Rook Kast

"You're the warrior. We're mercenaries&mdash;and there's no more profit in this fight."'' "''If you abandon your posts I will hunt you down and kill you myself!"

- Fife and Rook Kast

Rook Kast was a human female from the planet Mandalore who served as the leader of the Shadow Collective's Mandalorian super commandos during the Clone Wars. Kast and her commandos served under Darth Maul, leader of the Shadow Collective, in several battles against the Separatists, Sith, Republic, and Jedi.

Biography
"Incoming Separatist drop ships! We're under attack!''" "Unleash the might of the Shadow Collective'' upon them!"

- Rook Kast and Darth Maul

A human female born on the Outer Rim planet Mandalore, Rook Kast was the leader of the Mandalorian super commandos &mdash;Mandalorian soldiers who served the Sith Lord Darth Maul and were a part of his criminal alliance, the Shadow Collective, during the Clone Wars. After Maul was bested in combat by his former master, Darth Sidious, he was imprisoned in the Spire, a Confederacy of Independent Systems prison on the planet Stygeon Prime. Kast and Commander Gar Saxon followed Sidious and Maul to Stygeon, and were tasked by Mandalorian Prime Minister Almec, whom Maul had selected as the public leader of Mandalore after his takeover of the planet, with infiltrating the Spire and rescuing Maul. The pair dispatched two commando droids on the balcony of the prison's third level before updating the Prime Minister on their progress. After setting charges on the balcony entrance, Kast and Saxon entered the prison and made their way to level seven, where Maul was being held. As they approached his cell, they encountered a quartet of droidekas and several B2 super battle droids, but managed to deactivate the super battle droids and fire a missile at the droidekas, clearing the way to Maul's cell. Once Maul was freed, the two Mandalorians blew a hole in the prison wall and shot a zipline out towards their Gauntlet fighter, allowing the three to escape the planet and return to a Shadow Collective base on the moon of Zanbar. However, they were unaware that the Separatists had tracked them back to their base.

Sighting several incoming C-9979 landing crafts in Zanbar's atmosphere, Kast informed Maul that Separatist forces had arrived. The Zabrak ordered his troops to engage the Separatist Droid Army, resulting in a battle which saw heavy losses for both factions. As the battle neared its end, Maul engaged General Grievous, leader of the Droid Army, in a lightsaber duel. Kast, aboard Maul's Gauntlet fighter, the Nightbrother, ordered the pilot to lower the ship closer to Maul, allowing him to jump onboard. Maul ordered Kast to take them away from the moon, and the remaining troops at Zanbar regrouped with the larger Shadow Collective force and traveled to a Black Sun base on Ord Mantell. In Ord Mantell City, Kast attended a meeting with Maul, Saxon, Black Sun leader Ziton Moj, and Pyke Syndicate member Fife. Maul, knowing that Separatist leader Count Dooku, Grievous, and the Droid Army would be coming for them, laid out a plan for the other four on how to deal with the incoming Confederate forces. After receiving word that a shuttle from Dathomir had arrived, which was carrying Nightbrothers to aid the Shadow Collective, Maul and Saxon left to greet the shuttle, while Maul ordered Kast to inform the others of his plan. The Separatists forces soon arrived, bombarding the city from space before landing their own troops. As the Mandalorians, Black Sun, and Pykes engaged the Separatists on the planet surface, Maul and Kast took the Nightbrother into Ord Mantell's orbit and boarded Grievous's command ship. Maul stormed the ship's bridge and threatened to kill Grievous if he did not shut down the Separatist droids. Grievous complied, leading to a swift Shadow Collective victory which saw the capture of Grievous as well as Dooku, who had been battling the Nightbrothers on the surface of Ord Mantell.

