Cay Qel-Droma

Cay Qel-Droma was born on Alderaan to the Jedi Master Lien-Tsai Qel-Droma. He was very skilled in the Force, but his mother did not train him, believing that she would be unable to maintain the emotional separation required to train Cay, and his older brother, Ulic, as Jedi. Together with Ulic, Cay Qel-Droma was sent to Arca Jeth's Jedi training center on Arkania for further instruction. Even at a young age, the two boys were the best of friends. Alongside the Twi'lek Tott Doneeta, the two learned the ways of the Force from the venerated Jedi Master. The three young Jedi learned much from the respected Master, such as lightsaber combat and different Force skills. Cay Qel-Droma also advanced his love for machines by frequently repairing any droids or other machines that had bugs. During their training, Cay began to grow concerned for Ulic as his older brother grew frustrated when he failed at something. He attempted to voice his concerns through jokes, although Ulic remained very intense about training.

In 4000 BBY, Jeth was chosen as the Jedi Watchman of the Onderon system. He hoped to resolve the centuries-long Beast Wars that had plagued Onderon. However, he was not to go himself. Instead, he sent his three apprentices on their first real test—a mission with lives hanging in the balance. Onderon was home to many savage beasts, some of which had been tamed by outlaws known as Beast Riders. These beasts had forced the other citizens of Onderon into one giant walled city, Iziz, which was constantly under attack from the Beast Riders, who had been at war with the monarchy of the city for centuries.

When the three Jedi arrived in the Qel-Dromas' ship, the Nebulon Ranger, they were attacked by a group of Beast Riders on their drexl mounts. However, due to the expert piloting skills of Doneeta and the Qel-Droma brothers, the ship was able to land in Iziz intact. Once in the city, they introduced themselves to a group of security officers sent to welcome them, only to see Tott Doneeta nearly arrested, as the city had a policy against any alien species. Furious, the brothers drew their lightsabers, and the guards reluctantly released Doneeta. The three were then led to the throne room of Queen Amanoa.

The Jedi were introduced to the queen and her daughter, Princess Galia. Seconds later, a group of Beast Riders swept into the palace, breaking the glass windows and landing in the throne room. The trio fought the Riders alongside the guards, but they were unable to stop them from kidnapping Galia. After they had taken her, the Riders retreated. Amanoa was furious at the Jedi, claiming that they had aided the Beast Riders. Ulic promised that the three of them would rescue her daughter, insisting that they would not return until they had freed her.

Flying above the forests, the Nebulon Ranger was fired on by Beast Riders, and crashed. Though the three Jedi survived, they would have to make it to the Beast Riders' fortress on foot. On their way to the Riders' citadel, they were attacked by Boma beasts. However, with Doneeta's ability to speak beast languages, he was able to make the creatures halt, giving he and his companions a ride to the fortress. Once there, they crashed in, interrupting the wedding between Galia and the Beast Riders' second-in-command, Oron Kira, son of chief Modon Kira. Though Ulic attempted to save Galia, he was stunned when she told him that she did not want to be rescued. Hoping to make peace with the Jedi, Kira invited them to put down their weapons and join the wedding banquet.

During the banquet, Kira explained that he had a secret route into Iziz, and on one of his undercover trips he had encountered Galia. The two had fallen in love, but since the queen would never permit her daughter to marry a Beast Rider, Galia had arranged to be "kidnapped." She told the Jedi that she wished to escape her parents, who were practitioners of the dark side. Kira explained that four hundred years before, a rogue Jedi named Freedon Nadd had brought knowledge of the dark side to Onderon. A Sith Lord, Nadd had ruled the planet for years before his death. The rulers after him learned his teachings, and Sith artifacts were passed down from generation to generation between the kings and queens, who continued Nadd's legacy.

