Lorn Pavan

"He died a hero's death, Jax. He died avenging the killing of a Jedi. He died in an attempt to save the Republic from being overthrown. He died in battle with one of the most dangerous assassins in the galaxy."

- I-5YQ, to Jax Pavan

Lorn Pavan was a Human male who worked as a business clerk at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant during the last years of the Galactic Republic before becoming an information broker. Pavan and his wife Siena had a son, Jax, in 39 BBY, who was later found by the Jedi to be Force-sensitive. When Pavan agreed to let his son be trained by the Jedi Order, the Jedi fired him, as a key tenet of Jedi philosophy was that Jedi should not develop attachments. Shortly after this, his wife left him, and Pavan was forced to become an information dealer in the underlevels of Coruscant. In 37 BBY, Pavan met the droid I-5YQ, who he took into his possession. He later modified I-5 a great deal, and the droid began to think freely, even developing a sentience of sorts. Pavan considered him a friend, and treated him like an equal.

In 32 BBY, Pavan became the target of a Zabrak Sith Lord, who sought to recover a holocron with pivotal information and kill anyone who had knowledge of it. Having attempted to buy the holocron, Pavan found himself being hunted. The Sith chased Pavan, I-5 and their new ally, the Jedi Padawan Darsha Assant, through the Coruscant underworld. The three tried desperately to evade the Sith and make it to the Jedi Temple but were eventually cornered. Assant sacrificed herself to allow Pavan and the droid to escape. Determined to avenge Assant&mdash;for whom Pavan had begun developing feelings&mdash;he went after the Sith, encountering him on a space station above the planet. He managed to stun him and recover the holocron, but was then forced to flee when the Sith awoke. Encountering Senator Palpatine and his guards aboard the station, Pavan at last believed that he was safe, and Palpatine gave Pavan a room on Coruscant to stay in and recover from the ordeal. Unbeknownst to him, Palpatine was in fact a Sith Lord, and the Zabrak's master. After learning that Pavan had escaped from his apprentice, Palpatine sent his student after Pavan, at which point the Zabrak finally killed him. Pavan's memory lived on in his son and I-5.

The Jedi Temple and exile
"I was somebody once. Worked uplevels. Penthouse suite. Could see th' mountains. Damn Jedi&mdash;they did this to me."

- Lorn Pavan

In the latter years of the Galactic Republic, the Human male Lorn Pavan worked as a business affairs clerk at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, capital of the Republic. In 39 BBY, he had a son with his wife Siena. The two named their child Jax. Pavan continued to work at the Temple until his son was two, when the Jedi realized the Force potential the young child possessed. Pavan agreed to let his son be trained by the Jedi. The Jedi then fired him, as a key component of their philosophy was that Jedi, particularly Younglings such as Jax, should not develop attachments. Pavan was outraged by the loss of his job, but could do nothing about it. Feeling that this was unjust, he developed a great hatred for the Jedi, which would remain for most of his life. Around the time of his firing, his wife left him.

Pavan became an information broker, struggling to make money. In 37 BBY, he encountered a protocol droid named I-5YQ in a junk dealer's shop. After activating the droid, and hearing his story&mdash;he had been owned by a rich family, whose spoiled children frequently ordered him to jump off the roof for entertainment&mdash;Pavan purchased him. He began to make extensive modifications to the droid, allowing him to think and act more independently. It was not long before the droid even began to show sentient characteristics, and Pavan considered him an equal and a friend.

In 32 BBY, Pavan and I-5 were still working in the underlevels of Coruscant. They struggled to get by, and Pavan owned very few possessions. That year, they had a meeting with the Toydarian businessman Zippa. Zippa possessed an object that he claimed to be a Jedi holocron, which he offered to sell to the Human for 20,000 credits. However, when a skeptical Pavan replied that there was no way of telling whether it was authentic or not, as it could only be accessed by a Force-sensitive, Zippa sarcastically asked if Pavan would be to able to use the Force to open the holocron. The Human snapped at this remark, threatening Zippa and warning him to never mention the Jedi to him again. After some hassling, the two settled on a price of 12,000 for the holocron.

