Aliens in the Empire, Part 1
November 06, 2007
A Hyperspace Exclusive by Abel G. Peña and Rich Handley; Special Thanks to Joe Bongiorno
Part I: Hierarchy of Power
In his persona as both a politician and a Dark Lord, Emperor Palpatine rose to power abetted by many nonhumans, including his Sith apprentice Darth Maul, his trusted aides Sly Moore and Mas Amedda, and even his one-time kidnapper General Grievous. Palpatine's Sith Master was whispered to have been an emaciated Muun. Few could have predicted the dictator's institution of harsh anti-alien laws in his new Galactic Empire, but then, few were privy to his manipulation and subsequent abandonment of the Trade Federation, shattering the Neimoidians' entire power base. Some said Palpatine inherited the old-world prejudices perpetrated toward the Gungans on his homeworld Naboo, while others, still convinced the Emperor was only a figurehead, blamed the rise of "High Human Culture" not on Palpatine, but rather on his power-hungry human advisors and military officers.
Either explanation might have contained a grain of truth, but the more precise fact was that, as sovereign of a galaxy, the Emperor simply didn't care. For Palpatine, the fundamental divide wasn't between humans and aliens, but between the powerful and the weak. And overwhelmingly, it was humans that craved power by any means -- and at all costs.
One of the earliest known aliens to excel in Palpatine's xenophobic Empire was Grand Admiral Thrawn. Historically, Thrawn was painted as something of an enigma -- the lone alien to serve Palpatine after the fall of the Republic. However, the brilliant Chiss strategist was neither the only one, nor even the first. From mad scientists to executioners to lowly technicians, a handful of aliens managed to make their mark within the hierarchy of power that was Palpatine's Empire.
Mammon Hoole and Borborygmus Gog
[ Star Wars Insider #96 Online Supplement ] hough they eventually became bitter enemies, the Shi'ido changelings Mammon Hoole and Borborygmus Gog started out as ambitious colleagues at the Chandrilan Academy of Sciences sharing a mutual interest in genetics. After the academy, Hoole went on to study among Lur and Ithor's renowned geneticists, while Gog used his shape-shifting abilities to infiltrate the reclusive cloner ranks of Khomm and Kamino. The Shi'ido were then reunited as the newly appointed Supreme Chancellor Palpatine requested greater emphasis on controlled cloning research. Under the supervision of Palpatine's aide Sly Moore, Hoole and Gog were initially instructed to help the Republic's Ministry of Science develop countermeasures to biological attacks aimed at clones. However, the unparalleled breakthroughs produced by the two geniuses soon drew the attention of Palpatine himself. Moore specified the Chancellor's wish that the scientists undertake research into the spontaneous generation of life, and not just the genetic replication of it. Moore even provided a "volunteer" for their experiments: Niobi, a gentle and meek woman from backwater Bordal.
The prospect of creating life itself was too exciting for the scientists to get bogged down in moral considerations. Hoole and Gog's first attempt was rumored to have gone terribly wrong, resulting in the woman giving birth to a three-eyed mutant; mother and son were quickly spirited away by the Chancellor's confidant, Sarcev Quest. Blaming their failure on Moore's volunteer, the cocky scientists redoubled their efforts, this time using themselves as test subjects. They came to feel such confidence in their work that they even crossed their own genes with those of a Clawdite changeling, successfully stretching their natural Shi'ido shapeshifting abilities to radically atypical limits. Inspired by their progress, the Emperor had a special laboratory built for Hoole and Gog on the planet Kiva, where they made rapid advancement on their life-creating experiments.
But in their zeal, something again went horribly wrong in their experiments -- unleashing a plague that wiped out all life on Kiva. Unable to forgive himself for the atrocity, Hoole fled the Empire and the life he'd known. He instead became an anthropologist, dedicating himself to recording and preserving species' lives and cultures. Gog, on the other hand, regarded the catastrophe as just one more step toward fulfilling the Emperor's ultimate goal. Beginning the next phase of his research, Gog implemented Project Starscream, a horrific string of experiments that concluded when Gog created the first soldier of his Army of Terror -- an invincible monster capable of liquefying and devouring his victims.
