Marx Kripp

Marx Kripp was a STORM-II Commando of the Imperial Naval Special Warfare Command. With nearly 30 years of active duty, he was one of the most decorated soldiers in the Empire and earned every known medal in the Empire except the Prisoner of War Medallion. In 453 ABY, Marx went missing in action after the Battle of Rxus Prime when he and the Wookiee chief Froowoorr stopped a second Yuuzhan Vong invasion.

Childhood and STORM Training
Born in 411 ABY, Marx lived with his mother and father on Mandalore. As a child, Marx had brown hair, freckles, and a small gap between his front teeth. In a memory, Marx recalled that his mother was "kind and smelled of soap." At the age of six, he was identified by Dr. Shu as one of 150 preliminary candidates for the STORM-II Program. Marx was an ideal physical and mental candidate, standing a head taller than the majority of his schoolmates, having greater physical proportions, possessing strength, exhibiting reflexes, and having an aggressive drive for winning. When Dr. Shu and Lieutenant Jak Kahz visited Mandalore in 417 ABY to study him, they were impressed with his intellect and his luck. In a final test of his viability as a candidate, he was asked to determine which side an old credit chip would land on. He watched the chip as it flew in the air and caught it before it could land, correctly stating which side was face-up. Later that same year, Marx, and 74 other six-year-old children were "conscripted", covertly kidnapped from their homes and replaced with clones, all of which would later die of natural causes to cover up the kidnappings. Marx along with the other candidates were taken to Kamino. Dr. Shu informed them of the STORM-II program.

Marx began a new life, training with other STORMs under Chief Petty Officer Chito Mendez. For eight years he learned history, military strategy, weapons, and physical fitness. Early on, he bonded with Kailar and Samo, who would be the only close friends he would ever have, aside from Sergeant Polton.

When the STORMs were eight years old, they were sent on a training mission in which they were dropped on Endor and expected to get safely to their extraction shuttle. The children also had instructions to leave the last child arriving behind, or the punishment would be painful, but Marx knew that he could not do that. After telling the STORMs where to meet up, the STORMs looked to him as their leader, a role he was initially surprised to be given but took on. When the group came upon the shuttle, it was guarded by armed men. Those men were actually Imperial soldiers, but were not in uniform, and in addition to the fact that the STORMs had never seen Imperial troops before, therefore mistaken for a hostile threat. Marx showed early acumen in critical thinking and tactics, not wishing to take it for granted that guards would be friendly toward them. He came up with a plan to take the men down, capture the dropship, and ensure the safe extraction of every team member, as he made sure he was the last person aboard. To do this he ended up hijacking the dropship with the help of Devu, and beat down the men with stones and many feet, causing severe injuries among the soldiers. Mendez was not visibly pleased, as marx attacked his soldiers and also, no one had been left behind. But both he and Dr. Shu recognized Marx's initiative, and promoted him to Squad Leader. After this, despite the other STORMs rising in rank and at least a couple rising to lead their own teams, he remained the de facto leader of the STORMs as a whole.

At the age of 14, Marx underwent the dangerous process of STORM-II Augmentation Procedures that caused almost half of the STORM candidates to die, or be physically disabled. Marx was one of 33 STORMs who made it through the process unscathed, while the rest who could still operate were sent for jobs in the Office of Naval Intelligence. At only 14 years old, Marx had the body of an 18 year old athlete, the augmentation process gave the STORMs faster reflexes, greater strength, enhanced eyesight and made their bones nearly unbreakable. Following their augmentation procedures Marx and the other STORMs were transferred to Polis Massa in order to recover in a microgravity environment. During his first visit to the Polis Massa gym, Marx was confronted by four Commandos whose Sergeant then ordered the five of them into the boxing ring. In the ensuing fight Marx killed two of the Commandos and left the others severely injured. According to Major Silva, this incident was orchestrated by the Office of Naval Intelligence in order to test the STORMs' augmentations.

Early Military Career
Marx's first mission was against rebels in the asteroid belt of the Geonosis System. He was shot in the side by live ammo while leading his squad to capture rebel leader Colonel Reinard Harr, without heavily injuring him.

Three months after the Geonosis mission, Marx and his STORMs were briefed on the massacre that took place on Ryloth shortly after first contact with the Alien Alliance. A short time later, the Imperial Navy, under the command of Captain Walder, brought the STORMs and Dr. Shu to the Ackbar Testing Facility on Mon Calamari, where they received the SABER Assault Armour. When an Alliance ship attacked the Imperials, Marx and the STORMs took part in their first battle with the Alliance. The STORMs launched with jetpacks from a dropship. Each STORM carried a missile with them to destroy an Alliance ship. Only two other STORMs made it to the ship with Marx: Samo and Kailar. They entered the ship through a hole in its hull, caused by a heavy assault round from the Imperials. They succeeded in completing the mission and destroyed the Alliance ship, but due to a breach in Samo's armor, caused by retaliation fire from Alliance forces, he was unable to leave the Alliance ship. Volunteering to stay behind and ensure the destruction of the enemy vessel. Samo was killed in the ensuing explosion. Marx was affected profoundly at the loss of one of his friends. This Imperial victory against the Alliance showed Marx that SABER armour.

Marx served in over 200 missions against the Alliance, including the Battle of Telos IV, where he and a handful of STORMs single-handedly killed over a thousand Alliance troops, and the Battle of Rhen Var, in which Marx and his Blue Team detonated a CHAOS nuclear warhead to clear the Alliance Army from the planet. This was one of only a few Imperial victories against the Alliance. He received every medal the Empire awarded except for the Prisoner of War medal. He was also considered the luckiest and the bravest of the STORM-IIs.

The Battle of Ord Mantell, though brief, was of great significance for Marx. This is where he received the SABER Mark II armour that had been optimized for his STORM augmented physiology. The majority of the STORMs went to the planet's surface to protect shield generators. Marx, with Lando and Jantho, were sent to a docking station to destroy an unsecured database. If the Alliance obtained the database, they would discover the location of every Imperial garrison and stronghold. The database was destroyed, but Lando and Jantho were ambushed by Wookiees; Jantho was lost, and Lando was critically wounded. Marx saved four troops on the station, including Staff Sergeant Avian Polton. The team returned to the Saviour and was placed into cryo sleep as the ship fled Ord Mantell and, following the Harlett Protocol, went into Slipspace in the hope of leading the Alliance away from Coruscant.