However, when Pavan handed over the credits, Zippa withheld the holocron, while his Gamorrean bodyguard, Bilk held the two at bay with a blaster, enabling the Toydarian to flee with both the money and the prize. Before he left, Zippa warned Pavan that anyone who threatened him would die, and left his bodyguard behind to fulfill his warning. However, I-5 let loose a deafening scream from his vocabulator, causing the Gamorrean to drop the blaster in pain. The droid caught the weapon and shot Bilk, killing him and allowing the two to leave. Though he had survived, Pavan was furious for losing both the credits&mdash;most of his remaining savings&mdash;and the holocron. Determined to forget his troubles, at least temporarily, he headed for the Green Glowstone Tavern, and proceeded to get drunk on Johrian whiskey. After becoming intoxicated, Pavan stumbled out of the bar, and was helped home to his one room apartment by I-5. The next morning, the droid informed Pavan that he had two holomessages. One was from Yanth, a Hutt crime lord who had planned to buy the Jedi holocron from Pavan, and now was growing tired of waiting for the Human. The second message was from a Neimoidian named Hath Monchar, who mentioned that he had a valuable commodity that he believed Pavan might be interested in. He also gave a time and a place for the two to meet. As Pavan now possessed a mere 17 decicreds, he decided to meet with Monchar.

Deal of a lifetime
"In fact, it might well be the chance of your lifetime&hellip;"

- I-5YQ, to Lorn Pavan, on purchasing Monchar's holocron

Pavan and I-5 met with Monchar and his Trandoshan bodyguard, Gorth, at the Dewback Inn. Monchar informed Pavan that he had a holocron with information on an impending blockade of a planet. Furthermore, this blockade was to be directed by the Sith. Aware that there were many who would pay a great deal for this information, Pavan was interested in buying it. However, Monchar demanded 500,000 credits for the holocron, and refused to negotiate. He informed Pavan that he should meet him at Monchar's cubicle in an hour with the funds. Though Pavan did not have the necessary sum, he agreed to meet Monchar when the Neimoidian threatened to sell the holocron to someone else if Pavan could not come up with the required sum in the time limit. Monchar and Gorth then headed to Monchar's apartment, leaving Pavan and I-5 to determine how to come up with half a million credits in one hour.

The two brainstormed several possible solutions, such as winning big in sabacc, although I-5 convinced his partner that such options were not feasible. The only viable choice, the droid said, was bank fraud. Pavan was stunned by this suggestion, and the droid began to explain his idea. I-5 was confident that he could slice into a bank, and alter Pavan's credit tab so that, for a short while, at least, it would display him as having 500,000 credits in his account. Though he would not actually possess the money, the Neimoidian would believe that he did, and Pavan would be able to purchase the holocron, while actually leaving Monchar empty-handed. Although both knew that the plan was extremely risky, Pavan agreed to it, seeing the scheme as the only way by which he could "gain" half a million credits in time to buy the holocron. The two would then sell the holocron for a large sum and flee the planet, hopefully ahead of bank officials.

The two then located a dataport, and I-5 successfully made the transfer. The droid estimated that it would be an hour and 40 minutes before bank officials discovered the fraud, meaning that the two had a small window to collect the holocron and flee the planet. The two headed to Monchar's cubicle, and I-5 waited outside while Pavan went to speak to the Neimoidian and receive the holocron. As he neared Monchar's room in the building, the Human was struck by a sudden shockwave from an explosion in Monchar's room, knocking him unconscious for a moment. When he awoke, he noticed several corpses nearby. One of them, Pavan realized, was Monchar's. Glancing in the Neimoidian's burnt and blackened apartment, he noticed the holocron laying in an open safe. Pavan quickly grabbed it and then fled the building.

Outside, he met I-5 and explained what had happened as the two hurried away from the building. Though unsure of what exactly had caused the explosion and killed the people there&mdash;evidently Monchar and his bodyguards&mdash;he agreed with I-5's advice that they quickly sell the holocron to Yanth and get off-planet. As the duo was walking away from the building, Pavan suddenly had a realization&mdash;the wounds had been cauterized, and there was no blood from the lacerations. He knew that the only weapon capable of doing such was a lightsaber, and that no Jedi would have violently killed in that manner. Thus, Pavan felt, a Sith had to have been responsible, even though he had learned that the Sith Order had supposedly been wiped out a millennia ago. Though I-5 attempted to convince his friend otherwise, Pavan was sure that a Sith was the cause of the brutal killings. He intended to get off-planet, and started to throw the holocron away before he was stopped by the droid. I-5 managed to persuade Pavan to keep the holocron, and sell it to Yanth, after which they could flee Coruscant. The two then met with the Hutt in his underground headquarters. There, Pavan explained that the holocron revealed details of an impending invasion to be led by the Sith. When Yanth questioned why he had not taken this to the Jedi, Pavan&mdash;reluctant to explain his personal reasons for disliking the Jedi Order&mdash;simply replied that he suspected that they would use a mind trick to force him to hand over the holocron for free. Yanth then inspected the holocron, and agreed to buy it for one million credits.

