Rom Mohc

Rom Mohc
Biographical information
Died	1 ABY, Arc Hammer
Descriptive information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Hair color	Gray
Eye color	Blue
Skin color	Light
Chronological and political information
Affiliation(s)	Galactic Republic Republic Military Galactic Empire Stormtrooper Corps Dark Trooper Project

Warning: This infobox is missing the following parameters: parents, pronouns, children, siblings, partners, families, feathers

"It's been a long time since I've challenged a man to battle. I'm glad my opponent is so worthy."

―General Mohc prepares to face Rebel agent Kyle Katarn

General Rom Mohc was a Human male who was a hero of the Clone Wars, serving in the armies of the Galactic Republic and later the Galactic Empire. Having developed an obsession with cybernetics and personal combat during the Clone Wars, Mohc was the architect of the Dark Trooper Project that arose in the wake of the destruction of the first Death Star. Despite initial successes in field testing, the project was destroyed by Rebel Alliance agent Kyle Katarn, who defeated Mohc in single combat.

Biography

Early career

A non-clone officer of the Grand Army of the Republic, Rom Mohc fought in the Clone Wars with a passion for personal combat under the command of General Locus Geen. Mohc gained a reputation for fighting battle droids in hand-to-hand combat and developed a keen understanding of cybernetics. His ability to ascertain the weaknesses of various droid designs proved invaluable at the Invasion of Coruscant by the droid army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Mohc also had a healthy respect for the clone troopers and relished working with them.

Mohc's bravery during the Clone Wars and loyalty put him on the fast track to success in Palpatine's New Order. On many worlds, Mohc fought in Palpatine's name, earning three Imperial Medals of Valor and the Distinguished Medal of Imperial Honor. Mohc continued his fascination with droids, often pitting himself against various deadly droids. His eccentric taste for combat culminated in a trophy room of battle droids that he had defeated, including a prototype IG-97, a ZQ infantry droid, and several Mark IX-XI Executioners. Mohc's passion for personal combat became almost obsessive, and he came to insist that every soldier had the right to face the enemy man-to-man, to the point of protesting the Death Star project.

Battle droid research

As a Zero-G assault stormtrooper, Mohc grew frustrated with the limitations of Imperial cybernetics. Mohc believed that with his experience fighting droids and knowledge of their weaknesses, he could develop an ultimate battle droid, and "studied the designs of mechanical soldiers throughout history, from Xim to the Sith to the Iron Knights of the Old Republic."

Mohc's research yielded the initial designs for what would become the dark trooper. Allying with Baron Orman Tagge, Mohc designed the Z-X3 experimental droid trooper, designed to supplement stormtroopers in dangerous radiation or vacuum. An experimental batch of seventy droids proved deadly and adaptable, but the Imperial Military viewed the use of battle droids with distaste and the Z-X3 was rejected.

Mohc refused to admit defeat and kept pushing his ideas. His perseverance finally paid off when he won support from the Imperial Department of Military Research, and in 17 BBY young Lieutenant Mohc was stationed aboard the Empirical, a hidden space station in the Dominus sector, to oversee the Phase Zero Dark Trooper project, an attempt to restore aging clone troopers to battle-worthiness by remaking them into cyborgs. However, as the subjects were forcibly recruited into the project, many Phase Zero Dark Troopers could not cope with the state of being more machine than man and attempted suicide. The project was eventually shut down as the Empire grew in power and the recruitment rate of non-clones rose, though the successful subjects of the project became the Purge Troopers, which would later inspire the design of the Phase III dark trooper.

Imperial general

"The Emperor spent more than a half-million credits to feed, house, and educate each one of you over the past four years. Not because he thought it would be the nice thing to do or because he likes military parades, but because he wants you to defend the Empire."

―General Mohc oversees graduating cadets

File:Rommohc.jpg

General Rom Mohc of the Galactic Empire

Having been a prominent figure during the Empire's rise to power, Mohc was eventually promoted to the rank of general. During the year 1 BBY, General Mohc worked as an administrator at the Imperial Academy of the planet Carida. During his term, Mohc installed a high-tech surveillance system meant to act as a deterrent for misbehavior among cadets. Even so, General Mohc was well-respected by the academy's students due to his status as a combat veteran and not just another officer. Mohc was particularly impressed with cadet Kyle Katarn, who acted with bravery on his Omega Exercise, which involved the taking of asteroid AX-456 from the forces of the Rebel Alliance. To honor the the cadet's bravery, Mohc personally commended Katarn at the latter's bedside. Later that same day, Mohc hosted dinner for the Imperial Inquisitor Jerec, who—while using Mohc's surveillance system to spy on Katarn—expressed an interest in meeting Katarn. Ironically, Jerec had executed Katarn's father sometime earlier for being an Alliance militant.

