Lo Khan

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Lo Khan was an aged male smuggler who was active since the early years of the Galactic Empire. He made the most profitable run of his life on the Gamor Run where he stole a spice shipment belonging to one of his rivals, Uxbeg, and delivered it to a Hutt crime lord named Spadda in the Aikhibba system. On the way, he teamed up with Luwingo, a Yaka cyborg who was having trouble finding work. Luwingo saved Khan's life in a shootout with Uxbeg's henchmen which impressed Khan enough to hire the Yaka as his full-time bodyguard, thus cementing what was to become a long and fruitful partnership. Khan earned enough money in that run to semi-retire himself, spending the following years inside cantinas all around the galaxy while doing the odd smuggling run in his freighter, the Hyperspace Marauder.

In 10 ABY while docked at the Imperial Freight Complex around Byss, Khan ran into a couple of his old smuggling friends, Salla Zend and Shug Ninx, who were on the run from Imperials. Khan agreed to let Zend and Ninx store the Millennium Falcon, the ship the two fugitive smugglers were borrowing from former New Republic General Han Solo, inside the Marauder's cargo hold. As Zend and Ninx prepared to leave, an Imperial Hunter-Killer probot located the Falcon inside the Marauder and fired on Khan's ship in an attempt to apprehend the Falcon, much to the smuggler's dismay. The Marauder was impounded by the Imperials, stranding Khan and Luwingo on Byss for the next few weeks.

Zend came back with Ninx to visit Khan in the Byss Bistro hoping to recover her impounded ship, the Starlight Intruder, but at the same time New Republic forces secretly attacked Byss. Zend rallied Khan and the other smugglers together who then proceeded to bust their ships out of the Imperial impound. Khan and the smuggler fleet aided the New Republic forces in escaping the doomed mission to beseige the Emperor's Citadel just as the tide was turning in the Empire's favor and proceeded to help in the evacuation of New Alderaan after the planet was attacked by Emperor Palpatine's forces. Khan was a calm individual and tried to stay on the safer side of smuggling, avoiding armed conflict whenever possible. He enjoyed joking and drinking with his buddies inside cantinas and never tried to get on peoples' bad sides.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Smuggling career 1.2 Aiding the New Republic 2 Personality and traits 3 Behind the scenes 4 Appearances 5 Sources 6 Notes and references 7 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Smuggling career

Lo Khan was a seasoned, laconic smuggler who was known to have performed difficult smuggling runs since before the rise of such infamous criminals as Han Solo and Lando Calrissian. Khan made the largest haul of smuggling career on the Gamor Run,^[2] a hyperspace route in the Mid Rim.^[3] Khan had recently learned that one of his smuggling rivals, Uxbeg, had been contracted to run a spice shipment to a criminal named Spadda. Luckily for Khan, Uxbeg was still busy running a load of bulk yeast paste to the Corporate Sector prison Stars' End, allowing Khan to intercept Uxbeg's shipment. Upon picking up the shipment, Khan was surprised to learn it was a spice consignment from the royal governor of the Thokosia system destined for the Aikhibba system, one of the minor stopping points along the Gamor Run. Khan was already running low on fuel but he decided to take the shipment immediately and leave rather than give Uxbeg ample time to arrive and pick up the shipment himself.^[2]

Khan stopped in the Deneba system to refuel where he ran into Luwingo, a Yaka cyborg he'd met on an earlier run. Luwingo was down on his luck and Khan, sympathizing with the Yaka having been in the same situation many times before, decided to take Luwingo with him and give him a small cut of the profit to which Khan never demanded any payback. Soon, Khan and Luwingo had a run-in with a group of Uxbeg's thugs which precipitated into a firefight and resulted in Luwingo taking a blaster bolt for Khan. Khan feared Luwingo was dead but to his amazement the Yaka simply shook off the injury. It was then that Khan became aware of Luwingo's usefulness and loyalty, and so he decided to hire Luwingo as his full-time bodyguard. Upon delivering the cargo to Aikhibba, Khan was shocked to learn that Spadda was the infamous crime lord Spadda the Hutt, and ended up disappointed when the Hutt shortchanged him immensely. Nevertheless Khan still received a significant enough sum to set him up for life and he spent the following years relaxing in smugglers' bars across the galaxy and performing small runs in his modified Xiytiar-class transport, the Hyperspace Marauder.^[2] At some point during the Galactic Civil War he began hauling military supplies to the Deep Core for both sides of the war.^[4]

[edit] Aiding the New Republic

In 10 ABY, Emperor Palpatine resurrected himself in a clone body and began constructing a new Galactic Empire based around the Deep Core world Byss.^[2] New Republic heroes Princess Leia Organa Solo and former smuggler Han Solo enlisted the help of smugglers Salla Zend and Shug Ninx in their attempt to rescue Leia's brother, the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, who had recently been captured by the forces of this new empire. The group traveled in Han's YT-1300 light freighter, the Millennium Falcon, to the Emperor's Citadel on Byss where Han and Leia allowed themselves to be captured as part of their plan to rescue Skywalker while Zend and Ninx escaped with the Falcon.^[5] Zend and Ninx fled to the Imperial Freight Complex on Byss where Lo Khan allowed his fellow smugglers to conceal the Falcon inside the Hyperspace Marauder.^[1]

