Jaller Obrim

"I did twenty-eight years in the Senate Guard before I transferred to CSF. Did I take my eye off the ball? I wonder if it happened on my watch and I didn't spot it."

- Obrim, discussing the changes and moral corruption in the Republic

Jaller Obrim was a lifelong police officer on the galactic capital of Coruscant. During his career, he served as a Senate Guard, a Coruscant Security Force officer, and a member of the Imperial Security Bureau. In 22 BBY, Obrim lived with his wife, Telti, and two sons in the Rampart Town section of Galactic City. He was a close friend of Mandalorian Sergeant Kal Skirata, as well as the clone troopers whom Skirata had trained as clone commandos and ARC troopers. Dedicated to his job, his friends, and his family, Obrim worked to protect Coruscant and its inhabitants.

Obrim began his career as a Senate Guard and earned a reputation as a skillful detective and a hard-nosed cop. After the outbreak of the Clone Wars in 22 BBY, Obrim was transferred to the Coruscant Security Force. His high position in law enforcement as head of the CSF's Anti-Terrorism Unit allowed him to divert CSF resources to Skirata's black ops missions for the Grand Army of the Republic and make their actions disappear from official records. Obrim was instrumental in providing Skirata and his team of clone troopers with support during a top-secret mission on Coruscant that targeted a Separatist cell. Obrim also assisted Skirata on a personal level in the retrieval of clone commando RC-8015 and Republic Treasury Agent Besany Wennen from an armed standoff in the Republic Central Medcenter. When Order 66 was issued, condemning several of Skirata's friends as traitors to the Galactic Republic, Obrim assisted the Skirata clan in escaping Coruscant. After the Clone Wars, Obrim and the Anti-Terrorism Unit were transferred to the new Imperial Security Bureau. From this new position, Obrim provided support and information to Skirata, his clan, and other anti-Imperial resistance movements.

Senate Guard
"Commander Obrim here, Senate Guard."

- Jaller Obrim

Jaller Obrim was a Human male police officer on the galactic capital planet of Coruscant. He served as a Senate Guard for twenty-eight years and eventually attained the rank of commander. During his time as a Guard, he protected senators and other high-ranking government officials. He additionally conducted criminal investigations and gained a reputation as a smart, no-nonsense street cop. By 22 BBY, he lived in a residence in the Rampart Town section of Galactic City on Coruscant with his wife, Telti, and two teenage sons.

During the Clone Wars, which began in 22 BBY, Korun terrorists under the leadership of Nuriin-Ar seized the Galactic City Spaceport and took several hostages, including Senator Meena Tills and his aide, Vun Merett Jai. The terrorists demanded that the Galactic Republic withdraw its forces and cease interference in the affairs of their homeworld, Haruun Kal. The Senator's involvement prompted Obrim and a Senate Guard detachment to respond to the hostage crisis, as did the Coruscant Security Force, the clone commando unit Omega Squad, Mandalorian Sergeant Kal Skirata, and Null ARC Captain Null-11, nicknamed "Ordo."

Jedi Master Kaim attempted to negotiate with the Korun terrorists, but they killed him and threw his body, strapped with explosives, outside of the spaceport. Clone commando RC-8015, nicknamed "Fi," jumped onto the Jedi before the explosion went off, an act that saved the lives of the CSF police officers standing nearby. The hostage siege was brought to an end as the commando team forcefully entered the building and killed the terrorists. Fi survived the blast, and his heroism was remembered by Obrim and the CSF for a long time thereafter.

Working for CSF
"Ask your chief executive about his interest in Twi'lek artistic pursuits on every fourth of the month, and if he'd like me to give police surveillance holovids of the visits to the cultural center to his lovely wife. Your call."

- Obrim, dealing with an obstructing administrative medical droid

After the siege, Obrim was seconded to CSF's Anti-Terrorism Unit and given the rank of captain. In 21 BBY, during one of their first meetings at the CSF Staff and Social Club since the spaceport hostage siege, Obrim and Skirata discussed an upcoming black ops mission by Omega Squad, Captain Ordo, and Jedi Knights Bardan Jusik and Etain Tur-Mukan to uncover a Separatist terror cell on Coruscant. Skirata's and Obrim's friendship had grown, and Skirata knew he would need the help of the Anti-Terrorism Unit in order to complete the mission successfully.