With the help of his niece and nephew -- Tash and Zak Arranda -- Hoole ultimately foiled Gog's plans and was there to see the mad scientist betrayed and apparently killed by his own experiment. Hoole left Kiva, believing his former colleague dead, but knowing the wily scientist, it's quite possible the galaxy has not yet seen the last of Borborygmus Gog.
Cartariun
[ Star Wars Insider #96 Online Supplement ] Festering among the darkest corners of the galaxy are places where few dare tread. Vjun, Garn, Korriban, the Hellhoop...all have one thing in common: As focal points for the dark side, they are repositories for great power -- evil power just waiting for the right mind to harness.
The fourth planet of the Malrev system is one such world. A vital dark side hub during the days of the New Sith Wars, Malrev IV housed several temples used by the Sith's dark acolytes. Most of those temples have since become lost to the ravages of time, but one stood sound for thousands of years. Emperor Palpatine, having discovered the existence of Malrev IV in the Sith archives, sent a construction team into the planet's forests to build an outpost so he could study the temple and augment his own powers. Among the construction team was a Devaronian male named Cartariun, who in private had always shown a mild penchant for using the Force. Cartariun had hidden that talent, having seen as a boy what had happened to the Jedi.
Shortly after the Battle of Endor, the base was abandoned when word of the Emperor's fall reached the Malrev team. Cartariun, however, remained behind to study the ways of the Sith, intent on becoming the next Dark Lord. What he did not know was that his mediocre skills had been augmented by the magics of the temple. Cartariun learned to manipulate the minds of Malrev's beast-like primitives, the Irrukiine, whom he trained to fly TIE fighters and fight so they could defend the temple for him. The Irrukiine mind was far too primitive to understand any of what Cartariun taught them, however, and without his guidance, they reverted to their natural animalistic state and immediately forgot what to do.
In the months following the Emperor's death, Rogue Squadron visited Malrev IV in search of a lost Bothan ship, the Starfaring, which had suffered a flaw in its navigational system. In search of a disciple, Cartariun used his newfound Sith magic to touch the minds of all the pilots and the surviving Bothans. In addition, he began capturing pilots for observation, beginning with Wedge Antilles. Rogue Squadron tried to rescue him and found themselves under attack by TIE fighters piloted by Irrukiine. Distracted, Cartariun inadvertently lost his hold on the beasts, causing them to crash and die. Wedge slipped away in the confusion, but Sullustan pilot Dllr Nep was drawn to Cartariun's power, which he perceived as entrancing music. Dllr became an unwilling conduit for the temple's dark side power, but was able to resist.
Realizing the Sullustan's strength of will could ultimately prove dangerous, Cartariun decided to find another conduit. Moments later, he discovered just the mind he'd been searching for: a power-hungry Bothan named Girov Dza'tey, who'd murdered his own commander. An expert in the martial art of Jeswandi, Girov was someone whose thirst for personal power made him particularly susceptible to the allure of the Sith temple. The magics of the temple corrupted Girov's mind, influencing him to kill them both and take Cartariun's place as his apprentice. However, moments before death, Dllr made contact with the brain-damaged mind of Bith Rogue pilot Herian I'ngre. Guided by Dllr, Herian boarded an X-wing and flew it directly at the temple, killing herself and Dllr in the process.
Ampotem Za, The Suprema
[ Star Wars Insider #96 Online Supplement ] Tall and thin, with a long snout and slanted eyes that gave him the appearance of a bipedal dragon, the towering reptilian Imperial officer known as the Suprema was an enigma whose origins were shrouded in myriad and inventive rumors. Some claimed he was an Imperial experiment, cooked up by scientists who'd crossed a gundark with a wild durkii and a dozen-and-a-half other species; others said he belonged to a race of saurian conquerors from the Unknown Regions and could breathe fire. The Suprema encouraged such fabrications, as they helped instill fear in his enemies.
