Guri

"Man, she's a smooth piece of work. You could stack ice cubes on her head and they wouldn't melt. Unarmed, unless she was hiding a weapon somewhere I couldn't spot it. Very attractive, too, but there's something spooky about her."

- Lando Calrissian after a meeting with Guri

Guri was a Human replica droid created by researcher Massad Thrumble and engineered as an assassin. She served as Prince Xizor's assistant and was one of the few individuals the necessarily paranoid crimelord believed he could trust.

Creation
Guri was created around 7 BBY, costing Xizor nine million credits, and he considered her worth every decicred. Her long, silky blond hair and clear blue eyes, combined with a fit and healthy looking figure, gave her the appearance of a beautiful Human woman in her early twenties.

She could eat, drink and perform any other function needed to pass for a normal woman &mdash; she even breathed air and her heart pumped blood though, like all her organs, it was entirely synthetic. She was also capable of emulating all of the "more intimate" functions of a Human woman, and Xizor occasionally made use of her abilities in that regard. One of the few ways that she could be seen to differ from Humans was that her body temperature was ten percent cooler than was considered normal, cold enough to kill a Human.

Guri was unique as the only one of her kind programmed to be an assassin. Upon completion, her programming was complemented by extensive exercise to tone her muscles and combat training to ensure that she had all the skills required. With her training complete, Guri's speed, combat skills and ability to move quietly made her the ideal assassin. Her uniqueness was further assured due to the death of her creator.

Service to Black Sun
"I am Prince Xizor's primary bodyguard, Your Excellency. I assure you that I can protect you from Jiliac's guards."

- Guri to Durga Besadii Tai

Guri became Xizor's most trusted employee, serving as his lieutenant, chief bodyguard and enforcer. The Dark Prince made use of Guri to perform much of the day to day running of Black Sun, her duties including gathering information from the organization's vast network of spies, locating potential candidates to perform jobs for Black Sun, manipulating records to cover traces of their activities and organizing Xizor's meetings. However, her duties extended beyond these administrative duties and Xizor frequently made use of her abilities as an assassin to deal with his enemies and to enforce loyalty within Black Sun.

After the death of Aruk Besadii Aora, his son Durga Besadii Tai enlisted the help of Black Sun in his quest to become leader of the Besadii kajidic, having them eliminate his rivals. This left the Hutt in debt to Black Sun and Xizor intended to use Besadii to get a foothold in Hutt space and to take a share of Besadii's glitterstim operation on Ylesia. Durga, however, was unwilling to relinquish his power lightly. Guri suggested that she could eliminate Durga, but Xizor was adamant that it was better to manipulate the Hutt into falling into service to Black Sun.

It was eventually Durga's desire to discover who was responsible for the assassination of his father that led him to commit to Black Sun. An investigation uncovered evidence pointing to Jiliac Desilijic Tiron and Xizor dispatched Guri to deliver the evidence in person to Nal Hutta and to assist Durga in getting his revenge. Upon hearing the news, the Hutt was furious and set off to confront Jiliac under the Old Law with Guri at his side.

After reaching Jiliac's Winter Palace, the two Hutt leaders fought while Guri stood guard, ensuring that Jiliac's nephew, Jabba Desilijic Tiure, not get involved. When Jiliac lay dead, Durga emerged and still angry but lacking the energy to fight Jabba ordered Guri to kill him. She refused, stating that her orders were only to ensure Durga's revenge against Jiliac &mdash; Jabba was not to be harmed. Instead, she insisted that Durga leave with her.

Later, when he discovered that Green, one of his Vigos, was a spy, Xizor had Guri throttle the traitor in front of the other Vigos. Green's violent death would serve as a warning to the other Vigos not to cross the Dark Prince.

Ororo massacre
"Go home, little girl. Leave now while I still permit it. And don't come back. You do, and I might find a use for you you wouldn't like."

- Tuyay's last words to Guri

Xizor discovered that Ororo Transportation had been attempting to take over Black Sun's spice operations in the Baji Sector and he ordered Guri to send a clear message of the price of crossing him. Meeting with their representatives, Tuyay, Dellis Yuls and Z. Limmer, together with their Gamorrean bodyguards, Guri presented Black Sun's accusations which the group initially denied. Later in the meeting, however, Tuyay lost his composure and announced that they no longer intended to be used by Black Sun.

