The Essential Guide to Force Exile/Sarth Kraen

Sarth Kraen was remembered for several things throughout his life. He filled many roles: founder and lead engineer for Kraechar Arms, Jedi Knight, devoted father, and loyal husband to his wife, Cassi Trealus Kraen. As such, summing up his life and accomplishments in a few succinct sentences traditionally posed a problem for historians. In light of that fact, this account makes no attempt to do so.

Sarth was born on Commenor in 41 BBY as the firstborn son of Samtel and Lena Kraen. His journals show that his parents loved him and tried to give their son what they considered a proper upbringing. They did, however, allow their younger son, Selusda Kraen, to be taken by the Jedi Order when it was discovered he was Force-sensitive. Sarth, barely three years old, resented this, but was powerless to do anything about it. His parents recognized his natural aptitude for learning, though, and encouraged him to further his interests. By age five, Sarth was reading and was handling algebra problems by age eleven. His parents enrolled him in a nearby Munto school, where he again excelled in academics, but had few friends due to his focus on his schooling. Sarth later suggested that his youth and scholastic prowess might have intimidated others from including him in various childhood activities. However, he largely had a happy childhood and excelled in school. His eidetic memory allowed him to get high marks almost effortless and combined with his drive to succeed, established him at the top of his class. His journals indicate that he spent a lot of time with his father, learning about mechanical systems and devices.

In his secondary education, Sarth noticed that one of his classmates, Annita Daowot, didn’t return to her home often; usually going to stay with one of her friends. On an impulse, Sarth followed her home from one of her friends’ houses on one occasion, but something about her body language told him that she would not welcome his company. He remained out of sight until she entered her house and then stayed in the vicinity for a few minutes. After hearing screams and angry shouting, he moved in for a closer look and saw Annita’s father, drunk, beating his daughter with a glass bottle. Sarth was horrified and immediately returned to his home to inform his father, a prominent lawyer in Munto. Samtel Kraen made his own observations and filed suit against the elder Daowot for child abuse. The court agreed and after a brief hearing, where thirteen-year-old Sarth testified to the abuse he saw, Annita was moved to her mother’s custody. He gradually developed a casual friendship with Annita, helping her in math after he caught her cheating on a test. Annita was somewhat reluctant to accept his aid, but with no other option, she allowed him to help her so she could finish secondary school. Annita eventually developed some feelings for Sarth, but he never reciprocated them-outwardly. In his journal, Sarth stated that he was attracted to Annita, but his feelings of social ineptitude and insecurity kept him from making those public. For the same reason, he avoided most social engagements at his secondary school. They graduated the same year, though Annita was two years older than him.

Sarth then attended the Mrlsst Academy, where he earned a degree in droid programming. Thanks to advance HoloNet courses he had taken in secondary school, he also earned a degree in power systems in less than a year. At age seventeen, that made him the fifth-youngest Human ever to achieve such an accomplishment at that university. By age eighteen, he had completed his droid programming degree, but longed for something more challenging in that field. Upon hearing of the prestigious Magrody Institute of Programmable Intelligence, he applied and was accepted into its ranks. Shortly before his twentieth birthday, he earned an advanced degree in droid programming and the personal respect of Nasdra Magrody. However well educated Sarth was, finding a job did not come easily to him&mdash;few people believed his credentials or capability. However, as the Clone Wars dragged on, Sarth was recruited by a Republic military laboratory on Coruscant to help examine new Republic designs as well as captured Separatist technology. For several months, he was assigned to study warships, from starfighters to cruisers, but one of his supervisors, behind schedule, took the time to read over his resume. Realizing Sarth’s expertise in droid programming, he brought young Kraen over to the droid analysis division and assigned him to the droideka program. The scientists and engineers at the lab had been trying to decipher the control algorithms for the vaunted destroyer droid for some time without success. Sarth took their research and within two months had combined and added to their works in a complete control program that would allow him to take over any droideka.

