Serj Ukkarian, a human male, was born around 242 BBY. When he was around ten years old, in 232 BBY, he and his parents embarked as passengers onboard the Byne Guild freighter Legacy Run, among thousands traveling as colonists to the Outer Rim Territories from the Core Worlds and Colonies. During the journey, Serj became known to the starship's captain, Hedda Casset, and made several friends among other children onboard.
Ukkarian and his friends eventually exhausted all of the age-appropriate holos available in the Legacy Runs archives during the journey, and he attempted to slice into the ship's systems to watch media restricted to older viewers. Encountering Captain Casset in the common area as she was making her evening rounds, he asked her for more media, but Casset, aware of Ukkarian's slicing attempts, reprimanded him for his behavior and warned him that she knew everything that transpired aboard her ship. Embarrassed, Ukkarian and his friends returned to playing an improvised ball game as Casset left the room.
However, Ukkarian had been stung by the reprimand, and decided to retaliate by slicing into the bridge computers and playing a holovid on the screens, to show Casset she didn't know as much as she thought she did. To that end, Ukkarian made his way to compartment eight to do the slicing. He was successful, but right as he gained access to the systems, the Legacy Run ran into a mysterious obstacle right in the middle of the hyperspace lane it was traversing, something which should have been all but impossible. Ukkarian saw the obstacle, something which appeared to him as three lightning strikes, as Casset attempted to maneuver her starship around it. However, the Legacy Run tore itself apart from the strain, and Casset only had time to seal the passenger compartments before her death. Ukkarian's compartment survived, but his parents had been in compartment twelve, leaving him with no idea if they were still alive.
The ensuing Great Hyperspace Disaster imperiled the Hetzal system, as massive amounts of debris was flung out of hyperspace on collision courses, including ten passenger compartments. The Jedi Order and Galactic Republic were able to save the system and all of the passenger compartments flung out of hyperspace, including number eight. Subsequently, the survivors were housed in the Republic medical ship Panacea. Ukkarian, traumatized, blamed himself for the incident and did not respond to therapy droids.
In the midst of recurring Emergences of the disaster, a reception was held aboard the Panacea, on station in the Hetzal system, so its patients could thank the Jedi and Republic personnel who had participated in their rescue. During the reception, Ukkarian was noticed by Padawan Burryaga Agaburry, the Jedi who had first realized there were people onboard some of the hyperspace debris. Realizing the child was in intense emotional turmoil, Burryaga was able to make a connection with Ukkarian despite the fact he, as a Wookiee, could not speak Galactic Basic Standard, and Serj did not understand Shyriiwook. From there, Ukkarian admitted to Burryaga that he had hacked into the bridge of the Legacy Run and seen something of the cause of the disaster. Burryaga brought Serj to his Master, Jedi Knight Nib Assek, and she was able to coax the boy into revealing to her the three lightning strikes he had seen. Upon recovery of the Legacy Runs flight recorder during the 40th Emergence, the Jedi and Republic learned that Ukkarian had seen a Nihil Stormship.
Serj Ukkarian was a human boy with red hair and olive skin. Mischievous by nature, he was intelligent and made friends easily, but disliked being told off for doing things he was not supposed to be doing. As a result, he attempted to harmlessly retaliate against Captain Casset when he was scolded for attempting to watch age-inappropriate holovids, believing that she didn't know as much as he felt she acted like she did. The presumed deaths of his parents in the Great Disaster traumatized Ukkarian, and he believed that his actions of slicing into the bridge systems immediately prior made him responsible for the incident. He was able to understand Burryaga Agaburry's body language despite not being able to understand what the young Wookiee was saying.
At around ten years old, Serj Ukkarian was already a talented slicer, attempting to access age-inappropriate holovids from the Legacy Run archives, and then successfully slicing into its bridge systems.
Serj Ukkarian first appeared in the 2021 novel The High Republic: Light of the Jedi.
- Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia