Jaum

The gangster Jaum controlled the planet Andelm IV during the Galactic Civil War between the Galactic Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic, paying off the world's council to turn a blind eye to his activities. He provided financial services to various inhabitants of the planet, but following the Battle of Yavin, he changed his repayment system so that none of his clients could afford to repay their loans, blaming the changes on the devaluation of the Imperial credit. He then forced those who could not pay to work off their debt in his Andelm beetle caverns, where they were forced to harvest the mineral dedlanite from Andelm beetles. Jaum planned to sell to the Empire and contacted them with the promise of large quantities of high quality product.

Jaum and his Shistavanen bodyguard Tyvak personally visited the debtor Arrax and his daughter Zarro to inform them that they would have to work in the caves; however, several days after the pair began working, Zarro escaped, stealing one of Jaum's speeders. She later attempted to trade the vehicle to a Besalisk who recognized it as belonging to Jaum and contacted the gangster. Jaum cared little about the speeder, but requested that Zarro be captured and returned to him. After the junk dealer failed to apprehend the run away, Jaum sent Tyvak and several of his men to search near where Zarro had been sighted.After Tyvak returned without having found Zarro, he and Jaum traveled far from Andelm IV's spaceport to meet with representatives of the Galactic Empire, as neither party wished to be seen consorting with the other. Jaum provided the Imperials with samples of dedlanite, which they took away in order for testing, requesting that he wait for them to contact him.

The next day, Zarro was caught attempting to sneak back into the caves and was brought before Jaum, who ordered that she be returned to work. Arrax then came to Jaum begging that he let Zarro live, but the gangster revealed he had no interest in killing her and she and the other workers would be bundled with the caves and sold to the Empire. Jaum assumed that they would then be replaced by droids and shipped off to work elsewhere in the Empire. This revelation caused another of the workers to attempt to attack Jaum with a spade, but the gangster shot the worker with a blaster pistol before he came within striking distance.

The remaining workers fled into the mines with Jaum's men in pursuit, but were attacked by the Wookiee Chewbacca, who had befriended Zarro during her brief stint of freedom. One of the thugs managed to escape the fight and brought word of the attack to Jaum, who assumed the man was under the effects of spice and shot him. He then prepared for Chewbacca's exit of the mines by having Tyvak place several containers of the explosive beetle larvae around the mine entrance, although the bodyguard used more than the gangster would have liked. As soon as Chewbacca emerged, Tyvak shot the containers, causing a large explosion that collapsed the cave entrance.

Assuming that his work force and Chewbacca were dead, Jaum left the caverns in a speeder with Tyvak, explaining to his bodyguard that once the Empire were working with him they could easily replace the lost workers with prisoners. The pair then retired to a , where the gangster sat with two Devaronian girls, but as he relaxed his men brought before him the worker he had earlier shot. The worker revealed that the work force and Chewbacca had survived the blast, after which Jaum disconnected one of the tubes connected to his helmet and used it release gas into the workers, face, causing the man great pain and leaving him writhing on the floor. Unconcerned with the worker, Jaum then ordered Tyvak to gather his men in his hangar bay while he contacted the Empire using a deep space transmission. He got through to Imperial Commander Kai, who was displeased that Jaum was making contact, but agreed to sent Imperial reinforcements as an investment into the mine.

Kai then traveled on board an Imperial-class Star Destroyer to the star system Andelm IV was located in and then sent down an All Terrain Scout Transport with a contingent of scout troopers and stormtroopers to shut down Andelm IV's spaceport and meet with Jaum in his hangar bay. Disguised as mercenaries, Chewbacca and Zarro managed to bluff their way into the hangar as well, and immediately ran into Jaum and the Imperials. The pair claimed that they had been brought in to provide security for the hangar, and Jaum assumed the Empire had hired them, but when the stormtroopers with him knew nothing about the arrangement, Jaum order Zarro to remove her helmet.

To prevent their identities being exposed, Chewbacca opened fire on the Imperials, killing several and causing Jaum to flee. During the distraction Zarro sent the R5 repair droid "Boomer", who she had filled with explosives, to board the Sentinel-class landing craft sent for Jaum, planning to detonate the droid once it was onboard Kai's Star Destroyer. Before the astromech droid could finish boarding it was shot and ceased to move half way up the starship's ramp. Jaum then ordered that the shuttle take off, as he had completed loading it with dedlanite, but Tyvak refused, claiming they should kill Chewbacca first so he could not pursue them. The bodyguard attacked the Wookiee, but was quickly defeated after Chewbacca maneuvered him in front of the shuttle's engines, which activated and set Tyvak on fire. While Jaum attempted to bargain with the Wookiee, Zarro managed to reactivate Boomer, allowing him to board the shuttle, which then took off after Jaum ran aboard.

Jaum then traveled to Kai's Star Destroyer, where he collected an initial payment from the Imperials and then began preparing to leave. When he entered one of the Destroyer's landing bays to inform Kai of his departure, he discovered the commander speaking with Zarro and Chewbacca, who had been captured by Imperial scout troopers, but freed themselves after being brought on board the Star Destroyer Zarro had convinced Kai that Jaum was truly a Rebel spy, and that his shuttle was rigged to explode, which was given support when Boomer detonated and destroyed the shuttle and landing bay, bringing down the force field that separated it from space. Kai, Jaum and a stormtrooper were able to reach safety in a turbolift, while Chewbacca and Zarro escaped in a TIE/sa bomber.

Jaum was then placed in a cell, where he tried unsuccessfully to convince Kai that it was Zarro and Chewbacca who were Rebels. When the gangster requested they return to the surface where he could provide proof, Kai refused, fearing another ambush. He then brought an IT-O Interrogation Unit which he explained to Jaum would be torturing him for weeks while the Star Destroyer traveled without a working hyperdrive toward the nearest Imperial base.

Jaum was a green skinned individual with orange eyes. While on Andelm IV, a planet with an atmosphere breathable to humans, Jaum wore a sealed helmet, filled with gas that caused humans pain on contact. When one of his own men reported that Chewbacca was attacking, Jaum killed him, blaming himself for the guard's incompetence as he had knowingly hired spice addicts. He considered Tyvak a friend, and became angry when Chewbacca set him on fire but then immediately offered to pay Chewbacca the body guard's share if he stopped attacking.

Jaum first appeared as the central antagonist in the comic book mini-series Star Wars: Chewbacca, which was written by Gerry Duggan, illustrated by Phil Noto and released in 2015. He appeared in all five issues of the series, none of which identified his species.

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