Nahdonnis Praji

Nahdonnis Praji was a decorated Imperial commander and honored graduate of the Imperial Academy on Carida.

Early years
"Self-respect is the first casualty of politics, the final casualty of business, and the first benefit of a military career &mdash; your choice should be obvious."

- A reqruiter's pragmatic advice to Praji.

The Human male Nahdonnis Praji was an officer of the Galactic Empire's military force throught the entire Imperial Period and beyond. He was born to the wealthy and influental House Praji of the capital planet Coruscant after the first quarter of the year 37 BBY. His father was Griff Praji, a brother of Tannon Praji, the First Minister of the Coruscant Ministry of Ingress. Nahdonnis Praji himself had a child, a daughter named Tyla.

By the end of the Galactic Republic, some of the Coruscanti Prajii, such as Colonel Collin Praji entered military service. Nahdonnis Praji was interested in military history from childhood. During the Clone Wars of 22 BBY, he studied the HoloNet News' reports on tactics of Jedi Generals and starfighter aces. Months after the war's end, Praji came to the age of eighteen and enlisted to the newly established Galactic Empire's space force. He graduated with honors from the Imperial Navy Academy on Carida. The Praji family donated genetic templates for Imperial stormtrooper development programs.

Praji participated in the subjugation of the native Leffingites on the planet Almak, and he had to admit that the AT walkers, which he viewed as graceless brutes, were indeed effective. In 1 BBY, early in the Galactic Civil War, Praji was assigned to the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Vengeance and dispatched to look for Rebel supply networks. He served under Vice Admiral Slenn, who ordered his troops into an unwinnable scenario againt the Rebel on the planet Datar. After the botched attack, Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader killer Slenn and took command of the operation.

Vader's next target was the Rebel base on Nar Shaddaa, moon of the Hutt planet Nal Hutta. Praji lead the troops to the 88th Level of the moon's Corellian Sector personally, and reached a very high collateral kill count. He used a flanking tactic once favored by Jedi General Anakin Skywalker. Praji's action and previous records impressed Vader, who assigned him into a staff position with greater responsibility. He became Vader's aide aboard the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Devastator, but lost his permament command post, for most of the Devastator troop complement was filled with the troopers of the 501st elite stormtrooper legion, under the command of Commander Daine Jir.

Search for the plans
In 0 BBY, on the planet Toprawa, the Rebel Alliance obtained the plans of the first Death Star, a new Imperial superweapon. When the Imperial Intelligence learned of the leak, the Empire responded quickly. The Toprawa system was declared restricted, and Darth Vader, who realized the plans were now in the hands of the Rebellion, took the Devastator to the world.

The Rebels planned to smuggle out the plans from the planet aboard the Alderaanian consular ship Tantive IV. As the vessel leapt into the Toprawa system, it began receiving a transmission from the surface of the planet. Praji stood beside Vader on the bridge of the Devastator, when the sensors detected the consular ship. Even as the data was transmitting, an Imperial communications officer detected the signal, and Praji contacted the Tantive IV, ordering it to heave to and prepare to be searched. Scrambling for more time, the Rebel Captain Raymus Antilles told the Devastator of their "malfunction" and attempted to use the vessel's diplomatic immunity. The Praji acknowledged the message and on Vader's command held its fire, but ordered the Tantive IV to hold its course and prepare for boarding.

The transmission finally ended, and Antilles replied to the Devastator, insisting that as they were on a diplomatic mission they could not be detained. Praji announced that they had detected the transmission of the plans, again ordered the Tantive IV to heave to. Vader ordered the Star Destroyer to shoot for minimum damage, and only moments after it began firing, the Tantive IV finally made the jump to hyperspace. It was impossible to track a ship through hyperspace, however, the Tantive IV carried an Imperial homing device, which was installed on a previous trip to the planet Ralltiir. Praji consulted a sensor screen and reported that the Tantive IV was heading to the planet Tatooine.

The Devastator followed and captured the Rebel vessel in the Tatooine system. The troopers of the 501st legion sieged the captured consular ship. After the first wave of troops, under the command of an assault leader, broke the defenses of the Rebel vessel, Lord Vader, accompanied by Praji and Commander Jir boarded the ship. Praji led a cluster of troops to the ship's main computer room to search for the stolen plans. He was tasked to check the computers for the plans and any other useful information.