However, word of the impending breakthrough reached the ears of the Mistryl Shadow Guard, an expansionistic warrior society that had been embroiled in a series of conquests in their sector. Selusda Kraen later speculated that Darth Sidious may have had some hand in the Mistryl involvement, seeking to prolong the Clone Wars and deny the Republic a military advantage which would rapidly bring about the end of the conflict. At any rate, a Mistryl agent drugged Sarth with a mind-altering drug to make him forget much of his research and then wiped all his computer records. Unable to provide evidence of his breakthrough, he was summarily fired by the laboratory.

Alone and unemployed on Coruscant, Sarth found himself looking for a way home. He bought passage back to Commenor on a freighter known as the Hawk-bat, but the ship experienced mechanical failure in flight. Sarth was able to help re-route power back to the hyperdrive and the impressed captain, R’hask Sei’lar, offered him a job as the ship’s engineer on the spot. Sarth accepted and spent the next several months on the Hawk-bat. He spent nearly a year on the ship and served his position well, helping engineer several upgrades for the Hawk-bat. The adventurous lifestyle, one once lived by his father, had some appeal to the typically reserved Sarth, and as Sei’lar was an old acquaintance of Samtel Kraen’s, the elder Kraens had no objection to his employment.

In 19 BBY, Sarth was temporarily on Coruscant again while Sei’lar and Knrr were on a business trip to the lower levels of Coruscant. Knowing how dangerous the under city was, they left Sarth at a hotel for about a week, an arrangement he was fine with, as it allowed him to keep an eye on the Hawk-bat and plan his next few tweaks to the ship. One rainy day, on his way back to the hotel from spaceport, Sarth came across a man lying prone on the duracrete slab, and thinking he was drunk, tried to get him up. He was shocked to find that, from the obvious physical resemblance, that the man was his brother, Selusda Kraen, a Jedi Knight and a fugitive now that the Empire had declared the Jedi to be enemies of the state. Taking his battered and emotionally devastated brother back to his hotel, Sarth did his best to take care of him, knowing he had been through a hard time. However, a few days later, when Selu wanted to intervene in a lightsaber duel occurring in the Senate Hall, Sarth flatly told Selu it was pointless and furthermore, the Jedi weren’t all that beloved in the eyes of the populace anyway. Selu was initially surprised to hear that blunt news from Sarth, but realized his brother was correct-he would have to live his life in exile. Sarth offered to help him though, saying he could ask Sei’lar if he needed a skilled pilot for the Hawk-bat and Selu agreed to the idea. However, before that could happen, Sarth was abruptly kidnapped by a pair of Mistryl Shadow Guards, who were trying to forcibly recruit him into their war effort. Selu gave chase and managed to defeat and kill both of them; his cold willingness to shed blood scared Sarth, but he was glad his brother was there to protect him.

Shortly afterward, Sei’lar returned, and after Selu informed the captain of his credentials, Sarth saw his brother hired as the ship’s pilot, though under the alias of “Micor Kraen.” Sarth then returned to the Hawk-bat, along with Sei’lar and Selu, where he met up with Jorge and the ship’s new cargomaster, Cassi Trealus of Bakura. He was immediately taken with Cassi and impressed with her linguistics skills, but was nervous around her at first. After a profitable reward to Bespin with a load of textiles, Captain Sei’lar took his crew to an upscale restaurant. That evening, the restaurant had a live band in to play music, and while Sarth was initially reluctant to ask Cassi to dance with him, citing inexperience, Selu set him up. His younger brother maneuvered him so that he was dancing with Cassi in the midst of the other couples and he managed to enjoy himself, even if he wasn’t that confident in his dancing skills.

A subsequent cargo run to Corellia was more harrowing, as pirates attacked the Hawk-bat when it emerged from hyperspace, but Selu, aided by the rest of the crew, was able to fend off the attackers. Sarth spent the next several months on the Hawk-bat as the ship’s engineer, finding more unique ways to upgrade the freighter. He also began a casual relationship with Cassi, and found himself increasingly attracted to her. About a year later, Sarth had the opportunity to return to Commenor when Captain Sei’lar decided to make a cargo run to his homeworld.