Hunted
"If I'm right, there's a Sith out there. He's probably looking for this. He can't be bought off, scared off, or thrown off the trail, and he'll stop at nothing to get it."

- Lorn Pavan

Just as Yanth handed over the credits, a Zabrak in a hooded cloak with a red lightsaber stepped through the door. Pavan was instantly terrified by the man, recognizing him as a Sith Lord. The Human narrowly avoided being decapitated, and then fled along with I-5 while the Sith slaughtered Yanth and his bodyguards. The two escaped to the club called the Tusken Oasis that was located above Yanth's basement headquarters, and fled out into the streets, the Sith Lord not far behind them. Just as he was catching up to the duo, they were saved by a pair of Jedi in an airspeeder who had sensed a disturbance in the Force when the Sith had killed the Hutt and his guards. Pavan and I-5 quickly boarded the airspeeder, although the Zabrak was able to damage the craft's repulsorlifts, preventing them from ascending to safety high above. Though Pavan was glad to have escaped from the Sith, his enthusiasm was tempered by two things&mdash;the realization that the hated Jedi had saved him, and that the Sith was now pursuing them on a speeder.

The two explained to the Jedi why they were being pursued. Realizing that the Zabrak Sith was catching up, the Jedi Master, Anoon Bondara, jumped out of the speeder, landing on the Sith's speeder bike. The two then jumped to a nearby platform, and started a fast-paced duel. Meanwhile, the Jedi's Padawan, Darsha Assant, turned the speeder around, determined to rescue her Master. Pavan and I-5 pleaded with her to make her Master's sacrifice meaningful, but she remained resolute. Just as their speeder neared the platform, Bondara, recognizing that he was going to lose the duel, plunged his lightsaber into the Sith's speeder, causing its power core to explode. The platform collapsed, although the Sith escaped, while the speeder crashed, knocking the Humans unconscious. I-5 dragged Assant and Pavan out of the speeder before it exploded, and guarded them until they awoke. The three headed through a service conduit, intending to head back to the Jedi Temple. The trio traveled for a while, before they were abruptly attacked and knocked unconscious by Cthons, a group of feral, mutated beings that fed on meat&mdash;even Humans. When Pavan awoke a short time later, he found the creatures closing in on him, and his screams awoke Assant. Pavan told her to activate I-5, which she was able to do through the Force. The droid then let loose a deafening screech, which caused the Cthons, who relied on their hearing rather than sight, to flee in pain. The three then quickly fled.

As the trio headed back to the Jedi Temple, traveling through the underground, Pavan thought of ways he could avoid having to meet with the Jedi Council, whom he despised. He planned to flee to a spaceport instead of going to the Temple, and there, he and I-5 would book passage on a ship, possibly one owned by Tuden Sal, a Black Sun operative who owed Pavan a favor. From there, he planned to head to a far-away world like Tatooine, where he figured they would be safe from the Sith. However, he did have misgivings about abandoning Assant, as he found, much to his surprise, that he was beginning to like her. As he was lost in thought, the group came to a large drop-off. However, a nearby bridge&mdash;made of a sticky string-like substance and planks laid on top&mdash;stretched across the chasm, and seeing no other way across, the trio began to walk over it.

As the three crossed over the bridge, Assant noticed that the Sith had caught up to them, and was at the edge of the bridge behind them. However, in front of them was a taozin&mdash;a large, carnivorous invertebrate that could not be sensed through the Force, and had evidently created the bridge with a sticky substance it produced through its mouth. The trio attacked it, but quickly realized that they could not harm it. However, they remained unable to flee, as the Sith was behind them. As they slowly retreated, I-5 and Pavan removed the planks from the bridge. Assant then cut one of ropes that made up the bridge, and the three grabbed on, causing them to swing past the taozin, safe from danger. They then exited the tunnel.

