The Surgeon was a droid located at the former Galactic Empire installation DN-949A on the planet of Netalych. This particular droid made its home inside a workshop within a fortified bunker, where it typically remained concealed behind a screen of wires. It had at least one head, as well as several limbs and tools, which it would extend through the wire curtain. The Surgeon professed only a minor interest in droid unity, as it did not believe droids were capable of genuinely considering organics as friends.
Yrica Quell, a former Imperial pilot, led a strike team to Netalych to visit the Surgeon. Her goal was to have the droid analyze the remains of a Messenger droid from the late Emperor Palpatine. She wanted to understand how these droids chose participants for the Empire's Operation: Cinder. The Surgeon, impressed by the Messenger's internal mechanisms, ultimately gave Quell the information she sought. Quell made sure that the Surgeon would keep this information a secret, and the droid stated that it had erased it from its memory.
The Surgeon, a droid, made its home on the planet Netalych by the year 5 ABY. It resided within the DN-949A outpost, a former Galactic Empire fueling station and chemical processing center. Following the Empire's defeat and the death of Emperor Palpatine at the Battle of Endor, the outpost's droid population had overthrown their Imperial masters. Operating from a secure bunker inside DN-949A, the Surgeon performed various services for the outpost's residents. These included repairing droids, fitting human servants with restraining bolts, and providing neural implants and complete conversions for travelers. The Surgeon was a contact for "the Harch," who managed a crew on the Whitedrift Exchange space station.
Colonel Soran Keize of the 204th Imperial Fighter Wing sent Yrica Quell and a strike team to DN-949A that year. Quell, a former pilot in the 204th who had defected to the New Republic, was sent because Keize had heard of the Surgeon during his brief time working for the Harch. Quell's mission, unknown to her strike team, was to meet with the Surgeon. She was to have the droid analyze the remains of one of the late Emperor's Messenger droids to discover how the droids selected participants for the devastating Operation: Cinder campaign. When Quell and her two companions, Nord Kandende and Agias Rikton, arrived, the Surgeon questioned their motives, assuming they were travelers seeking an operation. Quell explained that their task was data recovery and offered credits, but the droid had already figured out their needs before she finished speaking. The Surgeon opened the door to its inner workshop, but only allowed Quell to enter.
Once Quell was inside and the door was shut, the Surgeon extended its head from behind its curtain. After confirming her Imperial affiliation, the droid expressed surprise that Quell trusted it, considering the common opinion of droids held by her kind. The Surgeon inquired if Quell needed a repair, but she refused, stating that she only wanted to recover data and that the Messenger's remains should be destroyed if they showed any signs of activation. The droid extended its arms to gather the Messenger's components, arranging them on the floor to study. As it worked, the Surgeon told Quell that none of her droid companions could have truly been her friends because of their nature. Ten minutes later, the Surgeon concluded that it could fulfill Quell's request. Although Quell inquired about payment before leaving, the Surgeon had already arranged to take Kandende as a servant for one year.
The Surgeon succeeded in bypassing the Messenger's encryption. It extracted the data Quell needed and learned the process the droids used to select Imperials for Cinder. The Messengers evaluated several qualities to identify individuals corrupt enough to carry out the operation, drawing from a vast databank located in the Verity District of the capital world Coruscant. When Quell returned the following day, the Surgeon voiced its admiration for the Messenger and its processes, suggesting it was more like a computer capable of rendering emotions. Quell told the Surgeon that it could not keep or activate the Messenger, which irritated the droid, before crushing the array of components beneath her feet.
When Quell asked how the droid chose its targets, the Surgeon threw a datachip containing the information at her, promising the Messenger's instructions, algorithms, and databases with a laugh. Quell inquired if the Surgeon could keep its findings secret, and the Surgeon responded by asking if she would try to shoot it if it said no. When Quell insisted on an answer, the droid told her that it didn't care about the Messenger's secrets, believing it was solely organic business. The Surgeon promised to keep the secret, claiming to delete the details from its memory. Although Quell briefly considered destroying the Surgeon, she decided it would be pointless. As Quell left, the Surgeon told her to greet Kandende on her way out.
The Surgeon, a droid, kept itself hidden within its inner workshop, behind a curtain of wires. It had at least one head with chrome plating and two mismatched photoreceptors that rotated at different rates. Upon meeting the Surgeon for the second time, Quell was certain that the head that emerged from the curtain was different, with duller chrome and one eye askew. The Surgeon also had numerous appendages, including three triple-jointed arms and an appendage that ended in a telescoping lens, as well as other arms equipped with tools like laser scalpels and scanners.
The Surgeon had little interest in droid solidarity and had no problem with the idea of destroying other droids. It believed that droids could not be friends with organics, viewing even droids designed to mimic organic thought patterns as distant from them. Instead, it believed that droids saw organics as interests rather than companions. The Surgeon was surprised that Quell trusted it with investigating the Messenger, as it believed most of her kind would not have. It was also unconcerned by what it found in the droid's programming, having no interest in organic affairs. Upon meeting Quell, the droid quickly deduced both the purpose of her visit and that she was an Imperial. The Surgeon was impressed by the inner workings of the Messenger, suggesting it was more of a computer than a droid, comparing it to a device whose core directive was to express an emotion, constructed by a culture that did not develop higher mathematics but could render feeling and motivation. However, the Surgeon was unable to express such an emotion, guessing it to be loathing or spite.
The Surgeon spoke at length and jumped from one idea to another quickly, which disoriented Quell. When first addressing Quell and her associates, the Surgeon spoke with electronic disdain. The droid would also mimic laughter, either by rustling its wire curtain or by emitting a garbled sound. When told that it could not keep the remains of the Messenger, the Surgeon expressed irritation.
The Surgeon made an appearance in the 2021 novel Victory's Price, penned by Alexander Freed.