Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/September 9, 2010

Rahm Kota was a Human male who served as a Jedi Master and General during the Clone Wars. Born on a war-torn world, Kota fought in the trenches during the planet's internal conflicts from the age of ten. At the age of eighteen, Kota met the Jedi Mace Windu, who had been dispatched to the planet to end the conflict peacefully. Discovering Kota's Force-sensitivity, Windu took Kota back to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to be trained as a Jedi. Despite being well over the traditional age of acceptance, Kota was schooled in the Force by Master Yoda. His forthright and blunt nature earned him few friends in the Order during his training, but Kota's courage and loyalty to the Jedi and the Republic were without question. He took Falon Grey as his Padawan sometime before the Clone Wars, training him to Knighthood. During the Clone Wars, Kota was made a general in the Grand Army of the Republic. He did not believe that clone troopers were fit for battle, however, and refused to lead them. Instead, he commanded his own militia comprising of volunteers. The militia served with distinction during the war, operating as both a line unit and special operations force.

In 19 BBY, when Order 66&mdash;an emergency contingency that ordered the clone forces to terminate their Jedi commanders, who had been deemed a threat to the Republic&mdash;was issued, Kota survived the slaughter of his fellow Jedi since there were no clone troopers serving with him. Going into hiding with his militia, he maintained ties with fellow Purge survivors Kazdan Paratus and Shaak Ti and allied himself with Alderaanian Senator Bail Organa. Kota began striking at Imperial targets, taking interest in the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader and hoping to draw him into a confrontation. This culminated in a mission to seize a TIE Fighter Construction Facility in orbit of Nar Shaddaa. Kota believed that he could draw Vader out with the strike but was instead confronted by the Dark Lord's secret apprentice. The two dueled in the facility's command center; Kota was beaten and blinded but managed to escape the confrontation.

With his confidence shaken&mdash;and his connection to the Force seemingly gone&mdash;Kota turned to drinking and went into hiding in Cloud City on Bespin. He was discovered by the apprentice he had dueled on Nar Shaddaa, who wanted his help in fighting the Empire. The apprentice&mdash;who had been tasked by Vader to create a rebellion with which to oppose Emperor Palpatine&mdash;wanted Kota to instruct him in the Force. Kota suspected that the young man before him was the same man who had blinded him, but&mdash;through the Force&mdash;sensed a bright spot within him that gave him hope that the apprentice could be turned away from the dark side. Kota reluctantly agreed to help the apprentice and assisted him in making contact with Senator Organa, Senator Mon Mothma of Chandrila, and Senator Garm Bel Iblis of Corellia through a series of missions. Together, they pledged to form the Alliance to Restore the Republic to fight against the Empire. During this time, Kota recovered much of his former self and restored his connection to the Force.

During the subsequent meeting of the Corellian Treaty to formally create the Rebellion against the Empire, Vader attacked the assemblage with Imperial forces. The apprentice&mdash;who had come to renounce his ties to Vader and the Empire&mdash;had attempted to keep the meeting secret but had been discovered. Kota attacked Vader but was easily beaten and captured, along with the gathered senators. Taken to the Death Star battlestation under construction in the Horuz system, Kota was to be interrogated and executed by the Emperor himself. The apprentice&mdash;who had been left for dead on Corellia&mdash;infiltrated the superweapon and fought his way to the prisoners. After engaging and beating Vader in a duel, the apprentice rescued Kota from a Force lightning attack by the Emperor. While the apprentice held off the Emperor, Kota and the senators escaped the Death Star aboard the apprentice's ship, the Rogue Shadow. Regrouping on Kashyyyk, Kota joined in the Declaration of Rebellion, an official proclamation of the group's intent to oppose the Empire's rule. As a Rebel, Kota was responsible for the recruitment of X2, a Force-sensitive clone of his former Padawan Falon Grey, into the Rebel Alliance.