Tyvokka

Tyvokka was a Wookiee Jedi Master of legendary status. A member of the Jedi Council, he taught the Kel Dor Jedi Plo Koon decades before the Clone Wars.

Tyvokka was a Jedi Master during the time of the bloodiest conflicts the galaxy had ever seen. Wookiee Jedi Knights were rare to begin with, but Tyvokka defied the odds and eventually sat on the Jedi Council, having become a powerful Jedi earning respect from every other Knight and Master.

But even Jedi Masters must become one with the Force at some point or another, and it was the Stark Hyperspace War that saw Tyvokka's service to the Jedi Knights come to an end. Stark was the last name of Iaco Stark, a smuggler and pirate who had amassed a fleet of ships, and used them to steal goods from the Outer Rim and then sell them back at inflated prices, but still less than what the Trade Federation set. A man with a dream, Stark spearheaded the forming of a coalition of smugglers and pirates, which he called the Stark Commercial Combine.

However, when a bacta shortage gripped the galaxy, Stark and his pirates became heroes in the Outer Rim as they sought out bacta shipments, which those worlds could no longer afford due to the skyrocketed price of bacta. These turn of events threatened to plunge the galaxy into war, and as the Jedi discussed the matters among their members, so did the Republic.

Not all believed in the severity of the bacta shortage and the intuition of certain Jedi, most notably of Tyvokka, led many to believe there was no shortage at all.

Tyvokka, in his lifetime as a Jedi Knight had had many Padawan learners, though none as notable as Plo Koon, who would eventually go on to serve on the Jedi Council himself, following in his Master's footsteps. When an opening became available on the Council, Tyvokka expressed his wishes that Plo Koon pursue the opportunity and apply to be accepted onto it. However, Plo Koon was always so humble and felt there were many others more qualified than he was to serve on the Council, notably Qui-Gon Jinn.

As the Senators of the Republic discussed the conflict, Senator Finis Valorum proposed that a meeting take place between the Stark Commercial Combine and a combination of Jedi, Republic, and Trade Federation representatives. Tyvokka was asked by the Republic to be chief negotiator. Tyvokka gladly accepted the position and asked Plo Koon to be his aide in the matter.

In a meeting with Senator Valorum and other Jedi Masters, Tyvokka spoke his uncertainty of the bacta shortage, and suggested that Jedi Master Tholme and his Padawan Quinlan Vos travel to Thyferra, the planet on which an apparent disaster was the catalyst for the shortage, to discover the truth.

The conference was to take place in a secret location known only to the visiting parties, and the location that was chosen was the planet of Troiken. Other Jedi Knights to accompany Tyvokka were Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, as well as Jedi Master Adi Gallia. When the meeting began, elsewhere in the galaxy, a bellicose Senator, Ranulph Tarkin, who strongly advocated the establishment of a legitimate Republic Army and Navy was preparing to launch into hyperspace to surprise Stark and his forces and finally utterly defeating them. Although the location of the meeting was to be secret, Tarkin obtained the location through secret dealings with a Trade Federation representative. Unfortuantely, Stark learned of this, and believing the conference was just a trap to capture him, Stark took the initiative to set a trap for the Jedi, the Senators, and Tarkin as well.

Once the meeting began, Stark ambushed the Jedi with a company of soldiers armed with powerful weapons and revealed to the Jedi and Senators his plan to deal with Tarkin's fleet. Creating a computer virus that infected all Republic ships, Tarkin's fleet was scattered across the galaxy once they entered hyperspace, some sent into planets, stars, black holes, and some right into the middle of Stark's own fleet to be decimated. However, Tyvokka believed and was able to get Stark to admit that the whole thing was a trap from the beginning, a trap in order to gain power. Feeling he had the Jedi surrounded, Stark offered the Jedi a chance to surrender since he felt they had no other choice. But to a Jedi Master, there is always another choice. Literally turning the conference table upside down on Stark and his soldiers, the Jedi ignited their lightsabers and began to fight their way out of the trap. Additionally, the Trade Federation representative demanded he be allowed to bring along a number of battle droids for protection, and during the melee activated the droids and instructed them to attack. However, as battle droids are unreliable, they attacked not only Stark's soldiers, but the Jedi were targets as well. Sadly, in the chaos of it all, Tyvokka was hit multiple times by blasts from the battle droids. When most of Stark's soldiers, as well as Stark himself, had been killed or escaped, the Jedi turned to Tyvokka and his terminal injuries.

Ordering the other Jedi to pursue Stark, lest he gain a more favorable position, only Plo Koon remained at his side as the Wookiee was attended to by a medical droid. But even with the best technology in the galaxy Tyvokka would not have survived. As he lay dying, he gave his orders to Plo Koon. He told Plo that it was Adi Gallia's charge to protect Senator Valorum, as only he held the key to a peaceful resolution; it was Master Qui-Gon's charge to discover a solution to the virus that crippled the Republic's navicomputers, and finally he gave his orders to Plo Koon. Plo was to rally the troops, for if they surrendered, so would the Senate. The last was more of a request than an order. Tyvokka's place on the Council would sit empty, and he wished that his apprentice take his place. With his dying words expressing to Plo Koon how proud he was of him, Tyvokka, Wookiee Jedi Master, became one with the Force.