Shahan Alama/Legends

Shahan Alama was a male Weequay bounty hunter active during the Clone Wars. Alongside bounty hunters Aurra Sing and Robonino, Alama was recruited by Duros hunter Cad Bane to capture the mercenary Davtokk. The three worked together successfully, incapacitating Davtokk, and Bane, impressed with their teamwork, formed the three into his new posse. The bounty hunters then traveled to the galactic capital of Coruscant to attempt to free the Hutt crime lord Ziro Desilijic Tiure from prison.

During the raid, the bounty hunters captured several Senators, holding them hostage in the Senate Building to force Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to free Ziro. Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker was present in the Senate Building, however, and attempted to foil the bounty hunters' plan. Alama, Sing, and Robonino managed to find and incapacitate Skywalker. Palpatine agreed to free Ziro, and after the Hutt was released, the bounty hunters escaped with Ziro, leaving a system of explosives in the atrium to keep the Senators as leverage for their escape.

Recruitment


Shahan Alama was a male Weequay bounty hunter active during the time of the Clone Wars. Around 22 BBY during the war, Alama, along with the technician Robonino and the Jedi-turned-hunter Aurra Sing, was recruited by Duros bounty hunter Cad Bane to capture the bounty hunter Davtokk on the planet of Keyorin. Bane wished to determine how well the three usually solitary beings would work together. The Duros convinced Davtokk to come to Keyorin by telling him that he needed recruits, but Bane knew that the hunter would betray him for the large bounty on the Duros's head. When Davtokk arrived on Keyorin, he met Bane in an explosives-wired building and abruptly shot him, only to find that what he had shot was actually a B1 battle droid mannequin of Bane.

Davtokk was instantly ambushed by Robonino, and the technician detonated the building's explosives, forcing the hunter outside. Alama was waiting for him, and quickly caught him in a razor net. The hunter broke free and used a flash grenade to evade the onrushing Weequay, but Davtokk was abruptly shot through the knees by sniper fire from Sing. Bane then arrived on the scene and killed Davtokk. Pleased with the trio's performance, Bane took his new posse to the galactic capital of Coruscant, to prepare for an operation to rescue the Hutt crime lord Ziro Desilijic Tiure from prison. The Hutt had been placed in the Republic Judiciary Central Detention Center for his role in the kidnapping of his great-nephew, Rotta, and Bane had been hired to free the Hutt. Bane's plan was to capture several Senators and hold them hostage, using them as leverage to force Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to free Ziro.

Raid on the Senate
The mission began as Bane and Alama, along with two BX-series droid commandos and an IG-86 sentinel droid landed at the entrance to the Senate Building. They were confronted by a squad of Senate Commandos, a unit within the Senate Guard. From a nearby building, Sing attacked the squad with sniper fire, and the Commandos were quickly eliminated. Sing and Robonino quickly flew down to the entrance in an airspeeder with several more sentinel droids. Leaving the droid commandos outside, Alama, Sing, Robonino, Bane, and the sentinel droids entered the Senate Building. Leaving Robonino in the building's power control room to shut down the building's power, the others continued to the East Wing. The bounty hunters took out the Senate Guards' barracks along the way. The group reached the atrium filled with several Senators&mdash;who had gathered to discuss the Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill&mdash;and surrounded them, taking them hostage. Bane contacted Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, and requested that Ziro be released. As Palpatine refused, Robonino successfully shut down the building's power and activated the emergency lockdown, trapping Palpatine and Senator Orn Free Taa in the Chancellor's office.

Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker&mdash;who had been spending time in the Senate Building with his secret wife, Senator Padmé Amidala, when the attack began&mdash;noticed the Senators being held hostage, and spied on the events taking place. Noticing Skywalker, Bane opened fire on the Jedi, who quickly took off running. Recognizing the Jedi as a potential threat to the mission, Bane sent Alama and a sentinel droid after him. Alama and the droid heard Skywalker in a room, speaking with Palpatine via comlink. The Jedi hid before they walked in and proceeded to use a mind trick to get them off his tail. Skywalker then attacked the droid, but since he had earlier given his lightsaber to Senator Amidala, he was forced to engage the droid in hand-to-hand combat.

Skywalker escaped shortly before Alama returned, but after examining the droid's remains, Alama deduced that the Jedi was not in possession of his lightsaber. Alama reported this finding to Bane, and then continued the search with the help of the near-Human hunter Sing. They found Skywalker trying to break into the power control room, and the Jedi pulled Alama's blaster out of his hand before the Weequay could shoot. However, Alama ducked and revealed Sing, who was taking aim at the Jedi. Sing shot Alama's blaster out of Skywalker's hand, and Robonino ambushed the Jedi from behind, shocking him and knocking him out. The hunters then put the unconscious Jedi in energy-binders and took him to Bane.

Palpatine finally agreed to give a pardoning disc to Senator Taa, who would deliver the disc to the prison so that the Hutt could be released. Sentinel droid 3D then escorted the freed Hutt back to the Senate Building, where Bane and his team set up a system of lasers around the hostage Senators that, if triggered, would set off explosives and detonate the entire atrium. Bane held an alternate detonator for the explosives, and used it as leverage to ensure his team's escape. As they flew away, Bane activated the explosives as payback for the indignities that Ziro suffered while in prison. Skywalker, who had awoken and retrieved his lightsaber from Amidala, was able to cut a hole in the floor around the Senators. The Jedi and the Senators dropped down safely into the room below, moments before the explosives went off.

Personality and traits
"No lightsaber cuts&hellip; Interesting."

- Alama, upon finding the destroyed sentinel droid

Alama usually preferred to work alone, but he also worked well with other such solitary beings. The Weequay had a sense of self-confidence about him; and he was not afraid of confronting Skywalker, a well-known Jedi Knight. He was also observant, and during investigations of the sentinel droid that Skywalker and destroyed, he noticed instantly that the droid bore no lightsaber marks. From this observation, Alama quickly came to the conclusion that Skywalker was unarmed. However, Alama proved to be vulnerable to certain Force effects, and Skywalker was able to employ a mind trick on the Weequay.

Behind the scenes
Alama made his first appearance in The Clone Wars web comic Invitation Only, which led into "Hostage Crisis", the final episode of Season One of The Clone Wars television series. In "Hostage Crisis", Shahan Alama was portrayed by voice actor Corey Burton.

Appearances

 * The Clone Wars: Invitation Only
 * The Clone Wars: Hunting the Hunters (Part 1)
 * The Clone Wars: Gunship over Florrum
 * The Clone Wars: Gunship over Florrum

Notes and references
Shahan Alama