Zyix K'zzt, a male Human from a family devoted to the Galactic Empire, was raised to be obedient and dedicated to Imperial service. His diligence in studies, aimed at pleasing both his educators and parents, led to academic success. This eventually landed him a position as a genetic scientist at the Moraabian Corporation. This, in turn, caught the attention of the Emperor himself, who saw K'zzt as a valuable asset for his clandestine cloning initiatives. The Emperor concluded that K'zzt was the ideal candidate to supply him with an army of unwavering, thoughtless soldiers. Understandably, K'zzt was greatly honored by the proposition and the accompanying benefits: wealth, influential connections, prestige, and status, all of which proved too enticing to decline.
He advanced his research in his new Imperial role, with his theories constantly being heard by the Empire, which only boosted his already large ego. Ethical considerations were absent from K'zzt's thoughts, as his sole focus was on his ambitions and serving the Empire. However, this perspective shifted when his wife bore him a son. As K'zzt gazed at his newborn in the hospital, holding his small hands, he experienced a sudden realization of the wrongness of his actions. He understood that life should originate naturally, not from clone vats, where individuals possess the autonomy to make their own choices rather than having their destinies predetermined. He concluded that life was too sacred to be mass-produced.
He soon came to the realization that his own existence was scarcely superior to that of the stormtroopers he manufactured. In a sense, he mirrored them, having been conditioned into a loyal Imperial servant devoid of choices, objections to the established order, and opportunities for redemption. Reflecting on the past, he recognized that whenever he entertained doubts about the ongoing events, he was swiftly reminded of his "patriotic obligations" or enticed with trinkets and flattery, both of which he would soon learn to forgo. Overwhelmed by shame for his life, he resolved to secretly align himself with the Rebel Alliance.
He began providing the Alliance with a consistent flow of information regarding Imperial genetic engineering projects, as well as stormtrooper programming vulnerabilities and tactical subroutines. Furthermore, he occasionally implanted subversive subroutines within stormtroopers' minds, causing them to act as spies or suicide operatives without their awareness. Regrettably for K'zzt, this arrangement was short-lived. The Imperial Security Bureau grew suspicious of his activities and infiltrated both his personal life, through his wife who was secretly an agent, and his workplace, using spies and surveillance equipment. His wife soon discovered her husband's clandestine activities and, acting as a dutiful Imperial citizen, reported him without hesitation.
K'zzt became aware of this betrayal, and before the ISB agents could apprehend him, he executed a final act of defiance. He sabotaged his entire laboratory's computer systems and "brain-jacked" himself into one of the clone tanks, transferring his consciousness into the clone body of Colonel TC-1289. When the security forces arrived to arrest him, they only found his lifeless body, killed by a self-inflicted [blaster](/article/blaster/legends] wound to the head. Although they noticed wires connecting his head to an intact memory storage unit, they dismissed it as a failed attempt at electronic sabotage.
K'zzt continued to exist within his new body, sharing his mind with the mindlessly loyal TC-1289. While he sometimes appeared to be just another drone in the Stormtrooper Corps, at other times he would be completely himself and contacted the Rebel Alliance on several occasions giving call signs and signals known only to him. This greatly confused Alliance forces, as they did not know how a stormtrooper would have access to these codes and so Airen Cracken offered a 10,000 credit reward for his capture. Alliance High Command feared that, if left on his own, Imperial security may have grown suspicious of the circumstances of K'zzt's death and reopen his case and, upon hearing the reports of an eccentric stormtrooper colonel, they may do a simple background check and discover that K'zzt was still alive. The Alliance did not give this information to the bounty hunters hired to capture him, however, they simply told them that TC-1289 was a wanted criminal.
During Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign against the nascent New Republic, K'zzt was still known to be serving the Empire in his clone body. His most recent known location was aboard the Star Destroyer Crusader within the Kala sector.