Tav Kennede

Tav Kennede's father was Ved Kennede, an ex-Imperial Royal Guardsman who also served as the Master Instructor at the Imperial Royal Guard Academy located on Yinchorr. Although Tav Kennede never underwent training to become a Royal Guardsman himself, his father imparted to him the secret battle language utilized by the Guard during his childhood.

In the year 11 ABY, Kennede's father and the majority of the Royal Guard congregated on Yinchorr to commemorate the passing of Emperor Palpatine, whose final clone had recently been killed on Onderon. When one Guardsman professed to possess knowledge of an Imperial conspiracy surrounding the death of the Emperor, the entire group was ambushed by stormtroopers under the command of the renegade Guardsman Carnor Jax, who had betrayed the Emperor for his own ambitions and sought to conceal his involvement in the Emperor's demise. The massacre resulted in the deaths of almost every Guardsman, including Kennede's father; the sole survivor was Guardsman Kir Kanos, who notified Tav Kennede of Jax's treachery.

Kanos, who maintained unwavering loyalty to the deceased Emperor, killed Jax and sought assistance from Kennede in executing other individuals involved in Palpatine's death, including Jax's co-conspirators, the Imperial Interim Ruling Council. Kennede willingly allied himself with Kanos, seeking retribution against those responsible for his father's demise.

The Guardsman soon made contact with Kennede from the planet Baramorra and requested that several items be delivered to him within a two-day timeframe, including an R2-series astromech droid, to aid in their mission. Kennede complied, and Kanos instructed him to search for a bounty hunter named Kenix Kil, an alias the Guardsman had adopted due to the bounties placed on him by the Interim Ruling Council escalating following Jax's death. Kennede immediately recognized the name as an anagram for "Kir Kanos" in the Royal Guard battle language and encountered no difficulty in identifying him two days later on Baramorra, subsequent to the Guardsman's execution of Boss Banjeer, the nephew of Councilman Admiral Banjeer. As requested, Kennede provided Kanos with the necessary equipment. The pair departed from Baramorra and made several stops before formulating a strategy to eliminate the remaining conspirators.

Under the guise of bounty hunters, Kennede and Kanos decided to enter the service of the Hutt crime lord Grappa on Genon in order to acquire inside information on their next target, the Ruling Council, which they intended to infiltrate by enhancing the notoriety of their cover identities within Grappa's organization. They successfully gained entry to Grappa's palace on Genon and integrated themselves among the Hutt's numerous bounty hunters. While at the palace, Kanos recognized New Republic Commander Mirith Sinn, who had recently secured employment with Grappa and claimed to be searching for Kanos. Kanos was aware that Sinn held him responsible for the death of her friend, Sish Sadeet, and instructed Kennede to spy on Sinn to ascertain whether she was seeking vengeance against the Guardsman. Sinn, in reality, was utilizing her past association with Kanos as a cover story to investigate Grappa's involvement in the recent hijackings of New Republic supply ships.

Tav Kennede continued to monitor Sinn's activities while she was at Grappa's palace and followed her to the planet Smarck, where Grappa had arrived with a significant portion of his entourage to conduct a business transaction with the Black Sun crime syndicate. Kennede discreetly shadowed Sinn as she commenced searching the Black Sun facility for clues related to her investigation. When Sinn peered through the opening of a door leading to a chamber where Grappa and his Black Sun associate, Macus Kayniph, were engaged in private dealings, Kennede observed that whatever she witnessed behind the door greatly surprised her. After Sinn separated from the rest of Grappa's entourage, Kennede was unable to maintain surveillance on her. He reported back to Kanos and concluded that Sinn was likely not pursuing the Guardsman, believing that she had discovered whatever she was seeking back on Smarck. Kennede admitted that he was uncertain of Sinn's intentions and was instructed by Kanos to continue his surveillance of the woman.

Upon returning to Grappa's palace, Kennede resumed observing Sinn from a distance as the Hutt hosted a banquet in honor of his Black Sun allies. Kennede followed Sinn as she surreptitiously entered a restricted area of the palace and proceeded into a set of quarters. There, Sinn discovered a drugged and captive Feena D'Asta, the daughter of the Imperial shipping magnate Baron Ragez D'Asta and purportedly a member of the Ruling Council. When one of Grappa's guards discovered Sinn and attempted to turn her in, Kennede swiftly stabbed him in the back with a knife and instructed a bewildered Sinn to return to the banquet before her absence aroused suspicion. Kennede then disposed of the guard's body and also returned to the banquet, where he continued to monitor the New Republic operative.

Sinn's former subordinate, Massimo, soon arrived at the banquet and betrayed her to Grappa, revealing her true motives for being employed by the Hutt. After Grappa handed Sinn over to the Zanibar, a species allied with the Hutt, for one of their sacrificial ceremonies, Kanos decided to pursue her to the Zanibar homeworld, Xo, with the intention of rescuing her because he believed he owed her a debt. He instructed Kennede to retrieve both of them from Xo at a later time. As planned, Kennede arrived at Xo the following day and piloted his two-seated X-wing toward the planet's surface. Kanos had already rescued Sinn, but the two were fleeing from Zanibar forces. Kennede opened fire on the pursuers with his X-wing's laser cannons, and the moment he landed, Sinn boarded the X-wing, occupying its remaining seat. On Kanos's orders, he took off with Sinn and escaped Xo while the Guardsman was captured by the remaining Zanibar.

