Klegger Corp Mining Facility

"Forget the Jedi. They do not enter into this equation [...] The base is secure. It can stand against a thousand Jedi. Ten thousand."

―General Grievous, to Nute Gunray^[7]

The Klegger Corp Mining Facility, also known simply as the Klegger Mining Facility, was the most important mining facility on the planet Mustafar until the Clone Wars. It was owned by Klegger Corporation, a subsidiary of the Techno Union. The facility served as a stronghold for the Separatist Council at the end of the Clone Wars, eventually leading to its destruction.

Description[]

The Klegger Corp Mining Facility^[5] was located on the volcanic worlds of Mustafar, not far from the city of Fralideja. The massive complex was built on the side of a mountain, overlooking a large lava river.^[4]

SWCL Mustafar — Mining facility cutaway.

The facility was the main mining plant of Klegger Corporation,^[1] a subsidiary of the Techno Union that controlled mining operations on Mustafar.^[8] It was used to mine the valuable ores contained in the lava of Mustafar. The mining facility used electromagnetic and tractor beam extraction technologies to collect liquid ores that are then treated in a giant centrifuge to extract the ore from the lava. The facility also processed lava manually collected by Mustafarians and mining droids. The mining complex also included a landing pad, a large communication area (to control all mining droids in the area) and electromagnetic interference dampers (to reduce signal loss caused by the harsh environment).^[4] In addition, the facility was equipped with deflector shields that protected the structure from the lava.^[9]

History[]

Construction[]

"You told us that Utapau would be safe for us. Why is the leadership council being moved now to Mustafar?"
"Utapau is a hostile planet under military occupation. It was never intended to be more than a stopgap while the defenses of the base on Mustafar were completed. Now that they are, Mustafar is the most secure planet in the galaxy. The stronghold prepared for you can withstand the entire Republic Navy."
"It should. Construction nearly bankrupted the Trade Federation."

―Nute Gunray and General Grievous^[7]

Complex — The Klegger Corp Mining Facility and surrounding area

The Klegger Corp Mining Facility was built some time after the rediscovery of Mustafar by the Techno Union around 300 BBY. It was then used by Klegger Corporation, the company that mined Mustafar for the Techno Union.^[8]

During the early Separatist Movement, the Separatist Council of the Confederacy of Independent System searched for a location that they could retreat to in case their goals did not go to their favor. They chose the Klegger Corp Mining Facility as the location of their secret fortress, as the planet's hostile environment was considered by them to be a defense. A Separatist command bunker was built into the mining complex and a secret droid factory was also constructed under the guise of a mining operation in the mountain over the facility. In addition, multiple concealed heavy weapons were built around it, as well.^[4] Construction of the Separatist stronghold was financed by the Trade Federation, nearly bankrupting it.^[7] The Separatist Council enlisted local Mustafarians to join the construction effort^[10] and recruited Mustafarian sentries to patrol the area.^[11] By 24 BBY, the stronghold was largely completed.^[4]

Separatist Slaughter and duel between Vader and Kenobi[]

"I am sending you to the Mustafar system in the Outer Rim. It is a volcanic planet. You will be safe there."

―General Grievous, to the Separatist Council^[3]

SeppyWarRoom-Ep3 — The Separatist Council in the Klegger Corp Mining Facility's war room.

At the end of the Clone Wars, in 19 BBY, the Separatist Council stronghold finished construction.^[7] As the war drew to a close, it served as the headquarters of the Separatist Council when they transfered to it, shortly before the death of General Grievous. When the council gathered in the bunker's war room, they were contacted by Darth Sidious, who informed them that his apprentice, Darth Vader was coming to reward them.^[7]

In actuality, Sidious had sent Vader to slaughter the council, as he had no further use for them. When Vader arrived, the ecstatic council members scrambled to greet them, but soon ran in terror as Vader sealed the doors to the war room with the Force and began killing them one by one. Although the war room had automated defenses^[7] and was guarded by both OOM-series security droids and the Neimoidian Gunnery Battalion, Vader was not hindered at all by them. The last surviving member of the council, Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray pleaded with Vader to let him live, but he ignored him and slashed him across the chest with his lightsaber, killing the last of the Confederacy of Independent System's leadership.^[3]

Mission-to-Mustafar — Darth Vader slaughters the Separatist Council.