Kira pleaded that the Jedi help them defeat Amanoa and her husband, King Ommin, a fellow darksider. The Jedi, with Ulic as their spokesman, agreed. As Kira gathered all the other Beast Lords and their Riders, the Nebulon Ranger headed back to Iziz, escorted by drexls. The ship landed in the city, and the Jedi headed to the palace with Galia. However, Amanoa did not give them a chance to talk, cursing her daughter for her betrayal. Then, claiming the darkness inside her would destroy the Jedi, she called for Freedon Nadd, unleashing her rage and creating a blanket of darkness in the palace. Realizing his allies had failed in their attempt at a peaceful solution, Kira called for the Riders to attack, soon swarming the city.

In the palace, the Jedi were fighting a group of security guards. Unable to see due to the darkness, Cay Qel-Droma was shot in the hand by a guard. Unable to defend himself, he could not prevent a guard from cutting off his left arm. Grabbing his brother, Ulic fled from the throne room, away from the skirmish. Cay Qel-Droma survived thanks to a medkit, and he bonded an XT-6 droid arm to his body to serve as a replacement limb.

Though they fought hard, the Beast Riders were unable to best the soldiers due to Amanoa's use of the dark side—using a form of battle meditation, she bolstered the morale of her forces while weakening that of the Riders. However, the tide turned upon the arrival of a strange starship carrying Jedi Master Arca Jeth, who had arrived to aid his apprentices. With his own battle meditation he was able to negate Amanoa's abilities and encourage the Riders to fight on. Though Jeth was at first upset with the three Jedi, he admitted that perhaps this had been too great a test for them.

Jeth led the Jedi to the Tomb of Freedon Nadd, where Amanoa hid. Upon exposure to the light side, she was weakened, and died. Jeth showed the group Nadd's remains, and explained that the dark side's hold over Onderon was broken. In the following days, Galia and Kira were made rulers of Onderon. However, the Jedi could still feel the darkness, and Jeth believed that some supporters of Nadd still lived.

During the funeral procession of Queen Amanoa and Freedon Nadd, in which the remains of the beings would be transferred to a moon of Onderon, the darksiders struck. Using a groundborer, a group of Naddists drilled their way to the surface, interrupting the funeral. A mysterious armor-clad darksider, Warb Null, attacked Qel-Droma and the Jedi Oss Wilum, while more Naddists grabbed the sarcophagi of Amanoa and Nadd. Struck by a blast of dark side energy, Jeth was unable to help. Once they had seized the sarcophagi, the Naddists fled as soon as they had appeared.

Realizing the situation was desperate, Galia suggested that they see her father, King Ommin, who resided in a secret underground facility. Ulic and Jeth decided to go with Galia, while Qel-Droma, Doneeta, and Willum stayed above to help secure the palace. However, things took a disastrous turn for the Jedi. Ommin was empowered by Freedon Nadd, whose spirit had survived for centuries, spreading the dark side on Onderon. The old man unleashed a wave of dark side energy, paralyzing Jeth. Ulic and Galia were forced to flee, while Jeth was taken prisoner by Ommin and Nadd's spirit. Above, the three Jedi had lost the palace, and, along with Ulic, Galia, and Kira, had to abscond. They decided to head to Oron Kira's fortress, making it a base of operations.

The Jedi were pinned in the fortress by the Naddists when, suddenly, fortunes changed. A group of Jedi, sent along with the Republic Fleet from Coruscant, had arrived to aid those trapped on Onderon. Led by Nomi Sunrider, the Jedi and the Beast Riders forced the Naddists back. Ulic and his companions made their way to Iziz, where they confronted Ommin in his underground lair. Ommin had hung Jeth on the wall as a trophy, and though he still lived, he suffered greatly. During the skirmish, Qel-Droma lost his droid arm to a Sith War Droid, though he kept fighting, and would later build another replacement limb for himself. Ulic, determined to rescue his Master from the clutches of Freedon Nadd and his puppet Ommin, fought through the droid ranks before confronting and slicing through the King's body. In his dying moments, Ommin called for Nadd, but the spirit announced that he was abandoning Ommin. Nadd told the Jedi that one day, one of them would belong to the dark side, and they would realize the truth—they had lost. With that bold proclamation, Nadd's spirit departed.

