Dev Sibwarra

"He died at peace and we are all the poorer for his loss."

- Luke Skywalker

Dev Sibwarra was a Human boy who was born on Chandrila. His mother, Ydra, was a Padawan who had left the Jedi Order before her training was completed; as such, she survived Order 66 and the early stages of the Great Jedi Purge.

Early Childhood
"They got him young. Look at him. He acts just like a Flutie. He must even think like one."

- Bakuran senator

In 11 BBY, Dev Sibwarra was born on the Core world of Chandrila to Ydra Kilwallen Sibwarra and a man named Sibwarra during the early years of the Imperial era. Ydra was a former Jedi Padawan who had left the Order before her training was complete during the last years of the Galactic Republic. Despite her lack of mastery over the Force, Ydra taught Dev the rudiments of Jedi training when she noticed his abilities, and planned on apprenticing him to a surviving Jedi. One ability she was able to teach him was Life Web.

Around 1 BBY, Dev was ten-years old when his family emigrated to G'rho&mdash; a small Human colony world in the Outer Rim Territories&mdash;to escape detection by the anti-Jedi Galactic Empire. Shortly afterwards, Sibwarra witnessed the invasion of G'rho by the Ssi-ruuk&mdash;a saurian species from a distant starcluster in the Unknown Regions. During the invasion, his parents were killed and he felt his mother's Force sense vanish.

Earlier, the Ssi-ruuvi's supreme ruler&mdash;the Shreeftut&mdash;received visions through the Force of a hooded Human who revealed himself to be Emperor Palpatine, ruler of the galaxy. The Ssi-Ruuvi Imperium powered their technology through an esoteric process called entechment, a means of electronically transferring the life-energy of a person into a power source for a mechanical construct. Thus, Palpatine offered the Ssi-ruuvi dozens of worlds and millions of Humans to entech, in exchange for the use of their technology. Due to their secret agreement with the Ssi-ruuk, the Imperial leadership covered up the incident and blamed the Alliance to Restore the Republic for the attack.

Dev was found huddled in an eroded ravine by Ssi-ruuvi scouts who took pity on him and gave him refreshments. Since he possessed strange powers to sense others, the Ssi-ruuk spared him from the entechment rig and instead shipped him to their capital world of Lwhekk in the remote Ssi-ruuk Star Cluster. There, he was brainwashed through mind manipulation techniques by a blue-scaled Elder named Sh'tk'ith or Bluescale. He was subsequently “adopted” by Bluescale and his colleague Admiral Ivpikis.

It was from this boy that the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium discovered that Humans were the galaxy's dominant species. He also discovered that humanoids had longer containment time when enteched and could last longer than most other species. Due to Sibwarra's Force abilities and his ability to communicate with his fellow Humans, the Ssi-ruuk used Dev Sibwarra to calm the subjects being enteched.

In return, Dev adopted many of the norms and principles of his masters' culture. He was brainwashed into believing that entechment was a high honor and thus looked forward to undergoing the process himself. Due to his Force-sensitivity and his proficiency in [Galactic Basic]], Sibwarra was used by his saurian masters to interact and calm with Human entechment subjects. He later even used a special bed to entech them himself through the Force.

He also learned to comprehend and understand the complicated Ssi-ruuvi tongue which could not be reproduced by Humans due to physiological differences. Other aspects of Ssi-ruuvi culture included a complete ignorance of clothes and their sharp scent of smell which prompted Dev to adopt the practice of bathing several times a day. However, Sibwarra also developed a prejudice against the P'w'ecks, a lowly slave species that had been subjugated earlier by the Ssi-ruuk.

The Bakura Incident
"Much kindness. Stretch out, Dev. What do you see in the hidden universe?"

- Firwirrung



However in 4 ABY, Emperor Palpatine was killed during the Battle of Endor onboard the Second Death Star. Due to his Force powers, Dev sensed disturbance in the Force and told the Ssi-ruuk. With the Emperor unable to fulfill his promise, the Ssi-ruuvi launched an invasion of the edge of the known Galaxy. An expeditionary fleet including at least one Ssi-ruuvi assault carrier and numerous battle droids under Admiral Ivpikkis conquered Cattamascar and attacked Bakura. As the protege of the Ssi-ruuvi commander Ivpikkis, Dev served aboard the flagship Shriwirr during this campaign.