Afterwards, Vader contacted Sidious, who ordered him to send a shutoff order to the ships of the CIS from the war room, effectively ending the Clone Wars. As Vader did so, he noticed the ship of his wife, Padmé Amidala, arriving on the facility's landing platform. When he went outside to meet her, he realized that his former master, Obi-Wan Kenobi had snuck aboard the ship and was standing at the top of its entry ramp. Believing Amidala had brought Kenobi there to kill him, Vader choked her with the Force and engaged Kenobi in a lightsaber duel.^[3]

AnakinAndObiWanFightInTheWarRoom — Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader fighting in the mining facility.

The duel wound its way into the war room and briefly into a nearby conference room, before going back into the war room. The two attempted to push each other with the Force at the same time, causing an air pocket to expand outwards fast, knocking them to either side of the room. Vader quickly got up and jumped across a holoprojector table in the middle of the room, attempting to strike at Kenobi, but the Jedi Master redirected his lightsaber with his own, and they both went through a console attached to the wall. This caused the shields protecting the mining facility to turn off, exposing the facility to the harsh environment. The facility immediately began getting covered in lava and the two duelists moved out onto a nearby catwalk, before jumping onto a narrow pipe. The entire time, the two had continued dueling, and were now attempting to keep their balance. Kenobi eventually dropped to a collection arm, along with Vader, not long after. Behind them, lava shot up from the river below and landed on the arm, while bits of magma started raining down, forcing the two to take cover behind a structure at the end of the arm. The weight of the lava became too much and the arm broke loose from the mining facility. Kenobi and Vader ran back up the arm and grabbed onto it when it rotated ninety degrees as it fell into the lava, the structure on the end keeping it afloat. The two continued climbing up the arm and occasionally slashing at each other as the arm floated down the river, away from the mining facility. Eventually, the duel came to an end, with Kenobi severing Vader's legs and left arm, leaving him for dead at the banks of the river.^[3]

Meanwhile, Amidala's protocol droid, C-3PO and Vader's astromech droid, R2-D2, managed to get Amidala safely onboard. Kenobi returned to the facility, boarded her ship and left. Not too long after, Sidious, having sensed Vader was in danger, landed in his shuttle at the mining facility's landing platform and, with two clone troopers, rescued Vader, taking him back to Coruscant.^[3]

Later history[]

"We have been the biggest supplier of raw metals and minerals ever since Klegger Corp went bust just before the end of the Clone Wars. Something happened to their main plant...not sure what, but most of it ended up falling into the lava pool. They just never recovered from that incident and we took over."

―Foreman Chivos, about Mensix Corp^[1]

As the shields protecting the facility were deactivated during the duel, the building was exposed to the hash environment. A geyser of lava dropped molten rock on one of the outrigger collection arms of the facility that collapsed and plunged into the lava river.^[9] The mining facility was thus severely damaged and most of its functions were destroyed. The mining complex was eventually abandoned^[2] by Klegger Corp, who never recovered from the incident^[1] and was left bankrupt.^[5] For two months, it was not known what had happened to the members of the Separatist Council, as Sidious, newly-christened the Emperor of the galaxy, used the public speculation that they were still alive to galvanize the Imperial military.^[source?] A salvage team eventually traveled to the facility and found the remains of the Separatist leaders executed by Vader.^[12] Their deaths had caused the war room to become a nexus of the dark side of the Force.^[source?]

BF Mustafar 5 — The 501st Legion storms the facility.

Some time later, Gizor Dellso, a Separatist holdout leader, established his base-of-operations in the former Separatist fortress of the Klegger Corp Mining Facility.^[10] Dellso also activated the secret droid foundry^[6] hidden within the mountain overhanging the mining facility.^[4] By countermanding the droid deactivation signal, he was able to produce a private droid army to resist the Galactic Empire. With the assistance of other Geonosians, he also developed schematics for a prototype infantry droid. stormtroopers of the Imperial 501st Legion were soon sent to Mustafar to crush Dellso's uprising. After the Separatist leader was killed, the mining facility was caught in the Imperial orbital bombardment which destroyed the droid factory.^[6]

Old Mining Facility — The ruins of the Klegger mining facility during the Galactic Civil War

At some point after the end of the Clone Wars, Mensix Corp replaced the Klegger Corporation as the dominant mining company on Mustafar^[5] and built its own mining facility not far from the ruins of the Klegger Corp Mining Facility.^[13] The Mensix Mining Facility was nearly an exact replica of the old Klegger facility^[12] and was built using the same technology.^[5] After the Battle of Yavin, during the Galactic Civil War, many spacers explored the ruins of the old Klegger Corp mining complex.^[2] One of them once collected a HK-47 Carbine there.^[14]