her. "Demagol" and Dyre began the next part of their plan, simulating a Republic attack on the station. Carrick's Snivvian friend, Marn Hierogryph, posed as a Republic admiral and sent a holomessage to Flashpoint Station, warning of an imminent attack. Hierogryph's message coincided with the remote detonation of several mining charges previously found on Vanquo, which destroyed a number of captured Republic ships around the station, along with almost all of the towers generating the station's magnetic shield.
The explosions caused a panic amongst the Mandalorians about the station, and Dyre directed them to flee on a Mandalorian-made shuttle. Dyre also told them to report to Mandalore of the Republic's new "tactic" of remotely detonating Republic ships captured by the Mandalorians—a complete lie, invented by Hierogryph. Once all the other Mandalorians had left, Carrick returned to the bunker where the Jedi were being held and revealed himself as the false Demagol, thrilling Jarael and the other prisoners. After their caper, Dyre returned to collect the fallen Demagol. However, the warrior let his guard down, and Demagol injected him with a substance that incapacitated him. Demagol switched armors with Dyre, posing as him after returning to the others, while Dyre, in Demagol's armor, was taken into Republic custody.Knights of the Old Republic 48 The Jedi prisoners and Carrick's group went their separate ways after the incident, using the rest of the mining charges to destroy Flashpoint Station entirely.
==Inhabitants==
Originally inhabited by a team of Republic scientists, by 3964 BBY, Flashpoint Station had been totally taken over by the Mandalorians. Flashpoint Station was subsequently staffed by a group of Mandalorian warriors, led by the notorious biologist Demagol. Demagol, real name Antos Wyrick, had previously studied the powers of Jedi for decades, believing the Force, as the Jedi explained it, to be a myth meant to hide the true source of their abilities. On Flashpoint Station, Demagol was assisted by an ambitious Mandalorian named Pulsipher, who disagreed with Demagol that the Force was the result of genetic modifications, instead believing that the Jedi's powers were a result of artifacts and trinkets carried by the Force wielders. The rest of the Mandalorians at the station were mostly employed as guards and assistants, charged with defending the isolated outpost and keeping the magnetic shield running—the majority found it a desolate, wretched place, some losing sleep due to Flashpoint's hour-long days.
Mandalorian crews bringing in captive Jedi also visited Flashpoint Station on occasion—the Jedi themselves were kept in the installation's entrance room, which had been outfitted with gurneys and benches. The Jedi on Flashpoint were constantly tortured, many killed by Demagol, with others perishing in futile escape attempts. One Jedi in particular, Alek—known to Demagol as "Squint"—proved himself to be exceptionally hardy, withstanding all of Demagol's most painful procedures. A well-known leader of the Revanchist movement within the Jedi Order, Alek took on something of a leadership role amongst the captured Jedi. During Zayne Carrick and Rohlan Dyre's plot to rescue the trapped Jedi, many of the Mandalorians at Flashpoint Station fled, while Demagol escaped in Dyre's armor. The Jedi were freed, detonating their former prison behind them as they left.
==Behind the scenes==
Flashpoint Stellar Research Station was first mentioned in The Taris Holofeed: Prime Edition, an in-universe news report appearing at the end of Knights of the Old Republic 0, a comic written by John Jackson Miller and released in 2006. The station made its first appearance in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: Flashpoint, a later story arc of the Knights of the Old Republic series primarily set at Flashpoint Station. The station was later mentioned in a number of Knights of the Old Republic issues, including two brief flashbacks,Knights of the Old Republic 47 as well as several reference books, including The Essential AtlasThe Essential Atlas and the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide.
==Appearances==
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*Knights of the Old Republic 8 
*Knights of the Old Republic 10
*Knights of the Old Republic 14 
*Knights of the Old Republic 15 
*Knights of the Old Republic 19 
*Knights of the Old Republic 20 
*Knights of the Old Republic 23 
*Knights of the Old Republic 26 
*Knights of the Old Republic 28 
*Knights of the Old Republic 37 
*Knights of the Old Republic 38 
*Knights of the Old Republic 42 
*Knights of the Old Republic 44 
*Knights of the Old Republic 47 
*Knights of the Old Republic 48 
*Knights of the Old Republic 49 
==Sources==
*Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Handbook
*Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide
*The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
*The Essential Atlas
*The Essential Guide to Warfare
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==Notes and references==
Category:Galactic Republic scientific facilities
Category:Outer Rim Territories structures