When they arrived, Sarth and Selu took the opportunity to visit their parents’ house outside the city of Munto, where Selu was reunited with his parents. However, the evening of their arrival, a pair of Mistryl Shadow Guards attempted once more to kidnap Sarth. Selu again fended them off, but was severely injured in the process.

Local medical and law enforcement personnel arrived, and while Selu was attended to, Sarth encountered an old friend of his: Annita Daowot, who is now a detective in the Commenor Investigators. Sarth was initially reluctant to share information on his brother or the attack with her, as he was unsure if he could trust her, but agreed to meet her the next day in Munto to discuss the incident with more privacy. Captain Sei’lar was also alerted to the attack and brought the Hawk-bat over to the Kraen residence. After the Investigators left, Cassi talked with Sarth privately, although Sarth was somewhat unwilling to tell her everything for fear of her safety. She convinced him to tell her the truth though, and he explained the Mistryl threat to her, but kept Selu’s identity secret. Cassi said that she wanted to help him through this trial and the two shared their first kiss.

The next day, Captain Sei’lar departed from Commenor with Jorge and Selu in the Hawk-bat, heading to the world of New Holstice, where he planned on taking Selu to its famous medcenter. Sarth was left behind on Commenor to aid with the investigation and for his own safety and Cassi volunteered to remain behind with him. To help protect them, Captain Sei’lar arranged with a friend of his, Bwilor of Durashield Securities, to leave a security team to watch over the Kraens. Sarth was initially suspicious when he saw that the time included two ex-clone troopers, including one whom Selu had known in the wars, but the Selu and the ex-trooper, Spectre, managed to settle their differences before Selu left. Later, Sarth went to lunch with Annita, who was able to pry the truth about the Mistryl out of him. However, they were interrupted by another Mistryl attack, this one by a lone swoop rider. Annita and Sarth fended off the Mistryl attacker with the aid of a bodyguard, but in the process, Sarth was exposed to the reality of Annita’s harsh childhood when he saw the scars on her back left by her abusive father.

With the increasing boldness shown by the Mistryl, Annita decided to move Sarth, Cassi, and the elder Kraens to a remote safehouse in rural Commenor. Though the quarters are cramped, Sarth tried to make the best of the accommodations, hoping that Annita would either track down the Mistryl or Selu would return from New Holstice. Little did he know that Annita had some attraction for him and was jealous of his relationship with Cassi. In the mean time, he spent as much time as possible with Cassi, though usually with little privacy. Even when he took her on a picnic in the woods, he was accompanied by bodyguards.

After Sarth had spent about two weeks at the safehouse, though, the Mistryl discovered its location and attacked at night. Though the bodyguards from Durashield Securities fended off the assault, Sarth and Cassi sustained minor injuries and while Spectre was badly wounded, another guard, Twone, ended up succumbing to his wounds. The entire group was evacuated back to a Munto medcenter, but while there, Sarth received a message from Selu, who was en route back to Commenor. Selu informed him of the death of Captain Sei’lar at the hands of the Empire, saddening Sarth and Cassi, but they were interrupted by a transmission from the Mistryl. After the failed assault on the safehouse, the Mistryl had kidnapped Annita Daowot and told Sarth that she would be killed if he didn’t surrender. Sarth realized that his surrender was the only way to save Annita and decided to comply, worrying Cassi. However, before he could do so, Selu landed and, posing as Sarth, surrendered to the Mistryl in his stead. Sarth was reunited with Jorge and a new member of the Hawk-bat’s crew, Echani runaway Milya Tayrce, but was shocked to hear that Selu had gone in his place. During this time, he also let slip Selu’s true identity, but Cassi promised him she would keep it secret.

