The Separatist’s greatest starfighter pilot during the Clone Wars was a man named Tofen
Vane, who not only was one of the most talented pilots of his generation, but also an exceptionally
skilled engineer, having constructed one of the most advanced starfighters of the war.
Just to give you an idea of how good Tofen was as a pilot, he once led a small force
of starfighters against an entire Republic fleet on his own.
During this space battle, Tofen had his starfighters focus on the enemy cruiser’s bridges, having
them weaken their shields, while he alone went against the clone starfighters, wiping
them all out.
When he finally engaged the Jedi starfighter leading the Republic fleet, he not only bested
the Jedi pilot, but hooked the disabled Delta-class interceptor with a harpoon from his own ship
and flew it right into the weakened bridge of the Republic cruiser, destroying both in
the process and sending a message to the rest of the galaxy that even Jedi pilots were no
match for him.
Although he brought destruction to the Republic navy everywhere he went, he was viewed as
a Hero to most of the galaxy as he primarily chose to only fight the Republic fleet that
harassed neutral planets, making Tofen being viewed as a liberator to those worlds he saved.
But despite his rise to fame as a Galactic Hero, his initial anger toward the Republic
came from deception.
Before the prominent rise of Tofen Vane, the Clone Wars split the Galaxy into three main
factions: Planets that remained loyal to the Republic, worlds that joined the Separatists,
and those that remained neutral from both sides.
Although planets that remained neutral were largely left alone by the Republic at the
beginning of the war, that stance quickly changed once the Republic learned that many
neutral worlds were trading with the Separatists, including selling them weapons and other goods
vital for the war effort.
One of these neutral planets that were trading arms to the Separatists was Valahari, a notably
wealthy planet in the Outer Rim that had great influence over many of the other neutral planets
within nearby systems, and also one that was known to provide incredibly powerful starfighters
that Valahari was famous for producing.
Originally hoping to end these trade agreements with the Separatists in a peaceful manner,
the Republic sent both Anakin and Obi-Wan to Valahari for negotiations, as Obi-Wan had
familiarity with the ruling family due to past missions he had on the planet long ago
with Qui-Gon Jinn.
When the two Jedi arrived, Anakin went on to meet with the ruling family’s eldest
son, Tofen Vane.
The two quickly befriended one another over their passion for starfighters, later having
a pod-racer race.
While they both came to respect each other, they would quickly realize that they would
soon become great rivals in the clone wars.
When the time for negotiations came at dinner, both Anakin and Obi-Wan were shocked to see
that Count Dooku was invited as well for the talks.
While tensions between the three quickly rose, they were brought down when the Valahari ruling
family suggested that Dooku was a close, personal friend of theirs due to their Houses past
alliances.
And so perhaps for the first time of the war, Obi-Wan and Anakin fought Dooku not in a duel
of lightsabers, but in a duel of words as they attempted to convince the ruling family
to end their trade agreements with the separatists.
But the two Jedi were no match to the cunning politician that was Dooku, who was able to
convince the ruling family of the Republic’s corruption and how his war effort against
it was for the sake of liberty.
Now desperate, the Jedi tried to make a subtle threat, in that if Valahari did not stop its
trading, the Republic would be forced to set up a blockade.
That of course set the opposite effect that the Jedi were hoping, with now the ruling
family even considering to straight up joining the Separatists.
It got so heated, that even Anakin and the son he had pod-raced with earlier got into
an intense argument.
Seeing how they had lost the debate, the Jedi excused themselves from dinner and ultimately
gave up on the negotiations.
A couple days later, and the Republic blockade took place over the planet of Valahari as
promised by the Jedi.
Refusing to stand for that, Valahari decided to send its transport ships regardless, hoping
to call the Republic’s bluff.
But the Republic was set in keeping its blockade intact no matter the cost, so it attacked
the Valahari ships.
Overseeing the blockade, Obi-Wan wanted to ensure that Republic starfighters only disabled
the Valahari transport ships and not destroy them, especially since one of them contained
the planets ruler Lord Vane.
But during the chaos, the Valahari transport carrying Lord Vane was destroyed with unknown
causes.
The death of Valahari’s ruler set out a huge outcry from the planet’s people, with
his son promising to avenge his death.
And with that the fury within Tofen Vane was born.
For the couple days that followed, Tofen went on to create his own personal starfighter
group made up of Valahari’s best pilots, giving them all the best ships the planet
had to offer, including modifying his own starfighter to give it the best possible specs
in the whole galaxy.
Now officially apart of the Separatists, Tofen and his starfighter group began to engage
Republic forces.
However, unlike the other Separatist commanders during the Clone Wars, Tofen primarily focused
on liberating neutral worlds that the Republic was blockading due to their prior trade with
the separatists.
As Tofen saw firsthand the poverty and death these blockades can cause to a planet, liberating
these neutral planets from the Republic blockades was personal for him.