Outside, the trio encountered several members of the Raptors, a gang Assant had tussled with earlier. The gangsters threatened them, only to be met with insults from Pavan, causing them to attack. The trio quickly defeated them, and then took one of the gang members, who they termed "Green Hair," with them to lead them to the upper levels. Though the thug attempted to use a mechanical turret to kill them, they thwarted him, and with the aid of a mind trick, Assant convinced him to lead them to the Temple. He took them to a large tunnel with a ladder stretching upward. The group climbed up the ladder, finally making it to the top. However, when they opened the door to leave the access pipe and finally arrive at the upper levels, they found their way blocked. The Sith Lord was waiting for them.

Assant Force pushed I-5 and Pavan into a carbon freezing chamber next to the exit, using the Force to lock them in, while she attacked the Sith. Pavan was stunned, and tried to break out to help her. However, I-5 knew what she had intended, and refused to let Pavan exit. He convinced him to make Assant's sacrifice meaningful, and then told Pavan that he could be frozen in carbonite, allowing him to escape the Zabrak's wrath. Pavan was successfully frozen; meanwhile, Assant continued to duel the Sith Lord. Aware that she could not win against a superior opponent, she sacrificed herself, detonating several barrels of explosive fuel that had been sitting nearby. The explosion vaporized Assant and her surroundings; however, the Sith escaped. The carbon freezing chamber, with I-5 and Pavan, also remained intact, allowing the two to survive.

Seeking vengeance and finding death
"You take on the Sith alone? You've got about as much chance as a snowball in a supernova."

- I-5YQ

I-5 then unfroze Pavan. When the Human came to, the droid explained what had happened, and that Tuden Sal was coming to give them a ride and take them to safety on another planet. As the droid reminded Pavan of the events that had taken place mere minutes ago, the Human felt a deep sense of loss and sadness upon concluding that Assant had died. He then realized that he had harbored feelings for her, and that the two had come to mean something to each other in a short time.

Shortly after this, Tuden Sal arrived in a skycar. As he took them to his ship, Pavan and I-5 noticed a figure below them&mdash;the Sith. He had survived, and remained unaware that Pavan had also lived. Pavan decided to follow the Sith, and avenge Assant. However, Pavan would not let I-5 accompany him, telling him that he should go to the Jedi Temple, so that there would be a backup plan in case the Sith won. Before the two parted ways, Pavan had I-5 make a brief recording of him explaining why he was going after the Sith. The message was meant for Jax, so that if Lorn Pavan was killed, his son would know why he had died. Pavan also wanted his son to know that he loved him, and wanted Jax to be proud of him. I-5 then gave his friend a bit of taozin skin to make him invisible to the Force, and the two split up, with Pavan telling Tuden Sal to deliver the droid to the Jedi Temple.

Pavan boarded the ship Sal had obtained for him&mdash;an ARE Thixian Seven&mdash;and he pursued the Zabrak, who was in his own ship. He was able to follow him to a space station that was in orbit of the planet without being noticed, and then he landed his ship in the hangar. He succeeded in sneaking up on the Sith in the station, and fired two stun shots into his back. However, just as he took the holocron from the Zabrak, the Sith Lord awoke, and attacked, slicing off Pavan's right hand. Stunned, the Corellian fled, managing to make it to another corridor and lock the door before the Zabrak could follow him.

Nonetheless, the Sith pursued Pavan, and used his lightsaber to cut through the hatch. Motivated by fear, Pavan ran for his life, scrambling upwards, until he found himself in a large solarium with several guards, and the senator from Naboo, Palpatine. Pavan handed him the holocron, informing Palpatine that it contained information vital to the Jedi Order. Palpatine promised to deliver it to them, and summoned aid, before Pavan collapsed from exhaustion. He awoke later in a hotel, convinced that he was finally safe, and had at last won. Palpatine had given him the option of moving to a world on the Outer Rim or staying on Coruscant. Either way, the bank fraud charges would be dropped, and Pavan would be able to live in peace with I-5. The Human was ready to start a new life. Though he would miss Assant, he was determined to begin his life anew, most likely by staying on Coruscant and attempting to meet Jax. However, his dreams were shattered when he opened the door to venture outside. There stood the Zabrak Sith.

Pavan was stunned, but the feeling of horror quickly faded, to be replaced by one of peace and acceptance. Having spent the past several days being chased by a deadly assassin, with his life on the line at every moment, he was tired of running. Furthermore, he believed that he had accomplished his objective, by delivering the holocron to the Jedi. His last thought before the Sith granted him a quick death was of his son, Jax.