The Shadow Collective took their captives back to Vizsla Keep 09, a Mandalorian supply outpost hidden in the rings of Phelbos, and Maul contacted his old master, Sidious, informing him of their capture. Maul ordered Kast to lock Grievous away in the outpost's brig while he spoke with Dooku. A Galactic Republic task force, led by Jedi Generals Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Tiplee, and Aayla Secura, soon arrived at the Keep and began to do battle with the Mandalorian forces. Kast informed Maul that the Jedi had arrived in the third hangar, prompting Dooku to temporarily ally himself with Maul. The two Sith began dueling the Jedi, quickly leading to the death of Master Tiplee. Kast fired a missile in Secura's direction, resulting in both her and Windu being rendered unconscious. Maul, Dooku, Kast, and Saxon retreated from the outpost aboard the Nightbrother and traveled to Dathomir. Shortly before entering Dathomir's atmosphere, Maul&mdash;revealing to Dooku that he knew the count still remained loyal to Sidious and did not truly wish to ally himself with Maul&mdash;had Kast hold her blaster to Dooku's head and watch his every move as their ship landed at the Nightbrother village, where they disembarked. Kast handed Dooku over to the Nightbrothers, who brought him and Maul to a chamber in the village which was said to be the heart of the power of Mother Talzin, a Dathomirian witch who had once led the Nightsisters and was the mother of Maul. As Talzin drained Dooku's life force so that she take physical form once again, Sidious and Grievous arrived on Dathomir aboard a cloaked ship and entered the chamber. The cyborg general and Dark Lord engaged Maul and the Talzin-possessed Dooku in lightsaber combat as Kast, onboard the Nightbrother, communicated with Ziton Moj and a Fife as their forces were bombarded by a Separatist assault. Kast ordered the two to follow their orders and fight, however they threatened to withdraw from the Shadow Collective if they did not receive support.

After losing many of their own ships and not receiving assistance, Black Sun and the Pykes informed Kast that they would no longer support the Collective. Kast protested, threatening to track them down and kill them herself, however Moj and Fife remained unfazed, and ended their transmission. A commando informed Kast that a Separatist invasion fleet was approaching the planet, and the two flew to Maul's location and told him they needed to evacuate at once. Talzin, who had managed to regain her physical form, held off a barrage of Force lightning from Sidious and Dooku, who had regained control of his body, and told her son to leave without her. Maul refused, however the witch threw him back towards the Nightbrother so that he may escape. Despite Maul's protests, Kast and the other commando grabbed hold of Maul and pulled him up the ship's ramp. Maul cried out in anguish as he watched Grievous step forward and stab Talzin with his lightsabers, killing her. Maul, Kast, and the commando boarded the Nightbrother and fled the planet just as the Separatists landed their forces on Dathomir, ravaging the Nightbrother village.

Personality and traits
"Lord Maul&mdash;I was afraid we'd lost you."

- Rook Kast, to Darth Maul

Rook Kast was intensely loyal to the Shadow Collective cause and to Maul, personally coming to evacuate him on multiple occasions and showing concern for his safety as he faced Grievous on Zanbar and even forcibly attempting to bring Maul onto his ship on Dathomir before the Separatists landed their troops and laid waste to the world. Though some Mandalorians, such as Bo-Katan Kryze and many of her Nite Owls, refused to accept Maul as the leader of Mandalore due to him being an outsider despite besting the previous leader, Pre Vizsla, in combat, Maul's non-Mandalorian heritage did not present an issue for Kast, and she faithfully served him regardless.

As a female member of the human species, Rook Kast had brown hair, blue eyes, and fair skin.

Equipment
Like all Mandalorian soldiers, Kast wore Mandalorian armor over a black body glove, as well as a jetpack. Around each of her forearms was a Mandalorian vambrace Her armor was painted red and black like most Mandalorian super commandos, meant to resemble Maul's appearance, and featured the Shadow Collective's black hand symbol on her right shoulder pad. Kast's helmet was different from most traditional Mandalorian helmets however, featuring two pointed slopes atop it. Kast was adept at dual-wielding blaster pistols and was capable at handling blaster rifles as well as launching missiles from her jetpack. Kast's armor contained a zipline as well, which she used to allow Maul to escape from the Spire.

Behind the scenes
Rook Kast first appeared in Star Wars: Darth Maul—Son of Dathomir, a four-part comic miniseries written by Jeremy Barlow and with art by Juan Frigeri that ran from May to August in 2014 and was adapted from unaired episodes of the television show Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Prior to the release of Son of Dathomir, Kast was first mentioned in the Blaster section of Star Wars Insider 149, released on April 22, 2014, as one of the new things fans could expect to see in Son of Dathomir.

Appearances

 * Darth Maul—Son of Dathomir, Part One
 * Darth Maul—Son of Dathomir, Part Two
 * Darth Maul—Son of Dathomir, Part Three
 * Darth Maul—Son of Dathomir, Part Four