While they were contemplating their next move, Selu was able to relay Annita’s location, and Sarth, Cassi, and Spectre were able to rescue her, though most of the actual work fell to Spectre. Upon returning to the medcenter, Sarth and the other crewmembers were convinced by Milya into taking the Hawk-bat and journeying to the Mistryl homeworld of Emberlene in an attempt to rescue Selu. Though they managed to reach Emberlene without incident, they were attacked by patrol fighters. The arrival of a sizable hostile fleet changed that, though, and the Hawk-bat was able to slip down to the surface and obtain Selu’s location in the confusion of the pending battle. Landing near a large Mistryl command center, Sarth, Spectre, and Milya battled their way inside and determined from a telekinetically thrown chair that Selu was up several levels. However, en route, Sarth noticed a pair of droidekas in a storage unit. Using his freshly reconstructed code, which he had stored on his datapad, Sarth was able to take control of the droids. Taking them with him, Sarth, Milya, and Spectre ascended to Selu’s level to find a Dark Jedi, Asajj Ventress, preparing to kill Selu. Sarth’s droidekas chased her off, though, but Sarth was alerted to the presence of a computer core that Selu had obtained through the Car’das Syndicate to help disable Emberlene’s planetary defenses. Investigating it, Sarth soon found it was a timed fission bomb, not a computer core, and he, Spectre, and Milya frantically hailed Jorge and Cassi on the Hawk-bat for immediately pickup. The ship escaped just as the bomb detonated, opening the way for the subsequent devastation of Emberlene by the hostile fleet. The Hawk-bat escaped, and Sarth, along with Milya and other crew, was able to convince an injured and despondent Selu to regain the will to live, even after the destruction on Emberlene.

Returning to Commenor, Sarth was pleased to find that Annita and Cassi had made up, and eventually Selu made a full recovery. At a crew meeting, Jorge announced that he no longer had any desire to be the captain of the Hawk-bat, leaving the others to decide their new captain, though Milya and Spectre officially joined the crew at this point. They selected Selu as captain and Sarth’s brother accepted, but warned them that they might venture towards less legal ventures in his tenure.

Over the next year, Sarth continued to serve as an engineer on the Hawk-bat as the ship’s voyages began nearing the line between cargo carrier and smuggler vessel. He also grew closer to Cassi, to point where he felt he was ready to ask for her hand in marriage. However, though he planned to do it on a cargo run to Zhar, the ship’s crew was called to action before he could do so. An Imperial warship, the Corrupter, was closing in on them and decides to inspect them for boarding. As the Hawk-bat was carrying a cargo of illegal explosives, Selu decided to make a run for it. After eluding initial pursuit, the ship was tractor-beamed, but Selu was able to escape by jettisoning explosive packages at the Imperial warship. However, he then made a blind jump to hyperspace, which deposited the Hawk-bat out in unknown space.

Selu set the ship down on a nearby planetoid, and then he and Sarth went outside in envirosuits to repair the damaged freighter. While they were working, Selu sensed a disturbance in the Force. Eventually, he decided to investigate it, and Sarth, along with the rest of the crew, volunteered to go with him. First, though, Sarth dropped to one knee and asked Cassi to marry him. To his delight, she agreed, but they both resolved to go with Selu into the crevice.

Heading out, Selu traced the disturbance to a crevice in the rocks, which the five crewmembers descended into. Mid-way through their descent, a boulder they were standing on dislodged, plunging them all into the depths, but Selu was able to catch a hold of Sarth and Cassi and slow their descent while Spectre and Milya caught themselves. Exploring an underground passageway that Selu found, they soon found themselves standing in the bottom of a crater mysteriously enclosed and hidden from view. Approaching a lone tower in its middle, Sarth and the others were surprised to find a group of Force ghosts waiting for them. The spirits were those of ancient Jedi and they invited them into furnished quarters inside. Later, the spirits revealed to Sarth and the others that they were the subjects of a prophecy. Sarth was initially skeptical, but after receiving visions of the past, both ancient and from his own past, he eventually came to believe that he was part of the prophecy. The spirits explained that a Force nexus centered at the tower was waiting for them to unleash. Each of the crewmembers had a role to play in aiding groups of Force users, the spirits declared, and Sarth’s role was to be that of the thinker. After Selu was convinced to join with the others, they unleashed the Force power that the apparitions had told them was stored in the tower, imbuing themselves with Force energy.

