Ardus Kaine

"He is a relic of the old times. Faithful and subservient to the end."

- Grand Admiral Thrawn about Kaine.

Ardus Kaine was a male Human of the  and later the Empire of the Hand. Born in 47 BBY to a Corulagi family, he was raised to become a naval officer due to the militaristic traditions of the world. After graduating from the naval academy in 22 BBY, he was assigned to an as a navigations officer. In 21 BBY, he participated in the  to liberate the planet of  by driving off the occupying  of the. This battle saw his promotion to captain after the original commander of the ship he had been serving on was gravely injured by a blast and Ardus managed to make a forced landing with the crippled transport, suffering medium wounds. Although Confederate approached the wreckage, the timely intervention of High Jedi General 's troops saved the survivors.

Ardus continued his service as captain of the assault ship, but was recalled to in 21 BBY to participate in a training programme dedicated to the captains of the Acclamators. His time there, however, was cut short when the Confederacy executed a  of a critical Coruscanti power core. As an indirect result of this event, the training ended and its participants were sent back to the front, so Ardus soon found himself in the midst of the Republic of the crucial Confederate industrial world of. Ordered to transport a division of, he landed on the world with his ship while providing fire support for advancing nearby. Thanks to this feat, he was given command of a section consisting of four Acclamator-class assault ships, which he would command until the end of the war.

Kaine's ascension to Moffship came in 19 BBY, when newly-proclaimed  sought a man suitable for governing his secret fortress world of Bastion. He eventually chose Ardus, as the captain had military experience but came from a militaristic, pro-Imperial family, which&mdash;as the Emperor considered&mdash;guaranteed his unwavering loyalty. Kaine was brought to Coruscant and given lessons about government and politics for half a year. After this ended in 18 BBY, he was sent to Bastion on a. This would be the last he saw of the Galactic Empire, until he received a garbled transmission from, which informed him about the fall of the New Order. He began to build a small remnant state, but Mitth'raw'nuruodo arrived from the depths of the Unknown Regions and took control. Ardus became head of the Council of Moffs, a collection of his fellow comrades from Bastion but had no real power.