Mohc later addressed the year's graduating class, where he was given the cadets' full attention. After the speech's conclusion, General Mohc and Jerec presented awards to the students who graduated in the top ten percent of the class, which included presenting Katarn with the Imperial Medal of Honor. Special awards of valor and merit were also distributed to cadets Rand Nalleck, Dana Cory, Chad Longko, and Ben. However, as the ceremony progressed, Mohc wished for it to end so he could entertain a mistress.

Despite the Imperials' praise for Katarn, the cadet abandoned the Empire upon realizing that he had been lied too about the circumstances of his father's death, having been told rebel insurgents killed his father rather than being executed by an Imperial official. Katarn joined the Rebel Alliance and quickly partook in a mission where he stole information regarding the Death Star project that helped the Alliance destroy the battle station during the year 0 BBY. Ironically, General Mohc had previously opposed the construction of the Death Star due to his distrusting nature of technology that separated soldiers from battlefield glory.

The Dark Trooper Project

"The Emperor is most pleased with your project."

―Darth Vader

When Mohc was promoted to the rank of general, he used the resources available to him to complete the technical designs and implementation plans for his own dark troopers, thinking that infantry should prove themselves in battle. He knew his creation would please the Emperor, but Palpatine was obsessed with the Death Star project. He was one of the few generals to oppose the Death Star as Mohc had a distrust of any technology which separated warriors from their enemies in battle. With the failure of the first Death Star at the Battle of Yavin, Mohc seized the opportunity to pitch his program to Palpatine. Infuriated with Wilhuff Tarkin's failure and recognizing the partial success of the Phase Zero project, the Emperor granted Mohc authorization to begin his new program.

The Dark Trooper Project was given billions of credits to support the research and development of Mohc's brainchild. Mohc established a mining facility on Gromas 16 to acquire the near-indestructible metal phrik, a weapons research facility on Fest, a robotics construction facility on Anteevy, and the massive starship Arc Hammer to act as a construction and mobile launch base for the dark troopers.

Test on Talay

"Captain Nonam, are your ground troops standing by?"
"They await your order, sir. The Rebel scum are doomed."

―General Mohc and Captain Nonam during the attack on Tak Base

Darth Vader himself approved Mohc's dark trooper Project.

During the year 0 ABY, General Mohc met with the Sith Lord Darth Vader aboard the Executor in order to officially test the dark troopers with a combat scenario. A Rebel base was located on the planet Talay: Tak Base. Mohc gave the order to unleash phase II dark troopers upon the base via hyperspace pods, which were reinforced by ground troops under the command of Captain Nonam. Tak Base was obliterated, and all Rebel personal were killed. In addition, the surrounding city of Tak was razed, and civilian casualties were high. The dark troopers were subsequently recalled while an Imperial garrison remained in the city. However, one dark trooper left its prototype weapon behind in the Tak Base. Nonetheless, Darth Vader was impressed with the show of force, and Mohc was given the go-ahead to continue with the project.

Despite the destruction, the Rebel officer General Toka had managed to send the Alliance a distress message before he was killed. Although no footage of the dark troopers was recorded, the video-message did capture the sounds that the droid troopers made. The message was received by Alliance high-command, who in turn dispatched agents Jan Ors and Kyle Katarn to investigate the battle's aftermath. During the investigation, Katarn discovered the dark trooper weapon. With Rebus' initials on it, the Rebels had a lead, and set out to end Mohc's ambitions.

A worthy opponent

"Katarn was once an impressive Imperial officer, but he was weak and gave up on the struggle for our new order. I wouldn't put much faith in his abilities."

―General Mohc on his adversary

Mohc's assembly line began to falter when the Alliance operation began with the capture of Moff Rebus, the dark trooper project's weapon designer, on the planet Anoat, whose subsequent interrogation led to Katarn infiltrating and destroying dark trooper facilities on Fest and Gromas 16. With Katarn's actions directly threatening Mohc's operation, the general hired the famed bounty hunter Boba Fett to deal with the Rebels. Shortly thereafter, Crix Madine's role as a rebel spy was rooted, and Mohc arrested the traitor before both Vader and Fett aboard the Arc Hammer. Although Mohc's own identity was a mystery to the rebel agents, the Imperials were well aware of Katarn. Mohc even recalled the agent's past Imperial career for those present. Despite Vader's growing doubts about the project, Mohc firmly claimed that Katarn would never near the Arc hammer.