By taking Bakura, the Ssi-ruuk would have seized a major Human world and thus enteched its population. Millions of Bakuran citizens would be enteched and used to power more batle droids and ship components. Bakura's raw metals would be utilized to manufacture entechment rigs and starships. With more resources, the Ssi-ruuk planned to "invade" the 12,000 terrestial worlds of the known Galaxy particularly the heavily-populated Core Worlds&mdash;the center of galactic civilization and wealth.

Following a sizeable naval engagement with Imperial elements; the numerically-superior Ssi-ruuvi fleet destroyed half the Imperial fleet. The Ssi-ruuk then quickly captured all outsytem planetary outposts. An outpost in the sixth planet of the Bakuran system was utterly destroyed and a command signal for Ssi-ruuk droids established in its vicinity. The Ssi-ruuvi fleet then blockaded the space around Bakura.

To fulfill the demands of entechment, all bodies including those wounded or captured alive were taken back onboard to the entechment labs onboard the Ssi-ruuvi capital ships. This practice baffled the local Bakuran and Imperial recovery crew who would later learn to their horror that these unfortunate prisoners had been captured by the reptilian Ssi-ruuk and subjected to the horrors of entechment. Due to his ability to communicate with the predominantly human prisoners in their native language, Dev was pressed into service at the entechment rig on Deck 16 throughout the night shift.

Accompanied by Master Firwirrung, Dev played an active role in "calming" the entechment subjects while Firwirrung carried out the mechanical process of "transferring" life sources. These life sources would be used to power battle droids. Among those enteched was a wounded male Imperial officer who attempted to persuade Dev to not carry out the proceedure. Brainwahed into believing the benefits of entechment, he merely brushed aside the man's pleadings. Later, a female prisoner was killed during an escape attempted. Indoctrinated, Dev sighed at the loss.

An outpost in the sixth planet of the Bakuran system was utterly destroyed and a command signal for Ssi-ruuk droids established in its vicinity. The Ssi-ruuvi fleet then blockaded the space around Bakura. In an attempt to persuade the Bakurans to capitulate, the Ssi-ruuk transmitted a holo-recording from Dev Sibwarra who told them of the fate they would soon experience&mdash;that of entechment&mdash;and although Sibwarra described it as an eternal release, the Bakurans knew that was a lie.

In response to heavy casualties, the Imperial governor Nereus sent an antique Message Droid to the forest moon of Endor after failing to contact Imperial Center and the Death Star II, to contact his Imperial superiors and ask for assistance to fend off the invasion force. Endor was the nearest world with a sizeable Imperial presence to Bakura as the site of the Second Death Star.

Enter the Alliance
"Such...tragedy that many battle droids were lost. Those poor humans&mdash;their new lives, their new happiness cut so short. Let me mourn for my...for other humans, Elder. How sad for them. How sad."

- Dev Sibwarra

The Imperial Governor Wilek Nereus dispatched an Elegance message drone to the Imperial presence in the Endor system, hoping to alert Palpatine. However, the Imperials had been defeated during the pivotal Battle of Endor which saw the destruction of the Second Death Star and the death of Sith Lord Palpatine. Instead, the message was received by members of the Rebel Alliance including Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, Chief of State Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar who decided to dispatch a task force to defeat a hostile threat and to secure a potential ally.

A small Alliance task force was quickly scrambled under the command of Luke Skywalker and the Virgillian Captain Tessa Manchisco. It also included an Alliance delegation led by Leia Organa, who was flown to Bakura aboard the Millennium Falcon by the freighter's owner, Han Solo and his first mate, Chewbacca.

Upon arriving in the Bakura system, the Alliance made contact with the Imperial Commander Pter Thanas. Both sides agreed to cooperate even though a formal truce had not been settled. One of the first joint military actions between the two nominal enemies was the deployment of Alliance ships including the Flurry into the gap between the Ssi-ruuvi's three main cruisers to counter the enemy advance at the request of Thanas. Several Ssi-ruuvi picket ships and fighters were also destroyed by Alliance starships.