Praji used the modified R4-series agromech droid, R4-M9 to pull all data from the memory banks before the Rebels can destroy it. When Vader and Commander Jir arrived to the room, Praji reported to the Dark Lord, that the plans are not aboard the ship and no transmissions were made. He added that an escape pod left the ship, but no life forms aboard were detected. Vader ordered him to personally lead a detachment of stormtroopers to Tatooine and search for the escape pod used by protocol droid C-3PO and astromech droid R2-D2, latter of whom carried the stolen plans. Vader also ordered Praji to send detachments to every spaceports and quarantine the planet.

Before leaving the Tantive IV, Praji run into the young Rebel officers Tag Greenley and Bink Otauna, who were disguised as stormtroopers. The Commander, don't realizing their covering, ordered them to return to the Devastator.

Search for the droids
"She must have hidden the plans in the escape pod. Send a detachment down to retrieve them&hellip; See to it personally Commander"

- Darth Vader to Commander Jir and Commander Praji

By Vader's order, Praji supervised the search for the Death Star's missing plans on Tatooine. His first order was to assign Captain Kosh's garrison to the task, while the 501st was readied. He also ordered the Desert Sands sandtrooper detachment, who arriver to change the garrison in Mos Eisley, to begin searching for the escape pod immediately. After a brief landfall, he delegated the overall command of the situation to Captain Kosh.

After a number of days' searching, Captain Mod Terrik reported to Praji, that a young farmer, possibly a Rebel sympathizer if not a Rebel agent, had taken the droids and is presumably heading to the nearest spaceport, Mos Eisley. In reality, the actions of the Desert Sands made the farmer, Luke Skywalker to accompany Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi in his quest of returning the stolen plans to the Rebellion. Praji concurred Terrik and ordered him to quarantine Mos Eisley. However, the delay in coordinating the units of Kosh's troops, Terrik's troops and the 501st enabled the droids to overpass the blockade and escape from Tatooine aboard the light freighter Millennium Falcon. A stormtrooper officer saw the freighter lift into the sky and reported to Praji, who alerted the orbiting Star Destroyers. The Falcon captain slipped past the blockade, leaving Praji in the uncomfortable situation of reporting his failure to Vader. Praji also reported the description of the fugitives and their escape vessel to all Imperial outposts. Praji personally reported the bad new to Vader, he spared his life.

After the Battle of Yavin, Vader formed the Death Squadron, a squad of Star Destroyers, including the Devastatro. Vader brought his staff to his new flagship, the first ship of the Executor-class Star Dreadnoughts, but General Veers blocked Praji from the appointment, and Vader didn't overruled him.

Later career
"Delusions and grandeur, hah! [hellip] But now the phisical incarnation of the phrase was staring in my face, and I don't mind telling you I didn't care for it at all."

- Praji to Voren Na'al about Empreror Palpatine

After the Battle of Endor, Praji served under several warlords and ascended to the rank of General. He chose his allies searching for the best way to carry on the New Order's mission. When Palpatine's clone returned from the Deep Core, Praji joined his forces.

In 10 ABY, Praji led the Imperial forces that conquered Kaikielius prior to the push towards Coruscant at the onset of Operation Shadow Hand. Praji enjoyed to destroy the skyhook of the House Vahali, an old rival of his family, and placed the planet under martial law. His higher position led him to realize that cloned Emperor's teocracy was not the Empire he had joined decades earlier, so he requested Kaikielius as a fief to leave the military. Emperor Palpatine then made him the Governor-General of the world, re-establishing the old connection between Kaikielius and the Praji family.

After the fall of Coruscant in the Yuuzhan Vong War, the Coruscanti Prajii regrouped on Kaikielies. After Praji retired from governorship, he met historian Voren Na'al who asked him about his encounter with Emperor Palpatine in an interview.

Personality and traits
Praji was good pilot and navigator.

Praji makes his troops quicker.

In spite of that Praji disobeyed his direct order, Vader spared his life, because he was highly loyal and too capable to waste.