Moving quickly, Guri stood and leaped over the table picking up Tuyay and throwing him at the bodyguards, knocking them over before they had a chance to draw their blasters. Yuls moved to pull his own blaster but Guri grabbed his wrist and broke it before he could fire. Tossing the weapon away, she snapped his neck before piercing Limmer's throat with her fingertips.

As Tuyay got back to his feet, Guri grabbed his throat and began to choke him. Unaware that she was a droid, Tuyay futilely attempted to choke her back before losing consciousness. Taking a blaster from one of the downed bodyguards, Guri shot them both, together with Zimmer and Yuls, in the head. Finally waiting for Tuyay to regain consciousness, Guri promised to pass on his message to Xizor, before shooting him in the eye. The entire confrontation was over in a matter of moments.

Meeting on Rodia
Shortly after the Battle of Hoth, Xizor learned that Luke Skywalker, hero of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, was the son of Darth Vader. Involved in a power struggle with the Dark Lord of the Sith, Xizor ordered the termination of Skywalker. After a failed attempt on Luke's life, Leia Organa, unaware of Xizor's involvement, decided to make contact with Black Sun in the hopes of finding out who was responsible. Xizor dispatched Guri to Rodia to meet with the Rebel.

When Guri arrived at Rodia she was told to meet Leia at the Next Chance casino. Suspicious of Guri, Leia had arranged for some security in the form of Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca who would be nearby while she and C-3PO met with the Black Sun representative. The initial meeting achieved little, with Guri claiming that she had business to attend to on a local moon and had to cut the meeting short, however it did leave the Rebels with the distinct impression that there was something unusual about Guri.

Returning to Coruscant, Guri was debriefed by Xizor. Guri felt that Leia looking into Black Sun was dangerous and advocated killing her, together with Lando, Chewbacca, C-3PO and anybody who knew they had been to Rodia to leave no traces. However, Xizor had other plans for Leia and told Guri to meet with her again and bring her to Coruscant so that he might personally find out what she knew.

When Guri returned to meet with Leia again, the Rebels had installed a scanner device which quickly confirmed their suspicions &mdash; Guri was not Human, although it could not identify what she was. With the scanner having failed, Leia had C-3PO put a sleeping potion in Guri's tea, hoping that during the couple of hours she was knocked out, the Rebels could conduct a closer examination of her person and effects. After that failed to have any effect the two continued to trade diplomatic small-talk until Guri tired of proceedings and attempted to abduct Leia only to be restrained by Lando, Chewbacca and Dash Rendar, who had arrived after the first meeting, while the group decided what to do. After much discussion, Leia agreed to go to Coruscant with Guri in her ship, the Stinger, taking Chewbacca with her.

Fall of Black Sun
Xizor's attempts to seduce Leia failed but she could still prove useful to him as bait for Luke Skywalker. Sure enough, Skywalker came to mount a rescue bringing Lando and Dash with him and linking up with Chewbacca who Xizor had allowed to escape. However, Xizor had underestimated how capable the group was. After losing two units of guards, he ordered Guri to bring Leia to him.

Leia, however, was already prepared when the droid arrived. Leia hit Guri over the back of the head as she entered the room, a blow that would have rendered a Human unconscious, but which only caused Guri to momentarily lose her balance. It was enough for Leia to get outside and lock the door. As Leia ran, Guri began to smash the door down. After making her way out of the room, Guri returned to Xizor and the two of them set off to confront the intruders personally.

When they finally caught up with them a firefight broke out. While Luke deflected blaster bolts with his lightsaber, the unarmed Guri took a heavy chair and hurled it down the corridor towards them. Chewbacca shot it down with his bowcaster. Realizing that they were outnumbered, Xizor retreated to a nearby room while Guri covered him and then called the guards for backup. As the guards arrived and a stalemate developed between the two groups, Guri slipped away.

A worthy challenge
"I am what I am, Jedi. I don't think there can be any salvation for me."

- Guri to Luke Skywalker

The Rebels escaped after planting a bomb, leaving only five minutes until Xizor's Palace was destroyed. As they fled, the group ran into Guri. Having seen his abilities in the previous fight, Guri had decided that Luke would be a worthy challenge for her abilities. She persuaded the young Jedi to throw aside his lightsaber and fight unarmed. Only with the help of the Force was Luke able to evade Guri's attacks. Momentarily losing his concentration, Luke was knocked to the floor by Guri who moved to strike a killing blow. With the help of the Force he was able to move away from her blow and used a leg sweep to send her to the floor, igniting his lightsaber.

