R4-K5

R4-K5 was an R4-series astromech droid that served as a navigator aboard starfighters of the Jedi Order during the Clone Wars. Following the destruction of the Jedi Order on Coruscant, the droid would later accompany Darth Vader, formerly Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, on early missions for the Galactic Empire.

Biography
In 19 BBY, at the height of the Clone Wars, Anakin Skywalker, newly appointed Sith Lord Darth Vader, along with the stormtroopers of the 501st Legion, ransacked the Jedi Temple and killed most of the Jedi in residence on the orders of Palpatine. The operation culminated in a raid on the Jedi Temple Hangar, which saw much of the equipment in the facility destroyed. One survivor of the attack, however, was R4-K5, and the droid was adopted for service in the newly-minted Imperial Navy.

After Vader's injuries, earned at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar, forced him to don a black suit of armor, he also acquired a set of black Eta-2 Actis-class interceptors. Vader would pilot one of these craft in an attack on several runaway Jedi over Murkhana, assisted by the socketed R4-K5, who was stationed on the Imperial Star Destroyer Exactor along with the interceptor. R4-K5 was instrumental in helping Vader grasp the tactical situation, supplying him with information regarding the escape plan of the Jedi and alerting him to their imminent absconsion by way of a hyperdrive ring.Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader</ref

Vader, scarred and mentally tortured by the recent events in his life, did not share a camaraderie with R4-K5 as he had with his former astromech, R2-D2; rather, he simply regarded R4-K5 as another piece of machinery.

Behind the scenes
R4-K5 is presented inconsistently in terms of color across sources; in The New Essential Chronology, the droid is seen as having a black dome, with a white body. This is incompatible with other sources, which depict the droid with an all-black body.

In the comic book arc Darth Vader and the Lost Command, Vader's now highly-modified interceptor features an astromech droid; however, it is depicted inconsistently between frames, and is not confirmed to be R4-K5.

Appearances

 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Lost Command 2

Non-canon appearances

 * Star Wars: Visions of the Blade