Species:
Human
Sex:
Male
Black
Hair Color:
Pale blue
Eye Color:
Height:
1.7 meters
Unknown
Homeworld:
Vehicle of Choice:
Wild Karrde
Mercenaries aren't always known for their honesty, but there are exceptions. Talon Karrde is one of them.
From his original home base on the planet Myrkr, Talon was one of the top operators in the shady fringe of the galaxy -- a smuggler par excellence, able to get anything in or out of the systems without Imperial or Corporate Sector Authority enforcement officials on his trail. Also an information broker, Karrde was considered very honest in his dealings, although his demeanor could be coldly calculating and mercenary. Two lines Karrde would not cross -- or allow his associates to cross -- are slave running and kidnapping.
Fortyish and slender, with dark hair and piercing eyes, Karrde wears a roguish mustache, goatee, and flowing cloak. His sense of humor is legendary, as is his preference for picking code names with punnish twists to them. Even his ships have punned names: his attack ships are the Wild Karrde, the Etherway, and Starry Ice, and his space yacht is the Uwana Buyer.
Karrde is based on the planet Myrkr, close to the Borderland Regions. Spread out in the forests, the base contains ten landing pods, a main house, personal and short-term barracks, and four storage sheds. His main crew of smugglers and assistants lives with him.
Aves coordinates Karrde's operatives and offers advice. Chin, a middle-aged Myrkr native, handles and trains Karrde's pet vornskrs, Sturm and Drang. Chin also harvests the mysterious Force dampeners known as ysalamiri. Dankin, Fynn Torve, and Wadewarn are three of Karrde's best freighter pilots. Ghent is a barely-above-teens slicer with tremendous knowledge of computers, droids and access codes.
For many years, Karrde's most trusted ally was his lieutenant, a human named Tapper Quelev. Karrde had rescued Tapper and some of his smuggling band after the Battle of Endor. The two groups merged, Tapper's men supplementing Karrde's much larger operations. He was with Karrde for more than four years until he was killed by the Krish in a mission to infiltrate the Morodin hunting safari on Tropis-on-Varont.
Luckily for Karrde, that was the same mission on which he met a rather bewitching young woman. Although he first met her as a hyperdrive mechanic named Celina Marniss, the redhead was actually named Mara Jade. She helped Karrde escape from the Krish and soon became his loyal sidekick. She was a perfect combination of competence and looks -- exactly what Karrde wanted.
As the galaxy restructured itself, Karrde tried to remain neutral in the wars between the Empire and the New Republic. Whoever offered the most credits would win Karrde's job. Meanwhile, he had a greater shot at the smuggling trade, and absorbed much of the late Jabba the Hutt's empire into his own. He didn't crow about his standing in the smuggling community; as flashy as he was to look at, Karrde preferred to keep his business low-ley and unobtrusive.
When Grand Admiral Thrawn contacted Karrde to provide him with the Force-dampening ysalamiri, Karrde was more than happy to comply. On his way to deliver the creatures to Thrawn, he found Luke Skywalker in a damaged X-Wing, floating in space. Knowing that Thrawn had a 30,000 credit bounty out for Skywalker, Karrde agreed to take Luke to Myrkr. The young Jedi's Force powers were useless while near the ysalamiri, and the smugglers locked him in a storage shed. Perhaps the New Republic would pay a higher bounty for Skywalker.
Coincidentally, an old buddy of Karrde's, Lando Calrissian, showed up with the Corellian smuggler Han Solo. They were looking for a slicer to help aid the Alliance in cracking diplomatic codes. While they were being led around Karrde's operation center, Luke escaped from the storage shed. Mara Jade quickly went to retrieve him.
Han and Lando soon found evidence that Luke had been a captive of Karrde's, and the smuggler boss explained that he had only kept Luke for the bounty. Promising to get Luke back, he contacted Mara Jade, who was taking Luke toward Hyllyard City, where a garrison of Imperial troops were stationed. A set of complications ensued, durind which Luke, Lando, and Han were reunited and escaped on the Millennium Falcon. Mara and Karrde had bigger concerns.
Thrawn was coming to Myrkr to retrieve Skywalker, and Karrde didn't have him anymore. The smuggler chief and his crews packed up their base as quickly as they could and fled into space. None of them wanted to face a severly disappointed Imperial Grand Admiral. But Karrde had grown to love the planet, and vowed to one day return.
On the planet of Rishi, Mara found out that there was a 20,000 credit bounty on Karrde's head, compliments of Thrawn. Unfortunately for Mara, she was captured by Thrawn, and her past as the "Emperor's Hand" did little to help her situation. Mara was allowed to leave to meet Karrde, but the Imperials had planted a homing beacon on her ship and she led them right to her boss. The Imperials captured Karrde, and told Mara where to find -- and kill -- Luke Skywalker. Instead, Mara teamed up with Luke to rescue Karrde from the Star Destroyer Chimaera.
Karrde and Mara felt they owed Luke and the New Republic for saving them, and so they helped support the Rebel fleet in the battle for the Sluis Van shipyards. Mara was hurt in the mission and was shuttled off to Coruscant to recover. And a month later, hiding out on Calius with his crew, Karrde ran into Luke, who was searching for the Empire's Spaarti cloning cylinders.