TK-4601, more commonly known as Tarvyn Lareka, a male human, completed his studies at the Imperial Academy and subsequently found himself serving as a junior member within Vader's Fist, the personal stormtrooper legion of the Sith Lord Darth Vader. His service took place aboard the Devastator, an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer. During the events of 0 BBY, his legion boarded the Tantive IV, a CR90 corvette belonging to the Rebel Alliance, where he was a witness to the death of Raymus Antilles, the captain of the corvette, directly caused by Vader. As part of a patrol, while sweeping the ship's corridors, Lareka stunned Leia Organa, the princess, after she shot his commander. Following this, he requested two replacement stormtroopers and became separated from his patrol as they escorted Organa to Vader. His designated callsign was TK-4601.
After the Battle of Yavin, Lareka transitioned into the role of a lieutenant TIE fighter pilot within the Imperial Starfighter Corps, operating from the Star Destroyer named Determination. He started to have romantic feelings for Iden Versio, another pilot, but grew wary when her behavior shifted. In a bar, when he brought up his concerns, she voiced her belief that the Empire was defined by violence and showed support for the radical rebel group, the Partisans. Consequently, Lareka reported her to Commander Udrai, but before Udrai could act, a stormtrooper squad arrived to take Versio into custody, with one of the troopers instructing Lareka to accompany them.
At nineteen years of age, Tarvyn Lareka was aware of the calls to join the Rebel Alliance, a resistance movement in opposition to the Galactic Empire. However, he chose to ignore these calls and enlisted in the Empire's Imperial Academy. Upon graduation, he was immediately assigned as a stormtrooper on the Devastator, an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer and the flagship of Darth Vader, the Sith Lord. Lareka, designated TK-4601, functioned as a junior member of Vader's Fist, Vader's personal legion. During this time, he became friends with TK-9091, the Stormtrooper Commander and his commanding officer, who would share jokes with Lareka during his break hours.
During 1 BBY, the Devastator, with Vader and his forces aboard, participated in the Battle of Scarif. It was during this battle that Alliance forces managed to steal the plans for the Empire's new superweapon, the Death Star. These plans were then loaded onto the CR90 corvette, Tantive IV, which subsequently fled the battle. The Devastator later intercepted the corvette above the planet of Tatooine, leading to Vader's Fist, including Lareka, boarding the Tantive IV to find the stolen plans.
During the firefight on the Tantive IV, Vader's troops took Raymus Antilles, the vessel's captain, into custody, with Vader himself interrogating him. Lareka witnessed this brief exchange, standing just a meter away as Vader questioned the captain before, in a fit of anger, choking him to death. Hearing the sound of Antilles' spine breaking, Lareka swallowed hard. The Sith Lord then instructed TK-9091, ordering the commander and his men to search the corvette for the plans and to capture any passengers they found alive. Lareka and the other stormtroopers immediately moved out to carry out these orders.
Lareka, along with 9091 and stormtroopers TK-3338 and TK-4247, began searching for passengers of the Tantive IV who were hiding in the ship's more secluded areas. 9091, leading the group, instructed his comrades to kill the ship's crew but to set their blasters to stun if they encountered a passenger. As they swept through the ship, Lareka couldn't shake the memory of the conversation between Vader and Antilles, as well as the rumors that Leia Organa, the Princeess of Alderaan, was on board, which he considered asking 3338 about. 4247 questioned whether they would find any passengers, to which 9091 replied that Vader would be pleased if they did. Lareka considered the opposite, but pushed the thought aside.
Following a short exchange between 3338 and 9091, the patrol continued their search, moving from corridor to corridor. They soon reached the dim port subhallway of the Tantive IV, entering through a hatch. 9091 instructed the other squad members to thoroughly check every corridor and passageway in the area, directing two of them to search behind some power conduits. The four troopers proceeded quietly down the subhallway until 9091 spotted a passenger peering around a corner, holding a blaster. The commander pointed out the straggler, turning to Lareka and reminding him to set his blaster to stun.
In the moments that followed, which seemed to stretch out for Lareka, he analyzed the passenger, impressed by her confident expression and deducing that it was Organa. In that instant, the princess raised her blaster and shot 9091 while the commander hesitated. Organa immediately tried to escape, but Lareka stunned her before she could get away. Lareka quickly went to the princess, worried that she may have died. After confirming that she was still alive, he told his comrades that Organa would be alright and advised them to inform Vader about their new prisoner.