Meanwhile, Sibwarra sensed the arrival of a powerful Force-strong Jedi among the new arrivals&mdash;Skywalker. Privately, Sibwarra was fascinated with powers and skills of the extinct Jedi Knights and desired to meet one. However, he refrained from telling his superior Bluescale since it meant confessing a guilty "secret habit". Publicly, he pretended to lament the loss of human souls onboard the destroyed battle droids which prompted Bluesacle to arrange for a "renewal service" later.

Already, the Ssi-ruuk had sustained considerable losses including a cruiser and several drone fighters from attacks by the Alliance ships, which led to a temporarily withdrawal into hyperspace. This was the second time that the Ssi-ruuvi fleet had been on an emergency orient since their conquest of Cattamascar. This unexpected changed forced the Ssi-ruuvi leadership to analyze the newcomer's different tactics, starships and command style.

Having helped beat off the Ssi-ruu attack on the system, the Alliance ships were holding position near the planet. Following the Ssi-ruuk withdrawal, Leia Organa contacted the planetary government and was able to arrange a meeting between the Rebel Alliance delegation and Governor Nereus, as well as the Bakuran Senate. Arriving at the capital Salis D'aar, Alliance delegates including Skywalker, Leia and Solo informed their Imperial and Bakuran counterparts of the recent developments on Endor.

During a special session at the Bakuran Senate, Imperials, Bakurans and Rebels alike were shown a recording sent by the Ssi-ruuk by Sibwarra and were horrified to see how entechment worked; the individual's life energy was sapped from his body and used to power war machinery. This was received with much outrage and horror from most of the assembled delegates including C-3PO who spoke on behalf of droids. Some including Commander Thanas even denounced Dev as a collaborator with the enemy. The Alliance party then iterated that they were there to help Bakura and offered an official truce, which Nereus said would be discussed. That evening, Bakuran and Imperial delegates settled a formal truce during a dinner organized by the Bakuran Prime Minister Yeorg Captison. There was much paranoia among the populace who feared the terror of entechment and had a prejudice against aliens.

Meeting the "Outsider"
Meanwhile, Sibwarra revealed to Master Firwirrung of the presence of another Force user who had introduced the new and successful tactics to the planet's defenders. Licking their wounds from the joint Alliance-Imperial attack, the Ssi-ruuvi leadership decided to make a covert deal with Nereus by proposing a full withdrawal in exchange for the handover of the Force-strong "Outsider"&mdash;Skywalker. As part of Firwirrung's plan, Skywalker would be bound to a modified entechment rig and forced to drain the life energies of millions of sentients from light years away.

Given that their physiology made them incapable of communicating directly with Nereus, Sibwarra contacted the Governor to make that offer. Nereus accepted the offer; given his hatred of the Rebels and as part of his secret plan to stab his Rebel colleagues in the back. However, Nereus also had no intention of allowing the Ssi-ruuk to survive, and decided to double-cross the aliens. Nereus would then add the Ssi-ruuk's jaw bones to his collection of animal bones.

Sibwarra also initiated some sort of telepathic contact with Skywalker, warning him of Ssi-ruu intent on capturing the Jedi, as well as giving him a vision of how dangerous the Ssi-ruu could be to the larger galaxy if left unchecked. The feelings of power from Skywalker were enough to give Dev some remembrance of his past.

Dev helped the Ssi-ruuk capture Skywalker, but then realized what a mistake he had made. He subsequently helped him escape and capture the Ssi-ruuvi command ship, Shriwirr. Skywalker planned to make Dev the first apprentice of the new Jedi, but his plans were ended when Dev was fatally wounded when commander Pter Thanas fired upon the Shriwirr. He later died in the Millennium Falcon.

Skywalker ensured that he was given a burial in space and released him to fall through the atmosphere of Bakura, and the Rebel Alliance renamed the captured Shriwirr after him.

Appearances

 * The Truce at Bakura

Notes and references
Dev Sibwarra Dev Sibwarra