Throughout the black ops mission, however, Skirata was hesitant to give Obrim detailed information for fear of having it leaked and threatening the safety of his team. Likewise, Obrim wanted to protect his men from getting killed by unknowingly interfering with the clones, who were in disguise as arms dealers. At one point, Skirata and Obrim argued and almost came to blows over the issue of sharing information. Skirata eventually agreed to share information on locations his team would hit or observe, but only to warn off the CSF from interfering with those spots. Later, Skirata revealed the locations of the terrorist cells, giving Obrim and the CSF an active part in the end of the mission. After Skirata and his team were successful in neutralizing the main terrorist team, Skirata gave Obrim the all-clear, and Obrim, along with the CSF, arrested or killed more than ninety other suspects.

On a mission to Gaftikar, clone commando Fi sustained a serious brain injury and was taken to Coruscant's Republic Central Medcenter. Kal Skirata asked Republic Treasury Agent Besany Wennen to keep an eye on Fi, and she discovered that the medical droids intended to euthanize Fi since they had declared him brain-dead. Wennen threatened the medical droids with her blaster, forced them out of Fi's hospital room, and shot the lock to seal herself and Fi inside. In the resulting standoff, Skirata called Obrim for a rescue, and Obrim responded with several CSF patrol officers and half of the shift from the Anti-Terrorism Unit. In a large display of weapons and armor, Obrim and the CSF stormed the hallway and escorted Wennen and Fi out of the room. When they reached the lobby, they were stopped by a medical droid who insisted they had no right to remove the unconscious Fi. Threatening that he would release embarrassing information about the droid's boss, Obrim was able to secure Fi's release. Along with Wennen, they left the medical center under the loyal and watchful gaze of the CSF officers whose lives Fi had saved during the Galactic City Spaceport hostage siege. Fi was taken to Obrim's apartment, where he was cared for by a medical droid Obrim had rented. Fi was later covertly moved to the planet Mandalore.

Obrim was one of the few non-clones trusted with Skirata's plans to help clone troopers desert the Grand Army of the Republic. While he refused to hear specifics for reasons of deniability, he aided the Skirata clan by alerting Skirata that Supreme Chancellor Palpatine had issued a warrant for his arrest. He also relocated Kad Skirata, the baby of RC-1136 "Darman" and Etain Tur-Mukan; Laseema, the wife of RC-3222 "Atin"; and Besany Wennen to his apartment in case they had been targeted as well. There, Telti Obrim kept the individuals safe during the Separatist attack on Coruscant until Skirata came to get them.

Order 66 and the ISB
"No, the Imperial Guard can do without me. I'd never fit in the suit now. Besides, the Emperor wants fit and dedicated young stormtroopers to do the job, and I'm an old street cop at heart."

- Jaller Obrim, discussing law enforcement on Coruscant

After Palpatine issued Order 66, condemning all Jedi as traitors to the Republic, Obrim monitored the resulting operation against the Jedi Order from his police speeder with the intention of ensuring that Skirata and his crew escaped Coruscant. He helped locate Etain Tur-Mukan as she made her way to the rendezvous point to escape to Mandalore, but Tur-Mukan found several clone troopers confronting a group of Jedi Padawans in the checkpoint on the Shinarcan Bridge Extension. Tur-Mukan rushed to the defense of the clones, but she was sliced by a lightsaber wielded by one of the Padawans. Obrim rushed in to help and covered Tur-Makan's body, but he was forced to use the stun setting on his blaster to render Skirata, who was yelling and screaming, unconscious long enough for Ordo to remove him from the scene. Obrim promised to keep an eye out for Darman and RC-1309 "Niner", who had been forced to stay behind after Niner's spine was broken during the skirmish. Obrim also guarded Tur-Mukan's body both at the scene and afterward, until Null-12 "A'den" was able to move it to Mandalore.

With the end of the war and the reorganization of the Republic into the Galactic Empire, Obrim and the Anti-Terrorism Unit were merged along with elements of the CSF detective units and the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order&mdash;formerly the Commission for the Protection of the Republic&mdash;to form a new security organization called the Imperial Security Bureau. The ISB was set up as a rival to the new Imperial Intelligence and served as an internal security apparatus and a secret police dedicated to the New Order. Obrim felt little love for Palpatine or the Empire and instead preferred his life as a street cop. Due to his former status as a loyal Senate Guard, Obrim escaped Palpatine's purge of the government and continued to serve as a captain in the ISB. On one occasion, Darman and Niner came to the ISB information technology center hoping to recover information from a supposedly blank disc they had found while on a mission to the planet Celen. Obrim was there and officially attested to the insignificance of the present data. However, he hinted in their conversation that the disc in fact contained very valuable information for anti-Imperials, Jedi, and the underground organization Whiplash. He then secretly passed the disc back to Niner with full knowledge that it would help Skirata and others, while verbally expressing that he would log it as evidence. Later, the disc was found to contain information on ships, locations, comm codes, and arms caches.

