Zaerdra

"One wrong move and you'll be dead quicker than you can say 'Vulkar spy.'"

- Zaerdra to Revan

Zaerdra was a pale-skinned female Twi'lek who lived in the Lower City of Taris during the time of the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War. A member of the Hidden Beks swoop gang, she served as the personal bodyguard of Gadon Thek, the leader of the gang, and participated in their resistance activities against the Mandalorian occupation. A devoted member and ward of Thek, she met the fugitive Padawan Zayne Carrick with suspicion when he returned to Taris, along with Marn Hierogryph in 3,963 BBY, and held fellow Beks Griff Vao and Brejik in low esteem. Some seven years later, during the Jedi Civil War and in the midst of the Bek-Vulkar gang war, she greeted the amnesiac former Sith Lord with open hostility, forcing gang leader Thek to apologize for her abrupt behavior. Zaerdra was likely killed in the orbital bombardment that was ordered by Darth Malak to prevent the escape of Bastila Shan.

Mandalorian invasion
When the Mandalorians laid siege and eventually invaded the strategic Outer Rim world of Taris, the Hidden Beks became a large part of the resistance, with Zaerdra filling a major role within the gang as Gadon Thek's bodyguard. When Zayne Carrick and Marn Hierogryph, who had been framed by the Jedi Covenant for the murder of four fellow Padawans and classmates, arrived, the Beks were at first going to hand them over to Constable Noana Sowrs. Those plans changed, however, after the discovery by Carrick that Bek gang members Brejik and Griff Vao had kidnapped Sowrs' children prior to the invasion. Because of this, Gadon had Zaerdra give Zayne his lightsaber back and accepted him into the gang. It was on Zaerdra's swoop bike that the Constable's two sons, Nahk and Tallie, were flown to the meeting place, where Sowers and her own resistance group were. In order to get there, however, the Beks, along with Carrick, were forced to fight their way through a group of Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders firing at them from the ground. After a confrontation between the Beks and members of the Constable's resistance movement, which was complicated by the presence of Jedi Master Raana Tey, Sowrs was reunited with her children.

Rise of the Vulkars
Some time over the next seven years, Thek lost his sight in a swoop bike accident, however he remained in control of the gang. Zaerdra's bodyguard duties, which she always took very seriously, were amplified when Brejik left the gang to become the leader of the rival Black Vulkars. The jilted former Bek, who had expected to be appointed as the blinded Thek's replacement, tried everything he could to kill the elder swoop racer and as many Beks as possible in an ongoing street war that would claim many lives, gang member and civilian alike. The conflict continued through the outbreak of the Jedi Civil War.

At the height of the Bek-Vulkar gang war, the amnesiac former Dark Lord of the Sith, Revan, along with Carth Onasi, arrived in the Lower City. The pair were searching for another Padawan, Bastila Shan, whose gift with battle meditation was crucial to the Galactic Republic's war effort against the Sith Empire under Darth Malak. Acting on a tip-off from Mission Vao, a friend of the Beks who had introduced herself at Javyar's Cantina, the pair of Republic fugitives inquired at the Hidden Bek base. After pledging support for the Beks, they were allowed in, however they were warned by the Bek door guard about Zaerdra's nature. When Revan and Onasi walked up to Gadon's desk, Zaerdra was and continued to be suspicious of them, even speculating that Revan might be a Sith agent. Thek, however, had a feeling that this wasn't the case, and told the pair what he knew about Shan's whereabouts and that she had been offered up as a prize in the Tarisian Season Opener swoop race. When he and Revan made a deal to retrieve a prototype accelerator that the Vulkars had stolen in order to race in the Opener under the Bek banner and, thus, win Shan's freedom, she maintained a steely vigil.

Zaerdra's suspicions proved to be baseless, however, when Revan, whom the Vulkars had attempted to recruit to their side, returned with the swoop bike accelerator. With the accelerator installed on the swoop he was to use in the race, Revan took first place for the Beks. However, Brejik accused him of cheating, and announced that he was withdrawing the Vulkars' share of the victory prize&mdash;the captive Shan. When the Jedi freed herself from the neural disruptor that had "restrained" her, the shocked Vulkar ordered his gang to attack Revan and the other Beks present. The resulting lightfight killed Brejik.

Eventually Malak, who had had the planet quarantined after its conquest by the Sith in an attempt to find Shan, grew frustrated with the increasingly-fruitless search. He then ordered Admiral Saul Karath to prepare the fleet for an orbital bombardment. With the planet virtually wiped clean of life in the resulting torrent of turbolaser fire, Zaerdra, along with the rest of the Beks, was likely killed.

Personality and traits
"And if your little sister gets into my stuff again, Griff, you'll be an only child. Or she will."

- Zaerdra to Griff Vao

A rough-and-tumble swoop rider who knew how to fight, Zaerdra took her duties both to the gang and her charge very seriously. After Thek's swoop accident and subsequent blindness, she became even more fiercely protective of him; this became so deep that Thek was forced almost routinely to tell her to back off, reminding Zaerdra that he could still look after himself. As a result of her duty, she was also extremely suspicious of outsiders, meeting Zayne Carrick with ill-disguised contempt; seven years later, she greeted Revan with outright hostility. Zaerdra was also very possessive, threatening Griff Vao if his little sister, Mission, ever rummaged through her belongings again; she also held a very low regard for the fellow Twi'lek.

Behind the scenes
Zaerdra was first introduced in the computer and video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. She would later appear, albeit some seven years earlier in continuity, in the Knights of Suffering story arc of the Knights of the Old Republic comics In both media, she serves as the personal bodyguard of Gadon Thek. Along with many characters depicted in this story arc, such as Griff Vao and Brejik, she was drawn wearing the same type of gear in which she had appeared in the game.

If the player, as Revan, takes the dark path throughout the game, he can turn on the Beks, riding in the swoop race for the Black Vulkars. After the race, he then returns to the Hidden Bek base and kill Thek. In his assault on the base Revan can kill Zaerdra, who is still standing in the main room.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 22: Knights of Suffering, Part 1
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 23: Knights of Suffering, Part 2
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Notes and references
Zaerdra