Bey

Bey was born in 36 BBY on the planet of Corellia. His mother was Krai H'voc, a Nagai advance scout that had entered Imperial space to judge whether the galaxy was ripe for invasion. H'voc settled on Corellia during this time, but she inadvertently became romantically entangled with a Human while there. H'voc eventually married the man and gave birth to Bey, but she couldn't stay on the world. When her Nagai superiors learned of the marriage, they ordered her to a different location and forced her to end the relationship. She returned to her people to report on the status of the galaxy, which was currently engaged in civil war, abandoning her son and his father in the process. Bey's father resented H'voc for abandoning him, and he took out his rage out on his own son. As a near-Human hybrid, many people treated Bey as though he was less than a person—a brainless monster.

However, even as a young man, Bey was much larger than his contemporaries, and he used his size to his advantage. By age seventeen, Bey had grown to his full height. Roughly the size of a Wookiee, Bey was an imposing figure, and he was perfectly capable of holding his own against others that might think of turning their prejudices into physical violence. After learning firsthand the cruelties that others could inflict upon one another, Bey often kept a lookout for those that were ganged up on. It was in this role that Bey first became acquainted with Han Solo during the events of the Clone Wars. While walking the streets of Corellia, Bey witnessed a nine-year-old Solo being bullied by several other boys his age. Although Solo tried to fight off the group all by himself, he was easily overwhelmed and soon fell victim to their vicious assault. Bey intervened in the fight, scaring off the gang and helping Solo up.

From that point on, Solo became Bey's "little buddy," and Bey began teaching Solo how to excel in hand-to-hand combat. Bey showed Solo how to fight with his head and not with his rage, explaining how his anger could easily be turned against him. As the two began to grow, Bey became an idol to Solo, someone whom the young man looked to for guidance. Around this time, Bey's father passed away, and Bey decided to join the Corellian Security Force. While working for CorSec, Bey won the Corellian Bloodstripe for his heroics, something that Solo was incredibly impressed by, and he vowed to emulate his friend. However, Bey's heroism was not just noticed by admirers. The newly formed Empire was attempting to arrest greater control over planetary police forces. Bey, as a half-alien hero of CorSec, did not fit with the Imperial's humanocentric views, and they planned for Bey's downfall. In what would prove to be Bey's final mission, the CorSec agent was involved in the evacuation of a passenger liner. A local terrorist group had rigged the transport with explosives, and Bey's efforts saved the lives of many. However, before Bey could escape the passenger liner, the bomb detonated. Bey was badly hurt, including losing his eyesight. When he awoke in the hospital, he was met by Solo, who informed him that he had permanently lost his left eye, but that his other eye could be fixed with a cybernetic implant. After weeks in recovery and extensive surgery, he was restored to health. After the procedures, Bey took to wearing an electronic red eye patch for his inoperable left eye, giving him a defining look for the rest of his life. However, the loss of his left eye was used as evidence that Bey was unfit for duty. Although other CorSec officers were allowed to remain in the force despite much worse injuries, bigoted Imperial officials made sure that the half-human hybrid would no longer have a career in the police force.

Following this incident, Bey began to explore the galaxy, moving from place to place, learning what he could and making friends where he could. Bey's travels were an excuse to search for his mother, hoping to find the truth behind her sudden abandonment of her family. Bey continued to assist those in need during his travels, giving him quite a reputation. As he roamed from planet to planet, Bey never asked for a reward for his feats, and eventually many parts of the galaxy treated him as some kind of mythic hero. However, during these exploits, Bey never felt truly at home. The people he came to help initially hesitated to accept him, judging whether or not he'd be able to perform some heroics for them, before they treated him with kindness.

However, after years of searching, Bey would eventually find his home. Using clues that had been left by his deceased father, Bey began searching near the Unknown Regions. Based on stories from other spacers, he learned of several mysterious spacecraft that would group together in a lifeless sector of space. Bey spotted one of these ships and followed it, eventually reaching Firefist, a satellite galaxy that contained the homeworld of his mother's people. Bad starship instruments and a stroke of luck brought him to the planet of Nagi, where he crash-landed. Bey was soon encountered by a Nagai resistance group that was busy fighting their "old enemy", the Tof. To his surprise, the local Nagai accepted him without reservation, treating him as an equal. The Nagai who had discovered him quickly reunited him with his long-lost mother who was residing on a nearby Nagai colony world. Even though she had her own family there, including another son, Ozrei N'takkilomandrife, she accepted Bey into her family. Bey was touched by the friendliness of the Nagai, and decided to join them. With the Galactic Empire reeling from its loss at the Battle of Endor, the Nagai were planning to begin their invasion. Bey agreed to help, using his reputation to infiltrate the larger galaxy and work as a double agent for his people.

