Darth Azard

Darth Azard, the Sith Lord from the Quarren species, was a member of the One Sith. He served Darth Krayt and his Galactic Empire after Krayt deposed Emperor Roan Fel at the conclusion of the Sith–Imperial War. During the Second Imperial Civil War, Azard was chosen to oversee the Outer Rim Third Fleet. In the year 137 ABY, the Imperial Outer Rim Third Fleet received orders to capture Admiral Gar Stazi, the fugitive commander of the Galactic Alliance Core Fleet. They were also tasked with destroying the remaining unified forces of the Alliance military, known as the Galactic Alliance Remnant. Emperor Krayt had placed Kel Dor Admiral [Sha Dun](/article/sha_dun] in charge of this mission. Despite some minor victories, Dun had failed to prevent Gar Stazi's attacks. Aboard the command deck of the Pellaeon-class Star Destroyer Relentless, Lord Azard executed Admiral Dun for his failure. He used the Force to lift and choke the Kel Dor before cutting him down with his double-bladed lightsaber. Azard then replaced Dun with Admiral Dru Valan, a Humanocentric officer. Valan had faced Stazi seven years prior during the Battle of Caamas, the last major battle between the new Galactic Empire and the Galactic Alliance in the Sith-Imperial War. During that battle, Stazi had led a fighting retreat while the rest of the Alliance forces surrendered, and Valan had been blamed for Stazi's escape. Azard cautioned Valan not to underestimate Stazi as Sha Dun had, and warned the admiral against failing him.

Admiral Valan attempted to set a trap for Stazi using the Imperious-class Star Destroyer Imperious, which was under construction at the shipyards of the planet Dac. However, Stazi had prepared his own trap with the assistance of the Mon Calamari. The battle resulted in the Alliance capturing the Imperious, destroying a third of the shipyards, and devastating Valan's fleet. Disgraced, Valan relinquished command to Captain Hoge and retired to his quarters to commit suicide rather than face Darth Azard.

Following the Imperial defeat at the Battle of Mon Calamari, Darth Krayt sought retribution against the Mon Calamari for supporting Gar Stazi. The Emperor traveled to Dac with a number of Sith Lords, including Darth Azard, to exact his revenge. Krayt met with the Mon Calamari Council and presented Gial Gahan, the recently captured former Galactic Alliance Triumvir. He explained that he had known for a long time that the Mon Calamari had been secretly supporting Stazi and that he had had enough. As punishment for their actions, Krayt ordered the execution of ten percent of the Mon Calamari population of Dac, beginning with the members of the Mon Calamari Council, and the placement of Dac's remaining citizens in internment camps. As soon as Krayt gave the order, Darth Azard, the other Sith Lords, and Krayt's stormtroopers began to execute all of the Mon Calamari present. Many of the Quarren members of the Mon Calamari Council who opposed or questioned the Emperor's will were also executed.

One of the Quarren members pleaded with Darth Azard, stating that although the Mon Calamari were not one of their people, they did not deserve to be slaughtered. Darth Azard replied to the Quarren that he was not one of their people, that he was a Sith, and cut the other Quarren down with his lightsaber. With the massacre underway, Darth Krayt personally executed Gial Gahan.

As a result of the massacre and the beginning of Krayt's genocide, the Mon Calamari began a resistance movement. To encourage a possible alliance with the Galactic Alliance Remnant, Emperor-in-exile Roan Fel ordered Imperial Knights Treis Sinde and Sigel Dare to warn Admiral Gar Stazi about the explosives they had placed within the stolen Star Destroyer Imperious, while unaware of Stazi's plan. The two Knights contacted Monia Gahan, a Rogue Squadron pilot, and helped her fellow Rogues escape from prison by influencing the mind of the Imperial guarding Darth Azard's personal shuttle to commandeer the vessel.

Sensing a disturbance in the Force, Darth Azard tracked it back to his shuttle. The Imperial officer standing outside informed Azard that the Alliance prisoners had boarded per the Sith Lord's orders. Realizing the officer had been a "weak-minded fool" that got mind-tricked, Azard killed the officer and rushed to his shuttle.

Imperial Knight Treis Sinde jumped out of the shuttle to engage the Sith Lord, buying time for their escape. The two dueled, with Azard using only a single blade of his lightsaber. Azard was disappointed that he was dueling an Imperial Knight instead of a Jedi, believing an Imperial Knight would be no match for him. When several stormtroopers tried to intervene and bring down Sinde, Azard dismissed them and ordered them to focus on the shuttle instead. Sinde, however, Force pushed all of the stormtroopers, impressing Azard. As they dueled, Azard stated that Sinde would not be able to defeat him and that they both knew it. He was also aware that Sinde was trying to delay him long enough to allow the shuttle to leave. Azard assured Sinde that he had enough time to kill him and destroy his friends, however the duel was abruptly ended by a well-timed explosion set off by blaster fire from the shuttle. The explosion allowed Sinde to escape, and Azard was forced to protect himself from both the explosion and a fall with the Force. Azard was furious that he had failed to stop the escape of the Imperial Knights and the Rogues.

