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Villains of the Expanded Universe
In the hurried pace of a Star Wars movie, the audience never seems to have enough time to explore the motives and attributes of the saga’s villains. They fittingly take a backseat to the heroes of the story. But in the Expanded Universe of novels, comics and games, villainy can grab more of the spotlight, with entire chapters — or even stories — dedicated to their cause. Here are some of the most popular bad guys of the Expanded Universe.
Ysanne Isard
Young Ysanne Isard followed in the footsteps of her father, Armand, who was director of Imperial Intelligence. Despite such highly placed parentage, she excelled on her own merits, proving a capable student and remarkable field agent. In fact, it’s testament to her skills that she was able to surprise her father by engineering his downfall.
Prior to the first Death Star’s completion, Rebel agents were able to steal a datapack containing coordinates for Despayre, the barren world that was the battle station’s cradle. She was dispatched to gather that data, but failed. Rather than be punished, Ysanne instead turned the tables on her father, who had assigned her that mission. She claimed that her father had allowed the data to fall into Rebel hands in the first place. The elder Isard was summarily executed, and Ysanne became director of Imperial Intelligence.
From this position, and from her icy, cruel and vengeful personality, Ysanne earned the nickname “Iceheart.” Though she was beautiful — with a striking face with one blue and one red eye — her chilling demeanor was anything but inviting.
At Isard’s suggestion, Palpatine allowed her to construct a terrifying prison complex that would also serve as a brainwashing facility. The Lusankya was actually a functional Super Star Destroyer secretly constructed beneath the towering skylines of Coruscant. In here, prisoners toiled under the illusion of being trapped on some barren rock-world, never aware of the bustling cityscapes surrounding them.
After the Emperor’s death at Endor, Isard allied herself with Grand Vizier Sate Pestage, the Emperor’s advisor who assumed command. The ever-scheming Isard allowed Pestage to be captured by the New Republic at Brentaal. The Ruling Circle of Imperial officials came to power next, but it was only a matter of time before Isard had them slain as well, seizing control of the Empire for herself.
Isard’s rule was hardly absolute. From all corners of the galaxy, a parade of would-be successors, warlords and charlatans all claimed ownership of the Empire’s corpse. But Isard had one key asset that they did not: Coruscant. She knew it would soon be a target to the ever-growing New Republic.
Knowing she’d be hard pressed to defend the Imperial capital world, Isard left an insidious gift to the New Republic invaders. Her scientists engineered the Krytos virus, a fatal virus that targeted non-human species. She unleashed the deadly pathogen into the planet’s water supply, leaving the Republic to deal with the chaos that ensued.
Isard fled Coruscant, tearing a huge portion of the cityscape apart as she blasted away aboard the Lusankya. She headed to Thyferra, home of the bacta cartel, and seized the world and its life-saving assets. Rogue Squadron engaged Isard in a conflict that became known as the Bacta War, and she was eventually defeated. The New Republic captured the Lusankya, though Isard had managed to scatter most of the prisoners. She herself escaped the battle.
While Isard recovered from her defeat, she watched as Grand Admiral Thrawn attempted to conquer the New Republic. After his failure, she approached her old hated foes, Rogue Squadron, to enlist their help in stopping an Imperial warlord. Prince Admiral Krennel had allied himself with a clone of Ysanne Isard. It was this clone that had hidden the Lusankya prisoners; Rogue Squadron agreed to help Isard if they could secure the release of the prisoners to New Republic custody.
Isard agreed. A New Republic taskforce attacked Krennel’s Ciutric Hegemony and managed to free the prisoners. Isard still found a chance to betray the New Republic, as she tried to retake her beloved Lusankya. Her betrayal was predicted by Iella Wessiri, who shot Isard dead.
Grand Admiral Thrawn
A consummate strategist, Grand Admiral Thrawn likened combat to art, and was an aficionado of both. He could cite inspirations, analyze motives and determine outcomes before his opponents had even consciously began formulating a move.
