The Trial of Ulic Qel-Droma, a criminal legal process, occurred in 3996 BBY. This followed the apprehension of Ulic Qel-Droma, a Sith Lord, and the subsequent accusation that he posed a threat to galactic society. After being abandoned by his accomplice, the Sith sorceress Aleema Keto, following their Krath cult's failed surprise attack on the capital city of Coruscant, which served as the center of the galaxy, he was taken into custody by the Knights belonging to the Jedi Order. Qel-Droma was immediately put under the authority of Supreme Chancellor Sidrona, who stated that the planned and acceptable punishment for the Sith Lord's transgressions against the citizens of the Republic was death.
Shortly after, Qel-Droma was escorted to the center of the Senate Hall to face the Republic's Senate, where Sidrona publicly announced the charges against him. When asked to enter a plea, Qel-Droma condemned those present as narrow-minded individuals hindering the Sith Brotherhood's objective to reinstate a Golden Age of Sith magnificence through galactic conquest. At that moment, Qel-Droma's Master, Dark Lord of the Sith Exar Kun, accompanied by Mandalore the Indomitable and a group of Massassi warriors, arrived to take control of the legal proceedings.
A Sith spell cast by Exar Kun prevented any intervention as the Dark Lord freed Qel-Droma and approached the Chancellor's podium. While the Massassi detained the Jedi Knights present, Kun confronted Sidrona and, using his sorcery, compelled him to declare the insignificance of the Republic and the supremacy of the Brotherhood of the Sith. Kun then murdered the Chancellor in front of the helpless crowd, effectively eliminating the judge and jury responsible for determining Ulic Qel-Droma's guilt. With no opposition remaining, the accused and his allies prepared to leave but were stopped by the sudden arrival of Jedi Master Vodo-Siosk Baas. The Krevaaki Master attempted to reason with the Sith, but he also died on the Senate Chamber floor in a duel with Exar Kun. The events during Ulic Qel-Droma's trial only confirmed what he and Kun had previously stated: the Galactic Republic was helpless against the Sith's schemes.
In the year 3996 BBY, the warrior clans commanded by Mandalore the Indomitable initiated an unprovoked assault on the seven planets comprising the Empress Teta star system. This aggressive action brought the Mandalorians into direct conflict with the system's governing body, the Sith-influenced Krath cult. In response, Sith Lord and Krath leader Ulic Qel-Droma accepted a challenge of personal combat against Mandalore. The control of each man's respective factions was wagered as spoils for the victor. Qel-Droma emerged victorious over his adversary in battle on the planet Kuar's plains of Harkul, integrating both Mandalore and his armies into the Krath ranks. Under Qel-Droma's command, the combined Mandalorian and Tetan forces commenced a series of raids on crucial starship construction facilities serving the Galactic Republic. These actions were designed to bolster the Sith military strength in preparation for a full-scale war against their adversaries. Their trademarks were plunder, destruction, and the deaths of innocents. The Republic was unable to determine the identities of the aggressors due to the swift efficiency of Qel-Droma's force. The Republic learned that Jedi expatriate Ulic Qel-Droma had been the mastermind behind these acts of piracy only when the Krath legions carried out an assault on the shipyards located at Foerost, much to their dismay.
Following the terrorist attacks on the Republic shipyards, Qel-Droma's subsequent transgression, a surprise attack on the galactic capital of Coruscant, resulted in failure. Even as victory was within his reach, he was betrayed and intentionally abandoned by his lover, the Krath witch Aleema Keto. Before he could escape, he was apprehended by Knights of the Jedi Order to which he had once belonged. They imprisoned him within a wall of light—a fortress of light-side Force energy that blocked access to his Jedi powers. Custody of Qel-Droma was then transferred to Supreme Chancellor Sidrona, who declared that the Sith Lord would not only be tried for his crimes against the galaxy but would also be executed for them.
Ulic Qel-Droma remained shackled and confined in total darkness inside a cell until his arraignment. Subsequently, a pair of Republic soldiers escorted him into the Grand Convocation Chamber of the Senate Hall. He was then led to the auditorium's center to face the entire Galactic Senate that would oversee the criminal procedure. The Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, acting as both judge and jury, stood above Qel-Droma on a podium much larger than the one on which the accused stood.