Luke had defeated her, but rather than killing her, he extended an offer for her to come with him and join the Rebel Alliance. Guri declined, explaining that overcoming the controls implanted in her programming would be impossible for the resource-strapped Rebels. Luke reluctantly abandoned her to the palace and made his way to the roof with the other rebels to rendezvous with the Millennium Falcon. Guri, however, made her own way to the roof and taking a paraglider leaped from the top of the palace to safety. As the Rebels took off, Luke noticed the missing paraglider and came to suspect that she had escaped.

New beginning
Xizor too escaped the destruction of his palace and attempted to stop the Rebels leaving Coruscant. However, the Dark Prince paid the price for his personal war with Darth Vader as the Dark Lord of the Sith arrived in his flagship, the Executor, and destroyed Xizor's skyhook, the Falleen's Fist. The death of Xizor at the Battle of Falleen's Fist left a power vacuum at the top of Black Sun, leading to a power struggle between the Vigos to take over the organization.

The death of her master also had a big effect on Guri. Dropping out of sight, Guri spent months coming to terms with what had happened and contemplating her future. During this time she began to wonder just how Human she could be.

Shortly after the death of the Emperor at the Battle of Endor Guri began a quest to locate her designer, Massad Thrumble. Since retiring from Imperial service, Massad had kept out of galactic events and was now the owner of a cantina on Hurd's Moon.

The journey to Hurd's Moon would not be simple, however. While traveling in the Stinger, Guri encountered a Star Destroyer, still loyal to the the Empire. The Imperials ordered Guri to shut down her engines but the droid had other intentions. With the Star Destroyer in pursuit, Guri activated a spread of proton torpedoes from her well-armed vessel, destroying the Imperial capital ship.

While Guri conducted her search, she was unaware that there was another party looking for her. On Coruscant, Xizor's niece and last surviving relative, Savan, had plans to take control of Black Sun. She knew that Guri knew all of Xizor's secrets and that possession of the droid would give her a clear advantage over her rivals for the leadership of the criminal organization. Shortly after Guri defeated the Star Destroyer, the Rodian Prevaro approached Savan with news of Guri's whereabouts. Savan, in turn, contacted the Hiitian bounty hunter, Kar Yang, and hired him to locate and retrieve Guri.

Guri managed to evade Savan, and made her way to Massad who was able to free her of some of her programmed constraints. At one point, she knocked Savan unconscious, but decided not to kill her, arguably in a parallel of the mercy Luke showed her in Xizor's palace.

Afterwards, Guri walked into a bar, where Dash Rendar, also believed dead around the time of the death of Xizor, offered to buy her a drink. The two eventually formed a mercenary team, who teamed up with Kyle Katarn and Bey on an insertion mission to Saijo, the fortress world of the Tofs.

Personality and traits
Although Guri physically resembled a Human female there was a coolness about her which could be attributed to her true nature as a Human replica droid. This coolness was part of her ability to kill without any sign of conscience and she often considered killing to be the easiest solution to problems.

Programmed to protect Xizor at all costs, Guri was devoted to him in all matters of his life &mdash; she was even known to hold his clothes while he spent time with a mistress. As Xizor's most trusted adviser Guri was in the unique position of being able to speak her mind, saying things that no other would dare say to the Dark Prince and he valued her counsel when it was offered. Even so, Guri was not one to speak unnecessarily and would generally not offer an opinion unless it was requested.

Although often terse, Guri exhibited a sometimes playful sense of arrogance; for example, when she massacred the leaders of Ororo Transportation, she took the time to allow Tuyay, knocked out in the initial fray, to regain consciousness so that she could have the last word before killing him. This smug attitude and apparent enjoyment of power were further illustrated by her dry and self-assured responses when Leia Organa and the other Heroes of Yavin interrogated her. At the end of this interrogation, when her captors moved to remove the metal bonds they had trapped her with, she burst them herself in a dramatic show of superhuman strength.

Guri also wanted to be stretched to her limits, preferring to perform jobs which she saw as challenging. It was this desire to push herself to her limits that led her to seek out a duel with Luke Skywalker.

Appearances

 * Rebel Dawn
 * Shadows of the Empire (novel and comic)
 * Shadows of the Empire: Evolution
 * Or Die Trying

Notes and references
Guri Guri