Thrawn’s greatest weapon was his mind. This was long ago recognized by his people, the Chiss, who banished Mitth’raw’nuruodo for his dangerous ideas. The Chiss of Csilla are a disciplined species, advanced enough to build a sizable fleet and an empire over two dozen worlds. Thrawn’s tactics were controversial in their boldness, and his activities within the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet drew many a concerned, glowing red eye.
The rest of the galaxy made first contact with the Chiss when a taskforce dispatched by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine stumbled upon Thrawn’s fleet. The young blue-skinned commander was able to decimate the intruders despite inferior weapons and numbers.
The taskforce’s commander, Kinman Doriana, asked Thrawn for a parley. The two conversed, and Doriana was able to appeal to Thrawn’s cool sense of logic and order. He outlined his mission — to destroy the incoming Outbound Flight vessel — to Thrawn, spelling out the threat that this vessel filled with Jedi Masters posed to the Chiss people. Thrawn completed the mission that Doriana failed and destroyed the Outbound Flight project.
Returning to Csilla, Thrawn was reprimanded for his hostilities. Though he explained that his actions were part of a pre-emptive strike to protect Csilla and the Chiss, the ruling houses could not wrap their minds around such radical concepts. Thrawn was placed under close observation. In time, his activities caused him to be altogether banished from the Chiss.
The Chiss’s loss became Palpatine’s gain. Agents of the new Emperor discovered Thrawn on a barren jungle world and took him into their ranks. Despite a strong policy against non-human officers in the Imperial Navy, Thrawn ascended the Imperial ranks.
Before long, Thrawn attained command of an Imperial Star Destroyer, the Vengeance. When he transferred to the Admonitor, he was given the thankless task of mapping huge areas of the Unknown Regions. When in the depths of the galaxy’s backwater, Thrawn re-established contact with the Chiss, who in the interim had been besieged by all manner of encroaching threats. Thrawn, who had once been banished for his bold leadership, was now being lauded for it. Many Chiss longed for his return, and Thrawn secretly established a base of operations on the distant world of Nirauan.
Returning to the Empire proper, Thrawn’s star continued to rise unabated. He achieved the rank of Vice Admiral, and earned Vader’s respect and access to his secret Noghri army. After helping dispose of the traitorous Grand Admiral Zaarin, Thrawn ascended to that rank himself.
After the Battle of Hoth, Thrawn returned to Outer Rim mapping duty. His ascent to Grand Admiral went without notice by Alliance Intelligence, thus his existence remained a secret. After the fall of Palpatine at Endor, Thrawn returned to Nirauan. He did not return to the Empire until four years after Palpatine’s defeat.
Thrawn contacted Captain Gilad Pellaeon, and returned to the Imperial fleet. He then began a systematic campaign of retaking worlds in a bid to recapture Coruscant. His genius manifested itself best in constructing strategies from mere fragments of information. Thrawn was able to locate one of Palpatine’s fabled storehouses, and there, found the technology necessary to begin growing a clone army. He found vessels for this army by discovering the long lost Katana Fleet. He recruited the maddened dark Jedi Joruus C’baoth and used his Force talents to better coordinate his scattered strikes. Thrawn also began to secure secret caches of cloned agents throughout the galaxy, ready to answer his call.
Thrawn’s greatest oversight was the compelling leadership of Leia Organa Solo. Leia identified and befriended Thrawn’s secret Noghri attackers. On their polluted homeworld, Leia was able to prove that the Empire had long exploited the Noghri’s sense of honor. She showed how it was the Empire who was poisoning their world, not saving it. Incensed, the Noghri turned against their Imperial benefactors. At the height of the Battle of Bilbringi, Thrawn’s faithful Noghri bodyguard Rukh killed the Grand Admiral with an assassin’s blade.
The Imperial forces scattered, reformed, and scattered again in the ensuing power vacuum. Ten years later, word of Thrawn’s miraculous return began to spread. In truth, it was not Thrawn at all, but Imperial conspirators using Thrawn’s name and identity. Thrawn did, though, have some sort of plan to return. During this time, Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade made a chilling discovery on Nirauan: an incubating clone of Thrawn himself. The clone was killed before it ever drew breath, and the attempt to resurrect Thrawn’s legacy was quashed.