However, the Jedi's job was not done. Shortly after cleansing Onderon of the dark side, Jeth learned that the Empress Teta system now faced conflict. A political coup was apparently related to Freedon Nadd, and so Jeth decided that the Jedi would solve this problem. He informed the Jedi that two youths, Satal and Aleema Keto had taken control of the system. More to the point, they had somehow learned the ways of the dark side, forming a secret dark side society known as the Krath. Dace Diath, Oss Wilum, Qrrrl Toq, and Shoaneb Culu would travel to Ossus and attempt to recruit more Jedi, while the others would stay on Onderon. Jeth planned to send Sunrider and Ulic to the system soon after teaching Sunrider more about battle meditation. During their time together, Ulic and Sunrider fell in love.

Several days later, a Jedi archaeologist named Exar Kun landed on Onderon, seeking to learn more about the Sith from the artifacts Ommin had owned. Qel-Droma and Tott Doneeta greeted him, although, on Jeth's orders, Qel-Droma told Kun very little. Angered, Kun insisted he be allowed to see the relics, but he was confronted by Jeth, who told Kun he knew he was no archaeologist, and ordered he leave. After Kun departed, Jeth revealed to Qel-Droma and Doneeta that he had sensed Kun's malicious intent, and that nothing good would come of letting him view the Sith artifacts.

Meanwhile, in the Empress Teta system, a battle was raging for Koros Major, the last Tetan world still opposing the Ketos' coup. Though a joint Jedi-Republic fleet led by Captain Orley Vanicus, Sunrider, and Ulic arrived, the defenders were still unable to defeat the military forces of the Ketos. Unable to gain an edge, the Republic force retreated. During the battle, Ulic was wounded by a piece of slag from a Chaos fighter covered in Sith magic.

Forced to flee the battle, the Jedi now had another destination—Deneba, host to a great meeting between Jedi from all across the galaxy. On Deneba, Qel-Droma saw his brother again, and was surprised to see him wounded. Ulic explained what had happened to him as the meeting got underway. Jedi Master Odan-Urr presided over the meeting, explaining the conclave's purpose—to discuss the recent failure of the task force in the Empress Teta system and what the Jedi could do to defeat the Krath. Odan-Urr then welcomed Ulic, newly appointed Watchman of the Empress Teta system, to the stand. Ulic informed the audience of his plan—to destroy the Krath from within. As he went into detail about his scheme, he was met with resistance from the crowd. Many Jedi, most notably Jeth, opposed Ulic joining the Krath. At this point, Cay Qel-Droma, who also disapproved of Ulic's plan, noticed that the servant droids present at the meeting to aid the Jedi were acting strange, but he dismissed this feeling.

During Ulic's speech, the Jedi suddenly felt a great disturbance in the Force as a strong pain resonated through all the Jedi. Unknown to anyone on the planet was that the disturbance emanated from a distant planet by Exar Kun, who had just renounced the light side, joining the Sith. At that moment, a group of ships jumped out of hyperspace above Deneba. A flurry of escape pods rained down on the planet. They opened to reveal war droids, created by the Krath, who had declared war on the Jedi. The servant droids at the meeting suddenly turned on their masters, revealing themselves to have been modified by the Krath to make them Jedi-killers.

The Jedi engaged the deadly droids in combat, but found them to be nearly their match. Using methods learned during the Great Droid Revolution eighteen years earlier, Jeth short-circuited the droids' systems, a skill he planned to teach his apprentices, but he would never get the chance. Attacked from behind by a droid, Arca Jeth, the beloved master of Cay and Ulic Qel-Droma, was killed. Though the Jedi eventually won the day, it was not a complete victory. Ulic was devastated by Jeth's death, blaming himself for not sensing the droid. Distraught, he decided to put his plan in motion, against the advice of many Jedi, including his love, Sunrider, and his brother.

