Nebulon Ranger

The Nebulon Ranger was a modified Coruscant-class Heavy Courier starship that belonged to Jedi Knight Cay Qel-Droma. Originally an ordinary space transport, the Ranger was modified extensively by Qel-Droma, who transformed it into what he considered a very trustworthy vessel. In 4000 BBY, Qel-Droma, his brother Ulic, and the Twi'lek Tott Doneeta were sent to the world of Onderon by Jedi Master Arca Jeth to bring peace to the long-lasting Beast Wars planetary conflict. After traveling across the galaxy to the Inner Rim world, the three Jedi were enlisted to retrieve Onderonian Queen Amanoa's kidnapped daughter. In the search for the missing Princess over the planet's forests, the Nebulon Ranger was shot down by a seeker-torpedo fired by the Beast Riders, a group of exiled dissidents fighting Onderon's monarchy. The damage was repairable and after discovering that Princess Galia had staged the kidnapping with the Beast Riders to escape the monarchy's use of the dark side, the Jedi joined the Beast Riders' side. Once fully repaired, the Ranger headed for the capital city of Iziz with the intention of negotiating for peace. Although Amanoa rejected the occupant's overtures, she and her army were ultimately defeated in the final battle of the Beast Wars, during which the Nebulon Ranger saw minimal action.

The Nebulon Ranger experienced continued service over the next several years, including an errand to bring Vultan Jedi Oss Wilum to Onderon in 3998 BBY. The following year, the Ranger was involved in a mission to the planet Empress Teta. Ulic Qel-Droma had gone undercover in the Krath, a dark-side sect that had taken control of the Empress Teta system. However, after worries that Qel-Droma was in too deep, the Ranger transported Cay Qel-Droma, Tott Doneeta, and fellow Jedi Nomi Sunrider to Empress Teta, where Sunrider descended in an escape pod, hoping that she could find a way to contact Ulic on the planet below. However, when she was forced to escape from a Krath prison, Cay and Doneeta swooped in on the Ranger, blasting attacking Krath soldiers and rescuing Sunrider. Despite their best efforts, Ulic ultimately refused to join them, and by 3996 BBY, had become a full-fledged Sith under the tutelage of Dark Lord of the Sith Exar Kun. Together they waged war against the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order, and after the Battle of Kemplex Nine caused a supernova in the Cron Cluster; the shock wave from the nova headed directly toward the Jedi academy world of Ossus. During the scramble to salvage as much Jedi knowledge as possible before the shock wave hit, Ulic Qel-Droma and Exar Kun descended upon Ossus in order to steal Jedi artifacts for their own purposes. Their arrival was noticed by Cay, who went up in the Nebulon Ranger in order to meet his brother. However, things escalated, and the Nebulon Ranger ended up getting shot down after a dogfight between the two brothers. Several hours later, the shock wave destroyed the remains of the Ranger.

Text and facts from the “Nebulon Ranger” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.