Personality and traits
"I'm turning a blind eye to that, right? Because suspects are my part of ship to deal with. But I do have this annoying eyesight problem lately."

- Obrim, to Kal Skirata

Above all else, Jaller Obrim saw himself as a street cop. He loved his job and performed it with great enthusiasm, involving himself in the grittiness of police work on Coruscant. His abilities to quickly analyze a situation and take action were traits that served him well as a lead police officer. A stocky man, he had a commanding presence, and his direct, to-the-point attitude earned him respect at crime scenes. As head of the Anti-Terrorism Unit, Obrim held a great deal of sway with the CSF that expanded to other units such as the Organized Crime and Forensics Units. Obrim's reputation as a street smart, hard-nosed cop&mdash;even by CSF standards&mdash;seemed to others in contrast to his skills as a computer technician. Characteristically, he rarely demonstrated his substantial computer abilities. A strong believer in hard data and facts, Obrim was less inclined to believe in the powers of the Force. However, he did recognize its usefulness as a tool, although only to a certain extent. Due to the enemies he made in his work as a police officer, Obrim had a very suspicious nature and trusted very few people. He had an extensive security system installed in his home as well as in the lobby of his apartment complex to protect himself and his family.

Though he sometimes came across as cold and uncaring, Obrim was loyal to his close friends and family and valued them above and beyond a sense of patriotism. From their first meeting, Obrim had a professional respect for Kal Skirata and his group of clone commandos. The friendship grew not only from interactions while on duty but also from personal meetings at places such as the Kragget, a greasy food joint frequented by cops, and the CSF Staff and Social Club. Though they sometimes disagreed and were fiercely protective of their own men, Obrim's and Skirata's friendship was solid, and they trusted each other explicitly. Skirata's level of trust went so far that he included Obrim in his plans to help clone troopers desert the GAR and for the Skirata clan to escape to Mandalore&mdash;Obrim was one of only a few non-clones who were told of the plans. While working with Kal Skirata, Obrim leaked classified information, went selectively deaf, made people and information disappear, and diverted CSF resources, all to help Skirata's missions. Obrim even went so far as to risk his life and career to help Skirata and the clan escape Coruscant during Order 66. In response, Skirata trusted Obrim with his life and the lives of his extended family.

Behind the scenes
Jaller Obrim was developed by author Karen Traviss for the Republic Commando series. His first appearance was in Omega Squad: Targets, a short story published in Star Wars Insider 81 and released in March of 2005. He appeared as a Senate Guard sent to ensure the retrieval of a senator from a hostage situation. Traviss expanded the character's role as the series began to take place predominantly on Coruscant in Republic Commando: Triple Zero, published on February 28, 2006. The True Colors novel, published on October 30, 2007, presented details about Obrim's personal life, including the location of his home and his wife's name.

While Obrim played a more notable part in the following Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel, published on September 16, 2008, by allowing Skirata's clan to escape and by taking care of Tur-Mukan's body, his role was diminished in the last novel, Imperial Commando: 501st, published on October 27, 2009. However, in both novels, the theme of Obrim's characteristics as a loyal friend yet still a good cop was strongly present. With Imperial Commando, Obrim's last appearance left him as a man who performed his job but who also risked his career and life to help out those he felt deserved his true loyalty. He all but officially turned traitor to the Empire in passing on vital information to assist resistance movements.

The storyline was planned to continue and conclude in a second Imperial Commando novel, but the series was cancelled. In an e-mail, Karen Traviss revealed her tentative plan for the conclusion to Obrim's story, stating that with the assistance of Kal Skirata, Obrim and his family would flee Coruscant and likely join the Skirata clan.

Appearances

 * Omega Squad: Targets
 * Republic Commando: Triple Zero
 * Republic Commando: True Colors
 * Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel
 * Imperial Commando: 501st