As he contemplated the princess's future, 4247 informed him that 9091 had died from Organa's blaster shot. Lareka was surprised that 9091's armor had failed and that he was now the commander of the patrol group by default. He approached the unconscious Organa, who soon began to stir. When the princess attempted to raise her blaster again, Lareka kicked it away, drawing her attention to him. He pulled Organa up by her wrists, with 3338 pressing a blaster against her to prevent her from struggling. After binding her arms together with stuncuffs, Lareka told the princess that Vader wanted to see her, giving her the choice of walking or being carried.
Organa chose the latter, and Lareka reported her capture and 9091's death via his comm, requesting two additional troopers. As 3338 and 4247 questioned his request, he also requested a transfer to active duty, which was approved by the person on the other end of the comm, who also informed him that troopers might be sent to the surface of Tatooine. Lareka then decided that he wanted to fight rebels in the air, where he wouldn't have to see their faces, as he did with Organa. After TK-7624 and TK-8332, the two requested troopers, arrived, the princess was escorted away by them and Lareka's two remaining comrades to be taken to Vader. As Organa looked back at him one last time, Lareka removed his helmet, and she nodded in acknowledgement of his gesture.
Shortly after, Lareka became a TIE pilot with the rank of Lieutenant aboard the Star Destroyer Determination. Around this time, the Alliance, having acquired the Death Star plans, exploited a weakness in the superweapon and succeeded in destroying it. However, before its destruction, the battle station obliterated Alderaan, Organa's homeworld. Following this, Commander Udrai gathered Lareka's squadron and offered them support if they were struggling with the recent events.
In 0 ABY, Iden Versio, a Captain and survivor of the Death Star's destruction, was transferred to the Determination. Lareka was drawn to her, sensing a unique aura and developing a crush on her. He also heard rumors about Versio's survival, with some speculating that she was Force-sensitive, a double agent, or that her father, Admiral Garrick Versio, had modified her TIE fighter. However, after watching her fly her TIE, Lareka concluded that her skill as a pilot was the reason, comparing her flying to an aerial performance. Versio often surpassed Lareka's kill count.
During a patrol by the Determination through the Mid Rim Territories, a skirmish broke out with rebel forces, which the Empire ultimately won. During the battle, Lareka noticed Versio miss two easy shots on rebel fighters. During the debriefing, the lieutenant overheard their team leader reprimanding the captain for her mistakes, watching from the corner of his eye. Lareka concluded that something was wrong with Versio and approached her after the debrief. The captain initially ignored him, but when he walked beside her, she insisted that she was fine. Lareka pointed out how unusual her actions had been that day.
Versio relented and explained that everything had changed after the Death Star's destruction, comparing the battle station's primary military purpose to the defenselessness of Alderaan when the superweapon destroyed the planet and its civilian population. Lareka felt himself turn pale at her words and grabbed her arm, suggesting they discuss her thoughts at a bar when they were off duty. Versio agreed and thanked him. Watching her leave, Lareka concluded that she was struggling to cope with the loss of the Death Star and resolved to help her.
After changing into a fresh uniform, Lareka sat at a table in a small alcove, waiting for Versio, and ordered a beer. The captain, also in a fresh uniform, arrived and ordered whiskey from a serving droid. Once the droid had delivered her drink and left, Versio began by saying that she shouldn't have expressed her feelings about Alderaan to him. Lareka assured her that it was alright and that she wasn't the only one shaken by the Death Star's destruction. Versio then voiced her disapproval of the Empire's destruction of Alderaan, arguing that the deaths of innocent civilians who didn't support the Alliance made the use of a superweapon unnecessary. Lareka was shocked by this and realized that she needed help.
Versio continued, stating that the Empire's actions regarding Alderaan and its survivors were wrong. Lareka, trying to hide his horror at her words, attempted to interrupt. However, Versio expressed her belief that the Empire should be overthrown, revealing her sympathy for the Partisans, a radical rebel group. After declaring that the Empire only knew violence, the captain turned to the rest of the bar, who had overheard her last few lines. Lareka, who had been recording their conversation, sent the recording to Commander Udrai, who replied that he was on his way. Assuring Versio that everything would be alright, Lareka told her about Udrai's offer to help those struggling after the Death Star's destruction.