Promising everything would work out, Ulic left for the Empress Teta system, hoping to convince the Ketos he was a fallen Jedi intending to learn from the two darksiders. The Ketos discovered and tortured him. He was slowly seduced to the dark side, however, eventually losing sight of his original goal. Concerned with Ulic, who they could no longer sense in the Force, Qel-Droma, Sunrider, and Doneeta decided to head to Cinnagar, hoping to find him.

In keeping with his now all-too-real charade, Ulic imprisoned Sunrider, ordering her to be executed. She was able to escape, sending her coordinates to Qel-Droma and Doneeta to pick her up in the Nebulon Ranger. However, the Jedi were not yet ready to abandon Ulic. Using a secret passage discovered by Sunrider, they made their way into the royal quarters. There, they confronted Satal. However, before he could attack them, Ulic appeared, and lunged for Satal, engaging him in combat. The two dueled, with Ulic, empowered by rage, emerging victorious. Qel-Droma encouraged Ulic to flee with them, but he refused. When Qel-Droma persisted, Ulic flattened his friends with a blast of dark side energy. Despite Sunrider's misgivings, the Jedi retreated. Ulic had changed. He was no longer the brother Qel-Droma had known and loved.

Back on Ossus, the Jedi planned for their next move against the Krath, still hoping to rescue Ulic. Cay Qel-Droma was involved in testing the new Star Saber XC-01 fighters along with Dace Diath. Following a test flight that seemingly killed Diath, Oron Kira arrived with his Beast Riders. Diath had not died but instead ejected at the last moment and used Force Levitation to save himself after the destruction of his fighter. The Jedi were planning another rescue mission, this time with the help of the Riders and their drexl mounts. However, before they could leave, the Masters wished to speak with them. Vodo-Siosk Baas and Thon informed the young Jedi that Ulic had to be the one to see the error of his ways, and turn from the dark side under his own volition. If he did not, he would destroy himself, as was the way of the Force. And so, with that fateful message, the Jedi prepared for departure. Flying Star Sabers and Stingers, they headed for Cinnagar, hoping to succeed where Cay Qel-Droma's crew had failed earlier. Once again, Sunrider and Qel-Droma would be the ones who would have the responsibility of speaking to Ulic while the other Jedi and the Beast Riders held the enemy at bay.

Caught by surprise, the Jedi were able to breach the defenses and fly into the inner city. Disembarking, Qel-Droma, Sunrider and Qrrrl Toq leapt into the Iron Citadel, the capitol building. Though Aleema Keto attempted to use her Sith sorcery to force the Jedi to retreat, Sunrider negated her powers with her newly-improved battle meditation. Sunrider then tried to convince Ulic to leave with her, calling on the love the two felt for each other. However, Ulic refused. When Cay Qel-Droma and Sunrider persisted, Ulic attacked them with dark side energy. Toq and Qel-Droma grabbed Ulic, planning to haul him to their ship and force him to come to Ossus with them. They were stopped, however, by Sunrider, who reminded the Jedi what the Masters said—Ulic must renounce the dark side under his own power. Ultimately, Qel-Droma relented and the Jedi left his brother behind. Ulic had changed, as Qel-Droma now realized. He had fallen to the darkness, although Qel-Droma refused to accept the notion that his brother was beyond saving.

Not long after this, Exar Kun met with several Jedi Knights, including Cay Qel-Droma, on Ossus. He attempted to convince them to join him, claiming he had found new methods feared by the Jedi Masters. He had been given great power, he said, and he could teach it to the young Jedi. Cay, however, was skeptical, and questioned Kun. Ultimately, Kun left with several Jedi aboard his starship, although Cay was not among them. Unknown to all of them was that Exar Kun had fallen to the dark side of the Force, and was attempting to subvert them. Kun had also taken Ulic Qel-Droma as his apprentice, and the two were plotting to conquer the galaxy.

