Koth Melan

Koth Melan was a male Bothan originating from Bothawui, a planet of the Clan Alya. His father was a teacher who opposed the ideology of the Galactic Empire and tried to educate his students about its true nature. In 17 BBY, the Empire arrested and executed Melan's father on espionage charges. This execution deeply impacted Melan's honor, bringing him great shame. He discontinued using the honorific "y'lya" in his name, pledging to restore his clan's honor by contributing to the Empire's downfall and avenging his father's death.

Melan became a member of the Bothan Spynet. Officially, he served as an assistant consul general for the Bothan Trade Mission, overseeing Bothan commercial interests in the Mid Rim. This role was a carefully crafted cover, allowing him to travel widely without raising suspicion, relaying information between operatives and op-fronts to relevant parties and regularly reporting to his superiors on Bothawui and the colony world of Kothlis. Despite maintaining his cover, Melan made enemies and was always accompanied by bodyguards skilled in counter-intelligence and surveillance, posing as minor officials and bureaucrats. Eventually, he ascended to the position of head of the Spynet.

Melan preferred the strategic role of spymaster, rarely participating directly in operations. He controlled his meetings and maintained secure safehouses, including one known only to him and his entourage. His presence in the field indicated the high value and importance of the information he was pursuing. His chief of security often acted as a double, convincingly impersonating the spymaster.

During the Galactic Civil War, Melan developed a strong interest in the Alliance to Restore the Republic, despite the Bothan Spynet's supposed neutrality. He was impressed when Rebel pilot Ace Azzameen, aided by his family, secretly installed a listening device at Comm Center to monitor communications between the Empire and the Azzameen's commercial rivals, the Viraxo. Melan sent Azzameen an e-mail, praising his abilities as "Bothan" and awarding him the Bothan Friendship Award and honorary membership in the Bothan Spynet.

Melan later met with smuggler Dash Rendar near the Agrilat Swamp Circuit on Corellia. He provided Rendar with a datapad containing vital information for the Alliance but noticed that Rendar was being followed by an Imperial operative. This operative, working with the Imperial Security Bureau, aimed to expose Rendar as a Rebel supporter supplying arms to the Alliance. During the ensuing battle, Melan was injured and instructed Rendar to escape with the information. The Corellian hesitated briefly before fleeing, leaving Melan to surrender to the Imperials. Within hours, he was transported in binders to Captain Jeffren Brek of the Imperial Security Bureau in Bela Vistal. However, the datapad reached Commander Luke Skywalker when Rendar delivered it to the young Jedi Knight on Tatooine.

After regaining his freedom, Melan returned to Bothawui. He resided at Safehouse Besh and traveled with a security detail. Upon returning home once, his security team discovered a foreign object on the hatch leading to Safehouse Besh. Suspecting it to be an explosive, SecOps Four and SecOps Seven investigated while SecOps Five remained with Melan. They found a flexiplast flyer for Krazy Khzam's Repulsor Lot, which they tested for poisons, electronic devices, and sharp edges. Finding no danger, Melan entered his home and asked SecOps Seven to pour him some Gruvian Tovash.

In 3.5 ABY, Melan's operatives bribed a high-ranking Imperial officer and discovered that the Empire had initiated a highly-secret construction project, diverting significant money, resources, and personnel. Melan attempted to insert a slicer droid into the main computer complex on the galactic capital, Coruscant, but the effort failed. This failure revealed that project information was stored on special computers without remote access, requiring physical access to obtain the data.

Melan's operatives learned that one such computer was being transported from Coruscant to Bothawui aboard the Mobquet medium transport Suprosa, disguised as a fertilizer barge. Melan believed the Empire was using a low-profile craft to avoid Alliance detection. While his operatives worked to secure the vessel's flight plan, Melan attempted to contact Princess Leia Organa at the Intergalactic Trade Mission on Bothawui. Initially believing she was on Tatooine, he sent an AS-M12-series messenger droid there. However, he learned Organa was on Rodia and that Luke Skywalker and Dash Rendar were likely to receive the message. As anticipated, Skywalker and Rendar arrived on Bothawui seeking Melan, who explained the situation. Skywalker's presence was fortunate; Melan had enlisted the BTL-S3 Y-wing starfighter pilots of the Bothan Blue Squadron, who were inexperienced and would benefit from Skywalker's command experience. Skywalker agreed, and Melan brought them to a hidden mountain base to meet the squadron. Skywalker trained the group for several days, preparing them for the Suprosa in the Both system. Ace Azzameen, the Alliance pilot from the Liberty whom Melan had previously honored, was chosen by Skywalker to fill the squadron's vacant slot based on the Liberty's pilot credits listings.

