However, Godera became the target of an Imperial Intelligence operation almost a decade into the Cold War when the agents of Sith LordDarth Angral attempted to capture the scientist for his knowledge of superweapons. A young Jedi Knight was sent to retrieve the doctor before the Empire could capture him, and the Jedi managed to rescue Godera after pursuing his captor, Watcher One of Imperial Intelligence, across the ruined world. Godera returned to the capital of Coruscant to aid the Republic during the campaign against Angral, and his knowledge proved invaluable in deactivating the Desolator weapon aboard Angral's ship Oppressor. He remained assigned to GeneralVar Suthra of the Republic Military as a scientific advisor as war broke out again, and he helped halt the Sith's efforts to kill civilians during the Battle of Corellia. Godera was killed during an Imperial attack, though his inventions would continue to be utilized by the military and the SIS during the renewed war.
A Humanmale born on the planetBalmorra in 3,708 BBY,[1] Nasan Godera quickly became known for his genius intellect as a young man. Godera's abrasive personality and political insensitivity nearly doomed his career as a scientist in the years before the Great Galactic War, but when the resurgent Sith Empire returned in 3,681 BBY and began to attack the Galactic Republic, Godera was recruited into the Republic Strategic Information Service, the Republic's intelligence agency.[1] Not long after the Battle of Alderaan in 3,667 BBY, Doctor Godera was one of many scientists recruited by ColonelLaren Omas of the Republic's nascent Special Forces. Omas convinced the group to design a weapon capable of stopping the Imperial threat, and over the course of several weeks the scientists developed a plan to build a "Shadow Arsenal"—a stockpile of interplanetary missiles with cloaking devices and payloads capable of destroying entire continents, intended to serve as an incredible deterrent against further Imperial hostility.[5]
However, the group began to fall apart soon after the plan was finalized, and Omas' death in the Battle of Hoth in 3,665 BBY caused the group to officially disband. But a determined Godera continued to secretly build the arsenal on the adrenal-producing world of Quesh, and it was not until he completed the weapon that Godera realized that the weapon's destructive potential was too much. Understanding that the catastrophic death toll the weapon would incur was too high a price, Godera locked the Shadow Arsenal away on Quesh and swore that from that day for his inventions would be different—they would either imprison or selectively target enemies, or guard against attack.[5] After spending four years studying the technology of the ancient Rakataspecies on the prison world of Belsavis, Godera founded the Republic superweapon initiative to develop new technologies and weapons.[1]
Godera soon became the Chief Designer within the SIS's Advanced Development Laboratories, developing prototype technologies and working with the galaxy's greatest scientists. Fellow scientist Boab Deduun became Godera's protege, and Godera's genius eventually led to the creation of multiple superweapons and advanced technologies. Among his inventions were the Sky Torch weapon and the spy ray, a long-range surveillance device that every SIS agent knew how to build by the time of the Cold War.[6]. Several superweapons—including the Planet Prison, Power Guard Enhancement System, Shock Drum, and the Death Mark Laser—were developed years later from Godera's half-finished designs and research.[1]
In 3,653 BBY, the Republic was forced to sign the Treaty of Coruscant and end the war on the Empire's terms.[7] This infuriated Godera, whose fierce sense of patriotism and devotion to the destruction of the Empire led him to protest the Treaty. After the Galactic Senate repeatedly ignored his advice and predictions that the Empire would press their advantage, Godera left the Republic in disgust and traveled to the ruined world of Taris. There, he constructed a series of underground laboratories with the help of droid assistants, and the scientist continued his research and experiments over the next decade as the galaxy experienced the tense Cold War.[8]