Vulaada Klam

During the era of the Galactic Empire, Vulaada Klam lived with her father and mother, and owned Gurtyl, a pet qaberworm. At some point during the Galactic Civil War between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance, the planet on which Klam's family resided was situated on the front lines of the war. When the influence of the Rebellion reached their planet, Klam's parents moved their family to Milvayne, a planet under the harsh law enforcement of the Milvayne Authority and the Galactic Empire, having seen propaganda promoting the world.

Klam, her parents, and Gurtyl resided in a processing center, waiting to be allowed residence on the planet. However, a nearby family, disliking the presence of Klam's qaberworm, informed the Milvayne Authority of minor faults in her parents' records, causing both Klam and her parents to be thrown down into the Underworld, the lower levels of Milvayne City where criminals and undesirables were sent to live in poverty. Hitting a net, Klam survived the fall, as did Gurtyl, but both her parents were killed, leaving Klam to fend for herself. While Klam would not have been able to survive in the harsh conditions of the Underworld on her own, Gurtyl protected her, and Klam was forced to scavenge for food.

Around 1 ABY, Klam encountered the rogue archaeologist Doctor Chelli Aphra and the assassin droid 0-0-0, who had been cast into the Underworld after causing a public disturbance. Aphra and Triple-Zero, who had been linked with proximity bombs and forced to survive together as fugitives on Milvayne for the entertainment of the mad scientist Doctor Cornelius Evazan, were attempting to reach the cyberneticist Professor Prexo, who they believed could remove the bomb implants. Noticing Triple-Zero, Klam had Gurtyl grab him, intending to trade the droid in as scrap in exchange for food. Aphra aimed a blaster at Klam, ordering her to let Triple-Zero go. Upon being released, Triple-Zero climbed onto Gurtyl's back, threatening to torture Klam. Aphra managed to convince the assassin droid to leave Klam alive, partially due to the fiercely protective nature of qaberworms, and partially due to developing a plan that involved Klam's assistance.

Klam introduced herself to Aphra, who questioned if Gurtyl would be able to carry them to their destination before the bombs detonated. Klam asked Aphra what she gained out of helping the fugitives, dismissing the bag of money that Aphra offered due to its uselessness in the underworld of Milvayne. Aphra claimed that she would allow Klam to sell Triple-Zero if they reached their destination, and Klam accepted the deal, excited at the prospect of selling the droid for food.

As Klam transported the fugitives on Gurtyl's back, Aphra asked her how she came to reside in the Underworld. However, their travels were interrupted by the arrival of Tam Posla, bounty hunter and former Milvayne Authority officer, who Aphra had previously tricked, causing his death at the hands of Triple-Zero. Posla, whose corpse had been reanimated by sentient gundravian hookspores that had gained Force-sensitivity and an obsession for justice after imprinting on a long-dead Jedi, jumped down on the travelers from above, firing a large weapon at them. The resulting blast threw Klam and Gurtyl away, separating them from their passengers.

Both Klam and the fugitives survived the blast, but Aphra and Triple-Zero were confronted by Posla, who used the rebuilt assassin droid BT-1, Triple-Zero's former companion, to attack them. After Posla was attacked by the hunters Winloss and Nokk, hired by Evazan to hunt the two fugitives, Aphra and Triple-Zero managed to escape. Wishing for further entertainment from the chase, Evazan sent a broadcast to the citizens of Milvayne City, transmitting a live feed from Triple-Zero's photoreceptors and claiming to promise a reward from capturing or killing the fugitives. Klam learned of the supposed reward, and, believing it would help her survive in the Underworld, contacted the Milvayne Authority, offering to help catch Aphra and Triple-Zero.

Some time later, Klam met the two fugitives, offering to continue to help transport them to their destination. Klam led them aboard a bloatbarge, a large vessel used to gather expensive gases from the polluted Underworld. As they traveled, Klam talked with Aphra, who spoke of her regrets. Their travels were interrupted by the arrival of Milvayne Authority forces, led by Posla. With no weapons to defend themselves, Triple-Zero instead grabbed Klam, threatening to kill her unless the Milvayne Authority withdrew their forces. However, Klam used Aphra's blaster to shoot the assassin droid in half, revealing she had sold them out in exchange for the reward. Quoting Aphra's description of her own mindset, Klam tearfully knocked the archaeologist unconscious.

