Medical and science research tower

The medical and science research tower, or simply the medical tower, was a section of the Galactic Republic space station Starlight Beacon that housed the station's medcenter. The tower was capable of supporting life, including those under medical care, for a short time independently of the rest of Starlight Beacon. The tower included an admissions facility with a receiving room, beds for patients, and a contingent of pill droids that could charge in the tower. It was stocked with medical supplies and food rations, and was equipped with hovergurneys and medical shuttles. Sentient staff also worked in the tower, including medics. People from all over the more remote Outer Rim came to Starlight Beacon for medical care, especially during the Nihil attacks on nearby planets.

When Starlight Beacon was attacked by Nihil and split into two sections, the medical tower remained attached to the bottom half of the station, although normal access to the tower from the main station was blocked by debris and emergency air locks after the explosion. The tower was reduced to emergency power and communications were cut off. A medical cruiser from the nearby planet Eiram arrived outside the tower, but it had no way to dock or communicate with those inside. Padawans Bell Zettifar and Burryaga Agaburry were able to use a maintenance shaft to access the main station, but it was not a viable way to move patients to the cargo bay and off the damaged Starlight Beacon.

Zettifar devised a plan to detach the medical tower and use the tower's internal air locks as a makeshift docking bay. He caused a small explosion at the weakest point of its jointure to the main station, sealing off three air locks between him and the bomb. After the tower successfully detached, the medical cruiser was able to use its tractor beam to dock with the free-floating tower, and all the patients inside were transferred to the cruiser.

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