Exar Kun
Before Vader, before Maul, before Sidious… there was a Dark Lord of the Sith that cast a shadow of terror and destruction across the galaxy. The ancient forces of the Republic and the Jedi banded together to stop the torrent of the dark side, and bring an end to Exar Kun’s rule.
He began as a simple student, studying under the revered Jedi Master Vodo-Siosk Baas. Like the dark apprentices that would follow throughout history, a basic impatience undermined all of Kun’s training. His pride did not have the boundaries that his instruction did. Eager to ascend beyond his Jedi abilities, Kun abandoned his master and journeyed to the strife-torn world of Onderon. There, he encountered the spirit of Freedon Nadd, an ancient Sith who gave him further instruction.
Through Nadd’s disembodied commands, Kun voyaged to the Sith mausoleum world of Korriban. There, ancient Sith spirits tried Kun’s resolve. His body was crushed in a cave-in of tons of rocks, and Kun could not call upon the Force to help himself. Yet, the dark side offered what the Force couldn’t. By giving into his fear and rage, Kun was able to heal himself and clear the obstacles. He emerged from the caverns transformed, fueled by the dark side of the Force.
Following examples of ancient Sith Lords that preceded him, Kun came to the long forgotten Sith temples of Yavin 4. In Sith tradition, he took on an apprentice, the fallen Jedi Ulic Qel-Droma, and the two unleashed a scourge that would forever scar a galaxy. In the ages before Darth Bane’s restrictions, Kun and Qel-Droma were able to recruit more Jedi into their ranks. Many young Jedi turned against their masters and slew them. Kun himself extinguished the life of Master Baas in the halls of Coruscant’s Senate chambers. It was a dark time indeed.
Kun was fixated in unleashing pure, unbridled power through ancient Sith means. He practiced Sith magic and alchemy, crafting horrific creatures on the moon of Yavin 4. He brandished a Sith lightsaber with twin blades that increased the potent weapon’s lethality. His followers triggered ancient technologies that detonated the stars of the Cron Cluster, wiping out entire worlds and searing the surface of Ossus.
Finally, a joint Republic and Jedi taskforce came to Yavin 4 to capture Exar Kun. He knew he could not survive the attack, so he summoned his dark side energies and trapped his consciousness into the temples his Massassi warriors had built for him.
For four millennia, Kun’s disembodied spirit slumbered. The presence of a dozen Force-sensitives stirred his consciousness. It was now several years after the Battle of Endor, and Jedi Master Luke Skywalker had begun training Jedi at an academy on Yavin 4. Exar Kun’s spirit sought to corrupt Skywalker’s students and bring about a dark side reign again. He controlled Luke’s most powerful student, Kyp Durron, but in the end, Luke’s students united and were able to finally dispel Kun’s spirit.
Admiral Daala
Though lacking the strategic grace of other Imperial commanders, Admiral Daala nonetheless posed a real and dangerous threat to the young New Republic in the months following the resurrected Emperor’s campaign of terror.
Daala’s rank is an anomaly in the predominantly male Imperial military. Despite her promising successes as a student and later, young officer, she was constantly passed over for promotion on the basis of gender alone. Graduating from the Imperial Academy, Daala’s career was foundering. In frustration, she crafted a false computer identity and entered contests of strategy against battle-hardened veterans. She bested some of Carida’s best instructors in these virtual engagements.
Moff Tarkin of the Outer Rim Territories took notice of young Daala’s determination and skill. He uncovered her true identity, and began to school her as his personal military protégé. It was Tarkin’s influence that allowed Daala to ascend to the rank of Admiral, and he placed her in command of a quartet of Imperial Star Destroyers patrolling the Outer Rim Territories.
