Abal Karda

During the Imperial Period, Abal Karda, a male Human distinguished by a cybernetic left eye, held the rank of Colonel in the Imperial Army. He was a member of the Lightning Battalion, and in 3 BBY participated in the Icarii Campaign on Vestar. Karda, a respected soldier, was well-liked by his fellow soldiers in the Battalion, and fought alongside them on the front lines of the campaign. This contrasted with his commanding officer, General Nim, who was less popular among the troops. The campaign was a difficult one, as the Icarii proved challenging to kill in their jungle environment. The species' remarkable regenerative abilities allowed severed limbs to continue attacking the troops.

At Camp Forty, Karda and the Lightning Battalion ambushed the Icarii during a war raid, launching a devastating fragmentation strike. Despite decimating the war party, the Icarii quickly retaliated with a counterattack that night. During the ensuing battle, Karda captured the Icarii leader, a precognitive woman named Selestrine, hoping to deter the Icarii assault. Restrained before Karda, Selestrine conceded that the Icarii would be defeated but warned that Lightning Squadron would pay a heavy price in blood, specifically foretelling Karda's painful death. The colonel, seeking to minimize casualties among his men, discovered a bioagent capable of dissolving the Icarii's internal organs. On General Nim's orders, Karda deployed the bioagent aerially, bringing the costly campaign to an end.

With Selestrine in his custody, Karda aimed to exploit the prophetess for his personal gain, hoping to use her precognitive abilities to advance his career. However, the Icarii leader sought death and managed to inject herself with the bioagent. Reacting swiftly, Karda drew a sword and severed Selestrine's head, immediately calling for a medic. Selestrine's head was kept alive in a kneebhide casket, but the prophetess began to predict Karda's death, blaming him for her people's demise. The commander protested, attributing the genocide to Nim instead, prompting Selestrine to foretell Nim's imminent death and Karda's "promotion". Karda, pleased at the prospect of a career advancement, was suddenly confronted by the general himself in his tent. Nim informed him that Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet Darth Vader was highly impressed with Karda's performance during the Icarii Campaign, suggesting that a promotion to general was within reach.

Nim also conveyed a further instruction from Vader: the Supreme Commander was aware of Selestrine's survival and wished to take possession of the casket. As Nim approached the casket, Karda violently pushed him away. Nim collided with a table and was accidentally impaled on the sword Karda had used to decapitate the Icarii leader. Panicking, Karda shot and killed Nim's personal bodyguard before abandoning his unit altogether. Declared an enemy of the Empire, Karda fled to Vestar's main settlement, Port-Esta, carrying the kneebhide casket. He escaped the planet aboard the Tramp freighter Port-Esta Queen, paying the crew with a strand of Selestrine's hair, which had gold jewelry, the entire wealth of the Icarii, weaved through it. To maintain a low profile, Karda disguised himself as a Vestaari nomad and forbade anyone from approaching the casket. He was eventually dropped off at Starstation 12. In his escape, Karda evaded Darth Vader's agents, forcing Vader to employ more drastic measures to hunt down the deserter.

At Starstation 12, Karda sought to enhance his disguise. Using the alias "Mixxim," he sought out tattooist Bojam Rees and had a Duhma tribal pattern tattooed on his face, paying with another valuable strand of Selestrine's hair. The Duhma, who lived in darkness on their homeworld, were known to wear visors to protect their eyes from glare. Karda acquired such a visor, which helped conceal his cybernetic eye as he continued to flee from the Empire. The deserter booked a cabin on the passenger liner Orramas after Selestrine predicted that the ship would stop at the remote volcanic world of Maryx Minor, despite it not being on the ship's scheduled route. He informed the ship's captain of his unusual destination, causing confusion, and further exacerbated the situation by refusing to leave his cabin and having all his meals delivered to him.

As predicted, the Orramas encountered a meteor shower and was forced to land on Maryx Minor for repairs, at which point Karda disembarked. He rented a landspeeder from a local vendor and ventured into the wastelands. Terrified that the notorious bounty hunter Boba Fett was pursuing him, Karda sought refuge with the Ancient Order of Pessimists, a sect residing on the planet. Approaching the gates of the Order's hermitage with the casket, Karda pleaded for sanctuary. When the hermits hesitated, he declared that Fett would surely kill him, prompting the Order to open their gates. As Karda entered the hermitage, one of the Order's members attempted to take Selestrine's head, but Karda responded by drawing his weapon, threatening to kill any hermit who attempted to steal the box.