Over the next several months, Sarth trained under Selu and some of the other Jedi spirits in the ways of the Force, mostly alongside Cassi once they grew proficient in some of the basic skills. Eventually, though, the crew of the Hawk-bat is called to construct their lightsabers and Sarth built a blue single-bladed weapon, with half of his main crystal also employed by Cassi. Not long after they constructed their lightsabers, Milya sensed an oncoming ship, which the Jedi spirits warned them was an Imperial scouting vessel. Quickly taking the Hawk-bat into orbit, Sarth and the others boarded the Imperial ship and learned that it was on a mission to hunt down groups of Force users. The crew decided to split up and try and reach different groups that were soon to be discovered by the Empire. Their goal was to both warn them and try and persuade them to unite, as the Jedi apparitions had said that was the only way for them to survive. As a result, Sarth and Cassi were chosen to go the Jal Shey, renowned for their intellectual and philosophical prowess, on the cold world of Tokmia.

Taking the Hawk-bat, they landed on the uninhabited world without incident and made their way towards the Jal Shey’s mountain retreat, where they were welcomed in by the Whiphid S’vollke, a Jal Shey warden. After staying there a few days, Sarth and Cassi addressed the entire Jal Shey community, urging them to unite with other factions of Force users and warning them of the Empire’s threat. Though the Jal Shey listened attentively, they were not persuaded by Sarth and Cassi. Instead, they told the two prospective Jedi that they had to pass a test known as the rite of Gnissom maze, a complicated puzzle made of metal pieces, in three days. Though initially frustrated, Sarth was able to combined his problem-solving abilities with Cassi’s intuition and decipher the Gnissom maze. Having completed it, they returned to the Jal Shey leaders, who congratulated them on their success and prepared to evacuate the colony. Sarth and Cassi sent a message to Selu, informing him that they would meet him in the remote Hoth system, alongside the Jal Shey in their own transport, and await further instructions.

A few days later, they arrived insystem shortly after Selu, Spectre, and Milya arrived in the captured Imperial scout ship, bearing the last members of the Matukai, who had fallen under attack. Their reunion was interrupted by the reappearance of the Corrupter, and Sarth was told to head for the planet of Yanibar by Selu. Sarth instructed the Jal Shey to set course for Yanibar, but insisted on following Selu, who had plunged into the middle of an ongoing space battle between pirates and Imperial ships to elude pursuit. Sarth covered his brother, but nevertheless, a lucky shot hit Selu’s ship, disabling its hyperdrive. In response, the two ships landed aboard an Imperial transport that had already been boarded by pirates and Selu decided to take it over.

Sarth and Cassi worked their way toward the front of the ship along with Selu, Milya, Spectre, and some of the Matukai, battling through clone troopers. It was Sarth and Cassi who fended off an ambush by the ship’s security until Milya got into position to eliminate them. The boarding team was successful, as the ship’s crew had already been depleted by the pirates, and the Imperial transport, the Griffin, was taken. Sarth and Cassi then helped pilot the ship away from the Corrupter and into hyperspace while Selu ejected all the Imperial prisoners in escape pods.

The Griffin emerged from hyperspace near Yanibar, and while Selu took the Hawk-bat down towards the planet to demand the surrender of the Imperial garrison, Sarth waited on the Griffin. When the Empire refused to surrender, Sarth fired the ship’s turbolasers on the garrison from orbit, incinerating the entire base and fulfilling a promise Selu had made to the Zeison Sha, a group of Force-users who lived on Yanibar. In return, the Zeison Sha allowed Selu to establish a refuge on their world. Meanwhile, Sarth and Cassi explored the Griffin, finding a group of Xi Charrian prisoners, all highly skilled workers who had been destined for a life of slavery to the Empire. Sarth found Selu, who released them from their enclosure and invited them to stay on Yanibar.

