IN-GA 44, or Inga, was a feminine Human replica droid created by the Sluissi scientist Alessi Quon for the Experi-Tech office of Imperial Intelligence. She was based on a design by famous droidmaker Massad Thrumble and was not covered in the synthskin overlay that was common to most HRDs. The droid was armed with hidden blasters in her forearms and had jets in her calves that enabled her to fly. She worked with the Imperial Intelligence agent Jahan Cross on field assignments. IN-GA 44 accompanied Cross to the Corporate Sector for his investigation of the Iron Eclipse project. While there, IN-GA 44 was captured by Iaclyn Stark, the head of Rossum Droidworks, and was infected with the Iron Eclipse computer virus that was designed to give him the ability to command any droid and override all other programming. IN-GA 44 was destroyed when the Eclipse space station fell into the atmosphere of the gas giant Reltooine.
IN-GA 44, also referred to informally as Inga, was a Human replica droid (HRD) with feminine programming created by a Sluissi scientist named Alessi Quon for the Imperial Intelligence branch of the Galactic Empire. Quon based her design on droids created by famous droidmaker Massad Thrumble. IN-GA 44 was a companion and aide to Imperial Intelligence agent Jahan Cross. Cross rejected the skin and hair overlays standard for HRDs because he wanted IN-GA 44 to look like a droid rather than a Human.
IN-GA 44 deploying her blasters
In 3 BBY, IN-GA 44 was present with Jahan Cross on the planet Wayland when he was investigating Colonel Milosh Muhrlein, who was in charge of Imperial Research Station 61, a top-secret research facility. She went through the colonel's records and found confirmation that experimental droids and devices created at the station were the same as those available on the black market. When Muhrlein's attempt to bribe Cross failed, IN-GA 44 switched into battle mode at Cross's command and destroyed Muhrlein's two prototype battle droids, B-2A and B-2B.
After leaving Wayland, IN-GA 44 accompanied Cross to the galactic capital of Coruscant. During Cross's debriefing with Director of Imperial Intelligence Armand Isard, she was in the Experi-Tech office, where she was evaluated by her creator, Alessi Quon. After Isard's debriefing, Cross went to get her and in spite of Quon's objection that he still had some evaluations to do on her, he released IN-GA 44 to Jahan for a mission to the planet Etti IV.
Upon arriving at the Mondder Spaceport on Etti IV in the Corporate Sector with Cross aboard Imperial Shuttle 9604, IN-GA 44 stayed with Jahan's possessions to keep an eye on them and prevent anyone from inspecting them. Later, she accompanied Cross to a party at the Imperial Embassy, where the droid identified and commented on VIPs for Cross. She gave him information about Elli Stark, the daughter of the smuggler and pirate Iaco Stark; Dah'lis Stark, the second wife of Iaco Stark; Emesh Nar, the aide to the ambassador Blains Vorlin, and Iaclyn Stark, the son of Iaco Stark. Cross then sent her back to his room so she could do some research and look for links between Emesh Nar and the Stark family. IN-GA 44 found out that Nar and Iaclyn Stark were boyhood friends and that the Stark family had used its connections to get Nar his position of aide to Ambassador Vorlin. Later in the evening, the droid was contacted by Cross. While updating Cross on the connection between Nar and the Starks, she was ambushed by Emesh Nar and Iaclyn Stark and was hit with an ion blast that disabled her. The droid was then shipped to the Eclipse space station, which was orbiting the planet Reltooine.
IN-GA 44's final words
While on the Eclipse, IN-GA 44 was reprogrammed by Iaclyn Stark with the Iron Eclipse virus. The computer virus allowed the Starks to command any droid and they intended to use it to take over the galaxy. Cross and Elli Stark hired a YT-1300 light freighter known as the Millennium Falcon, piloted by the smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca, to take them to the space station. After Solo dropped the couple off, they were attacked and attempted to escape from Iaco Stark and his army of droids. IN-GA 44 blocked the doorway and was ordered to kill them by the elder Stark.
IN-GA 44 opened fire on Cross with her blasters but was unable to kill him, consistently pulling her shots wide, as the order to protect him was too deeply wired into her matrix. Cross commanded her to kill Stark, but this order, too, proved impossible due to the Iron Eclipse programming. Cross suggested that by knocking out the repulsorlift generators that held the space station in orbit, she could fulfill both mandates. IN-GA 44 saw the logic in the plan and headed to the lower levels of the space station. Iaco Stark ordered his droids to stop her before she could complete her sabotage. She breached the lift shafts and flew down to the repulsorlift generators, which she destroyed with her blasters. The resulting shockwave disabled her weapons and jets, and allowed the other droids chasing her to catch up with her. She destroyed many in vicious hand-to-hand combat. IN-GA 44 then made her way to an exterior door, where she contacted Cross via comlink. She explained that she was unable to fly and therefore could not escape the dying station. IN-GA 44 was destroyed along with the rest of Eclipse, as it could no longer resist the pull of Reltooine's gravity and fell into the atmosphere of the planet.
Having been rescued earlier by Solo and Chewbacca, Cross made the decision not to return to the station and believed that he should not jeopardize the Millennium Falcon by attempting to save his droid. Cross also thought that IN-GA 44 might still be infected by the Iron Eclipse virus and that she might still try to kill him due to the virus's commands. If she was not, she would have the only remaining copies of the virus's code, and Cross did not want that to fall into the Empire's hands, because he thought the virus would cause chaos.
IN-GA 44 was a bipedal humanoid–shaped droid with a female personality. She was clad in silver and purple plating. She had two green photoreceptors on her smooth face but after being infected with the Iron Eclipse virus, her right photoreceptor turned red. IN-GA 44 did not have any individual toes, although she did have five fingers at the end of each arm. She had cone-shaped audio sensors with a vertical attachment, though she lacked the skin and hair overlay normally applied to HRDs due to Jahan Cross's desire for droids to "look like droids."
IN-GA 44 was extremely adept in combat and was able to successfully defeat multiple droid opponents at the same time. She was armed with hidden blasters in her forearms and had leg jets located in her calves that enabled her to fly. She was a fourth-degree droid designed for combat operations.
IN-GA 44 was created by John Ostrander for the Star Wars: Agent of the Empire—Iron Eclipse story arc, published by Dark Horse Comics from December 2011 to April 2012.