Despite failing to prevent the Rogues' escape, Darth Azard was appointed to oversee the extermination of the Mon Calamari people. Vul Isen, a Givin Sith scientist, was sent to assist Azard and expedite the extermination. Darth Wyyrlok, the Sith Master, provided Isen with the knowledge to create a Sea Leviathan, a semi-sentient bio-weapon created through Sith alchemy. After adapting it for underwater use, Isen and Azard used the Force to awaken the monster, which was hibernating in the depths of Soheras Trench. The Leviathan emerged and attacked the Mon Calamari held in Imperial Extermination Camp 28, absorbing their life energy and sentience, leaving behind empty husks. By absorbing the Mon Calamari's sentience, the Leviathan would begin to think like a Mon Calamari, making it easier to locate their hiding places. Azard was concerned that the Leviathan might begin to think too much like a Mon Calamari and attack the Imperials, but Isen assured him that it would not. Azard and Isen sent the Leviathan to exterminate the Mon Calamari refugees in hiding, believing it would draw out the Mon Calamari Rangers led by Imperial Knight Treis Sinde, who had attacked the Sea Lion, an Acklay-class mobile fortress that had been tracking the refugees. Azard believed that this would allow them to wipe out the Rangers all at once, a plan that impressed Isen.

Azard and Isen followed the Leviathan in their Aquatic Terrain Armored Transport and soon encountered two Mon Calamari rangers piloting underwater Krakana fighters. The Mon Calamari tried to evade the creature, but the Sith transport managed to damage one that had escaped the Leviathan's reach. The creature proceeded to absorb the life energies of the damaged fighter's occupant, but one Krakana managed to escape, and its pilot sped back to her comrades in the rangers' base. Isen allowed the Mon Calamari to escape so that she could inform the Rangers of the Imperials' impending attack, which would lead the Rangers to swarm out to meet them, rather than the Imperials having to search them out. The Givin remarked that he would be glad when the extermination was complete, as he preferred breaking a population's will. Azard believed that Lord Krayt's commands were all that a true Sith required and made as much clear to Isen. He also expressed his contempt for any Sith who was not a Darth, commenting that Isen questioned too much.

The two Sith continued to follow the Leviathan as it led the way toward the rangers' base. During the long journey, Isen became impatient, regularly asking Azard whether they had arrived at their destination, which agitated the Sith Lord. When they finally reached the base, swarms of Krakana came out to meet them. The Mon Calamari had developed a plan; they avoided the Leviathan, and instead targeted the shuttle, hoping that by doing so they could stop the Leviathan. Isen believed this tactic was foolish, as the Krakana's plasma weapons could not penetrate the shuttle's shields, and the Krakana, built for speed as they were, had no missiles or shielding of their own.

Azard ordered the crew to kill all the Mon Calamari, and the transport's weapons opened up, spraying blaster fire in all directions. The rangers were undeterred, however; even as the Leviathan continued its pursuit of the escaping refugees, they continued to attack the transport, searching for a chink in its armor. Things turned against the Sith, however, when Azard's adversary, Treis Sinde, entered the battle with a large group of devilsquids. Under Sinde's command, the squids swarmed around the Leviathan, attacking it. In response, Azard ordered the deployment of the transport's Shark fighters to deal with the Krakana, while the transport would kill the devilsquids. Though the shields had to be lowered to launch the Sharks, Azard was confident that by concentrating fire on the area of the launch, they would be able to clear out the Krakana. Azard believed the Mon Calamari were not aggressive and they valued life too much, something he considered a weakness. This assumption was proven wrong moments later, as a lone Mon Calamari ranger made a suicide run on the Sith transport, crippling it and disconnecting the bridge area from the rest of the vessel. Isen managed to avoid serious injury, but Azard was pinned to his chair. Isen used the Quarren's lightsaber to free him, and smashed one of the vessel's windows with the Force, allowing them to escape. This act surprised Azard, but Isen explained that they were both part of the One Sith and that it was what Krayt would have wanted him to do. The two Sith then swam through the hole Isen had created, escaping the wreckage. The Leviathan they had unleashed upon the Mon Calamari was defeated by the devilsquid, who dragged the beast into the Devil's Crevasse.

Darth Azard and Isen continued to oversee the Sith Imperial occupation of Dac. The pair were contacted by Lord Wyyrlok, the voice of Darth Krayt, who announced that it was time to finish Krayt's order to exterminate the Mon Calamari species. Wyyrlok ordered Isen to execute the Final Protocol, a plan that saw the oceans of the Mon Calamari homeworld Dac poisoned and all of the inhabitants executed within one week. Azard questioned Wyyrlok on the fate of the Quarren and other species on Dac, however, Wyyrlok ordered them to allow the Quarren to leave, but offer them no aid. Isen released the viral spores he had put in place, beginning the poisoning of the planet. Alliance Admiral Gar Stazi responded to the genocide by launching a rescue operation that succeeded in saving twenty percent of the planet's population.