Tarkin entrusted the protection of a top-secret military think-tank installation to Daala. Maw Installation, as it was called, was a weapons research facility like no other, sunken into a stable patch of space amidst the churning black holes of the Maw Cluster. In this remote base, some of the Empire’s brightest scientific minds created designs for new Imperial weaponry, including the first in a series of Death Stars.
Daala was given express orders to never abandon her post, to stay at Maw Installation, and to maintain communication silence until Tarkin returned. Tarkin never returned, having died in the explosion that consumed the Death Star.
For over a decade Daala and her task force stood watch over Maw Installation. As it was Tarkin’s most closely guarded secret, no other Imperials ever knew of it. The concentration of treacherous black holes made accidental discovery of the base an impossibility. For 11 years Daala’s fighting forces atrophied.
The sudden arrival of an Imperial shuttle was a shock to everyone at the station. It carried fugitives from the nearby Kessel prison complex: Han Solo, Chewbacca and Kyp Durron. From this group, Daala received a much needed update on the state of the galaxy. The trio broke free of the installation, and managed to capture one of the most powerful test-phase weapons platforms, the Sun Crusher. Daala, seeking revenge and a chance to finally make an impression, emerged from the Maw Cluster with her task force, eager to wage war with the New Republic.
The decade of inactivity had its price. Though Daala was schooled in many strategic theories, her practical inexperience hampered her efforts. Using ten-year old tactics at a battle on Mon Calamari, Daala was easily thwarted by Admiral Ackbar. Before long, her task force of four destroyers was reduced to her flagship, the Gorgon. Bested, she joined the squabbling Imperial warlords holed up in the Deep Core Worlds.
Seeing the inefficiencies of the Emperor’s heirs in person again gave fuel to Daala’s fiery temper. In disgust, she murdered most of the warlords, and consolidated command over the remaining Imperial military. With Gilad Pellaeon at her side, Daala took command of the Super Star Destroyer Knight Hammer and engaged in an ill-advised strike against Luke Skywalker’s Jedi academy on Yavin 4.
The battle ended poorly for Daala, with the Knight Hammer falling victim to sabotage. Broken, Daala abandoned her command to Pellaeon and then fled to the remote world of Pedducis Chorios. She settled into civilian life, leading a group of settlers on the distant world.
A year later, the inhumane tactics of Moff Getelles brought Daala out of retirement. When she learned that Getelles had used an outbreak of the Death Seed plague to gain control of the Meridian sector, Daala threw in her lot with the forces that opposed him.
Once the dust of that conflict had settled, Daala was not content to return to retired civilian life. She again journeyed to the Deep Core, amassing troops and war vessels in a bid to again challenge the New Republic.
She attempted such a strike just prior to the Corellian insurrection. Her forces were repulsed by General Garm Bel Iblis. At great cost, Daala escaped the battle, and she has not been seen since.
Lumiya
The months following the Battle of Hoth were especially trying for the heroes of the Rebellion. With morale crushed following the abandonment of Echo Base and the capture of Han Solo, the Rebels faced the unthinkable possibility that Luke Skywalker had killed a fellow Rebel pilot.
Following the Alliance relocation to a temporary outpost on Arbra, Luke struck up a close friendship with fellow Rogue Squadron member Shira Brie. She was bright, talented and beautiful, and their friendship evolved into something closer. Rogue Squadron was then pressed into service striking at a secret Imperial armada, infiltrating the fleet aboard captured and modified TIE fighters.
The TIEs were outfitted with transponders that allowed the Rogues to identify each other amidst the enemy ships. During the thick of battle, Skywalker’s transponder malfunctioned. He was unable to determine which of the surrounding starfighters were in fact his allies. Forgoing technology as he had done during the Battle of Yavin, Luke instead relied upon the Force. He used his instincts to pick his targets, and fired at advancing enemy craft. One of the vessels that Luke shot out of the skies was Shira Brie’s.
Returning to Arbra, Skywalker did not find a hero’s welcome. His rank and service were suspended until Alliance analysts could determine just what had happened. Shaken, Luke began to question his faith in the Force. Skywalker, accompanied by the Wookiee Chewbacca, left Arbra to conduct their own investigation. They journeyed to Shalyvane, supposed homeworld of Shira Brie. There, they learned the truth of this enigmatic woman.