However, Klam did not receive the reward that the Empire promised to give her. Following Klam's betrayal, Aphra and Triple-Zero were set to be executed by the Milvayne Authority, but escaped after they turned the law enforcement officers against the rogue vigilante Posla. The two fugitives were caught by Winloss and Nokk, leading to unrest among the citizens of Milvayne, who had begun to support Aphra and Triple-Zero in their chase. The Galactic Empire's Coalition for Progress intervened, shooting down the hunters' starship. The fugitives managed to survive the crash and continued to attempt to reach Professor Prexo. Klam found Aphra and Triple-Zero as they traveled through the Underworld atop BT-1. As both assassin droids readied their weaponry, Klam apologized for betraying Aphra, who, while mad, sympathized with her position.

Klam offered to transport them to Prexo's residence, and the fugitives continued to travel on Gurtyl's back while the citizens of Milvayne cheered them on. They arrived at Prexo's office with ten minutes remaining on the bombs' countdown, only to find that Prexo himself was not present. The fugitives were then confronted by a combined force of both the Milvayne Authority and the Empire. Aphra ordered BT-1 to destroy their opponents, leading to a violent skirmish.

During the battle against the Imperial forces, Posla returned, still intent on killing Aphra. Triple-Zero approached Posla from behind, setting the undead vigilante aflame. As Posla burned, he unintentionally fired his blaster, sending a blaster bolt towards Klam. Klam was unable to move out of the way, but Aphra noticed the danger than Klam was in, and instinctively moved to protect her. Aphra threw Klam out of the way, and was hit by the blaster fire. Aphra's selfless act motivated the already-invested citizens of Milvayne to revolt against their oppressive regime, joining the fight. The timer on the fugitives' proximity bombs ran out, but they did not detonate—Winloss and Nokk had successfully tracked down Evazan, and with the help of Professor Prexo, deactivated the bombs. No longer forced together by the bombs, Triple-Zero departed with BT-1, leaving Aphra, fatally wounded, lying on the ground. As the citizens of Milvayne continued to revolt, Klam approached Aphra, crouching beside her.

Despite the near-fatal injury she sustained on Milvayne, Aphra survived, and intended to leave the planet without Klam. Klam, however, stowed away on Aphra's starship, the Ark Angel II, threatening to set it to self-destruct if the archaeologist left her behind. Aphra reluctantly took Klam in as a ward. After the incident on Milvayne, Aphra and Klam intended to lie low, doing so for around two months, during which Aphra often visited numerous spacer bars without Klam. At one such bar, Aphra picked up a recorded message addressed to her, in which an anonymous buyer claimed to offer a high price for the archaeologist to recover a sacred artifact from Red Mist, a sacred Migration Shrine of the Slinani religious warrior clan.

Captivated by the promised reward, Aphra was unaware of her client's true identity—Minister Pitina Voor of the Coalition for Progress, who, after witnessing the events on Milvayne, wished to manipulate the archaeologist as part of her plot to assassinate and overthrow Emperor Palpatine. While Klam believed that attempting to steal the artifact would be dangerous, Aphra chose to undertake the heist, bringing her young ward along with her. Inside the Slinani Migration Shrine, the two avoided numerous fatal traps, while Klam reprimanded Aphra for taking the mission. Aphra played the message she had received from Voor, and Klam was similarly amazed by the reward that their anonymous client offered.

To assist in reaching the artifact, Aphra sliced into one of Red Mist's hostile droids, reprogramming it to destroy the other droids and protect them from further traps. With the help of the droid, they arrived unharmed at the location of the artifact, a red cape. Klam attempted to devise a plan to retrieve the cape from the gravity trap it was held in, but Aphra simply used the reprogrammed droid to fetch it for them. Aphra and Klam attempted to escape the Migration Shrine as an alarm sounded, avoiding more traps. However, Aphra was distracted upon noticing the Farkiller of Oo'ob the Apostate, an ancient sniper rifle that utilized lightsaber technology. Klam urged Aphra to leave the weapon, but Aphra wished to obtain it, leaving Klam to distract the oncoming droids so that she could retrieve it.

