Soon Bayts

During the Yinchorri Uprising in 33 BBY, Soon Bayts, a Human male Jedi Knight, was given the task of monitoring the Jedi strike forces dispatched to the Yinchorri system. When the Jedi Temple on Coruscant was attacked, Bayts stood alongside other Jedi to protect it from the Yinchorri menace. After the battle, he received information from Masters Eeth Koth and Adi Gallia, revealing that the Yinchorri command was not based on Yitheeth as previously thought. He also discovered that Mace Windu's team had not engaged the enemy, instead waiting on Yinchorr. He shared this information with Yoda, and found the Grand Master questioning a Yinchorri survivor from the battle.

Bayts wondered how Yoda had instilled such fear in the prisoner. The Grand Master explained that the warrior had brought the fear when he attacked the temple and Yoda had simply shown him the reality of it. As Bayts delivered his message, the warrior attempted to attack Yoda, prompting the younger Jedi to rush to the Grand Master's defense. Yoda, however, simply levitated Bayts while deflecting the warrior's attack, then threw the warrior into the wall, incapacitating him. Yoda then scolded Bayts, saying that emotion had clouded his judgment.

Shortly after, Bayts received more reports from the Yinchorri system: all three strike teams had met on Yinchorr, and a Devaronian prisoner was taken. Bayts told Yoda that the Devaronians might have been behind the uprising. Later, Master Windu contacted with urgent news about the Yinchorri command center's location, and Bayts alerted Yoda to the situation. The uprising was eventually suppressed thanks to the strike teams, but three Jedi died during the conflict.

By the time the Clone Wars were underway, Soon Bayts had been promoted to Jedi Master. He changed his lightsaber blade's color from orange to blue, for reasons not fully known. He joined Mace Windu and other Jedi, some of whom were veterans of the Yinchorri Uprising, in accompanying Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan aboard the Intervention, a Venator-class Star Destroyer, heading to the Outer Rim Territories. Because Alderaan had many connections to the Outer Rim worlds, Organa wanted to see the battles firsthand when he learned that the Confederacy of Independent Systems was retreating there.

Based on information from Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Intervention traveled to Boz Pity, where a large Confederate blockade was gathering. Because they were just one ship against a whole group, the Jedi asked Anakin Skywalker to help fly the ship through the blockade, which resulted in a crash landing on the planet's surface. Master Bayts went out with Senator Organa and a group of clone troopers.

The group encountered strong resistance at the Confederate base, fighting off many battle droids. Organa ordered an attack, and Bayts agreed. As Bayts fought to the base entrance, he met General Grievous, the Kaleesh cyborg. Before Bayts could attack, Grievous grabbed his head with a mechanical claw and crushed it, instantly killing the Jedi Master. The General then took Bayts' lightsaber and used it against Republic forces. The Republic eventually won the Battle of Boz Pity.

Soon Bayts was punctual, ensuring that his superiors were well-informed with the information he gathered as communications supervisor during the Yinchorri uprising. He survived the Yinchorri attack and readily assisted Master Yoda, even when it was unnecessary. He acted on emotion rather than instinct, a trait that Yoda criticized. While Bayts' combat skills were useful during the Yinchorri conflict, they were no match for General Grievous, who killed the Jedi Master easily and took his blue lightsaber as a prize.

Soon Bayts was created by Randy Stradley and first appeared in the comic mini-series Jedi Council: Acts of War. He played a small supporting role in it. Bayts' name was meant to be a pun on "masturbates," which Haden Blackman later illustrated in Star Wars: Obsession. Stradley originally intended the name as a joke on Comic Editor at Lucas Licensing Sue Rostoni, who often put "Master" before any Jedi's name. Stradley created Bayts as a minor character just to play a joke on Rostoni, but the character was published.

After Blackman used the character, Comic Editor at Lucas Licensing Sue Rostoni said she regretted not being in charge of editing when Bayts was created. In Star Wars: Obsession, Bayts is again a minor character. Possibly because of Soon Bayts' name, there are few references to him outside of Jedi Council: Acts of War and Star Wars: Obsession, except for a mention in Abel G. Peña's Star Wars Insider article, Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous, and an entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

Bayts' name was spelled differently in the Expanded Universe, as both "Bayts" and "Baytes." In Jedi Council: Acts of War, his name is only mentioned once and is spelled "Bayts." In Star Wars: Obsession, it is also spelled this way, except for one panel. But on the same page, the original spelling is used as well. Abel G. Peña, the most recent author to mention the character, uses the spelling "Bayts" but suggests a pronunciation closer to "bey-tiz" to avoid the previous implications.