Versio became suspicious of Lareka's actions, and he revealed that he had sent a recording of their conversation to the commander. The captain stood up, and Lareka noticed a stormtrooper squad approaching. The lieutenant, determined to bring Versio to Udrai, tried to persuade the stormtroopers to his side, but they instead ordered Lareka to step aside and arrested the captain. Seeing her clenched fist, he briefly thought she would resist, but he watched as she allowed herself to be bound with stun cuffs without a fight. As Versio was led away, another stormtrooper told Lareka to accompany him, grabbing the lieutenant by the elbow.
Tarvyn Lareka was a male human with blond hair that formed a stubborn tuft and blue eyes. Despite his attempts to control his expressions, his fair skin was prone to blushing or paling. For instance, Lareka turned pale when Iden Versio began criticizing the destruction of Alderaan and again when he was asked to accompany a stormtrooper after Versio's arrest. As a stormtrooper, Lareka was grateful for his helmet, as it concealed his facial expressions.
Upon encountering Leia Organa, Lareka perceived her as delicate, rushing to her aid when she fell, fearing she might have died. He was also surprised by her small stature and her confidence. While looking at the princess's face, Lareka realized that she could only see what he served while his face was covered by his helmet, choosing to briefly remove it when Organa was being taken away to show her that he had a face. He also decided that he didn't want to kill rebels while looking into their faces, leading to his reassignment as a pilot aboard the Determination.
Lareka developed a crush on Versio after she transferred to the Determination, finding her attractive and unforgettable and admiring her piloting skills. When she began to show signs that something was wrong, he struggled to accept it and questioned her shortly after. Lareka was determined to help her, taking advantage of Commander Udrai's offer to assist those struggling after the Death Star's destruction and recording Versio's statements. When Versio revealed her resentment of the Empire's destruction of Alderaan, the lieutenant visibly showed horror, attempting to suppress the expression. Lareka felt guilty after revealing to Versio that he had deceived her and questioned his actions as she was taken away by stormtroopers.
During his time with Vader's Fist, Lareka wore stormtrooper armor and used an E-11 medium blaster rifle. He also used stun cuffs when arresting Organa and requested reinforcements via his comm. While stationed on the Determination, Lareka used a device to record Versio and send the statements to Udrai.
The stormtrooper who would later be known as Tarvyn Lareka made his first appearance in the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, the inaugural installment of the Star Wars original trilogy, directed by George Lucas. The trooper was portrayed by an uncredited extra. The film's script, as presented in LucasArts' 1998 interactive CD-ROM Star Wars: Behind the Magic, identified the stormtrooper simply as "Trooper."
A character named Tarvyn Lareka later appeared in Christie Golden's 2017 novel Battlefront II: Inferno Squad but was not initially connected to the stormtrooper from A New Hope. Golden later confirmed on Twitter that she had included the stormtrooper as the focus of her upcoming short story in the collection From a Certain Point of View and that the character had already appeared in Inferno Squad. The short story, titled "The Bucket" and released the same year as Inferno Squad, subsequently identified Lareka as the stormtrooper in A New Hope, also revealing his identification number, TK-4601. Golden also confirmed on twitter that the identification number was a reference to the musical Les Miserables—the lead character of Jean Valjean, while imprisoned, had a prisoner number of 24601.
In Star Wars Legends continuity, the character was known as DV-692 and first appeared unnamed in the 1976 novelization of A New Hope. His first visual appearance, though only some of his limbs were visible, was in the first issue of Marvel Comics's 1977 Star Wars comic run, written by Roy Thomas, illustrated by Howard Chaykin, Jim Novak, and Marie Severin, and published on April 12 of that year. DV-692 was identified in the A New Hope expansion set of Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars Trading Card Game in 2002.
Lareka's scene in A New Hope was among the last to be filmed during the principle photography phase in the United Kingdom, shot at Elstree Studios between June 29 and July 16 in 1976. His lines were performed over a walkie-talkie by disc jockey Terry McGovern and recorded by sound designer Ben Burtt. The sound effect of Lareka's stun shot in the film was created by mixing the sound of an air cannon with a note played by an ARP synthesizer, using a "rising pitch and a delay" to create a buzzing sound.