Aphra managed to obtain the Farkiller, though Klam suffered injuries as a result. As they departed the Slinani Migration Shrine in the Ark Angel, Klam scolded Aphra for placing them in danger, and Aphra harshly dismissed her, leading Klam to leave in tears. Some time later, they arrived at the Abandoned Spice Mine on Unox, where they had left Gurtyl while undertaking the heist. Aphra apologized for how she had treated Klam, but they came under attack from the Rebel Alliance Intelligence Service's Extraction Team Misericorde, who demanded that they surrender the Farkiller. The strike team caught up with them, revealing that it was led by Captain Magna Tolvan, a former lover of Aphra's who she had betrayed in order to escape a situation aboard the Imperial wreckage-prison Accresker Jail.

Tolvan stunned Aphra, taking both her and Klam to the asteroid space station Trading Post Sh'ung-tesk, where the Rebel Alliance had briefly set up base. Rebel Intelligence, who Voor had also manipulated, wished to similarly manipulate Aphra in their own attempt to overthrow the Emperor. The rebels explained a supposed plan to create a superweapon from the Farkiller, using it to target the Emperor within the Imperial Palace. While Aphra spoke with Rebel Intelligence General Airen Cracken, Klam was waiting near their ship, playing cards with several rebels. Aphra refused an offer to assist the rebels in their plot, and returned to Klam, announcing that they were leaving.

With the Empire searching for her following the events on Milvayne and in Red Mist, Aphra chose to return to the backwater planet Arbiflux, where she had lived for two years as a child with her mother. However, when the two arrived at Aphra's old house, they found that the Empire had occupied Arbiflux and industralized the planet. Klam questioned why Aphra chose not to stay with the Rebellion, citing the fact that they could easily scam the rebels. As night began to fall, Aphra and Klam chose to sleep in the abandoned house, waiting for their buyer to contact them.

During the night, Aphra was woken by a recorded message from General Cracken, who informed Aphra that the Empire had tracked them down on Arbiflux and sent bounty hunters to collect them. Aphra quietly woke up Klam, who looked at the hunters through macrobinoculars. Aphra intended to stay and fight the bounty hunters, but when Klam described one of the hunters as a coal-black Wookiee, Aphra recognized the description of her former associate Krrsantan, and chose to run. However, Krrsantan attacked the other hunters, wishing to protect Aphra from the incoming stormtrooper platoon due to the debt that the archaeologist owed him. The three of them fled in the direction of the Ark Angel, managing to evade their Imperial pursuers and escape the planet.

Krrsantan informed Aphra that a bounty had been placed on her and all known associates, including Klam. When Aphra asked who had hired the bounty hunters, they learned it was Minister Voor, their anonymous client, and realized the job had been a setup. With nowhere else to run, they returned to the Rebel Alliance, meeting General Cracken aboard a ship of the Indigo Squadron fleet. Aphra intended to steal back the Farkiller and foil the supposed rebel assassination plot to get her back in the Empire's favor. Having expected her actions, the rebels allowed her to do so, and Aphra and Klam escaped the rebel fleet in the Ark Angel, but were forced to leave Gurtyl behind, to Klam's dismay.

To further advance her plan, Aphra took the Ark Angel to an Imperial Communication Relay on the world of Usk Minor, broadcasting her knowledge of the supposed rebel plot to the entire officer class of the Empire. Klam disembarked alongside Aphra and Krrsantan, and they were confronted by the Imperial forces present at the relay station. Before the Imperial stormtroopers could apprehend them, a starship of the Coalition for Progress arrived, and Minister Voor landed in a shuttle beside the fugitives, welcoming them as heroes for foiling the supposed assassination plot.

