Centerpoint Station

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.

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"We failed to rap their heads — the arrival of the Corellian fleet prevented that — but we did take their giant blaster away."

―Cal Omas^[src]

Centerpoint Station, known to the Killiks as Qolaraloq or the World Puller, was an ancient space station that was capable of moving entire planets with its tractor beams. It was created by the Thuruht hive c. 100,000 BBY; this would make it perhaps one of the oldest artifacts known to the Jedi in the Yuuzhan Vong War era.^[source?]

Description

Centerpoint Station contained within its colossal bulk an extremely intricate collection of ultra-high energy systems. The best minds in the galaxy had been studying, mapping, and pondering the workings of this mechanical leviathan for ages, but there were still gaping holes in the understanding of its key processes.

Nebulon-B Frigate — A Nebulon-B frigate in the Corellian system with Centerpoint Station in the distance

What had actually been discovered was that the system was capable of generating huge amounts of nuclear, magnetic, electric, tractor beam, and hyperspace power for use in a type of "hyperspace tractor beam." Centerpoint Station was able to project this powerful tractor beam through a hyperspace path at any target. It was capable of 'gripping' an object as large as a star and then just as easily able to move the target object anywhere within its considerable operational range. The station could also harness this power for the actual destruction of stars and planets, collapsing their cores through massive gravitational fluxes.

The powerful hyperspace tractor beam arrays consisted of huge conelike structures within the station surrounded by six smaller cones. During the system's operation, this specifically designed geometric array acted as the source of the beam's power.

With a width of 100 kilometers and length of 350 kilometers, it was larger than the first Death Star. From a distance, it appeared as a huge partially translucent sphere with two small cylindrical poles facing Talus and Tralus. The interior consisted of a hollowed area known as Hollowtown that was, at one point, inhabited, as well as the station's immensely powerful tractor beam arrays. The station was built before the invention of artificial gravity, so it rotated to simulate gravity.

In actuality, Hollowtown and the Glowpoint, an artificial sun-like spot at its center, was the power source for the station and its mysterious one-time inhabitants and builders.

A smaller station of similar design existed within the The Maw, dubbed Sinkhole Station by its inhabitants.

History

Origins and re-discovery

CenterpointConstruction — Centerpoint Station under construction

In the year 44 ABY, the Jedi Raynar Thul, Lowbacca, and Tekli met with the Thuruht Killik hive. Thuruht allowed them to see the hive's Histories, which revealed that the Killiks had in fact created Centerpoint—which they called "Qolaraloq"—with the power of the Force. The Thuruht hive, along with dozens of other hives, created Centerpoint under the instruction of the Son and the Daughter, whom the Killiks knew as the Architects. By joining the hive mind, the siblings gave the Killiks the strength in the Force to construct the station. Using the Force, the Killiks extracted and smelted ore from asteroids, as well as moved themselves throughout space without any other means of propulsion. According to the Thuruht, Centerpoint was built (along with Sinkhole Station, the inner workings of Kessel, and the Maw itself) to contain their "Mother", the being known as Abeloth—whom the Killiks would come to call the Bringer of Chaos.^[1]

This revelation disproved the previous speculation by many species that the Killiks had simply absorbed one of Centerpoint's designers into their collective mind and brought the memory of the creation of Centerpoint into the fold of the hive-minded species. In fact, this theory was partially right - the Son and the Daughter had become Joiners in order to direct the construction, and to give the Killiks the Force abilities necessary to create it. Once their task was complete, the Ones left the hivemind and took their power in the Force with them.^[1]

Eons before the establishment of the Republic, Centerpoint Station was used to move the planets of the Corellian system—Corellia, Selonia, Drall, Talus, and Tralus—to their current locations. After that job, the structure remained at a lagrangian point between the two worlds of Talus and Tralus, and it generated power from their gravity well projectors.

When Corellians explored space and their system, they also discovered the Centerpoint Station being there from the dawn of time. Although they studied and inhabited it, the Station remained a mystery to them with an unknown purpose. It was never determined that the Station was made to be inhabited, however the Glowpoint provided light and warm environment to the interior and made it acceptable as any fertile planet. For generations, colonists inhabited the Station with homes, parks, lakes, orchards, and farmland, creating the Hollowtown.

