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- "It's different with one of your kind. First there is emotion—anger, frustration, the desire for revenge—all those things that you have yet to learn to control. But then your reasoning ability, your capacity for logic kicks in. Cold and analytical, even about the things that matter the most to you. Even about your own lost identity. To be cold about other creatures' fates-that comes easily to most worlds' denizens. But to be cold about one's own self...that's something I recognize."
- ―Boba Fett
Kateel of Kuhlvult, also known as "Neelah", was a Human female from Kuat who worked as a dancer in Jabba's Palace.
Biography
Neelah worked as a dancing girl under Jabba the Hutt. After his death, Neelah escaped from the Hutt's palace, earning herself a cut down her cheek from a Gamorrean guard. During her trek away from the place of her bondage, Neelah stumbled across two medical droids one their way to a secret base where Dengar was treating the half-digested form of Boba Fett, his armor and skin almost all consumed by the sarlacc's stomach acid. Knowing somehow that Boba Fett was connected to her past, she left him to recuperate, with strict orders that the droids not tell anyone that she had been there.
Neelah knew nothing of her past due to a mind-wipe which was ordered by her sister, Kodir of Kuhlvult. Her only semblance of self that she retained was her mindset that she had not always been a slave to another being, but rather the other way around. Her haughty attitude made her believe that she had been born someone of higher stature. These thoughts she kept to herself during her enslavement. Though she watched other girls around her being cruelly mistreated by their bloated master, even occasionally used as rancor food, her own health was kept intact. She felt that this treatment came from a bounty hunter who seemed to watch over and had caught her gaze a number of times—Boba Fett. His gaze always made fear crawl through her, but for a separate reason than his infamous reputation.
When Dengar took in Boba Fett and started nursing him back to health, Neelah demanded that she be included in his recuperation, with Dengar reluctantly agreeing. When Kuat of Kuat discovered that Fett was still alive, he sent bombers to strafe the surface of Tatooine, hoping to eliminate the bounty hunter once and for all. After the bombing, Fett knew that it was time to leave. Boba Fett took Dengar with him as a partner and also Neelah. She knew that she wasn't there beyond the fact that she had some part to play in Fett's mercenary schemes. During their flight in the Slave I to an undisclosed location, Neelah persuaded Dengar to tell her the history of what had previously been happening with Boba Fett and his recent dealings. These happened to coincide with her erased past.
During her flight, Neelah hacked into Boba Fett's files and discovered a picture of an ancient symbol from Kuat. That symbol brought the memories of her past flooding back. She knew her true name; Kateel of Kuhlvult, a member of the Kuat high lineage. She hid the fact that she knew who she was from both bounty hunters, unsure of what they would do if they found out.
Their ship was eventually tracked down by Kateel's sister, Kodir of Kuhlvult, who took Kateel away from both Dengar and Boba Fett, and they put up no fight as Kateel left willingly. Kodir didn't realize that her sister knew who she was and the circumstances behind why her sister wanted her dead. When Kodir of Kuhlvult discovered that Kateel remembered everything from her past, she pulled out a blaster and was prepared to kill Kateel in order to silence her forever. Kateel, however, was far too quick. Kateel swiftly disarmed her sister, overwhelming Kodir's meager defense, and sent Kodir of Kuhlvult back to stand trial on Kuat. Kateel then reconnected with her heritage and, when Fett tracked her down, he threw out the idea to her that she could take control of Kuat Drive Yards because of the former leader's death.
As the chairman of KDY in 8 ABY, she was forced to surrender Kuat and its shipyards to the New Republic during the Taking of Kuat.[1]
Appearances
- The Mandalorian Armor (First appearance)
- Slave Ship (First identified as Kateel of Kuhlvult)
- Hard Merchandise
Sources
- The Official Star Wars Fact File 46 (FET25-26, Boba Fett)
- The New Essential Chronology (Indirect mention only)
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- The Essential Guide to Warfare
- The Essential Reader's Companion