Luwingo

"Ntaobh. Hck hk."

- Luwingo

Luwingo was a male Yaka smuggler. Like others of his species, Luwingo possessed a cyborg brain and was implanted with intelligence modifications that greatly enhanced his mental abilities. He originally worked as a programmer on his homeworld until he saved up enough money to pay for a Galaxy Tours cruise for both himself and his family. During the cruise, the luxury liner was hijacked by pirates who kidnapped Luwingo's family, intending to sell them into slavery. Luwingo dedicated the rest of his life to searching for his family by becoming a smuggler, believing the profession to be the best means of traveling the galaxy. He soon came across a fellow smuggler, Lo Khan, and the two became partners. Luwingo saved Khan's life from a rival group of smugglers, cementing the beginning a long-running friendship between the two partners.

In 10 ABY, Khan and Luwingo were stranded on the Imperial fortress world Byss after Khan's transport, the Hyperspace Marauder, was impounded by Imperial forces. Months later, Khan and Luwingo aided a group of New Republic commandoes in retreating from a failed attempt to attack the Emperor's Citadel. The two smugglers were able to break their ship out of the impound and escape Byss.

Early life
"Keep it to yourself, but Luwingo here saved my can in a shootout with Imperials on the Gamor Run. I keep him around for protection."

- Lo Khan, to Shug Ninx

Luwingo was a male Yaka, a species of cyborgs who were modified with intelligence implants by the Arkanians centuries before the Battle of Yavin. Luwingo worked as a programmer on his homeworld, developing software and programs for commercial use. He was eventually able to save up enough money to go on a luxury cruise on Galaxy Tours with his family. During the cruise, a pirate group attacked the ship and stunned everyone on-board with knockout gas. As the pirates looted the ship's vaults and guest rooms, they noticed Luwingo's children and kidnapped them, intending to sell them into slavery for their enhanced brains. Luwingo decided to go after the pirates and rescue his children by becoming a smuggler, believing the profession to be the most effective method of traveling the galaxy.

After procuring a ship with some back pay, Luwingo quit his job and began smuggling. He began noticing how odd of a figure he made smuggling by himself, and when his funds began running low he decided to find a parter to blend in better with the other smugglers. He decided to seek out Lo Khan, a smuggler he had met on an earlier run. As Luwingo began to research Khan's whereabouts, he discovered that the smuggler was being set up by one of his rivals, Uxbeg. In the Deneba system, Luwingo ambushed and eliminated Uxbeg's henchmen before they could attack Khan. Luwingo soon ran into Khan, who took pity on the Yaka due to his desperate state of affairs, and offered him a job as his temporary partner. Another group of thugs attacked the pair, ensuing in a firefight where Luwingo took a blaster bolt for Khan. Though Khan was worried about Luwingo's well-being, the Yaka recovered almost immediately. The incident cemented a friendship between the smugglers, and Luwingo became Khan's full-time bodyguard.



Aiding the New Republic
"Hdoogkva!"

- Luwingo's battle cry

Luwingo spent the next few years trying to track down his family between smuggling runs. In 10 ABY, he was present at the Byss Bistro inside the Imperial Freight Complex on Byss, one of Emperor Palpatine's fortress worlds. Fellow smugglers Salla Zend and Shug Ninx, on the run from the Empire after they helped smuggle their friends&mdash;Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo&mdash;into the Emperor's Citadel, requested aid from Khan and Luwingo. The pair allowed Zend and Ninx to store Solo's freighter, the Millennium Falcon, inside Khan's transport, the Hyperspace Marauder, and proceeded to discuss recent events inside the Bistro. A Hunter-Killer probot designated Judgement 12-X7 soon detected the Falcon inside the Marauder and disabled the ship, leaving Khan and Luwingo stranded on Byss for the next few months.

Luwingo and Khan met up with Zend and Ninx again at the Bistro months later. They watched as a shipment of newly arrived X-1 Viper war droids, secretly harboring New Republic commandoes, began wreaking havoc on the Imperials. However, the New Republic forces were soon outmatched when the Imperials released their Chrysalide beasts. Realizing the trouble the New Republic forces were in, Zend rallied together a group of smugglers, including Khan and Luwingo, to aid the commandoes. As the smugglers ran for their ships, Luwingo laid down covering fire against Imperial forces with his tripod laser. Once the other smugglers safely boarded their freighters, Luwingo joined Khan in liberating the Marauder from the Imperial impound and proceeded to help the New Republic invasion force in its retreat. Khan and Luwingo joined the rest of the newly formed smuggler fleet and fled Byss to Pinnacle Base, headquarters of the New Republic. Khan and Luwingo later, in conjunction with the smuggler fleet, helped evacuate the New Republic safe world of New Alderaan before finally heading off to the New Republic base at the Space City above Nespis VIII.

Personality and traits
"Make sure the probes don't see ya takin' off from the Marauder. That ship's all Luwingo and me got! Wingo'd be heartbroken if somethin' happened to her!''" "''Chra glg odwogn!"

- Lo Khan and Luwingo, to Salla Zend and Shug Ninx

A Yaka, Luwingo had a cyborg brain with many implants and mind enhancements that made him, like other's of his species, one of the more intelligent and technically deft individuals in the galaxy. These intelligence modificiations had the unexpected side-effect of leaving Luwingo and the other Yaka with a twisted view of life and a bizarre sense of humor. He spent much of his time thinking about hyperdimensional equations or developing new strategies for beating an L7 Logician droid, which he never found particularly challenging and beat often. This left Luwingo bored most of the time, reflecting back on his life and how it didn't turn out as well as he had hoped, but at the same time could have ended up much worse. Strong and bulky, Luwingo was also a very imposing figure and could survive being shot by a blaster. He formed a close relationship with Lo Khan and served as the smuggler's bodyguard and parter.

After the incident aboard the luxury ship that resulted in the kidnapping of his family, Luwingo dedicated his life to tracking down his family and bringing the pirates to justice. He knew the memories of the pirate attack would impair his investigation, so he typically kept them out of his mind by reprogramming his cyborg brain. Only one thing made Luwingo feel good inside, thinking about what he would do to the pirates once he found them.

Though Lo Khan tried to navigate among the safest hyperlanes whenever possible, he and Luwingo had a system for dealing with potential hijackers if they ran into trouble. If any hijackers were able to board the Hyperspace Marauder, they would have to confront Luwingo, and if they attempted to reach for a weapon, Luwingo would become angry. If the hijackers tried to tow the ship or cut into the cargp bay, Luwingo would have enough time to slice into their ship's computer systems and shut it down. Luwingo was proficient in computer programming, droid programming, and repair of computers, droids, and space transport vessels.

Behind the scenes
Luwingo made his first appearance in the fifth issue of the Dark Empire comic book series, written by Tom Veitch and illustrated by Cam Kennedy. He later appeared in the latter half of Dark Empire II and was given a full background in the Dark Empire Sourcebook by Michael Allen Horne''.

Appearances

 * Dark Empire 5: Emperor Reborn
 * Dark Empire II 4: Battle on Byss
 * Dark Empire II 5: The Galaxy Weapon
 * Dark Empire II 6: Hand of Darkness