GeneralRom Mohc was a Humanmale who was a hero of the Clone Wars, serving in the armies of the Galactic Republic and later the Galactic Empire. Having developed an obsession with cybernetics and personal combat during the Clone Wars, Mohc was the architect of the Dark Trooper Project that arose in the wake of the destruction of the first Death Star. Despite initial successes in field testing, the project was destroyed by Rebel Alliance agent Kyle Katarn, who defeated Mohc in single combat.
As a soldier in the Clone Wars, Mohc fought with a passion for personal combat under the command of GeneralLocus Geen. Mohc gained a reputation for fighting battle droids in hand-to-hand combat and developed a keen understanding of cybernetics. His ability to ascertain the weaknesses of various droid designs proved invaluable at the Invasion of Coruscant by the droid army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Mohc also had a healthy respect for the clone troopers and relished working with them.
Mohc's bravery during the Clone Wars and loyalty put him on the fast track to success in Palpatine's New Order. On many worlds, Mohc fought in Palpatine's name, earning three Imperial Medals of Valor and the Distinguished Medal of Imperial Honor. Mohc continued his obsession with droids, often pitting himself against various deadly droids. His eccentric taste for combat culminated in a trophy room of battle droids that he had defeated, including a prototype IG-97, a ZQ infantry droid, and several Mark IX-XI Executioners.
As a Zero-G Spacetrooper, Mohc grew frustrated with the limitations of Imperial cybernetics. Mohc knew that with his experience fighting droids and knowledge of their weaknesses, he could develop an ultimate battle droid, and "studied the designs of mechanical soldiers throughout history, from Xim to the Sith to the Iron Knights of the Old Republic."[1]
Mohc's research yielded the initial designs for what would become the dark trooper.
His perseverance finally paid off, and young Lt. Mohc was stationed on the Empirical, a hidden space station in the Dominus sector, to oversee the Phase Zero Dark Trooper project, an attempt to update aging clone troopers by remaking them into cyborgs. However, as the subjects were forcibly recruited into the project, many Phase Zero Dark Troopers could not cope with the state of being more machine than man and attempted suicide. The project was eventually shut down as the Empire grew in power and the recruitment rate of non-clones rose.
When Mohc was promoted to the rank of general, he used the resources available to him to complete the technical designs and implementation plans for the dark troopers, thinking that infantry should prove themselves in battle. He knew his creation would please the Emperor, but Palpatine was obsessed with the Death Star project. With the failure of the first Death Star at the Battle of Yavin, Mohc seized the opportunity to pitch his program to Palpatine. Infuriated with Wilhuff Tarkin's failure and recognizing the partial success of the Phase Zero project, the Emperor granted Mohc authorization to begin his new program.
He was one of the few generals to oppose the Death Star as Mohc had a distrust of any technology which separates warriors from their enemies in battle.
The Dark Trooper Project was given billions of credits to support the research and development of Mohc's brainchild. Mohc established a mining facility on Gromas 16 to acquire the near-indestructible metal phrik, a weapons research facility on Fest, a robotics construction facility on Anteevy, and the massive starship Arc Hammer to act as a construction and mobile launch base for the dark troopers. After testing the Phase II dark troopers on Tak Base during the Battle of Talay, the Rebel Alliance sent Kyle Katarn, who had defected from the Empire and joined the Rebellion, to investigate and put an end to the Dark Trooper Project.
Mohc battled Katarn in single combat aboard Arc Hammer wearing the prototype of the Phase III dark trooper, which Mohc intended to use to complement his droids with stormtroopers in exosuits. Despite his prowess, Katarn bested Mohc and destroyed the Arc Hammer, atomizing Mohc and his team, costing the Empire dearly and resulting in Emperor Palpatine angrily canceling the project.