Bothawui

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"Yeah, well, a lot of spying goes on. And Bothawui is one of the more active hubs for operatives from around the galaxy. The Empire has its own spies here; so does the Alliance, and they've all pretty much decided to let the place be neutral territory."

―Dash Rendar^[src]

Bothawui (pronunciation (help·info)) was a cosmopolitan planet, located in the center of Bothan Space in the Mid Rim. It was the homeworld of the Bothan race as well as a major hub for information trafficking. It was also the center of the Bothan Spynet, widely agreed upon to be the best network of information gathering in the the galaxy. The Imperial name for the planet was Bothawui Proper.

Description

Bothawui was the third planet from the star Both in the Bothan system,^[4] located in the Bothan sector of the Mid Rim region of the galaxy^[1] at the intersection of the Bothan Run, the Kaaga Run, the Manda Merchant Route, and the Reena Trade Route.^[6] It was a terrestrial world with a breathable atmosphere, a temperate climate,^[7] and three moons. Its terrain consisted of mountains and ridges separated by deep, wide valleys inhabited by dangerous wildlife,^[5] as well as plains, forests, and urban areas.^[7] The planet had a rotational period of 27 standard hours and an orbital period of 351 local days, and a diameter of 9,000 kilometers.^[4]

Bothese was one of the languages from which Basic developed. The Bothans colonized many nearby worlds, such as Kothlis, and Bothawui became the capital of the Bothan sector. The Bothan Spynet also dated back to the days of the old Republic.^[12]

Bothawui was home to both industry and grain farms. The planet was mined for indigenous ores such as lidium.

History

Early history

Bothawui joined the Galactic Republic sometime between 17,000 BBY and 12,000 BBY.^[13] In 11,198 BBY, the planet was victim of the Twenty-Third Pius Dea Crusade.^[13]

Old Sith Wars

"The Republic fleet obliterated the Imperial squadron, and the Battle of Bothawui became the Republic's first major victory in the war."

―Jedi Master Gnost-Dural —

Listen (file info)^[src]

During the Great Sith War, Krath came from Lannik and fought a battle on the planet, from which they moved to New Cov and Manda.^[3]

File:1st battle of Bothawui GGW.JPG

The First Battle of Bothawui during the Great Galactic War saw the destruction of a Sith Imperial fleet.

During the turbulent time of the Great Galactic War, the galaxy faced a deadly threat in the form of the resurgent Sith Empire which began conquering system after system. In 3671 BBY, after a string of victories in the Outer Rim, the Sith turned their attentions to the Both system with the intention of conquering it. This culminated in the First Battle of Bothawui, when a squadron of Imperial warships attempted to conquer the planet, but they were ambushed by Republic forces, who achieved their first victory in the Great Galactic War. ^[11]

Fortifying the planet with a planetary shield generator, the Republic left a garrison force of 84 Jedi Knights and 4,000 Republic soldiers led by Jedi Master Belth Allusis to protect the world which they did from a renewed Sith attack who deployed 50,000 soldiers to take the Bothan homeworld. It was only the heroic sacrifices of hundreds of Jedi Knights and Republic soldiers who fought against impossible odds. The Republic defenders were killed in the struggle, but the losses they placed on the Sith Empire forced the enemy to retreat.^[11]

Clone Wars

Battle of Bothawui TCW — On his way to conquer Bothawui, Grievous got no further than the rings of Golm.

In the years preceding the Clone Wars, the planet was represented in the Galactic Senate by Polo Se'lab. Thanks to his efforts, Bothawui attempted to remain neutral during the Clone Wars and refused to begin any kind of open warfare.^[14]

Despite its neutrality, a battle took place in the Both system, with General Grievous attempting to invade the planet. The Republic forces on the ground were tired out after hard combat, when a fleet of Munificent-class star frigates entered the system to reinforce their own troops. Anakin Skywalker used a strategy for stopping them that saw AT-TE walkers deployed on local asteroids in the rings of the gas giant Golm, ambushing the warships from behind. The Munificent's unshielded sterns were bombarded and the battle ended with a win for the Republic.^[15]^[16]

Galactic Civil War

While officially a part of the Empire during the Galactic Civil War, the Imperials maintained little presence on the planet, apparently having decided that the world was little threat. A figure-head governor and a small contingent of stormtroopers was the only outward sign that the world was under supposedly Imperial governorship. During the early years of the conflict, Imperial Security Bureau Agent Mar Barezz intercepted Rebel agent Tiree at Mesa 291 on Bothawui while Tiree was recruiting support for the Rebel Alliance, but failed to capture or kill him.

Both the Imperial and Rebel Alliance intelligence services apparently decided to let the planet serve as neutral ground, where they could both spy on one another with no open conflict.

Luke Skywalker and Dash Rendar on Bothawui in 3.5 ABY.