Khan, while willing to help his fellow smugglers in need, was also concerned about his ship's well-being as well as his own. As Khan, Luwingo and the two wanted smugglers began discussing recent events at the complex's cantina, the Byss Bistro, Ninx received a comlink transmission from Han Solo who was requesting extraction from the Citadel. As Zend and Ninx headed back toward the Falcon, an Imperial Hunter-Killer probot designated Judgement 12-X7 scanned the Marauder and discovered the Falcon inside the ship's cargo hold. The probot managed to capture the Falcon with its tractor beams but not before it crippled and impounded the Marauder.^[1] Khan didn't seem to worry very much however, he was confident he could use his connections to free the Marauder.^[2]

It would not be long before Lo Khan got the chance to recover his ship. For the next few weeks Khan and Luwingo found themselves stranded on Byss^[4] where they once again met up with Salla Zend and Shug Ninx at the Byss Bistro.^[6] The two smugglers came back to Byss intending to salvage Zend's ship, the Starlight Intruder, and were able to get past Imperial security by posing as maintenance workers delivering a set of obsolete repair parts to Khan.^[7] Khan revealed, much to Zend's disappointment, that the Intruder had already been stripped by Imperial-sanctioned scavs and melted to slag. Khan's break finally came in the form of a surprise attack by New Republic forces inside X-1 Viper Automadons led by Generals Wedge Antilles and Lando Calrissian.^[6] Soon, however, the Imperials unleashed their chrysalide rancors, alchemically mutated dark side beasts, on the Viper Automadons and as things were looking grim for the New Republic, Salla Zend, feeling she had a responsibility to them, rallied Khan and many other smugglers together to aid the New Republic forces.^[8]

Luwingo laid down covering fire with his tripod laser as Khan and the other spacers rushed to their impounded ships. With Luwingo safely aboard, Khan lifted off in the Hyperspace Marauder and joined the small fleet of smuggler ships. Khan made use of the newly installed 700 Penetrator laser cannons on the Marauder in conjunction with the other smuggler ships to save Antilles, Calrissian and the droids C-3PO and R2-D2 from a chrysalide rancor. Khan and the smuggler ships escaped Byss' orbit and were surprised when the Imperials let them get to jumping distance without firing on them for fear of damaging the nearby partially constructed Galaxy Gun superweapon. The smuggler ships safely escaped to the New Republic-held Pinnacle Base.^[8] Shortly thereafter Khan and the smuggler ships helped evacuate the New Republic safe world of New Alderaan where Leia Organa Solo's childen, Jacen and Jaina Solo, were hiding out, before finally heading off to the New Republic base at the Space City orbiting Nespis VIII.^[9]

[edit] Personality and traits

Lo Khan was an easy-going, laconic smuggler and was known to be one of the most lax in his trade. He would spend much of his free time getting drunk in cantinas with old friends or occasionally performing small, safe runs in the Hyperspace Marauder to make a living. Khan was one of the older smugglers of his time and preferred to keep out of trouble. He typically kept to the more well-policed routes and spent most of his money on upgrading the shields and hull of his ship.^[2] Khan liked to avoid conflicts and make few enemies so he kept the Marauder unarmed for many years before finally deciding to arm it with twin 700 Penetrator laser cannons. If the Marauder was ever taken over by pirates, the ship's computer would override the pirate ship's computer and give Khan complete control of all of the ship's systems. Khan was not above mercy however and would leave life support and low-level ion thrusters operational before stripping any valuable gear from the pirate ship.^[2] While hauling in the Deep Core he could usually be found sitting in the Byss Cantina with his fellow smugglers. Khan was also willing to help a friend in need so long as he or his ship didn't get damaged in the process.^[1] Khan formed a long-standing friendship and partnership with his Yaka cyborg first mate, Luwingo, ever since their first run together.^[2]

[edit] Behind the scenes

Lo Khan was created by author Tom Veitch for the fifth issue of the Dark Empire comic book series. He later returned for the latter half of the sequel series, Dark Empire II, and was given a complete backstory by Michael Allen Horne in the Dark Empire Sourcebook. He went on to be given brief mentions in various other sources over the years and was voiced by Joe Hacker in the Dark Empire audio adaptations.

[edit] Appearances

• Dark Empire 5: Emperor Reborn (First appearance)
• Star Wars: Dark Empire audio drama
• Dark Empire II 3: World of the Ancient Sith (Mentioned only)
• Dark Empire II 4: Battle on Byss
• Dark Empire II 5: The Galaxy Weapon
• Dark Empire II 6: Hand of Darkness

[edit] Sources

•  Dark Empire Sourcebook
• A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Second Edition
• The Essential Guide to Characters (see 'Salla Zend')
• The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels (see 'Hyperspace Marauder')
• Star Wars Encyclopedia
• Handbook 3: Dark Empire (see 'Salla Zend/Shug Ninx')
• A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Third Edition
• The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels (see 'Hyperspace Marauder')
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
•  Salla Zend in the Databank

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

•  Khan, Lo in the Completely Unofficial Star Wars Encyclopedia