Vocis Kenit was a male Human who entered the Galactic Empire's Navy sometime before 12 BBY. Rising to the rank of captain by 0 ABY due to his frequent reporting on the flaws of other officers, Kenit was assigned the command of the EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate Far Orbit. In 0 ABY, while the Galactic Civil War was being fought by the Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic, some of the crew of the Far Orbit, led by second officer Dhas Fenoep Vedij, mutinied and seized the starship from Kenit and the loyal Imperials aboard. Briefly imprisoned by his superiors because of his failure in command after the crew of the Far Orbit let him go, Kenit was then assigned to track the Far Orbit, which had become an Alliance privateering vessel. Although Kenit came close to capturing the ship by manipulating them into attacking a pirate band and later drawing them into a confrontation with an Imperial fleet, Kenit's efforts ultimately came to naught, and he was executed by Emperor Palpatine himself for his failure.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early career 1.2 Mutiny 1.3 Hunt for the Far Orbit 1.4 Demise 2 Personality and traits 3 Behind the scenes 4 Appearances 5 Sources 6 Notes and references

BiographyEdit

Early careerEdit

A Human male, Vocis Kenit was born in the Hallu sector of the Mid Rim. He had at least one sibling. Kenit enlisted in the Galactic Empire's Navy by 12 BBY, during the Imperial Navy's first major expansion, and, upon serving for two years, Kenit attended the Imperial Naval Academy on the world of Lianna. Kenit graduated from there as an officer, and he was assigned to the Semqi Pefis, an Imperial Victory-class Star Destroyer. On the ship, Kenit brought the careers of several higher-ranking officers under scrutiny by reporting their political faults. Kenit was promoted at the end of his tour of duty on the Semqi Pefis, and was transferred to the Thomquizzar Naval Base in the Outer Rim Territories.^[1]

Like always, Kenit performed well, intelligently executing his duties while identifying the faults of his superior Imperial officers. He rose through the ranks in like fashion: undermining the careers of his superiors and rivals, and receiving a series of promotions and transfers for his efforts. Indeed, many of Kenit's superiors found rewarding the officer to be the easiest and safest way to get rid of him. In time, Kenit was given the command of the new EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate Far Orbit, serving as its captain as he and the frigate rooted out pirate nests in the Outer Rim.^[1]

Kenit was a brutal captain for the crew of the Far Orbit; his methods of maintaining discipline were harsh, while his treatment of captured enemies was even worse. Many of the personnel and officers on the ship disliked him, including the second in command, Commander Dhas Fenoep Vedij. One dissenting officer on the Far Orbit was reported to the Imperial Security Bureau, and mysteriously died later.^[1]

Three pirate lords and many smaller pirating organizations fell to the Far Orbit because of Kenit's cunning and his ability to anticipate movements. Kenit and the Far Orbit tracked one pirate organization known as the Silent Blades for weeks, and the Captain finally forced the pirates into a stand-off at an asteroid belt: while the Far Orbit could not enter the belt, the holed-up pirates could not get out. Kenit ignored Vedij's suggestion to call for reinforcements, as Kenit desired the glory of victory for himself. Thus, Kenit had the Far Orbit's TIE series starfighter complement attack the pirates in the asteroid field. The starfighter assault was successful and destroyed the majority of the pirates, although the entire TIE force was lost, including Vedij's brother, Elon.^[1]

MutinyEdit

Due to the death of his brother and his disillusionment with the Empire, Vedij led a mutiny against Kenit and the loyal Imperials after Kenit's men arrested a shiphand for being from Alderaan, a world that was pro-Alliance until the Empire destroyed^[1] it with the DS-1 Orbital Battle Station superweapon.^[2] When Vedij used rumors about the arresting of the shiphand to outrage the crew, two-thirds of Kenit's command followed the first officer in the mutiny and ousted Kenit from power. The Captain was personally sent off the ship by Vedij in an escape pod along with those crew members who were against the mutiny. Kenit was later recovered by the Imperials. He gave a report on what had happened and was imprisoned to await punishment. His political enemies, slighted by Kenit over the years in his rise through the ranks, arranged for a court-martial due to his failure of command.^[1]

After a few weeks, Kenit was sentenced via hologram by Grand Vizier Sate Pestage, who was close to Emperor Palpatine. Because the ruler of the Galactic Empire had been angered when he heard of the mutiny, Pestage was leading the investigation into the matter, and gave Kenit a suspended sentence of death. The carrying out of the sentence would wait until Kenit's new assignment, the capturing of the Far Orbit, could be completed. If Kenit failed, he would die, while success would let him live.^[1] Kenit took on the mission and searched for Vedij and the Far Orbit in the Outer Rim with the Imperial frigate Stalwart.^[3] He also placed bounties on the heads of his former crew.^[1]

Hunt for the Far OrbitEdit

Pestage later contacted Kenit during his search, and the Imperial captain was informed that the Far Orbit had moved to the Core Worlds' Ringali Shell. There, Vedij and the crew—who had enlisted as privateers with the Alliance to Restore the Republic as part of their Galactic Civil War against the Empire—had captured Imperial Advisor Coh Veshiv near the planet Esseles.^[3]