Shira Elan Colla Brie was born on Coruscant, and spent her life serving as a key agent of the Empire. It was Darth Vader who handpicked Brie for accelerated training in Imperial Intelligence. Her mind was enhanced through mnemonic drug training, her body hardened through expertise of exotic martial arts. Proving herself a capable agent, Brie was dispatched by Vader to infiltrate the Rebel Alliance.
One of her primary goals was to discredit Luke Skywalker. Vader hoped that his son, finding no quarter within the Alliance ranks, would eventually wander back to him. Brie almost succeeded when Luke destroyed her fighter, but Skywalker was able to prove his innocence, and reveal Brie’s past.
Shira did not die in the TIE fighter incident. Her crippled body was gathered by Vader’s agents, and she recuperated within secret chambers aboard the Super Star Destroyer Executor. Vader watched closely as Brie’s body was rebuilt and enhanced through mechanical implants. Fueled by rage and an already promising strength in the Force, Brie emerged from the bacta tanks a changed woman. She had given in to hatred, and was renamed the Dark Lady Lumiya. Impressed with his pupil’s development, Vader began to hone her Force abilities.
Vader knew that no secret could be kept from his master, the Emperor. He presented Palpatine with Lumiya as a gift — as a new Emperor’s Hand. Palpatine accepted, and Vader continued her training. Lumiya was sequestered on the ancient Sith world of Ziost when the Battle of Endor forever changed the Empire. It was on this frigid world that she crafted her unique weapon — a lightwhip built of Kaiburr crystal shards and Mandalorian iron.
Lumiya then emerged as the cyborg chief of security for the slaving guild on the planet Herdessa. She attempted to arrest a visiting Princess Leia Organa, but was thwarted by a revolution against the guild. Though Lumiya sustained a blaster wound, she survived the battle to swear vengeance on the Alliance.
She then surfaced on the planet Kinooine, with her collection of Imperial forces allied with fearsome Nagai invaders. On Kinooine, Luke Skywalker and Lumiya were finally reunited, and the two engaged in a spectacular duel. At first, Lumiya bested Luke, as well as brutally wounding his allies Dani and Kiro. In their second battle, Skywalker managed to defeat Lumiya, shattering her armor, and revealing her to be Shira Brie.
In the nebulous and shifting alliances that plagued the Imperial fragments during the Nagai invasion, Lumiya attached her Imperial resources — which included three Star Destroyers, two frigates and four corvettes — to the alien fleet belonging to the Tofs. When the Tof incursion was eventually repulsed, Lumiya disappeared from the galaxy. Her current whereabouts are unknown, but she did leave behind a legacy of at least two pupils — a young man named Flint and a treacherous Royal Guard named Carnor Jax.
Brakiss
The tragic words of Obi-Wan Kenobi long haunted Luke Skywalker when he took it upon himself to train a new generation of Jedi Knights. That such a powerful and gifted Jedi Knight as Obi-Wan could fail and produce an abomination such as Darth Vader was a terrifying notion. It was many years before Skywalker felt comfortable enough to take on students. His success is undeniable, but along the path to rebuilding the order, there are tragic examples of those who have fallen from the light.
Thus is the case with Brakiss. Discovered as an infant during the Imperial occupation of Msst, the Force-sensitive child was taken into the custody of the Empire’s Inquisitors. He failed to qualify for service as one of the Emperor’s select agents, but the Inquisitors forged him to be a weapon for their own using.
During his sheltered upbringing, the galaxy turned itself inside out. The Empire was toppled, first with the death of Palpatine and the scuttling of the fleet at Endor, and then with the eventual reclamation of Coruscant and establishment of the New Republic. After the collapse of the resurrected Emperor’s campaign to snuff out the Republic, the few surviving members of the Inquisitorius learned of Luke Skywalker’s Jedi academy on Yavin 4.