Legacy
"I am I-Five. Your father sent me."

- I-5YQ, to Jax Pavan

Pavan's death was in vain, as the holocron was not delivered to the Jedi Temple. In truth, Palpatine, who Pavan had given the holocron to, was also the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. In his alter ego as Sidious, Palpatine was the Zabrak Sith's Master, and the mastermind behind the impending blockade of the planet Naboo.

Meanwhile, I-5, who Sal had promised to deliver to the Jedi, was instead sold to a smuggler so that Sal could pay off his debts. The droid's memory was also wiped, and although I-5 was able to save his memory from being permanently erased, it was not until 19 BBY that he fully restored his memory. Upon recovering his cognizance, he realized what had happened 13 years ago, and that Lorn Pavan had given him a mission&mdash;to protect and watch over his son. Thus, I-5 and his friend, the Sullustan reporter Den Dhur, set off for Coruscant.

However, upon arriving, they found that the Jedi had been all but wiped out during the Great Jedi Purge, in which Palpatine and his last Sith apprentice Darth Vader transformed the Republic into the Galactic Empire and attacked the Jedi, nearly wiping out the Order. Hoping to locate Jax Pavan, Dhur and I-5 remained on Coruscant. Eventually, they were able to find him, and though Pavan was initially less than receptive, he agreed to let Dhur and I-5 stay with him. Over time, he became friends with the two, and I-5 told him about the father he never knew.

In 18 BBY, when Pavan was being hunted by Vader and felt particularly lost, he mentioned to I-5 that he wished he could speak to his father, just once, and ask for advice. Upon hearing this, I-5 activated the holographic message that Lorn Pavan had programmed shortly before pursuing the Zabrak Sith. The message greatly impressed Pavan, and he found himself crying in honor of the father he had not known, who he believed had died a hero.

Personality and traits
"Here's all you need to know about the Jedi.''" "Oh please&mdash;not again." "''They're a bunch of self-serving, sanctimonious elitists."

- Lorn Pavan and I-5YQ

After Pavan gave his son over to the Jedi Order and was subsequently fired, he bore a great hatred for the Jedi that would last until his dying days. Being terminated from his job for what he felt was an unjust reason led to him developing a cynical view of the world, and he blamed the Jedi for his problems. The Human felt that they were greedy opportunists, and remained determined not to change his mind about them, causing him to initially dislike Assant. However, after the two were involved in life and death situations from which they narrowly avoided dying, they began to develop feelings for each other. These emotions led to Pavan feeling torn and guilty, as he had sworn to himself years earlier to never forgive the Jedi. Though he attempted to convince himself that he did not like Assant, he eventually realized that he was deluding himself, and admitted that he did indeed have feelings for her.

After her death, he was deeply saddened, and also angered. Her sacrifice motivated him to go after the Sith in hopes of avenging Assant. Though he was very aware that he could die, Pavan remained determined to try and avenge Assant, and to stop the Sith, who he felt had to be killed. Although he was unsuccessful in his bid to stop the Sith and ended up dying, he died content with himself, having at last found peace.

Lorn Pavan thought often of his son Jax, wondering how he was doing as a Jedi, and regretting having given him over to the Order. He was heartbroken when he was fired, which meant that he could not see his son. Though he had been separated from Jax for years, Pavan cared about him, and requested that I-5 watch over him in the event that he was unable to do so himself. He wanted Jax to know that he loved him and wanted his son to be proud of him, a message included in his holographic epistle for his son.

Pavan held the views that droids could be free-thinkers, and should be treated as equals rather than mindless servants. This view was highly unorthodox, and he frequently encountered beings who wondered why he referred to I-5 as a friend rather than a mere servant. It was this view that led to him buying I-5 and treating him like an equal, a belief that only grew stronger after he had been with I-5 for years and seen the droid's personality develop.

Behind the scenes
Lorn Pavan was created for the 2001 novel Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, by Michael Reaves. This is his only appearance to date, although his son would be featured in the Coruscant Nights tetralogy years later. Pavan has been mentioned in several other novels, all of which were written by Reaves, and was later given an entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

Appearances

 * Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
 * MedStar I: Battle Surgeons
 * MedStar II: Jedi Healer
 * Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight
 * Coruscant Nights II: Street of Shadows
 * Coruscant Nights III: Patterns of Force