Kolot

"Kolot, we're the same thing, you and I. We're both lies that eventually became the truth."

- Gara Petothel

Kolot was a male Ewok that was experimented upon by Warlord Zsinj's Project Chubar. The experiments that left Kolot able to pilot shuttle were inspired by the tale of the Ewok Lieutenant Kettch of the pirating Hawk-bat Independent Space Force. In 8 ABY, Kolot was in the secret laboratories aboard the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Iron Fist when it was in the Selaggis system. There, Kolot, along with other test subjects, were freed by New Republic-allied Gara Petothel, and the Ewok helped pilot the escapees to freedom in a Sentinel-class landing craft. After his escape, the Ewok later became the co-pilot for Petothel, who took the name Kirney Slane, as she headed a shuttling business out of the planet Corellia.

Biography
A male Ewok, Kolot was taken into the Imperial scientific program known as Project Chubar as a test subject. Like other test subjects in the program, the Ewok was subjected to tests and other experimentation that increased Kolot's intelligence and allowed him to speak the language of Galactic Basic Standard. In 8 ABY, Warlord Zsinj, who controlled Project Chubar at that time, was informed of a genetically modified Ewok pilot named Kettch that flew a starfighter for the pirating Hawk-bat Independent Space Force via the use of prosthetic limb extensions. This inspired the Warlord to have an Ewok made into a pilot, and at Zsinj's request, prosthetic limb extensions were made by mechanics so Kolot could reach the controls of any starship he chose to pilot. Additionally, the doctors in the program put Kolot through flight simulators to see if the Ewok could learn how to fly. In the end, the experimentation was a success, and Kolot was able to fly a shuttle, despite being an Ewok, a species that was known for its general inability to work advanced equipment.

In 8 ABY, Kolot was aboard the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Iron Fist in the Selaggis system, alongside the rest of Project Chubar after its base of operations was moved from the planet of Saffalore to the Iron Fist. At the time that Zsinj's Iron Fist and a small fleet of ships was attacked by the New Republic's General Han Solo and his naval group, Gara Petothel, a New Republic allied former-Imperial Intelligence spy, made her way to the labrotories where Kolot and some of the other Project Chubar test subjects were being held after gaining the trust of Zsinj, which put her in a position of the Iron Fist.

Responsible for the sabotage that left the Iron Fist with its hyperdrive disabled in the Selaggis system, Petothel held at blaster-point the four medics in the immediate vicinity, and freed Kolot first from one of the ground-level cages after the Ewok agreed to free the other prisoners. Although Kolot wanted to kill the captured medics, Petothel had the Ewok instead go to each cage, and if the inhabitant agreed to not attack Petothel, free it so she could get it off the Iron Fist. When Kolot had released all of the test subjects that had agreed not to attack Petothel, the former-Imperial agent asked if any of the test subjects could fly a shuttle, so that they could make an escape.

Kolot answered that he could, and this both surprised and shocked Petothel, who thought he was joking. She was familiar with Kettch, who actually did not exist, as it was merely a stuffed toy and an alias that had been used for starfighter pilot Wedge Antilles. Realizing that the story of Kettch had inspired the creation of Kolot as a pilot, Petothel told a confused Kolot that both he and she were lies that had both eventually became true; Petothel herself had infiltrated the New Republic starfighter unit of Wraith Squadron as an Imperial spy only to later side change her allegiance to it. Kolot and the others proceeded to follow Petothel as she led them to safety, though a pair of freed Gamorreans took the time to gore and kill the bound medics who had inflicted so much pain on the group.

Kolot brought with him the limb extensions that had been made for him, as the group made their way to a hangar bay that had had a radiation-leak alert falsified for it by Petothel's droid Tonin, clearing the area of Imperial personnel. Petothel momentarily went on ahead of the group with Tonin in the hangar, and it was there that she was confronted by Imperial General Melvar, as well as Ensign Gatterweld, who had guessed where she would go after they had discovered that she had betrayed them. Petothel was saved however, as Kolot and the group of test subjects overwhelmed the pair. The group tried to kill the pair, but Petothel disallowed it, instead having the two of Zsinj's men bound. While Petothel departed in an X-wing starfighter that she had brought to the Iron Fist, Kolot flew the rest of the escapees and Tonin free of the Super Star Destroyer in a Sentinel-class landing craft, while the battle raged around them.

Although Petothel's X-wing was shot down on the moon of Selcaron in the Selaggis system, she and the rest of the escapees, including Kotol, eventually made their way to the world of Corellia. There, Petothel, who had taken the name Kirney Slane, created a shuttle business, and with Kolot as her co-pilot, used the Sentinel-class shuttle they had stolen as a part of it.

Personality and traits
Modified to have an increased intelligence that dwarfed those of other Ewoks, Kolot had many Human like personality traits, such as his nod. Kolot also had a singsong voice when he spoke in Basic. Due to the involvement that the medics had with him during time as a test subject, Kolot wished to kill them when he was released from his cage, though Petothel disallowed it. The Ewok was also able to use reason to govern his decisions, and when Petothel prevented him for killing the medics and instead tasked him with freeing the other subjects, he complied as it was his best option. Due to his increased intelligence and the flight simulators that he was put through, Kolot, unlike the majority of his race, was able to pilot a shuttle, albeit with the use of limb extensions. When Petothel likened Kolot to her in that both of them had been lies that had eventually become the truth, the Ewok was confused, as he did not have the backstory to the reference.

Behind the scenes
Kolot first appeared in the novel X-Wing: Solo Command, by Aaron Allston and released in 1999 as a part of the X-Wing novel series. It is suggested in the novels Betrayal and X-Wing: Mercy Kill, released in 2006 and 2013 respectively, that Kolot is still flying as a co-pilot for Petothel as late as 44 ABY. The co-pilot's seat of one of the shuttles owned by Petothel's company, Donoslane Excursions, was designed for a small furry humanoid in Betrayel, and the cockpit of one of Petothel's shuttles smelled like fur in Mercy Kill. However, as these facts are not enough to guarantee that Kolot is still the co-pilot, this article thus does not assume that Kolot was still flying in 44 ABY.

Appearances

 * X-Wing: Solo Command