Brakiss’ masters forged a plausible background for him, and sent him to the Academy, so that their dark pupil could unsettle the new Jedi order from within. Skywalker accepted Brakiss, and saw through his falsified history. He knew full well of Brakiss’ agenda, but he saw great potential and the good in Brakiss’ heart. Skywalker sought to turn him from the dark side.
Brakiss underwent a pivotal Jedi trial under Skywalker’s tutelege. Brakiss confronted the darkness within and his spirit was broken by what he encountered. Shamed, he fled the academy. The fugitive Jedi encountered another fallen student of Skywalker’s, an angry youth named Dolph. Brakiss joined Dolph’s campaign of terror against the New Republic. Based on the droid-manufacturing moon of Telti, Brakiss oversaw the secret installation of countless bombs into droids destined throughout the galaxy. Several of these droids detonated in the heart of the New Republic Senate.
Consumed by guilt over the tragedy, Brakiss fled while the New Republic brought Dolph to justice. Brakiss attempted to reestablish ties with Imperial warlords in the heart of the Galactic Core. Again, the galaxy underwent seismic political changes, as the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant signed an historic peace accord.
Despite the cease in hostilities, there were those in the Core who refused to let the violence die. These struggling warlords reformed under the banner of the Second Imperium, with the Shadow Academy as the centerpiece. It was to be a training ground for a new generation of Dark Jedi, led by Brakiss. Drawing their ranks from disillusioned Force-sensitives and Dathomirian Nightsisters, the Shadow Academy struck at Luke Skywalker’s Jedi order.
The young Jedi Knights Jacen and Jaina Solo tangled with the Shadow Academy on numerous occasions. The Shadow Academy was ultimately defeated, and Brakiss died in the conflict.
Prince Xizor
Prince Xizor was the Underlord of the most powerful criminal organization in the galaxy. He was one of the most influential beings in the entire Empire, third to Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith. An elegant being, Xizor was highly public, but his associations with Black Sun were only whispered, and never ever spoken in accusatory tones.
An ambitious criminal mastermind, Xizor schemed to topple Darth Vader from his favored position beside Palpatine. Xizor hated Vader, though the Dark Lord never suspected the true reason why. About a decade before the Battle of Hoth, Vader had established a biological weapons laboratory on the Falleen homeworld. After an accident, the city adjacent to the lab had to be razed by orbital bombardment to stop further contamination. Vader’s actions killed 200,000 Falleen, including Xizor’s entire family — his mother, father, brother, two sisters and three uncles. Xizor was not on the planet at the time. Rather than strike out in unprepared vengeance, Xizor carefully erased all records of the family tragedy, forever deleting evidence of his hatred for Vader.
Xizor was a smooth-skinned Falleen male with green skin, and deep lavender eyes. He wore his black hair in a topknot ponytail, and wore a smaller ponytail at the base of his skull. He often wore long robes of luxurious fabric. When aroused, his skin turned a orange-scarlet, part of a complex mating response holdover from Xizor’s reptilian heritage. Xizor’s alien background also allowed him limited amphibious ability, as he was able to breathe water for 12 hours.
Although his body was muscular, exotic and similar to a 30-year old humanoid in appearance, he was over a century old. He conditioned his physique with myostim units that exercised individual muscles. Xizor also trained in martial arts, and was an expert marksman from training on his personal firing range.
Xizor wrapped himself in the trappings of luxury. His wealth exceeded that of many planets. In his immense palatial estate on Coruscant he would relax, plot and run his vast criminal and corporate empires. His palace neighbored that of Lord Vader, and when the Dark Lord would emerge from his home, Xizor would have him watched constantly. In orbit over Coruscant, Xizor maintained an opulent skyhook resort called the Falleen’s Fist. Xizor also owned part of the Manarai, the famous luxury restaurant overlooking Imperial Center’s Monument Park.
To relax, Xizor would sit in his conform-lounger, or trim the branches of his 600-year old miniature firethorn tree. It would provide him blessed distraction from the everyday vagaries of running both Black Sun and Xizor Transport Systems.
