Abafar was a remote desert planet located within the Outer Rim Territories, and was host to massive amounts of rhydonium, a scarce and volatile fuel source. The large desert was known as the Void, and light was twisted in a way by the strange regolith that made it impossible to see tracks because there were no shadows. During the Clone Wars, the Confederacy of Independent Systems set up a mining installation in the settlement of Pons Ora. The planet wasn't very populated. During the reign of the Galactic Empire, the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure had a drilling platform on Abafar to mine rhydonium. Following the Battle of Endor, the New Republic pilot Wedge Antilles visited Abafar whilst looking for Imperial forces that may have been hiding in the Outer Rim.
Detail of the geography of Abafar.
Abafar was located in the Sprizen sector of the Outer Rim Territories. Its primary terrain was a desert known as the Void due to properties of the planet's atmosphere and surface regolith that made it impossible to see the sun or any tracks left on the ground, making it extremely easy to get lost amongst the barren flats. Known fauna included the Void striders, reptavian creatures that traversed the Void in search of surface water. Outside of Void striders, Abafar had limited biodiversity, with bugs being some of the only other species present. Abafar's primary resource was its valuable and highly explosive rhydonium fuel.
Holographic depiction of Abafar
By the time of the galaxy-spanning Clone Wars, interest in Abafar had dried up due to the rhydonium having been largely depleted. After the Battle of Sarrish, a devastating loss for the Galactic Republic, one of the survivors of the battle, clone commando Captain Gregor, crash-landed on Abafar near the town of Pons Ora, but was left amnesiac with no memory of anything but his name. The Sullustan Borkus, owner of the Power Sliders diner, took advantage of Gregor's amnesia and hired him as a dishwasher at his restaurant.
By 19 BBY, forces of the Confederacy of Independent Systems came to Abafar and took over Pons Ora to mine rhydonium for a plot to bomb the Republic strategy conference at Carida. Thus, while Abafar as a whole was unaligned, the Confederacy maintained a presence on the planet.
Eventually, the D-Squad, a Republic force of droids led by the Zilkin Colonel Meebur Gascon, crash-landed on the planet after having run into a comet swarm on their way back from stealing a Separatist encryption module. After eventually making it to Pons Ora, the squad's astromech droids were sent to scout out the town and look for a ship while Gascon and pit droid WAC-47 looked for food for the colonel.
Separatist battle droids patrol the dusty streets of Pons Ora.
Gascon and WAC-47 entered Power Sliders, but were chased out by Borkus after Gascon loudly announced his identity as a Republic military officer, in part as the Sullustan did not want them to see Gregor. However, the two went around the back after WAC-47 suggested that Gascon scavenge food from the garbage and encountered Gregor anyways, quickly realizing there was something wrong with his memory as he did not recognize the term "clone." Meanwhile, R2-D2 and the astromechs found Pons Ora's spaceport full of battle droids, a Republic attack shuttle, and barrels of rhydonium. Strategizing, the members of D-Squad pointed out to Gascon that attempting to sneak in would be a suicide mission, and the colonel decided they would have to recruit Gregor in order to escape.
When Gregor got off work that day, he raised Borkus' suspicions by asking him what exactly a clone was, saying that he had met someone who insisted he was one. Borkus told him that clones were brave soldiers and to forget about it. D-Squad followed Gregor to his basement apartment, and Gascon had R2-D2 project a hologram of Clone Captain Rex through the window, which startled Gregor. He was then confronted by Gascon, who told him that the recording was not him and that he was a clone. In order to deduce Gregor's identity, Gascon had R2 scan Gregor's wrist barcode, which were on all the clones, and this revealed his ID number and rank as a commando who was listed as being MIA after Sarrish. The reminders of his past led Gregor to begin to regain his memories, and he agreed to help D-Squad escape, after they located his equipment.
Abafar first appeared in "A Sunny Day in the Void," an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars that first aired on December 7, 2012. The setting of Abafar is akin to that of a location featured in George Lucas's 1971 film THX 1138.