Vocis Kenit

"You will go to the Ringali Shell to locate the Far Orbit and carry out your mission. You will bring the Far Orbit to heel or pay the price."

- Grand Vizier Sate Pestage briefs Kenit on his mission

Vocis Kenit was a male Human who started serving in the Galactic Empire's Navy sometime before 12 BBY. Rising to the rank of captain by 0 ABY because he frequently reported the flaws of other officers, Kenit was assigned the command of the EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate Far Orbit. At the time of the Galactic Civil War between the Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic, some of the crew of the Far Orbit, led by second officer Dhas Fenoep Vedij, mutinied and seized the ship from Kenit and the loyal Imperials aboard. Briefly imprisoned because of his failure in command, Kenit was assigned to track the Far Orbit, which had become an Alliance privateering vessel. Though Kenit came close to capturing the ship by manipulating them into attacking a pirate band and later drawing them into a confrontation with an Imperial fleet, Kenit's efforts came to naught, and he was executed by Imperial Emperor Palpatine himself for his failure.

Early career
Vocis Kenit was a male Human born in the Hallu sector of the Mid Rim, and had a brother. Kenit enlisted in the Galactic Empire's Navy by 12 BBY, during the Imperial Navy's first major expansion, and, upon serving for two years, Kenit joined the Imperial Naval Academy on the world of Lianna. Kenit graduated from there as an officer, and was assigned to the Semqi Pefis, an Imperial Victory-class Star Destroyer. On the ship, Kenit brought under scrutiny the careers of several higher-ranking officers by reporting their political faults. Kenit was promoted at the end of his tour of duty on the Semqi Pefis, and was assigned to the Thomquizzar Naval Base in the Outer Rim Territories.

Once again, Kenit performed well, intelligently executing his duties while still identifying the faults of his superior Imperial officers. Yet again, Kenit was promoted and transferred; Kenit's career path would stay like this, with him being promoted and then transferred after undermining the careers of his superiors and rivals. Kenit was endlessly promoted because it was the easiest and safest way to get rid of him. In time, the officer was given the command of the new EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate Far Orbit, serving as its captain as he and the frigate rooted out pirate nests in the Outer Rim.

Kenit was a brutal captain for the crew of the Far Orbit, and his methods of maintaining discipline were harsh, while his treatment of captured enemies was even worse. Much of the personnel and officers on the ship disliked him, including the second in command, Commander Dhas Fenoep Vedij. One dissenting officer on the Far Orbit was reported to the Imperial Security Bureau, and mysteriously died later.

With the Far Orbit, three pirate lords and many smaller pirating organizations fell to Kenit's cunning and his ability to anticipate movements. One, a group known as the Silent Blades, was tracked for weeks by Kenit and the Far Orbit, and the Captain finally forced the pirates into a stand-off. With the pirates holed up in an asteroid belt, the Far Orbit could not enter the belt, nor could the pirates get out. Kenit had the Far Orbit TIE series starfighter complement attack the pirates in the asteroid field, after ignoring Vedij's suggestion to call for reinforcements as Kenit desired the glory of victory for himself. The starfighter assault was successful, and destroyed the majority of the pirates, though the entire TIE force was lost, including Vedij's brother, Elon.

Mutiny
"We will hunt you down. Your families will be executed. And you, Commander, will be subjected to the slowest torture that can be devised.''" "''Perhaps, but you will not live to see it."

- Vocis Kenit and Dhas Vedij, as the former is kicked off his frigate

Due to the death of his brother, and his disillusionment with the Empire, Vedij led a mutiny against Kenit and the loyal Imperials after Kenit's men arrested a shiphand for being from Alderaan, a world that was pro-Alliance until the Empire destroyed it. When Vedij used rumors about the arresting of the shiphand to outrage the crew, two-thirds of the crew followed him in the mutiny and ousted Kenit from power. The Captain was personally sent off the ship by Vedij in an escape pod, along with the other crew who were against the mutiny. Kenit was later recovered by the Imperials, and after he gave a report on what happened, was imprisoned while he waited for a court-martial due to his failure of command; the court-martial had been arranged by the political enemies Kenit had created over the years.

In a few weeks time, Kenit was given the verdict of his sentence via hologram by Grand Vizier Sate Pestage, who was close to Emperor Palpatine. Because the ruler of the Galactic Empire been angered when he heard of the mutiny, Pestage was leading the investigation into the matter, and sentenced Kenit to death. However, this sentence was suspended until Kenit's new assignment, the capturing of the Far Orbit, was complete. If Kenit failed, he would die, while success would let him live. Kenit took on the mission and unsuccessfully searched for Vedij and the Far Orbit in the Outer Rim with the Imperial frigate Stalwart, until Pestage contacted him there. Kenit waited for ten minutes in the holopod before Pestage came online, and when he did, Kenit was informed that the Far Orbit had moved to the Core Worlds' Ringali Shell. There, Vedij and the crew&mdash;who had enlisted as privateers with the Alliance to Restore the Republic as part of their Galactic Civil War against the Empire&mdash;had captured Imperial Advisor Coh Veshiv near the planet Esseles.

Hunt for the Far Orbit
"Attention Far Orbit, this is the Imperial frigate Stalwart, commanded by Captain Vocis Kenit. Your ship and her crew are under arrest for mutiny, treason, piracy, and conspiracy to overthrow the Empire. If you surrender the traitor Dhas Vedij, your cooperation will be considered during your trial."