He did not rule alone, however. Although he was head of this criminal family, below him he had several “Vigos” or lieutenants that oversaw operations in specific territories. Xizor surrounded himself with the best of employees. His most prized assistant — and possession — was the human replica droid Guri.
Prior to Jabba the Hutt’s ascent to the head of the Desilijic clan, Xizor meddled into the internal politics of the Hutt heirarchy. The Besadii clan and the Desilijic clan were in heated competition for control of lucrative slaving and spice contracts. In that competition, the head of the Besadii clan, Aruk the Hutt, was poisoned by Jabba the Hutt. Durga the Hutt began an intense investigation to find the cause of his parent’s death. Xizor set his eye on getting the powerful Hutt into his debt, so he had his agent Green purposely befuddle Durga’s investigators with false leads and dead-ends. Flustered, Durga came to Xizor, asking for help.
Xizor’s agents were easily able to put the blame on Jabba the Hutt. Xizor had Guri ensure that no harm came to Jabba, though, since he was a valued contact. With Durga in his debt, Xizor pressured him to become a Black Sun Vigo, thus allowing Black Sun a foothold into the Hutt criminal empire. This juggling of allies and enemies was a trademark Xizor strategy.
During the Hoth campaign, Xizor was in the Emperor’s throne room on Coruscant when the Supreme Ruler contacted Lord Vader. The two dark-side imbued beings spoke of “the son of Skywalker.” Xizor pieced together that Luke Skywalker was Vader’s son, and learned of Vader’s plan to seduce Skywalker to the dark side of the Force. Rather than have Vader succeed, Xizor plotted to have Skywalker killed.
Xizor’s schemes were often multifaceted and complex. For instance, once learning of Ororo Transportation’s efforts to undermine Xizor Transport System’s control of shipping in the Bajic sector, Xizor told Vader of a Rebel fleet massing in the Vergesso system. In truth, the ships belonged to Ororo, and in an effort to impress the Emperor, Vader took his taskforce to destroy the ships. Xizor had duped Vader and Palpatine, and had achieved his objective of wiping out a business rival, and tying up a personal rival in a mission that allowed Xizor to continue his hunt for Skywalker.
Another plot involving Xizor was the release of the Death Star plans to the Rebels. Xizor did not make the acquisition of said plans simple, however. Many Bothans died in capturing the freighter Suprosa, which carried the plans. Xizor could not lose — if the plans lured the Alliance into the Empire’s trap, the Emperor would laud Xizor for a scheme well executed. If the Alliance was able to pull victory from the second Death Star, Xizor would still succeed as an ally of the victorious Rebels, since it was he who allowed the plans to be discovered.
The Falleen had learned to stave off passion in favor of cold, methodical plotting. Xizor was cool and cunning. He savored the presence of humanoid females he deemed attractive. He had a string of mistresses; he never stayed more than a few months with any one female. He would depart, often leaving immense and extravagant gifts of parting — an entire palatial estate for one. For one with such a hedonistic and varied private life, Xizor grew tired. The powerful pheremones he exuded made the presence of women far too easy to attract. He longed for an equal to conquer.
That opportunity presented itself when Xizor learned that Leia Organa was seeking contact with Black Sun. Xizor relished the irony — in an effort to track down the repeated attempts on Luke’s life, Leia came to the one who called for his assassination. Xizor became obsessed with Leia, hoping to add her to the long list of female conquests.
Xizor arranged Leia’s transport to his citadel. There, he attempted to seduce Leia. With the powerful pheremones he produced, Leia almost fell to carnal passion. The two embraced, exchanging passionate kisses — but Leia rebuffed Xizor’s advances, making her point felt with a swift knee to the Falleen’s groin. Xizor, enraged, imprisoned Leia.
Skywalker, Lando Calrissian, and Dash Rendar infiltrated Xizor’s palace to rescue Leia. Xizor’s arrogance precluded any admission from his part that his security systems could be breached. With such denial, the Rebel infiltraters were able to make progress in the palace. It wasn’t until Leia escaped capture and temporarily disabled Guri that Xizor finally took notice.