The soldier's long-lived species, the Shimholt, has been rarely seen in the galaxy since a devastating Nelori incursion on their planet, Kar'a'katok, left his once-agrarian and friendly people xenophobic and reclusive. The Shimholt put aside their farming tools and embraced the art of military self-defense, successfully repelling the Nelori Marauders. Angry at the government's failure to prevent the invasion, many demanded a change of leadership, and the democratic government soon fell in a coup staged by a fanatical religious faction. Once in power, the zealots launched an unprecedented effort to fortify the planet against invaders, decreeing Kar'a'katok closed to outsiders and making it a capital crime for any Shimholt to travel offworld. And thus, for 40 centuries, the Shimholt were all but forgotten.
That seclusion ended during an Imperial raid of the mist-enshrouded world, when the Shimholt known as Ampotem Za was injured and captured by the forces of Major Stafuv Rahz -- a grave dishonor for a species bound by such religious doctrine. Za managed to escape his Imperial captors and made his way back to Kar'a'katok, only to be shunned and exiled by his own people for allowing himself to be taken offworld. With nowhere to run, Za surrendered to Rahz, who took the prisoner-of-war to the Emperor. Recognizing an exploitable resource, Palpatine had the Shimholt brainwashed and trained in Trandoshan slaving techniques for over a year, and then put him to work.
Taking the name "Suprema," his title among his own people, Ampotem Za was installed as overlord of Mandalore with the objective of enslaving the population of the planet. Having seen Jango Fett and an army of his clones in action, the Emperor knew just how useful Mandalorians could be. As a trained and organized soldiery, the Mandalorians were now all but extinct, but many hardy specimens with raw talent remained among the planet's populace. The Suprema's task was to round them up for Imperial conscription.
His slavery ring on Mandalore proved especially successful for the Empire, for in only a few short months, nearly all remaining Mandalorians had been shackled in energy-links that bound their wrists and their souls. Among those captured was Tobbi Dala, a Mandalorian Protector with close ties to fellow Clone Wars survivor Fenn Shysa. The slaves were put to work inside a skeleton several stories high and 400 meters in length, which had been converted into a hard-labor penitentiary. The City of Bone was a carcass-prison, all that remained of a mythosaur unlucky enough to have crossed paths with ancient Mandalorian conquistadors. To the Mandalorian people, it was a constant reminder of the eventual death they faced, both individually and as a race.
Shysa and Dala had been away from Mandalore on a prolonged mission for the Protectors. Horrified to find their people in shackles, they built a resistance movement to end the Imperial hold on their world. To that end, Dala infiltrated the prison with the intention of capturing the Suprema and forcing him to free their kinsmen. Upon Dala's capture, Shysa picked up where his comrade had left off.
Meanwhile, seeking clues to the whereabouts of the carbonite-frozen Han Solo, Princess Leia Organa also found herself on Mandalore, hoping the bounty hunter Dengar might be able to provide information. Dengar was working for the slaving ring, and if he knew anything about Han, Leia was determined to make him talk.
With Dengar in chains, Leia and Fenn Shysa freed Tobbi Dala from the prison facility and stole a hovercraft. Shysa signaled his followers to attack, then shot the energy-link controls, freeing all the slaves. Leaving Dengar bound in the craft, they stormed the office of the Suprema, who shot Dala.
Furious, Shysa nearly beat the Shimholt officer to death. Dala lived, but he knew his wounds were fatal and bid his friend to leave him behind. As Leia and Shysa escaped with Dengar their prisoner, a pursuing hovercraft opened fire. Freed slaves returned the favor by tossing a gruel trough at the Imperial ship, causing it to crash. Dala donned his armor to die as a Mandalorian Protector, then opened the hangar doors for his friends to escape and closed them on the Imperial craft, dying to protect others as the Keldabe prison exploded. The Suprema and his entire squad of Imperial henchmen died in the resulting explosion.