Despite its neutrality, upon learning that Bothan spies had acquired the Death Star plans and given them to rogue Imperial Moff Kalast, who in turn delivered them to the Rebels, Emperor Palpatine traveled to Bothawui with two Royal Guards. The Emperor personally slaughtered hundreds of Bothans. Learning from one begging for his life that the plans were to arrive at Tatooine, Palpatine dispatched his servant, Darth Vader, to the Tatoo system to retrieve them.^[17]

Shortly before the Battle of Endor in 3.5 ABY, the Bothan SpyNet and its leader, Koth Melan, discovered evidence revealing that the Empire was transporting a freighter supposedly carrying fertilizer from Coruscant to Bothawui, which, in fact, was transporting a closely guarded computer core containing plans to a top secret Imperial construction project. Luke Skywalker, along with Dash Rendar, traveled to Bothawui to aid in the capture of the plans.^[18]

Accompanied by Rendar in his YT-2400 light freighter, the Outrider, and twelve BTL-S3 Y-wing starfighters piloted by eleven Bothans sympathetic to the Rebellion and Alliance pilot Ace Azzameen, Skywalker, in his personal X-wing, led an attack to intercept the freighter as it exited hyperspace on the fringes of the Both system. When the squadron intercepted the freighter, named the Suprosa, and demanded its surrender, the ship unveiled its heavy armaments and shields. Before Skywalker and Azzameen could disable the ship, the freighter had destroyed six of the Y-wings. After the computer was secured, it was taken to the Bothan colony world of Kothlis where a special team would attempt to decrypt it.^[18]

After a series of conflicts with the Imperial Navy immediately thereafter, the plans were finally delivered to the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser Independence, where it was revealed that the plans were the construction details to a new, more powerful Death Star. It would turn out that the Emperor had intentionally allowed the plans to fall into the hands of the Alliance in order to lead them into a trap at the Death Star II construction site over the Sanctuary Moon of Endor, where he would finally attempt to destroy them once and for all.

Post-Civil War eras

The planet was a founding member of the New Republic, although long represented only indirectly by Senator Borsk Fey'lya of Kothlis. When Fey'lya was elected President of the New Republic, Bothawui was again represented directly in the Senate by Mak Sezala.

During the Caamas Document Crisis, Bothawui was the subject of many anti-Bothan riots. Leia Organa Solo and Han Solo were caught up in one of these attacks at a record center. Han was blamed for killing one of the rioters, though it was really an Imperial agent.^[8]

As the crisis escalated, General Garm Bel Iblis was stationed over the planet. When he and the New Republic task force had to leave, the General left Corran Horn and Wedge Antilles to guard the planet's shield generator from anticipated subterfuge. The duo met with Moranda Savich, an employee of Talon Karrde, who was also attempting to stop such an attempt. The trio was only somewhat successful, as the Imperial Intelligence team led by Drend Navett managed to bring down the shields, resulting in a battle at Bothawui.^[9]

During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Bothawui and the other worlds of Bothan Space were protected by the Fifth Fleet of the New Republic Defense Fleet. This kept the Fifth Fleet out of much of the actual fighting, as Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya wanted to make sure that his home sector was safe. Still, the Bothan people served in the war in many roles, from soldiers and naval officers in the Defense Force to intelligence operatives. Their most notable contribution to the war was the famed Bothan Assault Cruiser, a powerful warship that served in New Republic fleet and later the Galactic Alliance Navy. In 26 ABY, Kyp's Dozen moved to protect the planet following the Battle of Ithor.

The world was an important member of the Galactic Alliance, though extreme fundamentalist views of some Bothans in regards to the defeated Yuuzhan Vong would cause some friction. In 40 ABY, although originally hesitant to ally with Corellia in the Second Galactic Civil War, Jacen Solo's mass assassination of Bothans on Coruscant caused them to prepare three cruiser fleets for Corellian service. The Galactic Alliance was quick to dispatch a scout screen to the planet in order to monitor the fleets. However, Sith Lady Lumiya not only persuaded intelligence chief Tathak K'roylan that the GA had conclusively been behind and backed the assassinations, but also arranged for the scout screen to be disabled. The Bothans were able to send their fleets to Corellia and there they helped break the blockade. Following this outbreak of hostilities, Bothawui became a founding member of the Confederation. Following the end of the Second Galactic Civil War Bothawui rejoined the Galactic Alliance; in 43.5 ABY, Tiurrg Drey'lye was a senator representing the Bothan sector as well as being the head of the Senate Unification Preparations Committee for the Unification Summit.

In the Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire many Bothans with influence on Bothawui were offered prestigious positions within the new Empire, to ensure their loyalty to the new order. Imperial Intelligence operated closely within the Bothan Spynet, gathering information and looking for any sign of treason from its members.^[19]

Behind the scenes

In earlier sources, Bothawui was only known as Bothan's Planet or even as Bothan^[20].

In the Legacy of the Force novel Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice Bothawui is misspelled Bothuwai several times.

The PC game Star Wars: Rebellion mistakenly places Bothawui in the Sluis sector of the Core Worlds. The Sluis sector is actually located in the Outer Rim Territories.