And he went to do just that, liberating multiple systems and killing at least a dozen Jedi
pilots in the process.
It was also believed that Tofen was force sensitive, which explained how he was able
to contend and beat Jedi pilots.
Following his great successes, whenever he returned to his home world of Valahari, he
was welcomed as a great war hero.
Count Dooku himself came to respect Tofen as well, making him the Separatist’s poster
boy during the war effort and highlighting his successful liberations of neutral worlds
which granted him even more love across the galaxy.
Needless to say, Tofen became a superstar across many systems, especially among those
that were neutral, many of which went on to join the Separatist movement as a result.
On the other side of the galaxy, frustrations were brought up over Tofen’s successes and
the belief that Count Dooku was the one behind the destruction of Lord Vane’s transport
through sabotage.
Believing this to be the case, Obi-Wan decided to uncover the truth for himself and infiltrated
Valahari.
Through his own private investigations, Obi-Wan discovered that it was indeed Dooku behind
the death of Lord Vane, after witnessing a holo of Ventress sabotaging the transport
before it was sent toward the Republic blockade.
This new knowledge was later given to Anakin Skywalker, who had been called upon the Jedi
to engage Tofen as he was the best pilot of the Order.
Although Anakin was determined in just killing Tofen over the numerous Jedi he had killed,
Obi-Wan was able to convince Anakin to attempt to persuade Tofen to end this madness by telling
him of the truth over who really killed his father.
During their dog fight, Anakin was able to get into Tofen’s communications and tell
him about the truth of what happened to his father, but Tofen refused to believe the lies
of the Jedi and went on fighting, eventually shooting Anakin out of space and forcing him
to crash onto the planet below.
As Tofen began his strafing run to finish off the crashed Jedi, Anakin was able to deflect
the incoming shots with his lightsaber and back into Tofen’s starfighter, causing him
to crash nearby.
When Anakin approached the crashed starfighter, Tofen fired missiles at him and brutally brought
him down to his own mercy.
As Tofen began to hold Anakin at gunpoint, the Jedi tried to convince the pilot of his
father’s true murderer being Dooku, and that he believed Tofen was a good man who
was only doing what he believed was right, and that he was not a senseless killer seeking
revenge.
Although all of the Jedi’s words slipped off the determined Separatist pilot, Anakin
was right about one thing, that Tofen was not a cold-blooded killer.
Seeing how his Jedi enemy was in no shape to defend himself anymore, Tofen let Anakin
go with a warning that the next time they meet, he will not show mercy again.
Some time passed until Anakin was ready to strike at Tofen again.
This time, it was a full-on Republic attack on Tofen’s personal military base and staging
ground for his starfighters.
The base was located deep within a Nebula cloud that was surrounded by multiple, large
Neebrays.
Anakin was joined with Obi-Wan and Ahsoka to help him command his cruisers, along with
Plo-Koon and Saesee Tiin, two of the Jedi Order’s other greatest pilots.
Before the space battle commenced, Anakin was given a special starfighter made just
for him from Kuat Drives, having it be the fastest starfighter ever produced by that
manufacturer.
This new starfighter was outfitted with just what he needed in order to compete against
Tofen’s own craft.
When the battle began, Anakin, Plo-Koon, and Saesee Tiin led their clone starfighters against
Tofen’s pilots, while the Republic cruisers began preparations to begin bombing the enemy
base itself.
During the chaotic battle, the nearby Neebrays began to attack the Republic cruisers.
Apparently, Tofen’s base was outfitted with sensors that tricked the massive space creatures
to assume they were defending their mother’s nest, making them very hostile toward all
those that attempted to attack it.
Because of this, the Republic cruisers were forced to pull back and instead send bombers
to attack the enemy fortress instead.
During all of this, Anakin and Tofen were in an intense dogfight of all time.
They were fighting all around the moving Neebrays, using the creatures as both cover and obstacles
to flank each other.
Although both were able to score hits on each other’s starfighters, it was Anakin who
came up victorious.
But before Tofen’s starfighter exploded into nothingness, Anakin launched a tow cable
and dragged Tofen’s starfighter back into one of the cruiser's hangers.
When they landed, Anakin quickly went out of his starfighter and tried to save Tofen,
but the Separatist pilot was already covered in lethal burns.
Now in Anakin’s arms, Tofen had only one request to the pilot who had bested him: to
give justice to his father.
And with that, Tofen died.
Anakin ultimately did make good on his promise to Tofen however, near the end of the war
by killing Count Dooku who was the real culprit behind Lord Vane’s death.
The planet Valahari itself eventually left the Separatist movement after learning Dooku
had killed their ruler, but they still viewed Tofen as a Hero and continued to remain neutral
in the war, promising also to not trade with either side too, putting an end to their conflict
with the Republic as well.