Malyri Porén (/məˈlɪər.i: pɔrˈɛn/) was a male Athan Centurion and Royal Guard of the Golden Empire. He was the younger fraternal twin of Kylaea Porén.
Biography[]
Youth[]
Malyri was born two minutes and thirteen seconds after his sister Kylaea in Kezef, the capital city of Bolera. The two were rare among Centurions for being recruited in infancy. After the Ambush at Bolera which annihilated Red Eclipse, Tariun Sakaros and his senior officers landed on the planet to celebrate with the native Athans. However, the Sith Lord and his Royal Guards were attracted by a disturbance in the Force, and discovered the twins. Sensing their Force abilities, Sakaros explained the situation to the parents, asking that the children be given to the Order for training. When they were, Malyri and Kylaea went to live aboard the Sith Star.
Though raised from birth to view all Novices and Centurions as family, Malyri and Kylaea still had a close connection, and often trained together. As he grew, Malyri elected to specialize in Makashi, using his predator's reflexes to increase his speed and precision. He also trained extensively in Var Shek, both with Kylaea and other Novices.
First tasks[]
In 135 ABY, Malyri was commissioned as a full Centurion a month after Kylaea. The two were sent on a mission to Haerch, tasked with infiltrating and disabling a terrorist network. Posing as Athan mercenaries, they successfully joined the group and wreaked havoc on its members, sabotaging some cells and simply destroying others. When they were finally caught, the two were rescued by the senior Centurion Rajj-Yo and a number of their other "siblings". The remains of the network were quickly mopped up by 136 ABY.
During the Conquest of the Chiss Ascendancy, Malyri studied tactics under the senior Centurion and Legate Sorrik, serving as an aide-de-camp to the Umdal general. When the brief campaign was concluded, Malyri was often paired with his sister to root out or pacify seditious and mutinous factions in the Ascendancy while Royal control was still taking effect.
In 140 ABY, the twins were appointed as Royal Guards for Queen Rin Sakaros. When the unit was scaled back from twenty-four Guards to eight at the onset of the Vagaari War, Malyri and Kylaea were among those kept in the group. While off duty, Malyri studied tactics with Sorrik while the elder Centurion was commanding the Ssi-ruuvi Incursion.
Peacetime[]
When the Tribulation concluded, Malyri and Kylaea were among the Centurions who accompanied Rin to visit her brother Nagarian on Nar Shaddaa. When she went into a meditative trance to restore Odala Kass`l to the Force, both twins stood guard over her unconscious body. After Rin received a horrifying vision of the potential future between Nagarian and Octavia Solios, it was the twins who intercepted Jedi Master Jextar Cyern-Star as he tried to follow her.
Malyri continued to refine his Makashi skills in the interwar years, practicing with Kylaea and any other Centurions he spent time with. He particularly enjoyed fencing fellow Makashi specialist Jira Zaffrod.
Nightmares[]
When the Reawakened attacked the Empire in 149 ABY and began the Nightmare War, Malyri and Kylaea were assigned to Breek Zagrev's command of the Romasi Sector Fleet. Responding to a distress call from Mandos, Malyri accompanied Breek, Jira, and Kylaea to the surface. He single-handedly dueled and killed a clone of Sacco Vyrak.
Shortly after, the twins and young Centurion Nairasho were sent to find the enemy production world. Malyri, who had taken an interest in Nairasho, a fellow Makashi stylist, sparring with her along the way. The three discovered Awpierh, but were attacked and captured by Karshi Saan, Charg, and a party of Vyrak clones.
Malyri and Kylaea managed to escape after a few days of torture and interrogation, but were so closely pursued that they could not rescue Nairasho. Refusing to leave her, they camped out in the woods around the complex, scrounging for food and killing the guard patrols sent to find them. Eventually, Luna Raquelsei and Elrabin Ralvik were sent on a mission to find them, and the four Centurions infiltrated the complex.
When the enemy became alerted to their presence, Malyri and Kylaea stayed behind to duel the Anzat clones, clearing the way for Luna and Elrabin to face Saan and save Nairasho. Fighting side-by-side and back-to-back, the twins used their connection in the Force and knowledge of one another to fight more efficiently. They slew all five Anzati, although they were both wounded in the process; Malyri suffered blows to his shoulder and side and a bad cut to one leg, and was forced to lean on Kylaea for support.
They found Luna and Elrabin, but were crushed to discover that Nairasho had died in captivity. The four escaped, taking Nairasho and Saan's headless corpse with them. Malyri was treated for his wounds by Tillandra Moraes and Rayne Turgachia aboard the Sith Star, and though he was left with a slight limp on his right leg, he could use the Force to overcome it in battle, and it proved only a mild inconvenience otherwise.
Though Tariun Sakaros and Eskol Kaartinen both felt the twins had done everything they could for Nairasho, Malyri and Kylaea felt deep bitterness and guilt over her death. Malyri relished the chance to be part of Breek Zagrev's hit squad during the Battle of Dolomir, and took savage pleasure in killing the Anzat clones there, again fighting in unison with Kylaea for a tighter defense and a deadlier offense. When Ador Hentral was killed and his flagship taken, Malyri acted as Kylaea's executive officer while the 11th Massassi Cohort crewed the ship into battle on the Empire's side.