Not long after the Griffin set down on Yanibar, Sarth and the rest of his crewmembers were called back to Commenor, though, to attend the wedding of Jorgesoll Knrr and Annita Daowot. However, beforehand, Jorge and Annita warn them that they have been observed by the Empire, and Sarth and the others made appropriate preparations.

The wedding started off as planned the next day, but Imperial forces arrived in the middle of it to arrest Jorge and Annita. Sarth and his comrades, except for Spectre, sprang into action, with Sarth guarding one door to allow the wedding guests to flee and fending off a group of Imperials. The arrest attempt soon turned into a mass firefight between Imperial troops and Sarth and his crewmates, aided by friendly spacers. However, as Imperial reinforcements began arriving, Selu called in Spectre in the Hawk-bat to pick up the rest of the crew and the wedding party. Sarth and Cassi were able to scramble aboard the freighter safely, and Selu, Milya, Annita, Jorge, the elder Kraens, and a few surviving spacers did as well. The Hawk-bat then punched out of Commenor and returned to Yanibar.

In a modest but heartfelt ceremony, a Zeison Sha elder named Olno Mada performed a double wedding, marrying both Jorge and Annita as well as Sarth and Cassi, who had decided to forgo a complex ceremony as they felt their resources would be better served in helping build the new refuge. Sarth also consulted with the leader of the Xi Charrians and decided to establish a new defense supply company with their aid, working with old Separatist weapons caches that Selu had obtained the location of to help create new designs. Dubbed Kraechar Arms, it was to be his primary occupation for the next year as he worked on establishing production facilities and setting up designs. He was aided by the fact that the Griffin was not just a transport, but a prototype factory ship equipped with molecular furnaces that could produce any kind of material. Still, setting up Kraechar Arms took up much of Sarth’s time over the next year. It wasn’t until 14.5 BBY that the company even released its first products, and even those were limited in scale. He and Cassi also helped construct a large house, which was shared by all of the Hawk-bat crewmembers. It had been more economical to simply build one large dwelling rather than several smaller ones, and the building was roomy enough for Sarth and Cassi to have space to themselves. The crew was used to living together anyway, so the arrangement suited them. It also gave them a chance to practice their Jedi training when they had time, which for Sarth was admittedly not very often.

In 14 BBY, Sarth found out that that he was to be a father, and late in that year, Cassi gave birth to a son, Akleyn Kraen, to the joy of the proud father. He redoubled his efforts on making Kraechar Arms profitable in order to support his new family, even while trying to spend time with Cassi and Akleyn, though that meant that he mostly neglected his Jedi training. He did, however, leave Yanibar in 13 BBY on a mission with Selu and Spectre to recruit the Freedom’s Sons organization into coming to Yanibar.

As Kraechar Arms continued to grow, Sarth supervised both its exports of old Separatist hardware to help fund the company and the Yanibar refuge, while it developed its own indigenous designs. His work with droidekas paid off, as the colony was able to employ them as part of its defense force, which was led by Selu, Milya, and Spectre. One of his proudest moments came in 11 BBY, when the newly founded Kraechar Arms shipyard produced its first ship, an Ataru-class gunship, along with two squadrons of Shoto starfighters, for delivery to the Yanibar Guard. Previously, a few squadrons of old droid starfighters and even older ships from Freedom’s Sons had been the colony’s primary space defense, but Sarth was glad to see that Kraechar Arms had taken the lead in providing the Yanibar Guard with modernized ships. Later that year, he and Cassi also attended the wedding of Selu Kraen and Milya Tayrce, serving as the best man for Selu.

Appearances

 * Force Exile I: Fugitive
 * Force Exile II: Smuggler
 * Force Exile III: Liberator
 * Yanibar Tales/Crossroads
 * Yanibar Tales/Hand in Hand