Rom Mohc emerges for battle.

Madine was sentenced to execution and was incarcerated at the Imperial Detention Center located on the planet Orinackra. However, he was rescued by Katarn only a short while later during the year 1 ABY, after which Madine told the Rebels what he knew about Mohc and the dark trooper project. Madine's information resulted in Katarn tracking Jabba the Hutt's loaned smugglers from the planet Cal-Seti to Ice Station Beta on Anteevy, which was also destroyed by Katarn. The rebels later stole a nava card from the moon Nar Shaddaa which, after being cracked in the Imperial Security Operations building on Coruscant, revealed information on the routes that the smugglers used. It was during the latter mission that Katarn encountered Fett and, after a heated battle, defeated the bounty hunter. After that, Katarn used the information from the nava card to follow the smugglers to the Executor.

Although Mohc had believed that the Arc Hammer was beyond Katarn's competencies, Katarn nonetheless infiltrated the Executor, stole a cargo container, and boarded the Arc Hammer. Realizing that Katarn was far more capable than anticipated, Mohc decided to regard the rebel agent as an adversary of merit. In response to rebel infiltration, Mohc donned his phase III dark trooper armor and laid in wait near the Arc Hammer's hangar for a final confrontation with Katarn.

Meanwhile, Katarn fought Mohc's forces and planted an explosive device on three of the Arc Hammer's exchange couplings that were built along the ship's main power grid. As Katarn made his way to the ship's hangar bay to find an escape, he found the massive ante-chamber where Mohc was waiting. The general only revealed himself, however, after Katarn destroyed the seven dark troopers that guarded the arena.

A massive door opened revealing General Mohc atop a pedestal and the final battle commenced. Mohc fought the rebel he had personally commended and decorated on Carida to the point that Katarn had need to only outlast Mohc's barrage of attacks. Ultimately, General Mohc was slain and Katarn escaped the Arc Hammer before the explosives detonated and destroyed all that Mohc had worked for.

Behind the scenes

Mohc is the main antagonist of the video game Star Wars: Dark Forces and is mainly seen during cutscenes which advance the plot.

His voice in Star Wars: Dark Forces was provided by Jack Angel. Tim Russell voiced Mohc for the audio adaptation of Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire.

Mohc is seen again in the story "Sand Blasted" which extrapolates on one of the game's cutscenes, but his appearance differs somewhat from that of the game, showing him with receding but long, red hair.

Conceptual artwork of Rom Mohc.

An action figure of Mohc was given with one of IG-97 with a reprint of Sand Blasted as a part of a "Comic Pack".[1]

Appearances

• Star Wars: The New Droid Army
• Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire / audio
• Star Wars: Dark Forces (First appearance)
• "Sand Blasted" — Star Wars Tales 4
• Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption

Sources

• "LucasArts Update: The Creation Story" — Star Wars Insider 23 (as Mon Mohc)
• "Revving Up the 'Jedi Engine'" — Star Wars Galaxy Magazine 1
• Star Wars: The Power of the Force toy line
• The Secrets of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
• Star Wars Gamemaster Screen, Revised
• "The Dark Forces Saga" (original article link) on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
• The Essential Guide to Droids (First identified as Rom Mohc)
• The New Essential Guide to Characters
• The New Essential Guide to Droids
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Force Unleashed Campaign Guide
• Rebellion Era Sourcebook
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 19 (VAD9, Darth Vader)
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 33 (MIL5-6, Military Droids)
• Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game — Champions of the Force (Card: Imperial Dark Trooper) (backup link)
• Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 7
• Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 11
• Rebellion Era Campaign Guide
• The Written Word on Hyperspace (article) (content removed from StarWars.com and unavailable)
• General Crix Madine in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)
• Dark troopers in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)
• The Essential Guide to Warfare
•  Star Wars: The Card Game — Heroes and Legends (Card: The Dark Trooper Project)
•  Star Wars: The Card Game — Heroes and Legends (Card: General Mohc)
• Star Wars: Imperial Handbook: A Commander's Guide

Notes and references

In other languages

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