Bey returned to Alliance space and met up with Fenn Shysa on Mandalore. As the Nagai began to attack worlds near Mandalore, Bey aided Shysa in setting up resistance groups to the growing threat, using the opportunity to gain the Mandalorian's trust. Nagai analysts believed the Mandalorians would eventually join the Alliance, allowing Bey, as their spy, to infiltrate their enemy indirectly. Following the Battle of Mandalore, in which Bey played a part in the resistance, Shysa decided to appeal to the Alliance of Free Planets for help, following a request from Admiral Gial Ackbar for additional soldiers. Bey, realizing his chance to infiltrate the Alliance High Command was present, left Mandalore with Shysa and a contingent of Mandalorian Protectors. The group arrived at the Alliance's base on the forest moon of Endor and sought out Princess Leia Organa to see how they could help.

However, when Shysa and Bey finally found Organa, she was involved in an argument with Han Solo over his role in the new government. When Solo grabbed the Princess to make sure his point was well heard, he was grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground. Shysa, believing that Solo was hurting Organa, had come to her rescue. As the Princess took Shysa aside to explain the argument and to debrief the Mandalorian on the current situation, Bey met up with his longtime friend, who had a bruised ego more than anything else. Bey teased his friend about his relationship with the Princess, reminding Solo that if he cared for the Princess, he needed to treat her well and tell her how he felt. Solo shrugged off the advice, claiming that Organa knew how he felt about her, ignoring Bey's advice.

A short time later, Bey and Shysa joined the Princess aboard a GR-75 medium transport shadowing the Millennium Falcon as it began to investigate mysterious balls of energy that had been appearing throughout the Moddell sector. When the Millennium Falcon approached one of the balls, a tendril of energy struck the ship, transporting it to a far-off world. Bey was puzzled by his friend's disappearance, but Solo eventually made his way back to the base. While away, Solo took Bey's advice to heart, and when he returned he told the Princess how he felt.

A short time after Solo returned, Bey accompanied him to the planet Godo along with Chewbacca and Ackbar. The native Godoans were slowly dying out due to a strange technovirus that affected anyone who arrived on the world. To protect from the virus, Bey and the rest of the group took protective precontainment radiation baths before they landed on the planet. After unloading boxes of supplies for the ailing Godoans, Solo requested to look around, eventually coming upon the House of the Goddess, the most sacred building on the planet. As Bey and the rest of the travelers explored the building, Solo realized that the temple was a techno-organic construct. The structure was actually a machine designed to sustain life on the planet. However, two pieces from the building, the Dancing Goddess and the Minstrel, had been removed, rendering the machine inactive. Solo, having seen the two pieces during his smuggling days, and, believing them to be in Lando Calrissian's possession, raced back to the Alliance base to ask Calrissian for the two objects.

Unfortunately for the Godoans, Calrissian did not have the pieces, one having been stolen by a gang led by Lemo and Sanda, two pirates who operated in the Outer Rim, and the other having been given to Barpotomous Drebble, a friend of the Alliance, as a gift. As Solo, Calrissian, Chewbacca, and Luke Skywalker left on a mission to retrieve the artifacts, Bey stayed with the Alliance Fleet, anticipating their return. In space, alongside Fenn Shysa, Bey watched as Solo and Skywalker returned with the Minstrel, and Calrissian and Chewbacca returned with the Dancing Goddess. With the two pieces replaced, the House of the Goddess began to function again, reviving the sick Godoans. However, in Calrissian's haste to bring the Dancing Goddess to the world, he had forgotten to take a precontainment radiation bath beforehand. Sick and near death, Calrissian's only chance revolved around being brought inside the House of the Goddess in hopes that it would cure him. Unfortunately for Calrissian, the Godoans, frightened over the possibility of the structure being defiled again, had sealed the House of the Goddess from all offworlders, effectively condemning Calrissian to death. Solo, furious over the turn of events, declared that he would open fire on the Godoans' capital city and destroy their sacred building if they would not heal Calrissian. Although Ackbar condemned the action, Solo was able to secure the cooperation of several members of the fleet. Following encouragement by Bey, Shysa agreed to cooperate as well. Threatened with the destruction of their temple, the Godoans agreed to allow Calrissian to land, ending the crisis. Ackbar decided to overlook the actions of the complicit parties due to no harm being done, exonerating Bey and Shysa from blame.

Following the crisis on Godo, Bey and his companions returned to the Alliance base on Endor. While many of the Alliance soldiers, including Solo and Shysa, began taking computerized flight exams, Bey sat out on the tests, never having been much of a starfighter pilot. Following the tests, a group of Hoojibs led by Plif discovered a secret from the Nagai captured in the Skirmish on Kabray. The Nagai were planning to attack the Alliance's base on Endor. Organa and her Zeltron attachés confirmed the report when they detected a large group of ships heading for the forest moon, and the Alliance prepared to evacuate. The Alliance Fleet readied itself to cover their evacuating personnel, but without the help of Solo and Skywalker. The earlier flight exams had categorized the two pilots as flying their craft in ways that no sane pilot would attempt. The computer would not allow either Solo or Skywalker to pilot a ship, keeping the two out of the upcoming fighting.

As the Alliance scrambled to counter the Nagai threat, Bey used the distraction to help his true allies. Bey freed the Nagai prisoners, including his half-brother, N'takkilomandrife. The Nagai commander took control of a Nagai task force, including Maccabree warriors that had landed secretly on the forest moon. Bey then turned over the Alliance's flight patterns to the Nagai fleet in space, led by the Dark Lady Lumiya. With the Nagai able to predict the Alliance Fleet's every move, preventing the Alliance Command from evacuating safely, N'takkilomandrife's team was given time to advance on their position and take them out.

The initial stages of the battle worked to perfection, allowing the Nagai to easily overwhelm their opponents. The Alliance Fleet, led by Shysa and Calrissian, were slowly wiped out, and Maccabree warriors under Lieutenant Hol B'shaki attacked the tracking station, surrounding Organa and her Zeltron attachés, who struggled to fight back. However, Solo and Skywalker, who had been grounded, disrupted the plan. Exploring the forests on a tip from the Ewok Tippet, the two Alliance heroes came upon the Nagai ground forces' staging point, discovering their plan. While Skywalker raced back to the Alliance headquarters to warn them of the ambush, Solo was attacked by a Maccabree warrior, losing his speeder bike in the process. Although he dispatched his attacker, Solo was forced to make his way back on foot, where he was cut off by Bey.

Solo gestured frantically at his friend, requesting that he help him warn Organa before it was too late. After finding no help from Bey, Solo tried to shrug off the larger man, pushing him aside. However, Bey restrained Solo, informing him that he was the one who had brought the Nagai to the forest moon. Solo, shocked at the revelation, slowly reached for his blaster, only to have it knocked out of his grip when he tried to pull it out of its holster. The two stared each other down, with Solo declaring his intention to rescue his friends, even if he had to go through his old friend to do so. Solo tried a low leg sweep, but Bey vaulted the blow and kicked Solo in the face, leaving him sprawling on the forest floor.

Bey explained to his friend how he had found his true family, and that they had accepted him as one of their own, triggering the betrayal. When Solo asked his friend what would happen next, Bey informed Solo that he had been ordered to kill him. However, Bey could not bring himself to murder his old friend, leaving both unsure of what was to happen next. However, at just that moment, Bey's half-brother appeared, claiming that he would finish what Bey had started, and trained his blaster on the unarmed Solo. However, before N'takkilomandrife could pull the trigger, Bey threw himself at his brother, knocking him off balance. The Nagai quickly turned his blaster on Bey, preparing to execute the traitor, but he was once again prevented from firing the fatal shot as Solo hit N'takkilomandrife in the stomach with a blaster shot.

Bey ran to his injured brother, telling him to hang on until he could get him medical attention. Solo advanced on his injured enemy, telling Bey to step aside. However, Bey trained his brother's blaster at Solo, telling him to leave or he would shoot him. Solo was confused over Bey's actions, pointing out that the Nagai had nearly killed both of them. However, Bey remarked that he would be able to forgive his brother, though he realized that the Nagai might never forgive him. Solo left Bey to tend to his wounded brother, leaving to rescue Organa from the Nagai task force.

With Bey revealed as the traitor, and the Alliance Fleet informed of their flight plans being discovered by the Nagai, the tide quickly turned. Calrissian abandoned all preconceived flight patterns, changing the course of the space battle, while Skywalker defeated the Nagai task force on the ground. Bey was able to get his brother back to the fleet, where he received immediate medical aid, and the Nagai fleet retreated in defeat. Bey, having betrayed both the Nagai and the Alliance, secretly turned himself into Admiral Ackbar.

Bey correctly predicted his brother's reaction to the betrayal. He was thrown into a deep state of depression, even losing the will to live during his recovery. However, it was not long after N'takkilomandrife's recovery that the Nagai joined forces with the Alliance during the Battle of Zeltros due to the arrival of the Nagai's old enemy, the Tof. The Alliance and Nagai began to slowly push the Tof back, eventually isolating them on the planet of Saijo. Hoping to infiltrate the Tof command, Ackbar formed an insertion team consisting of several proven Rebel agents, including Jan Ors and Kyle Katarn, and the mercenaries Dash Rendar and Guri.

