When his homeworld was razed by the Empire, Czycz lost everything. Despite his best efforts, Czycz was forced to live with the knowledge that his home was destroyed, and his family dead. Despite the fact that the massacre had been ordered by Palpatine, Czycz held the leader of the attack, Darth Vader, responsible. Devoting the rest of his life towards attaining vengeance, Czycz allowed himself to be surgically altered, implanted with numerous mechanical devices and weapons, while his appearance was changed to make him look like a dark haired Human. Czycz became Awarru Tark.
In order to gain access to Vader, Tark became a bounty hunter. He was evidently skilled at this, gaining, as Vader put it, a '"reputation for results". His reputation eventually landed Tark on Vader's list of mercenary invites when the Sith Lord issued the bounty on Han Solo and Leia Organa in the wake of the Battle of Hoth. Tark was intentionally late, claiming to have been held up in customs on Myrkr. Meeting with Darth Vader in the observation suite aboard the Star Destroyer Avenger, Tark initially apologized for his lateness. Vader, mistaking Tark's murderous exultation at finally facing his target for the usual aura of a killer, was not impressed with what he termed Tark's "posturing", demanding that they proceed with their business. Tark agreed, tossing four small detonators at the entrance of the suite, sealing the door.
Pulling off his cloak, Tark leapt at Vader, attacking with two energy blades projected from his forearms. Vader managed to parry the initial attack with his lightsaber, but Tark suddenly leapt over Vader, attacking him from behind and scoring a hit on Vader's back.
Vader whirled to parry, fending off Tark's attacks but in turn opening himself up for a sudden kick. Having knocked Vader against the wall, Tark attempted to follow up the kick with a volley of attacks, but Vader managed to evade it, and Tark scored merely a hit on the Sith Lord's helmet. In desperation, Vader blasted Tark against the chamber ceiling with a Force push, telekinetically pinning him. Tark responded by dropping a series of detonators on Vader, disrupting his concentration. No longer pinned, Tark dropped down and charged Vader. Darth Vader dropped his lightsaber and seized Tark's wrists, bending the mercenary's energy back towards his own face. Now desperate, Tark activated one of the mechanical weapons concealed within his body.
Tark's lower face and jaw burst outward, revealing a massive toothy maw ringed by insect-like pincers, while his hands and torso split open to unleash a storm of tiny mechanical tendrils, each tipped with a number of hooked and barbed blades. As Tark's blades chewed their way through Vader's armor, the Sith Lord telepathically breached Tark's mind. Learning of Tark's backstory as a soldier bent on vengeance, Vader became temporarily paralyzed by Tark's wrath. However, the mental assault also caused Tark to lose his composure, giving Vader enough time to use the Force to disable a force-field generator implanted in Tark's body and reclaim his stolen lightsaber.
As a tear escaped from Stauz Czycz's Human eye, Darth Vader decapitated him.
While Czycz's attempt at revenge was unsuccessful, his devotion to Vader's death and the lengths to which he went in attempt to do so left Vader shaken. The Sith Lord began to reflect on his own life and his own sacrifices made in the name of revenge.
Czycz's personality before his "transformation" remains unknown, but afterward, he was marked by his obsessive devotion to avenging himself against Darth Vader. Going to extreme lengths, and feeling that he had nothing else to live for, Czycz allowed himself to be subjected to quite extreme and presumably painful cybernetic augmentation, sacrificing whatever he was in the name of revenge. As a mercenary, he became known for his ability to get results, likely meaning that he was ruthless and determined. In short; the perfect bounty hunter. In person, he was polite and punctual, explaining his actions and meaning to carry out his business. In the Force, Vader detected his aura to be a hunger for prey, something he initially mistook to be the typical killer's attitude.
Czycz devoted so much of himself towards ensuring Vader's death that the Sith Lord considered him more living weapon than man. However, in the end, Czycz seemed to regain some measure of his former self, Vader's invasion of his mind forcing him to relive his most painful memories, shedding a tear moments before his death. Whether this tear was from regret or an overriding sense of failure remains unknown.
With his cyborg augmentations, Stauz Czycz was a formidable opponent. Projecting twin energy blades from his forearms, he was capable of engaging Darth Vader, a master lightsaber duelist in combat. He demonstrated a super-Human level of speed and agility, enough to give the Sith Lord pause. The blades could parry and lightsaber and were able to shred the armorweave fabric of Vader's cape with ease, though they were unable to penetrate Vader's helmet. Czycz's skills in melee combat were enough to force Vader to resort to telekinesis.
Another of his augmentations included a massive array of mechanical tendrils within his body, each tipped with a hooked and barbed metal claw. When forced onto his back foot, Czycz could cause his very flesh to split open, with the claws chewing away at a chosen target in a massive swarm. They had the ability to carve their way through Darth Vader's armor in a matter of seconds.
In addition to the abilities afforded to him by his augmentations, Czycz also favored small detonators in combat, either throwing them at opponents or sealing entrances and exits with them.
Stauz Czycz appears in "Moment of Doubt," a comic story appearing in Star Wars Tales 4. The character was first depicted by writer Lovern Kindzierski and artists Robert Teranishi and Dave McCaig.
Moment of Doubt takes place during the timeframe of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. Although Czycz meets Vader on the Avenger, Vader's flagship is the Executor in most other stories set at this point in the timeline.
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia