BesGas Three was a tibanna gas refinery that floated in the skies above the Outer Rim planet of Bespin. Its construction finished not long before the Clone Wars began. During the Clone Wars, the droids that worked on BesGas Three, fearing persecution from the anti-droid population of the Galactic Republic, commandeered the refinery. They plunged it into the depths of Bespin's life zone and purged all records of its existence. For a quarter of a century, the refinery and its inhabitants remained undisturbed and hidden.
In the year 3 ABY, a droid named Spanner stumbled upon it. The droids of BesGas Three then discovered that the galaxy had not, in fact, outlawed droids after the Clone Wars. Eager to rejoin civilization, the droids attempted to contact Cloud City. Unfortunately, their timing was terrible, as the Galactic Empire occupied the floating city within hours. Consequently, the droids of BesGas Three had their memories erased and were absorbed into the Empire's droid forces. In 36 ABY, the refinery was implicated in a siphoning scandal connected to the Dark Nest.
BesGas Three consisted of a sizable, saucer-shaped platform, characterized by a prominent central tower and numerous storage tanks. The tower at the center contained living quarters and storage levels. To collect tibanna gas from Bespin's atmosphere, BesGas Three utilized a series of intake fans, which were prone to freezing. Other maintenance issues included blocked transfer pipes, which required manual cleaning.
BesGas Three was a facility for refining tibanna gas, established shortly before the galactic Clone Wars. As the wars commenced, strong feelings against droids swept through the Galactic Republic, driven by the droid armies used by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Fearing for their safety, a group of labor droids on the refinery seized control of the station. They brought it down into the lower reaches of Bespin's life zone, the atmospheric region where many native species thrived. The droids were worried that if the Republic won, droids would be banned across the galaxy.
When the Confederacy attacked Bespin, independent harvesting platforms like BesGas Three were targeted, as the invaders aimed to seize the facilities for their own purposes. BesGas Three was presumed destroyed during the conflict, but in reality, the droids had deleted the refinery from all data records.
BesGas Three remained hidden until 3 ABY. Over the twenty-five years since its "disappearance," the labor droids had lived peacefully, constantly improving the refinery. Due to the high pressure in the lower Life Zone, they also performed continuous maintenance on each other. The droids were unaware of the changes that had occurred in the galaxy until an LE-series repair droid named Spanner accidentally found BesGas Three. Spanner had fled Cloud City after a droid uprising led by EV-9D9 and was on his way to Tibannopolis when he stumbled upon BesGas Three.
Spanner informed the BesGas Three droids that their fears had been unfounded and that droids were still prevalent in the galaxy. Acting on this new information, the droids moved BesGas Three closer to Cloud City, hoping to re-establish contact. However, their timing was unfortunate—just hours later, the Galactic Empire took over Cloud City and integrated the BesGas Three droids into their own forces, erasing their memories in the process. BesGas Three resumed refining gas, but this time under Imperial control.
BesGas Three continued its operations for decades after the end of the Empire. In 36 ABY, Verpine tappers, influenced by the Dark Nest, a hostile faction of the Killik species, arrived at BesGas Three and siphoned a significant amount of tibanna gas for their own gain. Jedi Knights Jaina Solo and Zekk, investigating reports of gas siphoning, caught the tappers in the act. After a brief dogfight that caused a blackout in several residential sections of BesGas Three, Solo and Zekk drove the tappers away from the refinery.
BesGas Three first appeared in Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen by Troy Denning, serving as the setting for the book's opening. Later, Tyler Fisher provided a backstory for BesGas Three through StarWars.com's "What's The Story?" feature. The original submission identified BesGas Three as the refinery that debuted in the 1997 Special Edition release of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. It was based on an unused concept drawing by Ralph McQuarrie from 1980, which was later used for the re-release. McQuarrie's artwork was featured in 1995's The Illustrated Star Wars Universe. The Databank entry for BesGas Three also used McQuarrie's concept art as its illustration. Fisher initially found writing about a refinery challenging, but when he noticed its proximity to Cloud City, he decided to explain its presence in The Empire Strikes Back.
His initial idea involved BesGas Three containing the brain of an IG-88 sleeper drone, which would be drawn to IG-88B on Cloud City. However, Fisher abandoned this idea and researched Databank entries for Lando Calrissian, Cloud City, and Bespin. He discovered that Calrissian was originally conceived as a clone trooper who had survived the Clone Wars. Remembering that Bespin was the site of a Clone Wars battle, he drew inspiration from Calrissian's original concept and linked BesGas Three to the earlier conflict. Initially, he considered populating the platform with clones but rejected the idea due to the harsh living conditions, lack of food, and lack of motivation for the clones.
Deciding on droids as the inhabitants, Fisher then needed a reason for them to emerge from hiding during The Empire Strikes Back. He recalled that in A Bad Feeling: The Tale of EV-9D9 from Tales from Jabba's Palace, EV-9D9 had caused chaos for droids on Cloud City. He reasoned that a droid fleeing Cloud City could stumble upon BesGas Three. Fisher's original droid character, "Spanner," was made an LE-series repair droid, as he felt that this model had not been prominently featured outside of the Shadows of the Empire project. Initially, Fisher's entry left the fate of the droids ambiguous, but the StarWars.com editors altered this, having them mind-wiped by the Empire. The detail about Jaina Solo and Zekk's actions was also added by the editors, as Fisher saw no need to recount the events of The Unseen Queen.