Ackbar requested for Bey to join this team, knowing the skills he possessed. Bey decided to work alongside the team, going undercover as a Tof noble. Bey's identity in the team was kept a closely concealed secret, knowing that both sides would find his appointment controversial. Using a wig and green face paint, Bey was able to pass himself off as a Tof, and soon he was working closely alongside the Tof Prince Sereno.

Bey was present undercover when an Alliance group consisting of Solo, N'takkilomandrife, Organa, Skywalker, Den Siva, and Dani entered Sereno's palace, posing as prisoners. However, their deception was revealed, and a shootout broke out in the throne room. Unfortunately for the Alliance operatives, the Dark Lady Lumiya was holding an audience with Sereno at the exact same time, and she used her Force abilities to turn the tide of the battle, stunning N'takkilomandrife and disarming Organa. However, before she could kill either of them, Bey intervened, shooting Lumiya with a powerful blaster shot, badly crippling her and leaving her a smoking mess on the palace floor. As the rest of the group silenced any further resistance, Bey revealed his presence to the surprise of both Solo and N'takkilomandrife. Bey's half-brother was touched by how his sibling had rescued him, and he came to forgive Bey for his betrayal. With the Tof Prince captured and their fleet defeated in space, the war was effectively over.

Following the end of the war, both Solo and N'takkilomandrife reconciled with Bey. Bey did not join the Nagai in their quest to liberate their homeworld, leaving the operation up to his brother and Fenn Shysa. When the Alliance of Free Planets reformed itself into the New Republic, Bey joined up, taking a job with New Republic Intelligence. Bey believed this appointment to be apart of his atonement for the destruction he had been responsible for at Endor. It appeared that Bey's days of wandering were at an end.

Bey was a compassionate figure, and champion of the defenseless. Based on his abusive childhood, Bey swore not to emulate his wrathful father, and he developed a persona that was soft-spoken and sympathetic. He did not hesitate to rescue Han Solo from bullies during his early days and became well known for his helpful nature. Bey was a passionless fighter, refusing to let anger guide his actions during combat. However, even though he was known as a near mythological figure for the feats he had accomplished, Bey harbored feelings of resentment towards those that he rescued. As a young boy, he was spurned by his father, who was distraught over the loss of Bey's mother. Other Corellians looked down on Bey for being a half-breed, and young children feared him due to his odd looks and large size. Perhaps due to these factors, Bey could find no acceptance among the people he helped, and he began to see them as judgmental and unkind, saving their hospitality until they needed Bey to accomplish something for them.

When Bey discovered his mother on her home planet of Nagi, Bey finally found the acceptance he had been looking for, and his desire for it even made him turn against the people of the Alliance. Working alongside the invading Nagai, Bey turned against those he had formerly fought to defend. However, Bey still retained his compassion, refusing to adopt the cold-hearted nature of his Nagai brethren. He was unable to kill Solo during the Second Battle of Endor, and his mercy brought him into conflict with his own half-brother. Following the end of the Nagai-Tof War, Bey was able to find his brother's forgiveness after saving his life in the Battle of Saijo. Bey's loving nature following this battle convinced Solo that the war was truly at an end.

Bey was created by Mary Jo Duffy for use in the Marvel Star Wars comic Star Wars (1977) 99, which explained that Bey was an old friend of Han Solo's. Several flashbacks in the following issue, Star Wars (1977) 100, served to show how Bey had interacted with Solo during his young life. The next issue, Star Wars (1977) 101 was set before the events of Bey's first appearance in Touch of the Goddess, and it would be the last appearance of Bey until the last issue of the Marvel run, Star Wars (1977) 107.

After the end of the comic series in 1986, Bey went unreferenced until Joseph Bongiorno and Rich Handley's article in Star Wars Gamer 1 (November 2000), The University of Sanbra Guide to Intelligent Life: The Marvel Series, which expanded on Bey's backstory. The article revealed the name of Bey's mother, as well as explaining how Bey had met up with his family before the Nagai-Tof War. Bey had another mention in Abel G. Peña's online article, The Dark Forces Saga, which stated that Bey was acquainted with Kyle Katarn. In 2009 a Hyperspace article, The Forgotten War: The Nagai and the Tofs by James McFadden, gave additional details on Bey's history. Among these were detailed information of the event that took Bey's eye and a more in-depth account of Bey's eventual discovery of his long-lost mother.

• "The University of Sanbra Guide to Intelligent Life: The Marvel Series" — Star Wars Gamer 1
• "Comic Marvels" — Star Wars Insider 91
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Forgotten War: The Nagai and the Tofs on Hyperspace