Akar-Deshu

Akar-Deshu was a Force-sensitive Mahran male who served as a Jedi Knight throughout the Clone Wars. Desh and Jedi Master Quinlan Vos were close companions, and the two Jedi often collaborated on various missions. Soon after the Separatist attack on Mahranee, Desh received instructions from the Jedi High Council to retrieve Vos and bring him back to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant for a new assignment. Desh located Vos at Otor's Hub, where the undercover Jedi Master was infiltrating the Koorivar merchant Sheb Valaad's black market operation, which specialized in selling items stolen from murdered individuals. Desh encountered Vos, disguised as the Kiffar "Tal Khar", during a meeting with Shed. Desh's arrival inadvertently blew Vos' cover, forcing him to prematurely end his undercover mission. Joining forces, the two Jedi employed their Force powers and lightsaber skills to subdue Sheb and his henchmen, who were subsequently arrested by other Jedi reinforcements.

While en route back to the Jedi Temple, Desh informed his friend Vos about the Separatist genocide against the Mahran species. Later, the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi shared with Vos the Jedi Council's clandestine strategy to assassinate Count Dooku in order to rapidly conclude the Clone Wars. Following Vos' briefing in the Jedi Council chambers, Desh met up with Vos in the Temple's dining hall. He listened as Vos described his new assignment and voiced his apprehension about working with Asajj Ventress, a Nightsister and Dooku's former Sith apprentice. Their discussion was interrupted by Kenobi, who requested Desh to excuse them so he could discuss the mission with Master Vos. Desh complied with Master Kenobi's request and moved to another table. During Desh's absence, Vos successfully made contact with Ventress, who agreed to assist with his mission but insisted that Vos be trained in the ways of the dark side. Despite their preparations, Vos and Ventress were no match for Dooku's mastery of the dark side. Dooku captured Vos, but Ventress managed to escape. After a prolonged period of torture and deprivation, Dooku successfully drove Vos to fully embrace the dark side by revealing Ventress' involvement in his late Master Tholme's murder. Consequently, Vos became Dooku's newest Sith apprentice and rejected a rescue attempt by Ventress, who subsequently informed the Jedi that Vos had joined Dooku. As Dooku's apprentice, Vos assumed the identity of "Admiral Enigma" and helped the Separatists achieve several victories. Secretly, Vos had joined Dooku to uncover Dooku's master Darth Sidious and destroy the Sith once and for all.

Several months later, Kenobi dispatched Desh to establish contact with Ventress. The Mahran located the Nightsister in Coruscant's Level 1313 and informed her that Kenobi had invited her to the Jedi Temple to discuss Vos' rescue mission. When Ventress expressed her suspicion that Desh was leading her into a trap, Desh pleaded with her to trust him. Together with Ventress, Kenobi, and the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, Desh entered the Council chambers. During the meeting, Desh listened as Ventress admitted she had instructed Vos in the dark side but emphasized that she genuinely cared for Vos and had abandoned the Sith.

While the Jedi Masters deliberated, Yoda instructed Desh, Skywalker, and Ventress to wait outside the Council chambers. After the Jedi Council received a hologram from Admiral Wullf Yularen regarding Dooku and Admiral Enigma's recent activities, Kenobi ushered Desh, Skywalker, and Ventress back into the chambers. Desh was present when the Jedi offered to pardon Ventress for her crimes if she agreed to help them rescue Vos. This rescue mission was successful, and Vos was reunited with his Jedi comrades. Unbeknownst to Desh and his colleagues, however, Vos had already embraced the dark side and remained secretly loyal to Dooku.

Before departing the Jedi Temple with a clean slate, Asajj Ventress cautioned Desh that "something was wrong" with Quinlan Vos. While Vos had managed to demonstrate his loyalty to the Jedi Council by completing several minor assignments, Desh was concerned that his close friend had been avoiding him. Desh voiced his concerns about Vos with Master Kenobi before they were about to embark on a mission to raid a Separatist supply storage base. Vos had been assigned to the mission after the Council had deemed him safe. Kenobi suggested that Vos was avoiding his close friends because he had realized the damage that attachment could cause due to his recent partnership with Ventress.

Desh and Anakin Skywalker waited outside while Kenobi, Vos, and the other Jedi Council members discussed the mission. For the mission, Desh and his fellow Jedi Vos, Kenobi, and Skywalker piloted Eta-2 Actis-class interceptors to scout the asteroid base. After shooting down several vulture droids, Desh and his Jedi colleagues landed in the asteroid base and found it well-stocked with ample supplies of food, medicine, weapons, and ship-repair materials. Before the Jedi and their clone trooper colleagues could salvage the supplies, Vos discovered that the asteroid base had been laced with explosives. The Jedi and vlones managed to flee before an explosion devastated much of the base's interior.

Despite the explosion, the asteroid remained intact. Under Kenobi's orders, Akar led a Republic transport on a mission to load salvageable debris. Meanwhile, Vos and the other Jedi took part in a mission to destroy a Separatist listening post on Vanqor. However, Vos had secretly informed Dooku about the mission, and the Separatists were able to evacuate the facility before Republic forces arrived. Due to the coincidence of these two incidents, the Jedi came to suspect that they had a traitor within their ranks, who was leaking information to Dooku.

