During the time of the Old Republic, a young Jedi, Jorus C’Baoth came to prominence. He was highly regarded, and his advice and warnings were often heeded.
Born on the planet Bortras in the Reithcas sector, Jorus began studying the ways of the Force when he was seventeen. The Jedi Training Centre on Kamparas then became his home for the next two years after he graduated. At this time, a Jedi Master took him on as a private student, and another two years later Jorus was given the title of Jedi Knight. Wanting to go as far as he possibly could with his studies and abilities, C’Baoth devoted the next twelve years of his life to the Force, and was rewarded with the title of Jedi Master.
The Old Republic meant a lot to the young Jorus, and he was often seen in Senate since he was a member of the Interspecies Advisory Committee. Ironically, the young Jedi was sometimes used as a personal Jedi advisor to Senator Palpatine. C’Baoth also aided the Jedi in the fight against the uprising Dark Jedi on Bpfassh, and even helped Alderaan when it needed to choose a new viceroy. In the end, the Organa family was chosen, and so another piece of history was written.
Many triumphs were attributed to Jorus, but his support for the Old Republic’s Outbound Flight Project ended all this. The Project was set up to find intelligent life outside the galaxy proper. Six Jedi Masters were sent out from Yaga Minor, but word got out and they were never heard from again. Their ship left the planet, but on exiting Old Republic space, the ship was destroyed, along with the Jedi. Palpatine had ordered their deaths, and it had been a young Thrawn who had carried out those orders. The then-Senator was about to declare the birth of the Empire, and this was made all the easier with the deaths of six Jedi Masters. For Palpatine, it was too good an opportunity to miss.
The Jedi purge took place during the following years, and Jorus was forgotten, as well as the other five Jedi who had died with him. It was not until five years after the Battle of Endor that the name C’Baoth was heard of again. On a planet called Wayland, a white-haired, long-bearded man was going by the name C’Baoth – Joruus C’Baoth.
Although Jorus had died when the Outbound Flight Project was destroyed, samples from his body, along with many other beings, had still been kept on Coruscant. Palpatine had got hold of these, and cloned Jorus for his own needs. The Emperor wanted to bend the clone to his will, but the clones leading up to the man on Wayland had been damaged. They had been grown far too fast, and clone madness had struck them. Palpatine had a secret facility on Wayland called Mount Tantiss, and it was this that Joruus was guarding.
Left to his own devices for so long, and being susceptible to clone madness, Joruus began to forget why he was on Wayland. Palpatine was just a name to him, not someone he served; for Joruus C’Baoth now served only himself. A clone of a one of the greatest Jedi had decided to turn to the Dark Side, and become master of the galaxy, with an army of Dark Jedi serving him.
Joruus was not the only inhabitant of Wayland, but he was its master. He used the Dark Side to control and kill the inhabitants, which were made up of three different species; Psadan, human, and Myneyrsh. He had created his own kingdom at the base of Mount Tantiss, his first step to taking over the galaxy.
With promises of Jedi to turn to his will, Thrawn recruited Joruus to the Imperial cause. He told C’Baoth of Luke, and his then pregnant sister Leia. Joruus saw that Leia’s children would be strong in the Force, and that he would be able to turn them at a very young age. Even with all these, Joruus wanted more, and saw potential in the once-Emperor’s Hand, Mara Jade.
C’Baoth used a Jedi technique to call Luke to him, making the young Jedi curious. After the deaths of Ben and Yoda, Luke wanted another teacher to further his studies. True, he was a Jedi Knight, but he had also seen his father die in his arms, and he knew there was nothing else left for him but the Force. After a few days in the company of Joruus on the planet Jomark, Luke realised that things were not quite as they seemed. C’Baoth was by no means a kind and gentle man. He saw the signs of the Dark Side, and tried in vain to turn the mad clone.
When he had to leave to save Mara and Talon Karrde, Luke vowed to return to turn Joruus back from the brink of madness. But C’Baoth travelled with Thrawn, and helped the Grand Admiral in several battles. Thrawn was grateful for this, but saw that Joruus was becoming worse and worse. C’Baoth regarded the new Empire as his, and Thrawn was merely a pawn. No Jedi were being delivered to him, and Joruus was becoming very angry with the Imperials. Eventually he told them he would be returning to Wayland, from where he would summon the Skywalkers to him, and turn them himself.
He would achieve this with the use of Spaarti cloning cylinders, and Palpatine’s most prized tissue sample. Sample B-2332-54 was taken at Bespin, holding a lightsabre. It was Luke’s hand, which he had lost in his duel with his father on Cloud City. Joruus had named the clone Luuke Skywalker, and tried to use him to kill Luke. But Mara intervened in a massive fight on Wayland, and she managed to free herself from her Palpatine-induced destiny. C’Baoth was furious, but vowed to create a clone of Mara, who would then bow before him if Mara herself did not.
The mad Jedi unleashed a rain of Force lightning and stones upon Luke and Mara, while Leia and Han and Talon looked on. Mara strode towards C’Baoth holding Leia’s lightsabre. Joruus hit her with the Dark Side, but she used the lightsabre to deflect the Force lightning, although a shower of stone and rocks made it impossible for her to see where she was going. Now drunk with rage, Joruus concentrated all his evil on the female Jedi-to-be, who was now receiving help from Leia. The sister of Skywalker was using her Force abilities to give Mara the sight she needed to reach the clone. Meanwhile Luke who was by now battered and bruised, used the Force to unleash the vornskyrs which Talon had brought with him. These distracted Joruus long enough for Mara to lunge at him with the tip of her blade, and impale him through his neck.
Once and for all, C’Baoth was dead. No more clones, no more Dark Side. Jorus would have been proud.
