The Essential Guide to Force Exile/Ajaur

Ajaur was once in line to be a Jedi Knight, the defenders of peace and justice in the galaxy and protectors of the Republic. Therefore, the fact that his status was that elevated makes his fall even more tragic. At the young age of thirteen, his Force sensitivity was not enough for a Jedi Master to choose him as an apprentice and he was assigned to the Agricultural Corps. Instead of becoming a Jedi Knight, he traded his lightsaber for farming implements. He served in the Corps for ten years, working hard but inwardly bitter over his assignment.

Then, in early 18 BBY, clone trooper forces landed on the remote agrarian world where he was stationed. The Jedi Order had already been pushed to the brink of extinction, but Ajaur didn’t know that. All he knew was that white-armored soldiers were killing everyone they could find. Rallying the fellow AgriCorps workers, many of them less than sixteen years of age, they attacked the clones with whatever weapons they could find, including lightsabers from fallen Jedi overseers. Ajaur personally ran amok with an armored crop harvester, mowing down clones like grain, but eventually had to abandon the vehicle for a scavenged lightsaber. The clone force suffered heavy casualties until Darth Vader arrived from dealing with a pair of Jedi Knights. The Sith Lord easily cut down any other AgriCorps workers who stood in his way, but Ajaur, full of rage, charged him anyway. Vader toyed with him, inflicting several glancing wounds on the farmboy. Ajaur called on the dark side of the Force and pushed Vader to the ground, but before he could land a killing blow, Vader slashed him across the throat and face, bringing Ajaur to his knees. However, sensing the dark side was already in Ajaur, Vader spared his life but left him humiliated and burning with hatred. Instead, Ajaur became part of the Inquisitorius, a dedicated group of Force-sensitives devoted to torture and the extermination of any trace of the Jedi.

He served Vader, following his orders, but he burned with a lust for vengeance towards the Sith. If an opportunity had presented itself, he would have killed Vader without a second thought. In 16 BBY, Ajaur was assigned to use the Star Destroyer Corrupter as a mobile headquarters for hunting down Force-sensitives. While he did not get along with the ship’s master, Captain Nebulax, Ajaur did help with interrogating prisoners Nebulax had seized in a spaceport raid. He relished every scream of pain, allowing the other prisoners to watch the torturing of the first few. After that, the rest of the prisoners were much more forthcoming with information. Ajaur also ordered Nebulax to board a light freighter they encountered near the Zhar system, but the freighter put up a spirited defense and escaped. Ajaur sensed a disturbance in the Force on the ship, though little did he know that he was sensing the presence of a Jedi Knight.

He continued on his mission, scything through a colony of Force-sensitive Jensaarai on Susefvi with relative ease. However, he was frustrated to find Nebulax hunting pirates instead of devoting his attention fully to hunting down Force-sensitives. The Imperial had different priorities than he did, and it bothered him. The two would continually vie for dominance throughout the duration of their voyage. Ajaur did aid in the destruction of a pirate base, but only out of a desire to unleash his fury on someone.

Later, a garrison commander on Darlyn Boda signaled the Corrupter, informing them of the presence of Jedi Knights on the planet. As the Corrupter approached the world, Ajaur felt their power and ordered Nebulax to encircle their camp with ground forces in an all-out assault instead of orbital bombardment, as it was possible some of the Jedi might escape before the turbolaser strike landed. Ajaur personally accompanied the assault, but was surprised to find that the people he was attacking weren’t Jedi, though they were Force-sensitive Matukai. By the time he reached their compound, the Imperial attack was faltering in the face of stiff resistance, but Ajaur quickly changed all that. He and his hand-picked stormtrooper contingent broke through the Matukai lines, cutting down all in their path. Ajaur personally slew the Matukai leader, but found himself challenged by a Jedi, Milya Tayrce. They dueled briefly, but the arrival of a scout ship friendly to the Matukai delayed Ajaur enough to allow Tayrce and some of the Matukai to escape. Ajaur sensed a being even more powerful than Tayrce on the ship and ordered Nebulax to intercept it, but the scout ship escaped. Before he had an opportunity to return to the Corrupter and continue the chase, though, the Star Destroyer was summoned to aid Imperial forces under attack by pirates in Hoth. For his part, Ajaur remained in his quarters, not bothering with such trifling matters as pirates. Instead, he meditated on the dark side of the Force, trying to search out the one he had sensed.

However, in that battle, the Corrupter sustained heavy damage and Ajaur decided to find a new ship to carry him around on his mission. In the mean time, he managed to inquire with Nebulax and several Imperial prisoners who had been rescued during the battle and learned that they had also encountered this mysterious person, a Jedi Knight. He also received an intercepted transmission giving him a name: Micor Kraen. As he waited for his new command, the Corrupter’s first officer, Ait Convarion, passed on a message intended for Ajaur. It informed him of Jedi connections on Commenor, connections to a family named Kraen. Ajaur immediately wasted no time in heading for Commenor and one of the rescued prisoners, a high-ranking Imperial aide named Kinman Doriana, accompanied him.

Upon arrival, Ajaur made contact with the Imperial Intelligence agent, Captain Norres, who had discovered the link between the fugitive Jedi and this particular family. When Doriana expressed concern about how they were going to apprehend the Kraens-a family of good repute and with considerable resources-Ajaur brushed off the worries, saying that Imperial justice was due to be meted out. Furthermore, Norres provided the Inquisitor with a location where all the Kraens would be: A wedding for one of their friends. Ajaur liked Norres’ idea to capture the Kraens in the midst of the wedding, when they would be off guard. For his part, he decided to allow the Imperial troops that Doriana had brought in from other garrisons to handle the initial intimidation factor to forestall any resistance. Instead, Ajaur planned to lay in wait, seeking out the Jedi and trapping them once they were distracted. As the Imperials planned, Norres disrupted the wedding by brazenly walking in, but his actions had been anticipated-several Jedi appeared, as well as local fringe elements, which were armed and waiting to fend off the Imperial forces. As soon as the Jedi revealed themselves, Ajaur leaped through a sizable stained glass window and began battling the leader of the Jedi, whom he believed was Micor Kraen-Micor was actually an alias and he was battling a Jedi named Selusda Kraen, but Ajaur was not aware of that.

Throughout their prolonged duel, though, Ajaur could not seem to get the upper hand. Deciding to weaken his opponent by attacking one of his comrades, Ajaur leaped down to attack one of the other Jedi, hoping to catch her by surprise. However, Selu noticed his move and threw a lightsaber after him. The whirling blade severely injured Ajaur and he collapsed to the floor of the wedding hall. He was not slain, though, and though it took him several minutes to gather up enough dark side power to rise again, he pulled himself to his feet as the Jedi he had faced on Darlyn Boda, Milya Tayrce, ran past him on her way to a ship that would carry her away from Commenor. He attacked her with a knife, but was stopped from inflicting a fatal wound by Selu. Though he attempted to use the Force against Milya, that too was defeated. However, before he could strike anyone else, a former clone trooper allied with the Jedi gunned him down, ending Ajaur’s tenure as an Inquisitor and Dark Jedi.

Appearances

 * Force Exile III: Liberator