Following the Vanqor incident, Kenobi contacted Desh via hologram. After learning about the suspected leak, Desh informed the Jedi Council that his salvage team had discovered that Republic bombs had been used to blow up the asteroid base. Due to Desh's information, the Council came to suspect that Vos was secretly working for the Separatists. Two days later, Master Yoda ascertained that Vos had indeed fallen to the dark side during a private conversation with the Jedi Master but was unsure whether he had joined Dooku. To test Vos' loyalties, the Jedi Council assigned Vos on a mission to kill Dooku but sent Kenobi and Skywalker to trail him.

With the assistance of Asajj Ventress, Quinlan Vos discovered that Dooku's Providence-class Dreadnought was visiting Christophsis. Desh and a Chagrian Jedi Knight named Kav Bayons remained aboard the Venator-class Star Destroyer Vigilance while Kenobi and Skywalker sneaked aboard Dooku's dreadnought in a Separatist shuttle. The two Jedi subsequently witnessed Vos besting Dooku in combat. However, Vos failed to kill the Sith Lord and instead demanded that he lead him to Darth Sidious. With ample evidence of Vos' dealings with Dooku, Kenobi and Skywalker arrested the two men and brought them aboard the Vigilance.

Desh and Bayons were on the bridge of the Vigilance with Clone Commander Cody when they received news of Vos' treason from Master Kenobi. Desh and Commander Cody complied with Master Kenobi's orders to bring several Clone troopers to the hangar to escort their prisoners to the brig. Desh felt betrayed by his friend's actions and asked Cody how many men they should bring to the hangar. Commander Cody joked about bringing 200 men but instead felt that 24 of his best Clone troopers would suffice. As Kenobi and Skywalker's shuttle landed, Desh regained his composure by using the Force to calm himself.

Desh was assigned to lead Vos into custody while Bayons was tasked with guarding Dooku. Kenobi and Skywalker then departed for the bridge to inform the Jedi Council of the grim developments. As the Jedi and clones escorted their prisoners to the ship's brig, Vos told Desh that he was making a mistake. Desh angrily responded that Vos had already made one and that he might have to die for it. Unable to stay calm, Desh asked Vos why he did it; prompting Dooku to reply that Vos had his own reasons.

As they moved through the ship's corridors, Vos abruptly stopped and turned to Desh. He offered to tell his former friend why he betrayed the Jedi and Republic. Despite the advice of a Clone trooper to ignore Vos, Desh approached Vos and asked him. Vos then proceeded to insult the Jedi Order for their unwillingness to use the dark side and derided Dash as weak and pathetic. While Desh was distracted, Vos used the Force to summon his blue lightsaber. Vos then Force-shoved Desh into the Clone troopers behind him. Vos then freed Dooku and the two Sith proceeded to fight their way through their captors.

Armed with Desh's lightsaber, Vos charged on the Mahran. Desh tried to grab Vos with the Force but the former Jedi Master leaped over him and his Clone escorts and raced towards the hangar with Dooku. Desh and Bayons attempted to give chase but Dooku used his Force powers to hurl the corpses of two fallen Clone troopers at them. Bereft of his lightsaber, Desh resolved to sacrifice his own life to kill Vos. Desh released the stinger in his right wrist and attempted to stab Vos with it. However, Vos anticipated his attack and used the Force to hurl Desh against Bayon; killing the other Knight. Since Desh had released his stinger, the Mahran's body was deluged with his own venom. To spare his former friend the agony of a painful death, Vos killed him with his lightsaber.

Desh's murder at the hands of Quinlan Vos led his Jedi colleagues to believe that he had truly joined Dooku. In reality, his alliance with Dooku was a ruse to coerce the Separatist leader into revealing his master Darth Sidious. Vos planned to destroy the two Sith Lords once and for all. Following the Second battle of Christophsis, Vos returned to the light side with the help of Ventress, who seemingly died protecting him from Dooku. At the Jedi Council, Vos confessed to colluding with the Separatists and murdering Desh among other crimes but stressed that he had truly repented. The Council accepted Vos' repentance as genuine and readmitted him to the Jedi Order.

Akar-Deshu was a loyal and committed Jedi who had a close friendship with Master Quinlan Vos. The two enjoyed sharing drinks together and reminiscing about old times. As a Mahran, Desh was saddened by the Separatist attack on his homeworld of Mahranee and their genocide against his species. He looked up to Vos and felt betrayed when he learned that Vos was secretly colluding with the Separatist leader Count Dooku. Following Vos' betrayal, Desh was so consumed by rage towards his former friend that he was willing to kill him with his poisonous stinger and die in the process.

As a Jedi Knight, Desh was skilled in both melee and lightsaber combat. As a Mahran, he was born with a stinger in his right wrist that allowed him to inject poison into another lifeform's body. Since this anatomical feature would lead to the death of the poisoner, Desh resolved only to use it in the most pressing of circumstances. An opportunity to use this stinger arose when he was forced to fight his former friend Quinlan Vos.

Akar-Deshu was created by Christie Golden and debuted as a supporting character in Golden's 2015 novel Dark Disciple, which was based on eight unproduced screenplays from the canceled Cartoon Network TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Dark Disciple is part of the Canon The Clone Wars Legacy, an ongoing multimedia project using material from the canceled TV series. He was given a point-of-view passage in the book's 37th chapter.