Kennede and Sinn traveled to a New Republic base, where Kennede temporarily became a Republic recruit. He revealed his identity and his past with Kanos to Sinn, and Sinn in turn described what she had witnessed on Smarck. She explained that she had seen Black Sun agents handing Feena D'Asta over to Grappa, despite knowing that D'Asta was with the rest of the Ruling Council on Ord Cantrell. Kennede and Sinn concluded that one of the D'Astas was a clone intended for a Black Sun plot to control the Ruling Council.

Shortly thereafter, Kennede joined several squadrons of New Republic starfighters led by Sinn in an attack on Black Sun's cloning facilities on Smarck. During the battle, Sinn received word that Kanos had been taken back to Grappa's palace by the Zanibar. Kennede, Sinn, and several other New Republic pilots proceeded to Genon and confronted Grappa, who was surprised to learn that Kennede's employment with him was a deception. They managed to intimidate the Hutt into releasing both Kanos and the original Feena D'Asta.

When Baron Ragez D'Asta learned that his daughter, who was actually a clone of the original Feena D'Asta, had been imprisoned along with the majority of the Ruling Council by former Councilman and self-proclaimed Emperor Xandel Carivus, the Baron launched an all-out attack against Carivus's forces on Ord Cantrell. The battle ultimately resulted in a ceasefire and the safe release of the D'Asta clone. After Sinn and Kanos arrived and reunited the Baron with his real daughter, Kennede accompanied the group to confront Carivus at Ord Cantrell's capital city, De-Purteen. Baron D'Asta threatened Carivus with the secession of his sector from the Empire, prompting the Emperor to summon his guards. In the ensuing firefight, Kennede saved the elder D'Asta's life by intercepting a blaster bolt intended for the Baron with his shoulder. The injured Kennede instructed Kanos to pursue the fleeing Carivus and was taken to safety by Feena D'Asta's clone. Once Kanos succeeded in killing Carivus and avenging the death of Kennede's father, Kennede and the Guardsman decided to escort Baron D'Asta to safety before additional Imperial troops arrived.

Kennede, Sinn, Kanos, and Baron D'Asta, along with his daughters, reconvened on the Baron's flagship shortly thereafter. After Baron D'Asta announced the withdrawal of his sector from the Empire, Kennede chose to enter his service. Before bidding farewell to Kanos, Kennede assured the Guardsman that his services were always available. He remained aboard the Baron's flagship while Sinn returned to New Republic space and Kanos departed to continue his vendetta against the Emperor's enemies.

Tav Kennede was a brown-haired and brown-eyed male Human. Following Palpatine's final death, Kennede recognized that the Empire had become corrupt and was no longer the same authority that his father or Kanos had once served. He had no reservations about attacking Imperial assets and willingly joined the New Republic to fight the Empire. When Jax and the Ruling Council betrayed his father, he joined Kir Kanos in his mission to eliminate the conspirators. Kennede was extremely loyal to Kanos; he assisted in fulfilling the Guardsman's personal objectives, such as uncovering Mirith Sinn's true intentions at Grappa's palace, and did not hesitate to leave Kanos behind on Zanibar when the Guardsman issued a direct order to do so. Kanos considered Kennede a friend, and Kennede offered the Guardsman his services even after they parted ways.

Kennede was successful in spying on Mirith Sinn, a trained New Republic agent, without her noticing him until he was forced to intervene on her behalf at Grappa's palace. He employed covert methods and was able to kill one of Grappa's guards and dispose of the body before arousing suspicion. When he provided Kanos with his report on Sinn's activities on Smarck, he understood the importance of maintaining their false identities in public and only referred to the Guardsman in the third person. Kennede played his role effectively, and Grappa was unable to discern his true intentions until he confronted the Hutt with his New Republic allies. He willingly prioritized the lives of others over his own, saving Baron D'Asta from a lethal blaster bolt. Kennede decided to enter the Baron's service after his personal quest for vengeance against his father's murderers was concluded.

During his time in Grappa's employ, Kennede typically wore a concealing black cloak and was armed with a blaster and a knife. He was a skilled pilot, rescuing Kanos and Sinn from the Zanibar by secretly flying to their location in his X-wing and utilizing his fighter's laser cannons against the pursuers. He also flew several combat missions with the New Republic in his X-wing, while Sinn commanded the various starfighter squadrons from the fighter's copilot seat. As a child, Kennede was taught the secret battle language of the Emperor's Royal Guard by his father, which Kanos considered a breach of Guard protocol.

Tav Kennede was conceived by Randy Stradley and Mike Richardson for the 1998–1999 comic book series Crimson Empire II: Council of Blood, with illustrations by Paul Gulacy. He made his initial appearance in the comic's second issue as a background character present in several panels alongside Mirith Sinn, although his physical appearance was concealed by his cloak. He assumed a more prominent role in the third issue, where he first had dialogue. The fifth issue established his name and background and depicted him unconcealed for the first time. He also appeared in the final issue of the series and was featured on the issue's cover, illustrated by Dave Dorman. Kennede also made a brief appearance in the 1999 comic The Bounty Hunters: Kenix Kil, also written by Stradley and illustrated by Javier Saltares. He was included in an entry alongside his father in the 1999 Star Wars Handbook 2: Crimson Empire supplement. Kennede's biography in the Handbook was subsequently reused almost verbatim for his entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia in 2008.