Prosecution commenced immediately as Qel-Droma silently listened to Sidrona recite a long list of offenses. These included destruction of Republic property, terrorism, and enslavement. The most damaging accusation, however, was that Ulic Qel-Droma had abandoned his sworn commitment to the Galactic Republic as a Knight of the Jedi Order. When asked to enter a plea, the Sith Lord remained defiant and refused to acknowledge the court's authority. Instead, he denounced the entire Republic as a self-serving, meaningless organization, insignificant in the Golden Age to be restored by the Brotherhood of the Sith. His claim shocked the Senate Chamber and horrified all present, including Jedi Knights Nomi Sunrider and Sylvar, who were ashamed of their fallen comrade's proclamation. His brother, Cay, was also in attendance and rushed the Senate floor, disbelieving Ulic's Sith delusions. Cay attempted to enter a plea of trial incompetence for his brother but was rebuked by the same man on whose behalf he was trying to intercede.
Having learned of Aleema's betrayal, Mandalore the Indomitable prepared to rescue Qel-Droma by first traveling to Yavin 4 and requesting assistance from Qel-Droma's superior, Dark Lord of the Sith Exar Kun. The pair then traveled with Kun's Massassi warriors to Coruscant and stormed the Senate Hall during Qel-Droma's trial. Kun immediately seized control of the trial's attendees, petrifying the entire Senate body with a mind control spell while simultaneously using the Force to remove Qel-Droma's restraints. The enthralled senators of the Republic were powerless to prevent Kun's interruption, but the unaffected Jedi rushed the Senate floor to oppose the intruders. Nomi Sunrider pleaded for the defendant to listen to reason, while Sylvar slaughtered several Massassi in combat. Kun, meanwhile, ascended the Chancellor's podium, where Sidrona called for his guards. When Sidrona realized their failure to respond, he futilely attempted to defend himself against Exar Kun. However, the Dark Lord blocked the attack and bored his fingers into Sidrona's skull, forcing him to repeat Kun's plan for galactic conquest to a captive audience as if he were a puppet. Kun concluded by stating that his actions demonstrated the Republic's uselessness and that the Republic did not factor into the Brotherhood's grand design of a galaxy ruled under the magnificence of a Sith Golden Age. He released his Force-empowered grip on Sidrona, whose lifeless body fell to the floor in a pool of blood. Kun then prepared to depart with his associates. When it appeared that no one dared to stand in the way, Jedi Master Vodo-Siosk Baas arrived and blocked their exit. Not to be hindered, Exar Kun exchanged words with his former teacher before engaging in a vicious duel. Kun was ultimately victorious, slaying the Krevaaki Master on the Senate Chamber floor. With the trial effectively over, Ulic Qel-Droma was absolved of guilt by his Sith Master. Together, they left to continue the war that they believed would precede the Sith dynasty in which they intended to rule the galaxy.
Following the Sith Brotherhood's departure from Coruscant and return to Exar Kun's temple on Yavin 4, Mandalore the Indomitable informed Ulic Qel-Droma of Aleema Keto's attempt to strand him on Coruscant. Qel-Droma realized that the Tetan empress had manipulated their partnership from the beginning, and her actions on Coruscant were motivated by her desire to eliminate the Sith Lord so that she could assume sole leadership of the Krath. He addressed Aleema's treachery by allowing her to lead the next offensive on the Kemplex Nine jump station, where she used an ancient Sith weapon far beyond her ability to control. The supernova that she caused annihilated her enemies, but also consumed her—just as Qel-Droma had planned.
Exar Kun continued to lead the Great Sith War with Ulic Qel-Droma at his side, repeatedly defeating the Republic and Jedi in battle. They believed the Sith Brotherhood would conquer the galaxy, as Kun had declared at Qel-Droma's trial. When the supernova resulting from Aleema Keto's misuse of Sith powers at Kemplex Nine forced the Jedi to evacuate the library world of Ossus, Kun and Qel-Droma led their forces in an invasion of the planet. While Exar Kun counted on the conflagration providing an opportunity to pilfer as much Jedi lore as possible, he had not anticipated Qel-Droma's ultimate betrayal. After murdering his brother Cay in a lightsaber duel and being completely stripped of the Force by an outraged Nomi Sunrider, Ulic renounced his dark side ways and turned on Kun, assisting the Jedi in his final defeat at Yavin 4. As a result, the vision of a Sith Golden Age spoken of by the Dark Lord during Qel-Droma's trial never materialized.