After returning from Dac, Azard and Isen continued their mission of eradicating the Mon Calamari species, leading the First Sith Imperial Strikeforce, which was under the command of Moff Rulf Yage, to Napdu, the fourth moon of Da Soocha. The moon was home to the Hutt crime lord Azzim Anjiliac Atirue, who the Sith suspected was harboring Mon Calamari refugees.

From aboard the Pellaeon-class Star Destroyer War Hammer, Azard and Isen communicated with Atirue via holo, informing him he was charged with giving Mon Calamari refuge on Da Soocha, which the Hutt denied. Cutting the communication, Azard ordered Yage to deploy the strike force's bombers to unleash the same toxin that poisoned Dac upon Da Soocha, before beginning the bombardment of Napdu. The strikeforce began its assault on the moon, destroying most of the moon's population. After the bombardment was completed, stormtroopers were deployed to ensure there were no survivors on the planet. Considering the mission a great victory, the Sith ordered the recall of their forces.

Following up on their success at Napdu, Azard and Isen moved on to the planet Utapau, with Isen establishing a laboratory within one of the worlds many sinkholes. They intended to ensure the native Pau'ans and Utai, who were providing aid to the Alliance and those wounded during the evacuation of Dac, were completely wiped out. Isen also had an agent ready to assassinate Admiral Stazi, who was on Utapau with part of his Alliance armada in orbit. While Isen prepared his poison for Utapau's population, Cade Skywalker, a Jedi turned bounty hunter and the descendant of Grand Master Luke Skywalker, and his former Master Wolf Sazen arrived on Utapau, planning to eliminate the threat Isen posed to the galaxy.

Just as Isen announced his toxin was ready, Skywalker and Sazen launched their attack on the two Sith. Engaging both Skywalker and Sazen, Azard ordered Isen to release the toxin on the planet's population; however, Sazen was able to hold Azard off to allow Skywalker to pursue Isen. As Azard dueled the Jedi Master, the Sith Lord felt the call of Lord Darth Krayt, whom Azard believed to be in stasis due to serious injuries, through the Force. Using Azard's distraction to his advantage, Sazen killed the Sith Lord with a spinning cut from his lightsaber. Meanwhile, Skywalker was able to stop Isen from unleashing his toxin, killing the Sith scientist in the process.

As a devotee of the One Sith Order, Darth Azard's primary allegiance was to the Sith ideology, overshadowing his identity as a member of his own species. He followed Darth Krayt's orders without hesitation, firmly believing that obedience to his Lord was the ultimate requirement for a true Sith. While collaborating with the Sith scientist Vul Isen, friction arose between them due to Azard's perception of Isen's curiosity as conflicting with the principles of a genuine Sith. He displayed disdain for any member of the One Sith who did not hold the title of Darth. Consequently, Azard was taken aback when Isen rescued him from the wreckage of their shuttle. Furthermore, Azard exhibited a lack of familiarity with Sith lore and history, possessing limited knowledge of the Leviathan. During their time on the planet Utapau, Azard reluctantly acknowledged Isen's newfound command over their mission, much to the Sith Lord's displeasure.

Azard, a Quarren distinguished by his yellow eyes, bore red and black Sith tattoos covering his face and body, a common practice among members of the Order. Darth Azard immersed himself in the history of Sith Lord Darth Vader, adopting many of his philosophies, particularly in his approach to military command. Known for his aggressive and short-tempered nature, he would immediately execute subordinates for failing to meet his expectations. Those under his command lived in fear of him. Admiral Dru Valan chose to end his own life rather than face the Sith Lord after his own failings. He also possessed an inflated sense of self-importance, regarding the Imperial Knight Treis Sinde as an opponent beneath his capabilities.

Darth Azard demonstrated considerable skill as a practitioner of combat with a double-bladed lightsaber, utilizing an atypical curved hilt reminiscent of Asajj Ventress. He also displayed proficiency in wielding his lightsaber with a single blade during his confrontation with Imperial Knight Treis Sinde. Despite Sinde's status as a Master within the Imperial Knights, he was unable to overcome Azard and was ultimately saved by an explosion triggered by the Rogues.

Beyond his lightsaber prowess, Azard proved to be a capable manipulator of the Force. He exhibited telekinetic abilities, such as Force Choke, and, like many members of the One Sith, was adept at employing Force lightning. Darth Azard also possessed the ability to sense disturbances in the Force and trace them back to their origins. Furthermore, he could harness the Force to awaken a Sith Leviathan, aided by Vul Isen. Defensively, Azard could generate a shield of Force energy around himself, protecting himself from harm.

The character of Darth Azard was brought to life by the writer John Ostrander, making his debut appearance in the twentieth installment of the Star Wars: Legacy series, entitled Indomitable, Part 1, in February of 2008. He subsequently appeared in a later issue, The Wrath of the Dragon, and played a role as one of the antagonists in the Fight Another Day story arc in 2009. Azard resurfaced in the 47th and 48th issues of the series in 2010, continuing his narrative arc focused on the systematic elimination of the Mon Calamari species. In The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, published in 2009, an image of Azard was featured among depictions of other One Sith Darths. Lord Azard holds the distinction of being the third Quarren Sith Lord depicted in Star Wars: Legacy, following Darth Maleval and an unidentified Quarren Sith.