The High Hermit calmed Karda's fears by having Brother Mabob take him to a cell where he could rest. However, the deserter found no peace, as Selestrine continued to insist that he would die at Fett's hands. Incredulous that Fett could find him on Maryx Minor, Karda flew into a rage, bewildering the hermits who were unaware of the casket's contents. When Brother Mabob attempted to bring Karda food and drink, Karda suspected him of snooping and swiftly shot him dead. He began to believe that the other hermits coveted the casket and warned that he would not hesitate to wipe out the entire hermitage if they attempted to steal it. Despite Karda's threats, Selestrine persisted, welcoming them as she sought her own death.

Selestrine's prediction of thirty and one days was nearing its end, and she foretold that Fett would arrive within a day. The hermits held a funeral ceremony for the late Brother Mabob, and the noise they made further infuriated Karda. Interrupting the ceremony from his cell, he yelled at the hermits, instructing them to deny all knowledge of his presence when Fett inevitably arrived and to kill the bounty hunter if he attempted to enter. The High Hermit protested, arguing that such actions would contradict the Ancient Order's principles, but the deserter was unmoved, promising to kill all the hermits if they failed to comply with his instructions.

The next day, Fett arrived at the hermitage gates, searching for someone with Duhman tattoos. Karda watched from his cell window as the High Hermit and his fellow hermits conferred with Fett from atop the main gate before throwing stones at the bounty hunter in an attempt to satisfy Karda's demands. When Fett used his weaponry to destroy the rocks, the hermits fled from the walls, infuriating Karda. The deserter opened fire on the hermits before Fett blew open the main gates with explosives. From his vantage point, Karda attempted to shoot down the bounty hunter, but Fett used his jetpack to evade the shots, forcing Karda to retreat into his cell. Fett announced that he had a warrant for Karda's execution but was open to negotiation. He demanded jewelry from Selestrine's head. Karda believed that was all Fett wanted and that he was unaware that Selestrine was still effectively alive. Fett demanded that Karda bring half the jewels down to him, a suggestion that Karda scoffed at until Fett suddenly burst through the cell door, having approached stealthily. The bounty hunter immediately fired a grappling hook into Karda's midriff, knocking the Imperial deserter out of the cell window, suspending him briefly over a pit of lava below. Karda protested briefly before Fett let him fall to his death. Selestrine's head was ultimately recovered by Darth Vader, who chose to kill the Icarii prophetess rather than allow her to fall into the hands of his master, Emperor Palpatine. Furthermore, due to Fett's involvement in Karda's death before Vader could interrogate him, Vader, when hiring him for future assignments, made a stern request for "no disintegrations," especially if he needed the target alive.

Karda was a well-regarded figure within the Lightning Squadron, earning the respect of his comrades by fighting on the front lines during the bloody Icarii Campaign. He placed a high value on the lives of his soldiers, choosing to commit genocide against the Icarii to protect the ranks of the Lightning Squadron. Despite enjoying the camaraderie of his men, Karda was ambitious and held his superior officer in low regard, readily shifting blame for the Icarii genocide. Karda welcomed the idea of Nim's demise, seeing it as an opportunity for advancement, but he was less pleased when he realized that Nim would effectively die by his hand. After severing Selestrine's head and arriving on Maryx Minor, Karda became increasingly paranoid, drawing his blaster on anyone he suspected of trying to take Selestrine's head and killing defenseless hermits without hesitation. His paranoid delusions ultimately led to violent actions. Karda was also meticulous in his efforts to desert the Imperial Army, employing various disguise techniques, including tattoos and aliases. He had black hair, and his remaining eye was also black.

Karda possessed a cybernetic eye, which he attempted to conceal while fleeing from the Empire and Boba Fett. He used a blaster pistol and owned a sword that he used to decapitate Selestrine.

Abal Karda made his first appearance in the comic issue Boba Fett: Enemy of the Empire 1 (1999), written by John Wagner. The character was later killed off in the third issue of the same arc.