Cay and Ulic were to meet again. While Kun trained his new students on Yavin 4, the Krath forces, led by Ulic and aided by the Mandalorians, attacked Coruscant, capital of the Galactic Republic. Caught by surprise, the planet was nearly defenseless at first, but the Jedi fought to repel the invaders. As the Republic Fleet arrived, the battle began to turn back to the Jedi's favor. Suddenly, the Krath forces retreated. Aleema Keto betrayed Ulic, her lover, hoping to gain more power for herself. Left alone, Ulic was confronted by the Jedi, including his brother. They arrested Ulic, using a Wall of light to prevent him from utilizing his dark powers.

Ulic was tried before the Galactic Senate to answer for his crimes, and Cay Qel-Droma was one of the few who spoke in his brother's defense, despite being repeatedly rejected by him. Unfortunately for Qel-Droma, the Senate would not listen to him, and it seemed inevitable that Ulic would be sentenced to death. Ulic also did not want his brother's help, as he cursed the Republic and boasted that soon the Sith would conquer the galaxy. However, the proceedings were interrupted by Exar Kun, who had come to save his apprentice. Cay attempted to stop Ulic, but when left with no choice but to kill his brother, he found himself unable to do it. Frozen by Kun's Sith magic, the Senate's guards were powerless. Cursing the Republic, Kun and Ulic headed for the exit, although Kun was confronted by Vodo-Siosk Baas, his old master. Kun cut him down without remorse, and the two Sith left the Senate behind. Coruscant remained in the hands of the Republic, but Ulic had escaped, and the Sith remained strong.

Shortly after this, a Jedi task force encountered a Sith battle group in the Cron system. However, this was a trap, as the Sith battleship Corsair, flagship of the Sith task force, was ready to destroy the Jedi—and the star system. Using ancient magic developed by the Sith Lord Naga Sadow, the Corsair tore one of the stars apart in a massive supernova, creating a chain reaction that swallowed the system, killing all in it. The massive shock wave moved on to Ossus, where the Great Jedi Library was located. However, this had all been planned by Kun. When the Jedi were evacuating, he would sweep in and steal as many artifacts as he could before the firestorm hit.

As the Jedi began to gather up what they could in the short time they had, Kun and Ulic arrived. After raiding the storehouses, the two Sith boarded their ships and took off. However, Ulic was unable to make a clean getaway, as he was attacked by a ship in the atmosphere and forced to go evasive. This ship was in fact the Nebulon Ranger, piloted by Cay Qel-Droma, who was still unable to kill his brother and so attempted to disable his ship. With the aid of a Mandalorian on a Basilisk war droid, Ulic gained the upper hand, and in turn attacked his brother. Cay Qel-Droma's ship was damaged and he crashed on Ossus, with Ulic right behind him, ready to fight.

Unlike Cay Qel-Droma, Ulic was prepared to kill his brother. Drawing their lightsabers, the two dueled, with Qel-Droma urging Ulic to rejoin the light. Ulic refused, boasting of his new-found power. Finally, in a fit of rage, he sliced through Qel-Droma's droid arm and his chest, mortally wounding his brother. However, this act shocked Ulic. Horrified at what he had done, Ulic abandoned the dark side, crying for his brother, who died in Ulic's arms. If unsuccessful at redeeming his brother while living, Cay Qel-Droma had saved his brother in death.

Stunned at Ulic's slaying of his brother, Nomi Sunrider used the rarely seen technique Sever Force to permanently blind him from the Force, robbing him of what made him a Jedi. Distraught at the death of his beloved brother and now his inability to feel the Force, Ulic surrendered to the Jedi, a Sith no longer. He led the Jedi to Yavin 4, where Exar Kun was. In the rush to evacuate Ossus, Ulic was careful to take Cay's body with him as he showed the Jedi the way to Yavin 4. There, they were able to defeat Kun, ending the Great Sith War. However, Ulic had been damaged beyond repair. Unable to forgive himself for his misdeeds, he spent the next several years of his life wandering the galaxy in his ship Cay's Dream.