Aphra, Klam, and Krrsantan were taken to the Coalition for Progress headquarters on Centax 3, the third moon of the galactic capital planet Coruscant, where Minister Voor intended to record a declaration of Aphra's heroics to be broadcast as Imperial propaganda. Watched by cam droids, Voor gave the former fugitives a tour of the Gallery of Peace within the headquarters, congratulating them for their service to the Empire.

Once the recording had concluded, Aphra asked to know why Voor had hired her for the mission. Unknown to both Klam and Voor, Aphra had worked out that both the rebels and Voor were using her, and sliced into the cam droids, continuing to broadcast events live. Voor explained that the false job she had hired Aphra for was part of a secret plot to overthrow the Emperor, who she believed was harming the Empire by ruling it through terror. Klam was shocked by Voor's plan, and did not believe it would be possible. Voor admitted to manipulating the Rebel Alliance into similarly manipulating Aphra, and Klam pointed out the convoluted nature of the minister's plan.

However, Aphra revealed that she had known the truth the entire time, and that she had hijacked the cameras, revealing Voor's plan to the entire galaxy as revenge for the death of her mother in an attack on Arbiflux that the Coalition of Progress invented in order to force the planet's inhabitants to accept Imperial occupation. As Voor was taken away by Imperial forces, Aphra attempted to assure Klam that they would be safe from harm as long as they stayed within sight of the camera. As Klam and Aphra watched, the Sith Lord Darth Vader killed Voor, decapitating the Imperial minister with his lightsaber. Aphra sheltered Klam, attempting to protect her from Vader. The Sith Lord stood over Aphra and Klam, demanding that the archaeologist serve the Empire.

Both Aphra and Klam were unwillingly recruited into Imperial service aboard Darth Vader's flagship Executor—Aphra was placed on a team of archaeological consultants to Project Swarm, the Empire's search for the Rebellion's latest base, while Klam was given janitorial duties. Some time after their forced recruitment, Klam approached Aphra, who had been thrown into a wall after provoking Vader. Klam persuaded Aphra not to anger Vader, but they were interrupted by Professor Rupo Ud, one of the consultants in the Project Swarm team, who ordered Klam back to work.

Shortly afterward, Aphra brought Klam on an expedition to Ash Moon 1 in the Kartovian Formation, where Professor Ud claimed to believe the rebels had resided. After determining that the structure Ud had located was a deathshrine of the Central Isopter, Aphra asked Klam to do her a favor in return for allowing her on the mission. Aphra led Ud to a trapped carving, while Klam reluctantly activated the trap, which killed Ud, but also opened the floor beneath Klam, dropping her into a trap. With Ud dead, Aphra assumed command of the archaeology team, and declared that the mission was concluded. After capturing a prisoner, who was truly Aphra's father Korin, General Maximilian Veers ordered the Imperial forces off of the moon, and Aphra departed, intentionally leaving her behind.

Once Klam managed to escape the trap, she viewed a holographic message left for her by Aphra, in which she explained that Klam would be safer without the danger that Aphra brought. However, as Klam exited the deathshrine, she was approached by a number of the moon's native creatures. Aphra also managed to rescue her father, sending him on a shuttle to Ash Moon 1. The shuttle landed in front of Klam, who was being chased by the creatures. Klam called out for help, and Korin Aphra dazedly stumbled out of the shuttle. Aphra noticed the creatures approaching, and told Klam to stay behind him.

Captain Tolvan, who believed the younger Aphra was aboard the shuttle, tracked it to the moon, but instead found Klam and Aphra's father under attack from the creatures. Tolvan descended to the surface atop a U-wing, which shot the creatures, saving Klam and Aphra. Tolvan landed, approaching the two associates of Doctor Aphra, and taking them to the Rebel Alliance's base on the planet Hoth. Klam, who had been reunited with Gurtyl, helped the Rebellion's operations on Hoth, assisting with herding the many tauntauns at the base.