The ease with which Exar Kun entered the Convocation Chamber of the Senate to disrupt the trial of Ulic Qel-Droma prompted the Galactic Republic to take preventative measures to avoid such travesties in the future. A modernized facility was constructed to replace the Senate Hall as the new venue for governmental affairs, but the Hall remained a place of ceremonial reverence, occasionally used for important high-profile events due to its large seating capacity. Thirty-three years after Ulic Qel-Droma's trial, the Senate convened again to determine the fate of another galactic criminal: the Mandalorian scientist Demagol.
Sidrona was the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic during the Sith War. He was on Coruscant when his friend Vodo-Siosk Baas arrived to discuss the possibility of Jedi involvement in the terrorist attacks plaguing the Republic, though he was hesitant to believe what he considered a rumor. However, the Chancellor's worst fears were realized when Minister of Defense Netus confirmed the criminal's identity as Ulic Qel-Droma. After the battle of Coruscant and Qel-Droma's subsequent apprehension, Sidrona believed that the overwhelming evidence would be enough to persuade the Senators to accept capital punishment as penance for Ulic Qel-Droma's crimes.
The younger son of Jedi Master Lien-Tsai Qel-Droma, Cay was one of the Jedi who, alongside his brother, was regarded as a hero for eradicating the oppression of the Sith from the Onderon system. Cay was hesitant to allow his brother to embark on a lone infiltration mission to the Empress Teta system and was devastated to learn that the mission resulted in his older brother's fall to the dark side of the Force. He also found it difficult to believe that Ulic was capable of committing the atrocities he was accused of against the Republic he had sworn to protect as a Jedi Knight. At Ulic's trial, Cay was dumbfounded by his brother's response to the charges. He implored the senators to ignore Ulic's delusional tirade, but to no avail; Exar Kun had already arrived and incapacitated all the trial attendees with his Sith sorcery. Cay was among those who watched helplessly as Kun freed his brother and killed both Sidrona and Jedi Master Baas.
Exar Kun was once a Jedi apprentice under Master Vodo-Siosk Baas on Dantooine whose curiosity about the ways of renegade Jedi led him into a quest to acquire Sith knowledge on his own, against the suggestions of his former teacher. Kun found that which he sought and embraced the dark side, eventually becoming Lord of the Sith. As the new Dark Lord, Exar Kun embarked on a campaign with Ulic Qel-Droma's Krath to destroy the Republic in preparation for the re-institution of a Sith Golden Age. Patience and meticulous calculation were his tools, and he spoke against the hasty invasion of Coruscant that ultimately resulted in Qel-Droma's arrest. Nevertheless, when Mandalore the Indomitable arrived on Yavin 4 requesting Kun's assistance in liberating Qel-Droma from the clutches of the Republic, the Dark Lord obliged. He believed that the Republic was powerless against what was to come and demonstrated their impotence upon his arrival in the Senate Hall when he freed Qel-Droma, murdered the Supreme Chancellor, and killed Vodo-Siosk Baas shortly thereafter.
Former Jedi Knight Ulic Qel-Droma was once a hero of the Galactic Republic; however, his transgressions as a Dark Lord of the Sith far overshadowed any benevolence previously associated with his character. Regardless of the headstrong assessment given by both his former Jedi allies and his current Sith Master Exar Kun, Qel-Droma believed that he and his Krath forces were powerful enough to overthrow the seat of the Galactic Republic on Coruscant itself. He had not counted on the treachery of Aleema Keto, which led to his arrest and subsequent trial as a war criminal. Even after being temporarily blocked from his Force powers and forced to answer to the Republic Senate for his actions, Qel-Droma remained indignant and determined to show the Republic that their demise was at hand. To see their former comrade and loved one behave in this manner was enough to deeply upset the Jedi, although their expressed distress did little to sway him from the destiny he had chosen for himself.
Veteran Star Wars author Kevin J. Anderson authored the issue featuring the trial of Ulic Qel-Droma, which was the third in Tales of the Jedi's Sith War story arc, titled the same as the actual event. Aleema Keto's betrayal of Ulic in the previous issue served as the plot device that allowed for Ulic's capture and prosecution in The Trial of Ulic Qel-Droma issue. Qel-Droma would return the favor in the next installment, Jedi Holocaust. Besides its comic appearances, the trial was also mentioned in several pieces of source material, including both the Dark Side and Power of the Jedi Sourcebooks and the Essential and New Essential Chronologies as well.
The Star Wars Insider 26 article Straight from the Horse's Mouth: A Guide to the Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi Universe, Part 1 states that the trial occurred in 3991 BBY, while The Essential Chronology places the event at 3996 BBY. As Insider 26 contradicts many other established dates, this article treats the comic as being correct.