Anson Trask

The Human male Anson Trask was the son of a stormtrooper in the Fel Empire's 407th Stormtrooper Division. As a child, Trask heard his father talk about "the honor of the armor" and decided to enlist as a stormtrooper himself. By the time Trask completed his training in 137 ABY, the Empire had descended into civil war between those loyal to the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Krayt and those loyal to the deposed Galactic Emperor Roan Fel, and Trask found himself serving Krayt's Empire. Following the Empire's principle of "continuity of service," Trask, as the son of a stormtrooper, was given the option of joining the same division that his father had served in, and so was assigned to Joker Squad in Company C, 9th Battalion, of the 407th Stormtrooper Division.

Just ten days after completing his training, Trask arrived at Yinchorr to take his place in Joker Squad. Before being dropped off he was given directions to his new squad, but, as the 407th prepared to leave on a mission, his directions failed to correlate with the layout of the camp. Finding little help from his fellow stormtroopers, he decided to ask for directions, though he had the misfortune to ask the Sith Lord Darth Maleval. Maleval was irritated by Trask's apparent lack of discipline, but the timely intervention of Joker Squad's Sergeant Ran Harkas saved him from the Quarren Sith Lord's wrath when Harkas informed Maleval that Trask was a noob, fresh out of training.

Harkas took Trask to meet the rest of the squad, though his reception was somewhat muted. The veteran soldiers of Joker Squad had seen many new recruits arrive and were used to the fact that they rarely lived long—they even had a pool going as to how long Trask would live and believed that his own estimate of a month was optimistic.

Shortly after Trask's arrival, the squad's commander, Lieutenant Gil Cassel, briefed the group on the upcoming mission. The 908th Stormtrooper Division had become stranded on Borosk after a failed attempt to defect to Roan Fel's Empire-in-exile. The Moff Council had decided to send the 407th, under Darth Maleval's command, to confront the 908th in an attempt to defeat the defectors while leaving the base intact.

Joker Squad was among the first units to arrive at Borosk, and their initial orders were to capture and secure gun and shield emplacements along the perimeter wall of the 908th's fortress. At first Trask found himself overwhelmed by the noise and confusion of a real battle, and finding it hard to tell the enemy stormtroopers from their own, he froze. However, as the day wore on, the realization that he must kill or be killed overcame his earlier indecisiveness and he joined the battle, gaining his first kill. After Joker Squad finally secured the gun platform and the 908th retreated deeper into their headquarters, the Jokers were allowed to stand down for the night. However, they were soon confronted by Maleval, who had learned that Cassel had suggested a truce to give the 908th a chance to surrender. Maleval declared that there would be no surrender and that the 908th's destruction would serve as an example to other deserters. Furthermore, knowing that Cassel's brother, Jared, served with the 908th, Maleval questioned Cassel's own loyalty and insisted that Joker Squad lead the charge the next day—should any of them falter, he would kill the entire squad.

Joker Squad breached the main fortress at midday on the second day of the battle and proceeded to move through the corridors of the fortress, engaging in close-quarters combat with troopers of the 908th. The battle soon began to take its toll on Joker Squad—squad member Vax Potorr was killed by a mine as Joker Squad cleared the main mess hall, while a stray blaster shot caused soldier Jes Gistang's power pack to explode, killing her and injuring Harkas. Despite their casualties, Joker Squad fought on until the 908th was defeated. After the battle, Maleval brought the captured Jared to his brother and ordered Cassel to kill him. When Cassel refused, they were both executed by the Sith Lord. Joker Hondo Karr, furious at the death of his commander, attacked Maleval, only to be caught in the Sith Lord's shock whip and almost killed himself. Acting on instinct, Trask shot Maleval in the back, killing the Sith Lord and saving his comrade. The squad's official report listed both Maleval and Karr, who vanished after the battle, as killed in action. Trask and Harkas were the only members of the squad to officially survive.

Trask had earned the respect of Harkas in that battle and was no longer thought of as a "noob." As the wounded Sergeant was taken for treatment, he left Trask with orders to take care of the replacement troopers, and Trask soon took on the role of mentor when a new recruit arrived on Borosk looking for Joker Squad. Referring to the man as a "newbie," Trask took the recruit under his wing as the process of rebuilding the squad began. He continued to serve under Harkas over the coming months, as Joker Squad was rebuilt into a specialized squad capable of handling a variety of missions, and was eventually promoted to the rank of corporal.