Sometime after Klam arrived on Hoth, the Rebellion received a message from Aphra, which was delivered to Tolvan. Both Klam and Aphra's father were collected by Tolvan in order to view the message, wherein Aphra apologized for the damage she had caused and bade them farewell. After watching Aphra's message, which saddened her, Klam sat outside the base alongside Tolvan and Korin Aphra. The three of them were approached by rebel pilot and commander Luke Skywalker, who informed them that Aphra had managed to sabotage the Empire's search for the rebel base, allowing the Rebellion more time to set it up. Having learned that Aphra was still alive, Klam, Tolvan, and Aphra's father speculated about where she was and what she was doing.

A human female, Vulaada Klam had blonde hair, blue eyes, and light skin. Klam's life as an orphan in Milvayne's Underworld led her to be unfazed by the suffering of both herself and others—by the time that she met Aphra, Klam casually spoke of her parent's deaths, and was initially willing to sell the archaeologist to cannibals when first encountering her. Klam was reluctant to assist Aphra without receiving something in return, and turned to betraying her when promised a better reward for doing so, citing Aphra's own mentality of using others if it benefited herself. Upon first hearing Aphra explain her attitude towards others, Klam saw no issue with betrayal if it allowed one to survive. Despite this, Klam was still reluctant to betray Aphra's trust in her, and eventually returned to apologize, helping Aphra once more.

Klam was closely bonded with her pet qaberworm, Gurtyl, and heavily depended on her while living on Milvayne. She was shocked when Aphra used Gurtyl to distract the bounty hunters chasing them on Arbiflux, and was distraught when she had to leave Gurtyl behind after Aphra stole the Farkiller back from the Rebel Alliance. Klam continued to remain angry towards Aphra about losing Gurtyl for some time.

After the incident on Milvayne, Klam refused to allow Aphra to leave her behind, threatening to self-destruct her ship. Once Aphra reluctantly took her on as a ward, Klam often questioned or criticized the rogue archaeologist's risky lifestyle and actions, even more so once the two of them were conscripted by the Empire. Aphra's harsh treatment of her ward, due to her own upbringing, affected Klam, who felt inadequate, particularly following their heist in Red Mist. Klam was reluctant to assist with some of Aphra's schemes, such as causing the death of Professor Ud so that she could take control of the Project Swarm archaeological team. Despite the tense relationship that Klam had with Aphra, she was saddened when viewing her farewell message after Aphra left her behind for her own safety, but was happy to be alongside Magna Tolvan and Korin Aphra, who both also had trouble brought to their lives by Doctor Aphra.

By the time that Klam lived on Milvayne, she was able to control her pet qaberworm Gurtyl, which she used as a mount to travel around the planet's Underworld. She also had some ability to use a blaster, shooting Triple-Zero while on Milvayne and utilizing one to fend off bounty hunters on Arbiflux. After two months of traveling with Aphra, Klam picked up on her methods, suggesting ways to retrieve the artifact they were hired to steal in Red Mist. She was also able to pilot the Ark Angel in Aphra's absence, collecting her and Black Krrsantan when they escaped a rebel starship of Indigo Squadron.

While living in the lower levels of Milvayne, Klam was adequately equipped, owning a pair of heatspex to see heat signatures through the smog, and wore a breath mask around her neck due to the polluted air. The clothing that she wore was ragged, consisting of a brown hooded coat over a light-colored shirt and pants. After Aphra lost the blaster that she held when they were attacked by Tam Posla, Klam recovered the weapon, using it to shoot Triple-Zero and knock Aphra unconscious when she betrayed the two fugitives to the Milvayne Authority.

After leaving Milvayne, Klam wore similar clothing, though less ragged, and later began to wear the cape that she and Aphra stole from the Red Mist shrine. During the heist, Klam carried equipment for Aphra, including a slicing kit. On Arbiflux, Klam utilized a pair of macrobinoculars to look at the bounty hunters approaching Aphra's mother's house, and used a blaster when attempting to fend off the hunters. Klam was provided with cleaning equipment when she was conscripted into the Empire as a janitor, and wore goggles and a hat while assisting the Rebel Alliance at their base on Hoth.

Vulaada Klam first appeared in the comic Doctor Aphra (2016) 27, written by Simon Spurrier, illustrated by Emilio Laiso, and published by Marvel Comics on December 12, 2018.