Authorized to use extreme measures to capture the Far Orbit, Kenit came up with a plan to discredit the ship and poison the public's opinion of the frigate by announcing that it was a privateering vessel. In the Ringali Shell, Kenit forced a captured pirate band known as the Solar Terrors and their leader, Venslas Beeli, to attack civilian targets near the worlds of Brentaal IV, Rhinnal, and Esseles under the guise of Alliance privateers. During their set of raids, Beeli's fleet of ships retired to a deep space position where the Stalwart and Kenit resided, and Imperial patrols were restrained from increasing their activity in order to let the Far Orbit engage the pirates, because Vedij and the crew wanted to destroy the pirates to maintain their reputation. In the end, Vedij and the Far Orbit indeed destroyed the pirates.^[4]

Kenit's next move was to set a trap for the Far Orbit. Using the seemingly poorly defended Mark III bulk transport SPF 14897 as bait, Kenit lured in the Far Orbit. The privateer crew conducted a raid on the transport; however, the cargo hold contained three squads of elite stormtroopers, who attempted a counter-boarding operation against the frigate. With the Far Orbit stuck fending off the boarders, Kenit led a small fleet to capture the vessel. Kenit hailed the Far Orbit, announcing that they would be arrested for treason, and in the event that Vedij was handed to the Imperials, the crew would be better off.^[5]

Kenit's fleet—two GAT-12 Skipray Blastboats, the Strike-class medium cruiser Hammer, the Immobilizer 418 cruiser Claw, and the Stalwart—attacked the Far Orbit, with capital ships pounding the Far Orbit with ion cannon fire as they launched their TIE fighters. Due to its lack of ion cannons, Kenit's Stalwart gripped the frigate with its tractor beams to hold the Far Orbit still. Despite the odds stacked against them, the crew of the Far Orbit still prevailed, using the frigate's own tractor beams to grip on to passing TIEs and use them as shields against the Skiprays that had flanked the EF76. The Far Orbit then bore down on the Claw, whose gravity well projectors were keeping the Far Orbit from jumping to hyperspace, and the privateering vessel destroyed one of the projectors in the following engagement. Now free to jump, the heavily damaged Far Orbit escaped, leaving Kenit's mission in ruins.^[5]

DemiseEdit

That same year, as the Far Orbit evaded Kenit's efforts to capture it, the frigate took the Star Galleon-class frigate Emperor's Will, a great prize loaded with treasure. Among the wealth was a single Corusca gem,^[6] which had unique tracking abilities. Because his brother was a gemologist, Kenit was aware of the Corusca gem's special properties, so he felt confident that he would finally be able to capture the frigate. However, Kenit was summoned to the holopod and confronted by not Pestage, but Palpatine himself on the feed, who was angered at the loss of the Emperor's Will. Kenit was executed by Palpatine immediately by Force choking from across the galaxy for his failure to locate the Far Orbit, and the secret of tracking the ship died with him.^[1]

Personality and traitsEdit

Kenit was a fair-skinned man who had black hair, and sported a moustache. The man was not particularly brilliant when it came to military operations, although he was a decent tactician good at anticipating the moves of the enemy. Kenit rose up the ranks via his political acumen rather than his military performance. At each post, the Captain looked for political faults in his superiors and brought their careers under scrutiny as he completed his missions intelligently; Kenit's habit created multiple enemies in the Imperial ranks. Kenit's cunning and technical excellence, as well as his undying devotion to the New Order, allowed his rise. As the commander of the Far Orbit, the Captain was an authoritarian and a petty despot, causing many of the crew to dislike him. Kenit treated captured prisoners even worse than he treated his men.^[1]

Kenit's treatment of his men, and his pursuit of glory and promotion in his battle with the Silent Blades, compelled his crew to mutiny, an event that Kenit never predicted.^[1] Kenit considered Vedij a traitor.^[5] The officer was afraid of failing his superiors in the search for the Far Orbit, as he knew the consequence was death.^[3] During the attempt to capture the Far Orbit with his fleet, Kenit had the Stalwart stay back from the immediate fighting as he wanted to stay out of harm's way.^[5]

Behind the scenesEdit

Vocis Kenit was first mentioned in 1998's The Far Orbit Project, by Timothy S. O'Brien. The book was a supplement to West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game and was a sequel of sorts to the previous publication Pirates & Privateers, carrying on that book's theme by following the Far Orbit's adventures. In The Far Orbit Project, Vocis Kenit serves as the main villain in his attempts to capture the privateering vessel, and he appears in the adventure scenarios The Capture of Coh Veshiv, The Rival, and The Trap, which were all included in the book. The 2008 reference work The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia mentioned Kenit in its entries for the Strike Cruiser Hammer and Shel Marcino, a survivor of the Silent Blades pirate gang.

In The Far Orbit Project, Kenit's attempts to capture the Far Orbit can take numerous paths, as the adventure changes according to how the players and the gamemaster—the person who manages the adventure—do it. The pirates that Kenit sends out to discredit the frigate can be used as the bait to allow Kenit's fleet to catch up to the EF76, instead of SPF 14897. During the battle between the fleet and Vedij's force, Vedij can surrender to Kenit in return for safe passage for his men. However, if this happens, Kenit plans to double cross Vedij and capture the ship, although the Far Orbit escapes as Vedij shuttles over to the Stalwart. This article assumes the path presented here is correct because it represents the one that the players handle challenges in the way that results in the best overall outcome for the privateers of the Far Orbit, as well as the way that allows all of the adventure scenarios to be canon.

AppearancesEdit

•  "The Capture of Coh Veshiv"—The Far Orbit Project (First appearance)
•  "The Rival"—The Far Orbit Project
•  "The Trap"—The Far Orbit Project

SourcesEdit

• The Far Orbit Project (First mentioned)
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia

Notes and referencesEdit