Ulic would later encounter visions of Cay Qel-Droma on both Yavin 4 and Rhen Var, echoes of the past caused by his guilt. However, in 3986 BBY, he was finally able to pardon himself, thanks to Sunrider's daughter Vima, who became his apprentice of her own volition, seeking to learn about the Force. Shortly after coming to terms with himself, Ulic was shot in the back and mortally wounded by the spacer Hoggon. However, in Nomi's arms and with Vima at his side, he died in peace and passed into the Force. In the years after Cay's death and the destruction of Ossus at the hands of Exar Kun, the spot upon which he was slain was marked off by the local Ysanna tribesmen with a 30-meter perimeter of large black stones. The spot was also the site of a powerful dark side Force vergence, which was believed to be created by the sundering of Ulic's connection to the Force.

Cay Qel-Droma was a kind person. He loved his brother, and was broken up when Ulic turned to the dark side. Growing up, the two were inseparable, and when their mother told Cay that she worried they would develop a sibling rivalry, Cay simply laughed, as the two got along so well. Years later, Cay Qel-Droma's death broke the dark side's hold on Ulic. Cay was also a more positive person than his brother, and did not dwell on things as much, such as when he was unable to complete a task. Unlike Ulic, Cay did not feel a tremendous need to be successful at everything, to avoid failure. He did not worry about living up to his name like his brother did. In fact, this ambition of Ulic's ultimately led to his downfall.

Qel-Droma enjoyed the life of a Jedi, following the path with great pleasure and determination. He was also very fond of his master, Arca Jeth. When Jeth died, Qel-Droma was stunned and greatly hurt, although he was not affected as badly as his brother. He also cared for his fellow Jedi, and was pained whenever one of his friends died. Qel-Droma was especially close with Nomi Sunrider and Tott Doneeta, whom he trained with under Jeth.

He also loved working with machines. He could be found tinkering with a droid frequently, and was reprimanded by Jeth at least once for working on a droid, rather than listening to him speak. Cay's love of machines was epitomized by the fact that when he lost his left arm, he replaced it with a prosthetic droid arm, "welding" it to his body. Even as a boy, he had a tremendous interest in machines, and could be found simply watching speeders dock at the port on Alderaan for hours. He was more mechanically minded than his brother, who focused more on the Force and becoming a stronger Jedi, although Qel-Droma certainly was dedicated to the Jedi. Like Ulic, Cay used a green lightsaber.

Cay Qel-Droma was strong in the light side of the Force. He was also a talented duelist, nearly the equal of his brother, who was regarded as one of the most powerful Jedi of his time. He was a master of Form IV: Ataru. He was also perceptive, as evidenced by the fact that he was the only one to sense the servant droids' true intent on Deneba. He was talented at fixing machines. The Jedi was a talented pilot as well, and was selected to test fly the Star Saber starfighter due to his piloting skills.

Cay Qel-Droma was created for the Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi comic series by Tom Veitch. Unlike Ulic, Cay Qel-Droma did not originate in the Dark Empire endnotes, and was created when Tales of the Jedi began. He first appeared in Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon as one of the main protagonists, and later reappeared in three more story arcs as one of the major heroes. Qel-Droma's role is that of a hero; he supports the Jedi throughout the series and combats the darksiders. His most important act comes in redeeming Ulic from the dark side of the Force. The character was voiced by Skip Lackey in the Tales of the Jedi audio drama, and by Jack Noseworthy in the Dark Lords of the Sith arc audio drama. He was later given a Miniatures figure in the Masters of the Force set, released in April 2010.

Cay Qel-Droma is shown to have a green lightsaber on various occasions, as shown in several images in this article. However, in some instances his lightsaber appears to be blue. This is likely just a coloring error, or something done just for simplicity's sake.