High in the palace, Xizor was face-to-face with Luke Skywalker. In a standoff, Luke produced a thermal detonator. Rather than risk a bluff, Xizor let the group leave untouched. Calrissian dealt a powerful blow to the Black Sun criminal empire as he dropped another detonator down a service chute. Unable to recover it, Xizor ordered a general evacuation of the palace.
In the confusion, the Rebels escaped the palace. Xizor boarded his advanced combat vessel, the Virago, and escaped to the skyhook. High in orbit over Coruscant, a deadly space battle erupted, as Xizor’s forces tried to stop the fleeing Rebels. Xizor’s forces ran straight into Vader’s returning task force. Blinded by his rage, Xizor stupidly announced Skywalker’s presence into an open comlink.
The transmission was intercepted by Vader. Vader offered Xizor an ultimatum: call off his attack in two minutes and surrender, or suffer the price of not taking Vader’s advice and staying away from Skywalker. Xizor remained silent, and his skyhook was destroyed by the Executor.
The Rebels escaped, and Xizor died aboard the Falleen’s Fist. The remnants of Black Sun fell into the control of Moff Fliry Vorru. Guri escaped the destruction of Xizor’s trappings. Unknown to nearly everyone — possibly Xizor himself — was that he had a surviving relative who was offplanet during the Falleen disaster that wiped out his family. Xizor’s niece Savan survived, and sought to take control of Black Sun after his death.
Nom Anor
Spearheading the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the galaxy was a silver-tongued and black-hearted executor known as Nom Anor. Though that was his true name, it was only one of several he bore during his advance mission to infiltrate a galaxy of infidels.
This highly skilled member of the Intendent caste has bioengineering talents that rival the skilled Shapers of his people. He has crafted organic tools of cloak and dagger, and created an insidious virus with which he afflicted Mara Jade Skywalker. Even when stripped of weaponry, Nom Anor is not unarmed — his eye socket conceals a plaeryin bol capable of spitting deadly venom.
Anor worked both as a subtle manipulator and a political firebrand, disrupting the politics of local systems and stirring up trouble for the New Republic and the new Jedi order. Anor pulled the strings behind Xandel Carivus, a key member of the Imperial Interim Council that replaced the Empire after the death of Palpatine’s clone. His behind-the-scenes actions helped hasten the eventual downfall of the fragmented Empire.
Nom Anor disappeared for years, resurfacing on the planet Rhommamool as the leader of the Red Knights of Life extremist group. His heated rhetoric against droids, technology and the Jedi amassed a sizable following, straining the delicate peace between Rhommamool and sister planet Osarian. As the crisis escalated on the twin worlds, Nom Anor again vanished, faking his own death.
His advance mission was over. Shortly after the Rhommamool incident, the Yuuzhan Vong invasion began in force. This principal incursion, spearheaded mostly by members of the intendent caste, was deemed a failure, and Anor’s status was tainted by association. The next Yuuzhan Vong wave consisted of the warrior caste.
Anor forged tenuous alliances in an effort to smooth differences between him and the warrior caste, who were predisposed to distrust the intendent. Anor hatched a scheme to use a defector to defeat the Jedi, but this eventually failed. Anor was able to recover by bringing the Hutts into the Yuuzhan Vong fold as allies. Knowing full well the Hutts were untrustworthy, Anor used them to sew disinformation into the New Republic ranks.
Anor was finally able to redeem himself in Warmaster Tsavong Lah’s eyes by devastating and conquering the world of Duro. It was a hollow victory, as the Warmaster did not promote Anor, and the intendent now finds himself competing with Vergere, Tsavong Lah’s unlikely alien underling and advisor.
Still, Anor is shrewd and crafty. His knowledge of the infidels will continue to prove valuable to the Yuuzhan Vong effort, as it eclipses even the Republic’s Core Worlds. Anor no doubt is saving a vital piece of information that will win him a valued position beside Tsavong Lah, and spell even more suffering to the heroes of the New Republic.
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