Following the events on Borosk, the Empire came to suspect that Ossus, abandoned by the Jedi since a Sith attack on the Jedi Academy there seven years earlier, was being used as a hiding place by Jedi survivors. The Sith Lord Darth Stryfe led an Imperial force to investigate, and Trask and Harkas were among the stormtroopers sent to the planet's surface to conduct a search, though they initially failed to locate any Jedi. Eventually the squad split up, and, while Harkas continued to search the surface, Trask led another stormtrooper to investigate the lower levels of the Jedi Academy, where they encountered a small group of Jedi and Yuuzhan Vong. Though the Yuuzhan Vong warrior Choka Skell advocated killing the intruders, Jedi Master K'Kruhk knew that this would only confirm their presence and bring more Imperials to the planet, along with their Sith masters. Instead, the Jedi Shado Vao used a mind trick to convince Trask that the academy was deserted and that it was time to leave. Trask dutifully obeyed and returned to a waiting Star Destroyer. Stryfe, however, was unconvinced by the apparent absence of Jedi and ordered the destruction of the academy.

Later that year, Trask and Joker Squad were among the stormtrooper squads assigned to the First Sith Imperial Strikeforce, under the command of Moff Rulf Yage. After Sith Regent Darth Wyyrlok ordered the extermination of the Mon Calamari, as well as that of all life on their homeworld of Dac, in retaliation for the species' support of the Galactic Alliance, the Quarren Sith Lord Darth Azard took Yage's forces to the planet Da Soocha in search of Mon Calamari refugees. When the Hutt Azzim Anjiliac Atirue denied all knowledge of refugees, Azard ordered the poisoning of Da Soocha's oceans and the bombardment of its moon Napdu. After the turbolasers ceased firing, Trask joined Joker Squad on the surface of the moon under orders to shoot every body they found to ensure that there were no survivors.

The war eventually came to a head after Roan Fel's Imperials formed an alliance with Galactic Alliance Remnant forces under Admiral Gar Stazi and the surviving Jedi. In 138 ABY, after learning of the Jedi's Hidden Temple on Taivas, Darth Krayt ordered an attack, aiming to draw the alliance members into a final confrontation. Joker Squad was among the units assembled for the battle. The attack began with an orbital bombardment, but when this proved ineffective due to the planet's high cliffs and strong magnetic field, Krayt ordered Imperial Moff Geist to lead ground forces against the temple. After receiving the order to attack, Joker Squad moved in, with Trask leading Besh Team. In the midst of the battle, Harkas was killed, and Trask ordered Joker Squad to rally on him. The battle was ultimately won by Krayt's troops, although most of the alliance forces managed to escape.

Anson Trask grew up hearing of the honor of serving as a stormtrooper from his father, a veteran in the 407th, and wanted nothing more than to become a stormtrooper himself. However, his early experiences in the 407th, starting with the inhospitable reception he received from Joker Squad, left him disillusioned. He soon found the realities of war to be something that simulations had left him unprepared for, causing him to initially freeze in battle, and fighting against other stormtroopers left him wondering what his father would make of what had become of the Stormtrooper Corps. At Borosk, Trask observed Darth Maleval in combat and was shocked at both the number of ways the Sith Lord found to kill his enemies and the joy that it seemed to give him. When Maleval threatened the life of Hondo Karr, Trask acted on instinct to shoot the Sith Lord and save his fellow trooper. Despite his misgivings, Trask continued to do his duty and obey his orders, quickly developing into a hardened soldier. However, he continued to question the Empire's methods, later voicing his concerns about Joker Squad's mission to kill any survivors of the bombardment of Napdu to Harkas. His superior reminded him not to let the rest of the squad hear his concerns and to carry out his orders.

Anson Trask was created by John Ostrander for Legacy (2006) 4, the fourth issue of the Star Wars: Legacy comic series, first published on October 11, 2006. Though his first appearance stood largely separate from the wider storyline of the series, he reappeared within the main story in the Claws of the Dragon story arc and later in Legacy (2006) 48. Following the conclusion of Star Wars: Legacy, Trask appeared in the third and fourth issues of its successor series, Star Wars: Legacy—War. The character was also given an entry in 2008's The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

An Entertainment Earth exclusive action figure of Anson Trask was unveiled at Comic Con International 2008 as part of Hasbro's Star Wars: The Legacy Collection Joker Squad six-pack.

• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia