Skytop Station

Skytop Station was a repurposed Trade Federation core ship and battlesphere that was operated by the Hyper-Communications Cartel. During the Clone Wars, it served as a listening post for the Confederacy of Independent Systems. In 22 BBY, the astromech droid R2-D2 was captured by General Grievous, who hoped to dissect the astromech in order to extract Republic secrets that were embedded within his memory core. The Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his apprentice Ahsoka Tano infiltrated the station in order to rescue the droid. Their mission successful, they proceeded to destroy the station.
==Description==
Located within the upper atmosphere of the second moon of the planet Ruusan, in the Teraab sector's Ruusan system of the Mid Rim, Skytop Station was initially a Trade Federation core ship and battlesphere manufactured and operated by both the Federation and the Hyper-Communications Cartel, and was modified into a listening post by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Unlike other core ships, the station was equipped with several large antennae which protruded from both the top and bottom of the station's hull, and was kept alfoat through the assistance of reactor-powered repulsorlift generators. The reactors themselves were protected by a ray shielded blast door.
Inside, the station contained a disassembly chamber used to dismantle droids, as well as a room used to store spare battle droid components. There were also several hangar bays within the station, which maintained enough space for squadrons of Vulture-class droid starfighters from the 88th Flight, of which were hung from ceiling-mounted recharge racks, and Rogue-class Porax-38 starfighters. The bay doors were controlled by interface terminals situated on the inside and outside of the station along a maintenance catwalk, which were accessible by an astromech droid. Furthermore, the station's delicate sensor suites were operated by Aqualish technicians in a dimly lit room near the disassembly chamber.
==History==
===Republic confirmation===
In 22 BBY, during the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, Skytop Station and its intercepted transmissions were used by the Separatist General Grievous in order to both ambush and destroy Republic fleets. Sometime later, Republic Intelligence officers were able to confirm that the Separatists were utilizing a secret listening post to launch the attacks. With the station's existence confirmed, Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi tasked Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, with locating and destroying the station.
Sometime later, during a scouting mission to sweep an area of suspected Separatist space, Skywalker was ambushed by two Munificent-class frigates after his location was revealed by the Separatist spy droid R3-S6, who was serving as Skywalker's astromech following the loss of R2-D2 at the Battle of Bothawui. However, despite the belief that he was destroyed, R2 was taken captive by the Trandoshan scavenger Gha Nachkt, who planned to sell the droid to Grievous. While en route to Skytop Station to deliver the droid, R2 was able to transmit his position to Skywalker, who received the signal after his rescue from the Separatist frigates by his Padawan and Clone Captain CT-7567, tracking the signal to the listening post.
===Mission to Skytop Station===
Arriving on the station, Nachkt and R2 met with Grievous in a surveillance room, who ordered the Trandoshan to bring the astromech to the disassembly chamber, where he was to be dismantled and searched for any Republic information. However, as Nachkt dissected R2, Skywalker, Tano, and a squad of clone troopers from the 501st Legion soon arrived in the system in their G9 Rigger-class light freighter, the Twilight, and followed the captured astromech's signal to the upper atmosphere of one of the three moons, where they contacted Kenobi and explained that they had located the listening post, who ordered them to sneak aboard and destroy the station. Free falling onto the station, Skywalker used his lightsaber to create an opening in the station's roof, splitting up after entering; Skywalker going to search for R2, while his Padawan and the clones left to plant explosives in the station's reactor.
After Nachkt dismantled R2, the Trandoshan discovered that his memory banks had not been erased and still possessed secret Republic information, and expected a greater payment than before as a result, but was instead forewent as the Kaleesh impaled the scavenger. Afterwards, R3 informed Grievous that the Republic had infiltrated the station, which prompted the general to put the station on high alert, as well as order a group of IG-100 MagnaGuards to bring the R2 unit to his ship, while he left to confront the Jedi. With the station on alert, Tano and her squad were kept from completing their mission as a ray shield was lowered over the doors to the reactor room, prompting the Togruta to order R3 to lower the shields. As the droid deactivated the shield, a squad of battle droids approached their position, trapping Tano and her troops in a brief crossfire, but were able to defeat the droids using EMP grenades. Despite having defeated the droids, the Republic squad was engaged by Grievous shortly after, losing all but Captain Rex, the clone trooper Denal, and Tano, who lured the Kaleesh away into a nearby room to allow the two clones to complete the mission.
===Destruction of Skytop Station===
Elsewhere, Skywalker, who had managed to locate his droid, caught up with and destroyed the MagnaGuards escorting the astromech, and then proceeded to make their way to the station's south landing bay, where they were to meet with Tano and the others. However, Rex and Denal rendezvoused with Skywalker in the landing bay after completing their mission, where they explained that Tano had engaged Grievous and broke off from the group. Skywalker, attempting to locate his Padawan, was locked within the landing bay alongside the two troopers by R3-S6, who then activated three vulture droids, forcing the Jedi and the clones into a battle with the droids. During the battle, R2-D2 attempted to open the bay doors from an external port on a maintenance catwalk, but was chased and hindered by R3-S6.
As the fight continued, Skywalker ordered Rex to detonate the explosives, and despite the fact that they were still inside, complied with his orders, crippling the station's repulsorlift generators and its structure as flames erupted from the lower hemisphere in the resulting explosion. Meanwhile, Tano, who had been captured by Grievous, used the explosion as a distraction and escape the general through one of the station's air ducts, and soon joined the others in the hangar bay, while the Kaleesh fled the doomed core ship in his starfighter, Soulless One. With the station plummeting into the atmosphere, R2 was able to open the bay doors and allow the two Jedi and clones to escape the hangar onto the Twilight, while Skywalker briefly returned to the station in his starfighter to retrieve the astromech shortly before the station's destruction.
==Commanders and crew==
Skytop Station was staffed and protected by battle droids of various different models that served aboard the battlesphere, including IG-100 MagnaGuards, B1-series and B2-series super battle droids, as well as the 631 model of the B1 line. Due to the station's position in the atmosphere, the droids stationed aboard suffered corrosion to their servomotors as a result of the moisture from the moon's atmosphere.
The station's sensor systems were monitored and controlled by Aqualish technicians. At some point during the war, Skytop Station was placed under the command of General Grievous, the Supreme Martial Commander of the Separatist Droid Armies, who utilized the station's extensive surveillance systems to intercept Republic transmissions and use it as a means of launching ambushes against their fleets, but was later destroyed while under the general's command.
==Behind the scenes==
Skytop Station first appeared in the opening newsreel of "Ambush," the first episode of the animated television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars first season, which aired on October 3, 2008. The station later made its full appearance in the first season's seventh episode "Duel of the Droids," which aired on November 14 of that same year, and was later identified in the episodic guide for "Duel of the Droids."
==Appearances==
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==Sources==
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*Ultimate Star Wars
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*Star Wars: Galactic Atlas
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*Rise of the Separatists
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==Notes and references==
Category:Confederacy of Independent Systems military bases
Category:Confederacy of Independent Systems space stations
Category:Core ships
Category:Listening posts
Category:Teraab sector