- Kenit hails the Far Orbit

Authorized to use extreme measures to capture the Far Orbit, Kenit came up with a plan to discredit the ship and poison the public's opinion by announcing that it was privateering vessel. In the Ringali Shell, Kenit forced a captured pirate band known as the Solar Terrors and their leader, Venslas Beeli, to attack civilian targets near the worlds of Brentaal IV, Rhinnal, and Esseles under the guise of Alliance privateers. During their set of raids, Beeli's fleet of ships retired to a deep space position where the Stalwart and Kenit resided, and Imperial patrols were restrained from increasing their activity as to let the Far Orbit at the pirates, because Vedij and the crew wanted to destroy the pirates to maintain their reputation. In the end, Vedij and the Far Orbit indeed did destroy the pirates.

Kenit's next move was to set a trap for the Far Orbit. Using the seemingly poorly defended Mark III bulk transport SPF 14897 as bait, Kenit planned to pull the Far Orbit into a trap from which it would not escape. According to plan, SPF 14897 was encountered by the privateering frigate, and the crew conducted a raid on the transport. However, the cargo hold contained three squads of elite stormtroopers, who attempted a counter-boarding operation against the frigate. With the Far Orbit stuck attempting to fend off the boarders, Kenit led a small fleet to capture the frigate. When they came to where the privateering vessel was, Kenit hailed the Far Orbit, announcing that they would be arrested for treason, and in the event that Vedij was handed to the Imperials, the crew would be better off.

Consisting of two GAT-12 Skipray Blastboats, the Strike-class medium cruiser Hammer, the Immobilizer 418 cruiser Claw, and the Stalwart, the fleet attacked the Far Orbit, with capital ships pounding the Far Orbit with ion cannon fire as they launched their TIE fighters. Due to its lack of ion cannons, Kenit's Stalwart gripped the frigate with its tractor beams to hold the Far Orbit still. However, despite the odds stacked against them, the crew of the Far Orbit still prevailed, using the frigate's own tractor beams to grip on to passing TIEs, and use them as shields against the Skiprays that had flanked the EF76. The Far Orbit then bore down on the Claw, whose gravity well projectors were keeping the Far Orbit from jumping to hyperspace, and in the following engagement, managed to destroy one of the projectors. Free to jump, the Far Orbit escaped, heavily damaged, leaving Kenit's mission in ruins once again.

Demise
"Captain, your efforts under the instruction of my good friend, the Grand Vizier, have come to my personal attention. I understand the Far Orbit has acquired a new prize."

- Emperor Palpatine addresses Kenit for the first and last time

That same year, as the Far Orbit evaded Kenit's efforts to capture it, the frigate took the Star Galleon-class frigate Emperor's Will. The frigate was a great prize as it was loaded with treasure, and, among the wealth, was a single Corusca gem, which had unique tracking abilities. Kenit was aware that the Corusca gem had been captured by the privateers, and of the gem's special properties, because his brother was a gemologist, so he was confident that he would finally be able to capture the frigate. However, Kenit was summoned to the holopod, and was confronted by not Pestage, but Palpatine himself on the feed, who was angered at the loss of the Emperor's Will. Kenit was executed by Palpatine for his failure to locate the Far Orbit, and the secret of tracking the ship died with him.

Personality and traits
"Do not fail your Emperor, Captain. You are well aware of the rewards of success&hellip;and the price of failure."

- Grand Vizier Sate Pestage addresses Kenit

Kenit was a bald man with fair skin, and had a moustache. The man was not particularly brilliant when it came to military operations, though he was a decent tactician, and was good at anticipating the moves of the enemy. Kenit rose up the ranks via his political acumen, instead of his military performance. At any post, the Captain would look for political faults in his superiors and bring their careers under scrutiny as he completed his mission intelligently; Kenit's habit created multiple enemies in the Imperial ranks. It was Kenit's cunning and technical excellence, as well as his undying devotion to the New Order, that allowed his rise. As the commander of the Far Orbit, the Captain was a martinet and a bully, causing many of the crew to dislike him. Kenit treated captured prisoners even worse than his men.

However, it was his treatment of his men, and his pursuit of glory and promotion when it came to the deadly battle with the Silent Blades, that led to the mutiny, an event that Kenit never predicted would happen. Kenit considered Vedij a traitor, and was afraid of his failing superiors in the search for the Far Orbit, as he knew the consequence was death. During the attempt to capture the Far Orbit with his fleet, Kenit had the Stalwart stay back from the immediate fighting as he wanted to stay out of harm's way.

Behind the scenes
Vocis Kenit was first mentioned in 1998's The Far Orbit Project, by Timothy S. O'Brien. The book was a supplement to West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game and was a sequel of sorts to the previous publication Pirates & Privateers, carrying on that book's theme by following the Far Orbit adventures. In The Far Orbit Project, Vocis Kenit serves as the main villain that attempts to capture the privateering vessel, and appears in the adventure scenarios The Capture of Coh Veshiv, The Rival, and The Trap, which were all included in the book. Although an entry was not published for Kenit in 2008's The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, he was mentioned in Volume II's entries for the Strike Cruiser Hammer and Shel Marcino, a survivor of the Silent Blades pirate gang.

Kenit's attempts to capture the Far Orbit can take numerous paths, as the adventure changes according to how the players and the gamemaster&mdash;the person who manages the adventure&mdash;do it. The pirates that Kenit sends out to discredit the frigate can be used as the bait to allow Kenit's fleet to catch up to the EF76, instead of SPF 14897. During the battle between the fleet and Vedij's force, Vedij can surrender to Kenit in return for safe passage for his men. However, if this happens, Kenit plans to double cross Vedij and capture the ship, though the Far Orbit escapes as Vedij shuttles over to the Stalwart.