Under able officers like him, stormtroopers learned to adapt to their environment.

Praji was all business when dealing with his superior, and he often delegated the assignments to a subordinate. His subordinates knew him of intolerance and level-headed professionalism, altough Praji was not a man quick to anger. Upon the failure of that mission, Praji took full responsibility for the loss, and stood dignified to apologize to Darth Vader. Impressed by Praji's businesslike professionalism, Vader spared the commander's life, as the Dark Lord of the Sith had come to respect him.

As a member of the capital's aristocraty, Praji disrespected the Rimmers, even his superiors. Praji was an old-fashioned military man, who disdained the footsoldiers party due to Imperial officer training, which disregarded the clones, who were "made to be killed."

Nahdonnis Praji chose to wear the prominent sideburns that were popular among the Imperial officer class at the time. Other serving Imperial officers who wore their hair in this fashion included Cassio Tagge, Conan Antonio Motti, Moradmin Bast, and Pol Treidum.

Behind the scenes
The Praji character first appeared in the December 1976 novelization of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster. Although he was not credited, actor George Roubicek played the character in the 1977 film. The one sequence in which he is seen was shot over three days in July 1976 at the virtual end of principal photography, on the Tantive IV main corridor set erected on Stage 9 at Elstree Studios, just north of London.

In the revised fourth draft script of A New Hope, as presented in Star Wars: Behind the Magic and Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays, Praji is addressed as "Second Officer," and Vader orders Jir instead of Praji to "send a detachment down."

Praji appeared in various adaptations of A New Hope, but his line and look differs sometimes. In the 1976 novelization, Praji speaks a different line and appeares as the " officer in  charge" of "a cluster of tired-looking troops." In the 1978 Contemporary Motivators: Star Wars comic book, Praji is depicted as a stormtrooper and his line is slightly different than in the film. In the 1978 The Story of Star Wars, Praji is identified as Imperial trooper. In the Star Wars Droids 6: Star Wars According to the Droids, Book I comic, Praji speak a slightly different line and is wearing gray uniform. In the 1981 Star Wars radio drama's script, as presented in the Star Wars: The National Public Radio Dramatization, Praji is addressed as 'Trooper'. However, there is also an unidentified Imperial commander whom identified the 2007 young reader novel The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader as Praji. In the 1997 young reader book Darth Vader's Mission: The Search for the Secret Plans, Praji is blond and he is wearing gray uniform. In 1995, the Star Wars Customizable Card Game Premiere Limited base set was the first to identify the character as Praji. In the 1998 reference book Anakin Skywalker: The Story of Darth Vader, the captain of the Devastator calls the Tantive above Toprawa, but The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader addressed the lines to Praji.

In May 2007, during Celebration IV, Roubicek took part in a round-table discussion chaired by Scott Chernoff, in which he reminisced about his role as Praji. His fellow participants, all of whom portrayed Imperial characters, were actors Kenneth Colley (Admiral Firmus Piett), David Prowse (Darth Vader), Barrie Holland (Lieutenant Renz), Richard LeParmentier (Admiral Conan Antonio Motti), and Julian Glover (General Maximilian Veers). The conversation was later published in Star Wars Insider 96. From the interview:

At the conclusion of the discussion, all the participating actors were asked: If any of you had an opportunity to write your own lines for your characters, what would you say? Roubicek responded thus:

When the character of Tannon Praji was created, he was intended to be the uncle of Commander Praji. However, this information was not published until Nathan O'Keefe's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Praji, which established Nahdonnis as the son of Tannon's brother Griff, as well as naming many other members of the Praji family.

Appearances

 * The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
 * Death Star
 * Star Wars radio drama
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Contemporary Motivators: Star Wars
 * The Star Wars Storybook
 * Star Wars Droids 6: Star Wars According to the Droids, Book I
 * Star Wars: A New Hope - The Special Edition 1
 * Darth Vader's Mission: The Search for the Secret Plans
 * Star Wars Manga: A New Hope 1
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope junior novelzation
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope PhotoComic

Non-canonical appearances

 * Tag & Bink Are Dead 1

Notes and references
Nahdonnis Praji Nahdonnis Praji Nahdonnis Praji