Cal (Jedi)

Cal was brought into the Jedi Order at a young age to be trained in the ways of the Force. During his time as a youngling, other students in his Clan became antagonistic against a young female in their group. They resented her for slowing down the Clan's progress. On the day of her testing, the younglings hid her lightsaber, hoping she would fail and be removed from the group. The girl ultimately passed the test after Cal gave her his own lightsaber, thus earning him the enmity of his fellow Clan members. He was later selected to become a Padawan learner by Jedi Master Tyffix.

When the Clone Wars erupted between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, Cal became a Jedi Commander in the Grand Army of the Republic. Approximately in 22 BBY after the first battle of the war, Cal and his Master were dispatched to the planet Thustra with an army of clone troopers. Their orders were to prevent the Sephi from joining the Separatists' rebellion.

Shortly after their arrival, however, King Alaric of Thustra sent his soldiers to attack the Jedi and their clone forces. Using themselves as suicide bombers, the Sephi crashed their fighters into Republic tanks and troops. The damage that they inflicted on the Republic force was heavy; the entire southern perimeter had been obliterated. When Cal returned from the frontlines to report the losses to his Master, a Sephi pilot flew his fighter into the command tent, thus destroying the command center. Tyffix was killed in the explosion along with Jedi Master Tyr. With both senior Jedi officers dead, command defaulted to Cal and Pix, Master Tyr's apprentice.

The setbacks on Thustra, as well as the planet's significance to the Republic, convinced Yoda, the Grand Master of the Jedi Order, to intervene on the Republic's behalf. Cal was greatly surprised at seeing his former instructor. Although Cal expected the arrival of an experienced and high ranking member of the Jedi High Council, he assumed that it would be either Mace Windu or Oppo Rancisis—not Yoda. Cal, having grown accustomed to battle and warfare, did not favor Yoda's negotiation tactics. He was further displeased when Yoda stated that Cal would be accompanying him to visit with King Alaric at the Sephi capital city. Cal insisted on remaining with the troops in case of another attack, but the Grand Master's decision was final. It was Yoda's hope that the experience would cause Cal to prefer diplomacy over aggression.

Their initial meeting with the King bore no results; Alaric still intended to lead his homeworld's movement toward secession and Yoda remained committed to his duties to the Republic. Rather than allowing the two Jedi to return to their forces, however, Alaric ordered his guards to take their lightsabers place them under house arrest in the palace. Cal was outraged and refused, but ultimately complied at Yoda's insistence. Trapped in one of the palace's rooms, Cal argued with Yoda about war and Jedi philosophy. He asserted that the traditional ways of the Order were obsolete and that the Jedi had to adapt to new circumstances in order to win the Clone Wars. Yoda reminded the Padawan that the Jedi had long since stood for peaceful ideals. He tried to convince Cal that the situation on Thustra could be resolved through a non-aggressive approach. Ultimately, the Grand Master's arguments did not change Cal's opinions.

Cal was left behind when Yoda was granted another private audience with King Alaric. He became increasingly agitated and restless while waiting for Yoda to return. He was then visited by Moje, an aide to Loyalist Senator Navi of Thustra. Moje told Cal of an escape plan in which a shuttle would be waiting to return the Jedi back to their clone army. Overeager and ready for a fight as opposed to diplomacy, Cal trusted Moje, and thus failed to even consider the possibility of being deceived. In truth, Moje and Navi wanted Thustra to remain with the Republic, and so they plotted to force the Jedi and their clone troopers to suppress the rebellion by force. In order to do so, they intended to have Yoda and Cal killed, knowing that the Republic would retaliate against the Sephi.

Once Yoda returned, Cal informed him of the plan. But when Yoda told Cal how he was too quick to trust a politician's word, Cal lost his temper and retreated to the shuttle's rendezvous point, denouncing Yoda and the Jedi Order's "old ways" on his way out of the room. Though disappointed in his former pupil, Yoda chose to follow Cal in order to protect him. When Cal found that there was no shuttle waiting for him, a large force of armed guards approached the two Jedi. Tricked by Moje into believing that the King had been assassinated by the Jedi, the guards intended to kill Cal and Yoda. Cal activated his lightsaber and immediately engaged the guards while imploring Yoda to do the same. However, the Grand Master opted to use non-lethal methods by telekinetically separating the guards from their blaster rifles.

Around the same time, Pix ordered her clone troopers to launch a preemptive attack on the Sephi capital. Senator Navi deceived her into believing that Cal and Yoda were murdered by King Alaric. While she and Commander Clutch oversaw the assault on the capital, the palace guards began to overwhelm Cal. Yoda tried to warn Cal, but was too late to prevent a guard from shooting the Padawan in the back. With a single Force push, Yoda defeated the remaining guards. As Cal lay dying from his fatal wound, Yoda used the Force to ease his suffering. Cal used his final moments to blame Yoda for his death and the loss of Thustra.

The Battle of Thustra ultimately resulted in a defeat for the Galactic Republic. Although the Sephi sustained heavy casualties during the fighting, including the death of King Alaric by Yoda's hand, other neighboring systems in the Sumitra Sector sent their armies to the aid of Thustra. The clone army's aggressiveness had an obstinate effect. Rather than cowing Thustra into submission, the Sephi gained even greater sympathy and support for their cause. Senator Navi was arrested on Coruscant after Yoda, Pix and Clutch brought his duplicity to light. Yoda's experience on Thustra and Cal's disillusionment with the Jedi traditions caused the Grand Master to worry even more about how the Clone Wars was changing the Jedi into an aggressive and militaristic organization.

As a child, Cal was remembered by Yoda for his act of kindness toward a female youngling in his Clan. Rather than joining with the others in a plot to have her expelled from the group, Cal chose to help her during a lightsaber testing session. As he grew older under Master Tyffix's care, Cal's personality was altered into a more aggressive and cynical point of view. Tyffix taught him that understanding warriors and conquerors was essential to survival; Cal believed that he actually had to be a warrior in order to be strong. Hence, he grew ever more detached from the Jedi Order's pacifist ideals.

By the time of the Clone Wars, Cal reveled in warfare and was eager to fight on the frontlines. He came to believe that aggressive approaches were the only way to resolve conflicts on worlds that betrayed the Republic. The death of his Master saddened Cal, but he remained committed to defeating the Sephi. His new attitude was met with Yoda's disapproval. In the Grand Master's eyes, Cal embodied a growing trend that was spreading through the ranks of the Jedi Order; its members were becoming too accustomed to war, thus distancing the Jedi from their own beliefs and traditions. In their time together, Yoda found Cal to be headstrong and impatient; reckless, ill-tempered and prone to irrational behavior while under duress.

A Force-sensitive trained in the Jedi arts, Cal possessed skills in Force powers and lightsaber combat. He demonstrated the ability to deflect blaster shots with his lightsaber and also managed to defend himself against dozens of guards for a short while. However, his incomplete training ultimately failed to prevent his death at the hands of the Sephi.

• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 104