Later history

Sometime following the Battle of Yavin in 0 BBY, the librarian at the Theed library on Naboo asked a spacer a number of questions, and Centerpoint Station was the subject of one of them. Around this time, the Galactic Empire also stole a Rebel blockade runner, packed it with explosives, and set it on a collision course with Centerpoint Station. In doing so, they hoped the Rebel Alliance would be viewed as both foolish and dangerous, and that it would force the hands of Rebel sympathizers. However, Rebel spies learned of the plan, and Master Sergeant Crowley oversaw a group of Rebel agents who successfully destroyed the corvette before it could reach its destination.^[2]

During the Corellian Crisis in 18 ABY, it was discovered that the unique tractor beam system could be used as a weapon; a weapon capable of destroying entire stars, making it at least as powerful as the Sun Crusher. In this crisis, Thrackan Sal-Solo intended to use the station to force entire star systems into submission and restore the Imperial system. After a gripping battle that rocked the Corellian system and very nearly dragged the New Republic down, the "Starbuster Plot" was averted.

File:CorellianIncident.JPG

Centerpoint Station is fired during the Corellian Crisis

Hollowtown was incinerated by the Glowpoint when the Sacorrian Triad used the Station to supernova their first star. The few survivors returned to their planets.

A few years later during the Yuuzhan Vong War, Anakin Solo refused to use Centerpoint Station to destroy an entire Yuuzhan Vong fleet in the Battle of Fondor, so Thrackan Sal-Solo did instead; however, his aim was off, resulting in the destruction of not only half of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, but nearly three quarters of the allied Hapan fleet as well.

Second Galactic Civil War

In 40 ABY, Centerpoint Station was once again used as a weapon, but this time it was the Corellian people who took up arms within its massive walls. But their way would not be easy, as the station was controlled by a droid that Thrackan Sal-Solo had programmed to make itself believe it was Anakin Solo. Ben Skywalker was able to disable the station by making the droid, who then referred to itself as "Anakin Sal-Solo," realize the truth of its existence. It was damaged by Galactic Alliance forces at the end of the Blockade of Corellia, giving hope that this weapon would never again be used to obliterate neighboring worlds.

Despite the desire for peace, images of Centerpoint Station would be displayed on clothing items worn by Corellians to show their dedication to their homeworld's cause.

It took little time for Centerpoint to be again operational after being damaged by the Galactic Alliance. The weapon was fired under Five World Prime Minister Sadras Koyan's initiative in order to wipe out Jacen Solo and the Galactic Alliance Second Fleet. Solo managed to survive the assault, although the Second Fleet was not to be so fortunate. He later returned to Centerpoint at the head of a task force to capture the station for use against the Confederation.

Seeing that the balance of power would tip greatly in favor of anyone who possessed its enormous destructive force, Grand Master Luke Skywalker and the New Jedi Order carried out a raid upon the station in order to finally destroy it. Jedi Master Kyp Durron led the raid, with Toval Seyah, a Galactic Alliance scientist and former spy who had worked on the station in the past. Seyah was able to modify Centerpoint's galactic data reserves in such a way that all coordinates in the galaxy were altered to become those of the station.

During the pitched battle between Confederation and Galactic Alliance forces, a technician named Rikel, who had lost his wife on the galactic capital of Coruscant to the Galactic Alliance Guard, was left in charge of the station's fire-control chamber. He tried to set the coordinates to target Coruscant itself, and therefore set the targeting coordinates to [0, 0, 0]. But Centerpoint's aim coordinates were relative to itself, and when he fired Centerpoint, the massive construction targeted itself. The resulting gravitic pulse detonated the station, wiping all traces of the enigmatic structure from the system, killing all on board, and destroying countless vessels in its blast radius.

As a result of Centerpoint's destruction, Sinkhole Station in the Maw began to malfunction. This caused the shell of black holes that composed the Maw to begin to slide apart, creating a "crack" in the otherwise complete shell of black holes. This then allowed Abeloth to reach out from the Maw, which seemed to have blocked her influence when it was intact (as Abeloth was previously only able to influence those within the Maw, such as the Jedi younglings at Shelter). According to Thuruht, the destruction of Centerpoint was a direct result of Jacen Solo's attempt to change what he saw in his vision at the Pool of Knowledge. By trying to change the future, Jacen apparently altered the Current of the Force and unleashed Abeloth—the Celestial embodiment of Chaos.