Narthex

Narthex was the moon of Catadra, a planet in the Deep Core's Cerberon system. Having once been inhabited, Narthex had been unpopulated for nearly a millennium, and the moon was overrun with dirkweed brambles.
Following the Battle of Endor, a group of Imperials resided in a hideout on Narthex. After the Imperials bought the kidnapped New Republic Intelligence agent Caern Adan, they were killed by New Republic pilot Yrica Quell, who rescued Adan from Narthex.
==Description==
Located in the Cerberon system of the Deep Core, Narthex was the sole moon of the planet Catadra, which orbited the Cerberon singularity black hole. A terrestrial moon with mesa terrain, Narthex had a breathable atmosphere. The moon was home to a fast-growing crystalline bramble known as dirkweed, the slate-blue hue of which appeared to tinge the atmosphere as if the moon was obscured by smoke.
==History==
Almost a millennium prior to the time of the Galactic Empire, Narthex hosted inhabitants. Eventually, the moon became uninhabited, and its structures and terrain were overrun by dirkweed. In 5 ABY, following the Empire's defeat at the Battle of Endor, the New Republic initiated a campaign to capture the Cerberon system. By that time, Narthex was home to a unit of Imperials that were on the run, residing in an abandoned observatory. An Aleena on Catadra regularly relayed in-system data to the Imperial hideout on Narthex.
After the Imperial unit on Narthex returned from an operation near the black hole, they purchased the recently-kidnapped New Republic Intelligence agent Caern Adan, interrogating him in their hideout. After discovering the nature of Adan's buyers and learning of the Aleena's communications, the New Republic pilots Yrica Quell and Nath Tensent, accompanied by Adan's droid, IT-O, traveled to Narthex in a freighter, approaching the moon covertly before landing half a kilometer from the observatory.
After Quell disabled the perimeter alarms around the observatory, Tensent incapacitated the stormtrooper patrolling outside. Quell attached an explosive to the door and threw a cyclo-dioxis canister down the observatory's telescope. After the explosive detonated when a stormtrooper attempted to open the door, Quell entered the observatory, killing the other Imperials inside. Tensent flew their freighter closer to the observatory, and the two rescued Adan, who was unconscious but alive, before departing from Narthex.
==Inhabitants==
Narthex once had a population, though by the time of the New Republic's campaign in Cerberon, the moon was no longer inhabited aside from an Imperial unit that resided there. The unit consisted of at least seven members, who were malnourished and dehydrated from being on the run with little supplies.
==Locations==
An ancient observatory on Narthex was utilized as a hideout by a group of Imperials. A bunker embedded in the crumbling top of a mesa, the observatory was overrun with dirkweed by the time of its occupation by the Imperial unit.
==Behind the scenes==
Narthex appeared in the 2020 novel Shadow Fall, written by Alexander Freed.
==Appearances==
*Shadow Fall 
==Sources==
*Star Wars: Timelines
==Notes and references==
Category:Cerberon system
Category:Deep Core moons
Category:Rocky moons