One of Melan's operatives obtained the Suprosa's flight plan from a contact within Black Sun, a large criminal syndicate. This source did not bother Melan despite Skywalker and Rendar's concerns. Melan believed Black Sun was supporting the Alliance to win the war, noting that wars often create unusual alliances. Aboard Dash Rendar's YT-2400 light freighter Outrider, Skywalker led Blue Squadron to a Bothawui moon to await the Suprosa. Upon the freighter's emergence from hyperspace, Skywalker demanded the Suprosa's surrender, which was met with the claim that it was hauling fertilizer. The Suprosa attempted to flee, and Skywalker, Rendar, and Blue Squadron engaged it, trying to slow its flight. The freighter revealed hidden weapons, and a battle commenced. Two Bothan Y-wings were destroyed, and four craft were eliminated by a diamond boron missile that Rendar couldn't intercept. Eventually, the Suprosa was disabled, and Rendar boarded first, securing it before Melan and his operatives retrieved the computer.

Skywalker met them aboard the Outrider, and Melan explained that he couldn't access the data due to encryption and a self-destruct mechanism. His best slicer team was on Kothlis, a Bothan colony a few light-years away. The group left for Kothlis but was pulled out of hyperspace by the Immobilizer 418 cruiser Claw, escorted by the Victory I-class Star Destroyer Hunter. While Skywalker and Rendar engaged the starfighters deployed by the Hunter, Azzameen led the remaining Blue Squadron against the Claw, collapsing its shields and forcing its withdrawal. With the interdiction field down, the group continued to Kothlis, where Rendar dropped Melan and his team off on the Kothlis II space station before departing for Rodia to update Princess Organa.

Melan met Skywalker on Kothlis, escorting him to a safehouse on the city's outskirts where his team was decrypting the computer. The safehouse, disguised as storage units and offices, was a modern installation filled with advanced computer technology. As Melan and Skywalker watched, a Bothan slicer found interesting information in Sector Tarp-Hard-Xenon. Before Melan could learn more, the safehouse door was blown open, and individuals began firing blasters.

A team of bounty hunters led by the Barabel Skahtul and the Kajain'sa'Nikto Calliose attacked the safehouse, seeking a bounty on Skywalker's head. During the chaos, several Bothan slicers were killed, while Melan, armed with a hold-out blaster, and Skywalker defended against the attack. Believing the attackers were after the computer, he urged Skywalker to retreat. A slicer removed the computer from the equipment, and Melan ordered him to escape while they provided cover. The slicer fled through an emergency exit as Melan's blaster ran out of ammunition. Ordering Skywalker to flee, the Jedi was about to when Melan was struck by a blaster bolt. Despite Melan's pleas, Skywalker stayed and defended him. As Melan lay wounded, he caught the eye of his bodyguard, SecOps Four, who felt he had failed his duty. Melan looked at him with hope, not disappointment. SecOps Four understood, grabbed a case containing stolen Imperial data, and fled. Melan died shortly after, and the bounty hunters captured Skywalker.

Skywalker eventually escaped, and the information reached the Alliance through Borsk Fey'lya's Bothan spies, despite an Imperial attempt to retrieve it. The Alliance learned the Empire was constructing a second Death Star in orbit of Endor. However, the attack on Kothlis was part of a ruse by Emperor Palpatine to lure the Alliance into a trap. Melan's funeral was held on Bothawui; pilots from the Liberty were allowed to attend if they were already on leave.

Koth Melan was a short Bothan with brown fur and black eyes. He was proud, confident in his Spynet, and kept informed on political figures. Though lacking technical skills, he employed diverse sentients with the necessary expertise. Melan dealt with criminal organizations like Black Sun to defeat the Empire.

Melan strictly adhered to Bothan culture and its honor laws. He styled his name uniquely due to his father's death. He sided with the Alliance to restore his honor, despite potential gains from neutrality. In Bothese, his given name meant "philosophical," and his family name meant "moon" or "night."

As a spymaster, Melan was knowledgeable about alien species, cultures, languages, and star systems. He was skilled in bureaucratic protocol for the Spynet, the Bothan Trade Mission, and Clan Alya. He also understood law enforcement, business, and item valuation. His duties involved underworld contacts and survival training.

Melan could intimidate, bargain, persuade, and con others to reveal secrets. He was a shrewd investigator, stealthy, and skilled as a pick pocket and forger. While he lacked computer programming skills, he was trained in general computer and droid programming. He operated communications, security, and sensor systems, and drove repulsorlift vehicles. He was trained in blaster use, carrying a hold-out pistol. Melan could defend himself in unarmed combat and provide first aid. He typically carried a datapad and comlink.

Koth Melan debuted in the 1996 Shadows of the Empire novel by Steve Perry, part of the Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire multimedia project. He also appeared in other adaptations of the storyline. His background was detailed in West End Games's Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook. Melan later appeared in the 1999 video game Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance, crossing over with Shadows of the Empire. In X-Wing Alliance, he was voiced by Denny Delk, credited as "Bothan Officer."

Melan was depicted on cards in Topps' Shadows of the Empire trading card series. Artists Greg and Tim Hildebrandt used a live model wearing a mask of Lon Chaney, Jr.'s "Wolf Man" character for Melan's action shots, along with a sketch by Michael Butkus from Lucasfilm, also used in the Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook.

In 2003, The Official Star Wars Fact File mentioned Melan in its entry on messenger droids, using an image of a generic Bothan spy from Decipher's 1998 Special Edition Limited release for the Star Wars Customizable Card Game to represent him, effectively retconned Melan as appearing in the 1998 card expansion.