To catch a poisoner[]
In 153 ABY, Aria Nikina was reported missing and presumed dead by her cousin Syr'ei, Consul and Regent of Daispin. Vem was sent to discover Aria's fate, and he took the twins and Kelto Nembask with him. None of them believed that Aria could have died accidentally on her own homeworld, and so while Vem went to search the forests for her and Kelto took Special Environment Division commandos into the sea, Malyri and Kylaea remained in the capital. While Kylaea interrogated palace staff, Malyri took to the streets, canvassing areas where people had spotted Aria and putting together a trajectory of her departure from the city. When eyewitnesses stated she had appeared dazed, Malyri began to wonder if she had been drugged or poisoned.
Kylaea came to him days later, having heard from Vem—Aria was not only alive, but had evidently accused Syr'ei of plotting her assassination. Sticking together now, the twins worked through the city, questioning, bribing, and intimidating criminals and thieves to find out who might have supplied poison to Syr'ei. They finally found Algan, an old Tantaari herbalist and chemist who was known among the citizens for her healing salves and poultices and among the underworld for her skill with drugs and poisons. With threats and physical coercion, they finally forced the truth out of her: Algan had supplied a deadly compound to the captain of the palace guard, who had promised it would give Daispin a real queen, devoted to the planet and not an absentee.
Malyri: “Good evening brothers. And to you, Consul. Forgive our lateness.”
Kylaea: “We were having a chat with Algan here. Algan is an herbalist and chemist here in the capital. Her skills make her an excellent healer—”
Malyri: “—and a dangerous poisoner. And my, what a story she has to tell us.”
— Malyri and Kylaea confront Syr'ei
At the same time, Vem contacted them, ordering them back to the palace. Once they had forced the story from Algan, Malyri and Kylaea took her back. Syr'ei's guards attempted to prevent them from entering the throne room, but the twins and the Assault Commandos in the hall overpowered them quickly, and Kylaea threw Algan at Syr'ei's feet. Before the terrified woman could even blurt out her evidence, Aria herself appeared, challenging Syr'ei to a duel for the throne. It was over quickly, and as Syr'ei fell dead at Aria's feet, the twins were among those shouting their support for Aria. Aria was forced to rest in a healing trance over the next day, and the twins spent the time rounding up the other conspirators before taking guard shifts as well. They remained on Daispin for a few months, ostensibly to support Aria's reforms but also to ensure no further attempts were made on their sister's life.
Continuing fieldwork[]
Malyri and Kylaea both participated in Operation Broken Chain in 156 ABY. Tasked with clearing sentries, they struck from the darkness with their bows, killing a number of Blazing Chain slavers in silence. When Kieran Sapphire boarded a fleeing transport, leaving Arcantha Syr to clear the landing platform alone, the twins came to her aid with lightsabers blazing.
The twins, along with Coval Delzashe and Moira Nascall, were assigned to investigate an assassination attempt on Jadian Star in late 156 ABY. They apprehended and interrogated one of the triggermen, Lartez.
Powers and abilities[]
Like all Centurions, Malyri was well-trained in the use of telekinesis and telepathy. He developed particular skill with the Force push and Force crush abilities. He could also use the Force to choke others, though he usually reserved this for subduing hostile enemies rather than interrogating others.
A Makashi stylist, Malyri had quick movements due to his Athan physiology, and his blade moved so fast in a duel that it sometimes became only a blur of light. Given Makashi's focus on dueling, he was a slightly better swordsman than his sister, although less skilled at deflecting blaster fire.
Like Kylaea, Malyri trained extensively in Var Shek. The keratin claws on his hands made his punches painful, allowing him to crush bone if he struck hard enough. However, he also trained in grappling, using his wiry, muscular form to slip around his opponents and draws them into debilitating punches or strangle them from unusual angles.
Malyri and Kylaea were considered excellent and proficient hunters by their siblings, second only to Vem. They preferred bow hunting and their archery skills were widely admired; having spotted a Rodian slaver noticing Baylis Scytha during Operation Broken Chain, Malyri had nocked, drawn, and fired an arrow through the side of the Rodian's head from over a hundred meters away before the alien managed to raise an alarm.
Appearance and personality[]
1.7 meters (5'7") tall, Malyri looked almost identical to his sister, given the great similarity between Athan sexes. He had light gray skin, vivid teal eyes, and pure white hair which hung to the collar of his tunic. He wore specially insulated Centurion and Royal Guard uniforms to compensate for his lack of body fat, but otherwise dressed the same as his siblings when not undercover. He carried a curved-hilt lightsaber with a pale green blade. The hilt contained a great deal more rubber than steel to allow Malyri to grip it firmly in the one-handed Makashi style, despite his claws.
Clever and crafty, Malyri was a practical joker among his friends, quick to say something witty. In battle, however, he was vicious and aggressive, though he preferred to maim rather than kill an enemy, keeping it alive for interrogation. He read extensively in his spare time, usually popular fiction or literary critiques, and occasionally helped his sister refine her poetry. He also had an interest in military strategy, though he was a better tactical student than a long-term planner.
Though capable in a fight in his own right, Malyri was viewed by his fellow Centurions as substantially more dangerous with his sister. The two were extremely close, having developed a deep prenatal bond in the Force which endured through their lives. They could share thoughts with an ease matched only by Rin and Tariun Sakaros, and were a deadly and efficient pair together. Among the Centurions of the Order, Malyri and Kylaea together were referred to simply as "the twins".