Talek

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Biography
Talek is a Yautja, or Predator as he's known in the Human-verse. One of a race of superior hunter / killers that roam the galaxy looking for trophies and treasure. They have accelerated sciences that allow inter-planetary travel and efficiency of task, but not much interaction with other races, other than systematic analysis of whether or not they can be hunted, or the skulls worth valuing.

The most dangerous prey being the greatest prize.

Training for Mass Warfare wasn’t essentially needed, although legendary skirmishes with local star-systems were enough to convince non-Yautja to just stay away, and hope they don’t prefer you as a potentially threatening target that would look great hanging on their wall.

However, as in any race of intelligent, sentient beings, there were some Yautja who’s outlook on life is not the same as the masses. That actually investigate their Universe and look for other possibilities to learn from life, not take it.

Standing at a little more than 6 feet, Talek is actually 140 Earth-years old, but a mere late 20-something on his world, is smaller than the average male, yet moving quicker than most of them, thus making him a very fast hunter. However, he could never get the upper hand when in close combat with other Yautja strength-wise. He thereby trained even harder, but still needed to find a different style of fighting that suited his size.

Early life
Talek’s parents were Warrior-Hunters; the kind that didn’t just hunt. They decimated. They’re concerns weren’t with trophies, but Honor and Glory of being able to defend the planet, not in an organized -army, but in organized Packs of Killing machines. When Talek was hatched from his egg-womb, his size was instantly recognized as a “runt.” He was nowhere big enough to grow into Hunter/Killer, and only slightly smaller than minimum-pass, missing the weight limit by a gram. He still missed it, and population control was strict.

In the Yaujta society, parents do not care for their own offspring. The Rearers do that. It’s their job. One of the Rearers, known to Talek only as rn’Kina, was about to discard him as useless, when the hatch to the null-chute kept closing on its own. Realizing that Talek wasn’t being discarded today, she put the tadpole back in his nesting to figure out what had just happened.

Rn’Kina wasn’t liked by the other Rearers. She was considered a trouble-maker in the ways of proper Yautjinn Rearing. She thought more for herself and sometimes made outlandish Rearing suggestions that, yes, not only taught Yautja loyalty and pack mentality, and all the rigors and expectations of being a fierce hunter/killer, but mentally prepared Talek for humble leadership. Runts were NOT to be trained in leadership roles. They would never be able to fend off a Coup, or counter an over-powering successor themselves.

Talek was. The one thing that rn’Kina was able to see in Talek, that the other Rearers were blind to due to his size, was that he had something about him. Something drove this little one with a quiet fierceness that only got him onto trouble as he grew older. Yautja are primarily carnivorous. They hunt to feed. There is no real agriculture, no growing of food, unless it’s kept in a cage. They simply have never had it. Hence the hunting training from young.

The Schooling Rounds were teaching-pens, or corrals that the “Trainers” would have the Yautjinn collect into, males and females in the same Rounds. Variously they would be shown attacks, drills, and other exercises designed to build them into complete hunting machines. Almost every other day, Talek would return to dorm battered. Once a week if he was lucky. It was his size. A menacing 6.5 feet tall on Earth, Talek was a twerp among his peers. Everyone wondered how this runt avoided the chute. Even Talek did. It didn’t really matter, he was stuck being a runt, and he needed to fight his own peers to merely survive. Yet rn’Kina was able to forge the idea in Talek’s head that if he simply kept going, and fighting, what didn’t kill him, made him even stronger, and a warrior made himself stronger that way. And it wasn’t even his peers fault that they treated him that way, it’s just how things are.

Plus, unbeknownst to anyone besides rn’Kina, he had leader-training. A Rond, as it’s called. However, he knew it would never be in a Rond’s position on his own world. Not with the ways things are.

Getting Out
Eventually, Talek learned the starfighter piloting and dog-fighting, and it was there he excelled. The strategy and manipulation that the ships required came easier to him than most of the other Yautjinn. He could almost feel where the dagger-bolts were sitting in the guns, waiting in the unfired shells of his adversary’s ship. Out of scanning range and cloaked. He nailed them every time.

His talents earned him what he really wanted. When he was able to get off-world, he’d never been so elated. He had run several small-prey hunts, but only met with ridicule when he returned with his catch, no matter the size of his claim. The hunts only over truly gave him joy when he got a good fight.

Talek was hunting in one of the Outer Rim planets (Coroscant was very far away indeed) when he accidentally discovered an Imperial ambush awaiting two Jedi. Of course as a warrior, he was curious to see what would happen, and whether or not he had anything to worry about. He activated his stealth suit and started immediately putting it to good use. Getting closer to the battalion of 25 to 30 clone soldiers, he looked at all the Imperial weaponry and found it standard boring stuff. Their walking machines were interesting, though. And then all at once, they started getting into position. The Jedi were approaching. Talek watched with great interest as he found himself anxious for the battle.

Talek watched the attack with unwavering fascination as these two Jedi easily dispensed with the ambush. Using only their light sabers and the Force, the attack was over in mere minutes. Talek was in awe of the plasma sword weapon. He found himself almost walking among the rippling wake of each strike of the sabers, and their new-found signatures.

The Master and his Padawan didn't ease their stance upon the final kill, however. "Show yourself," said the Jedi, sensing another presence still very close. Talek suddenly stood before them out of nowhere, armor glistening, and at a mere 10 feet away. The Jedi were locked for defense, expecting another bounty hunter upon seeing the menacing warrior. But Talek did something else. He removed his shoulder gun and wrist blades, letting them fall to the forest floor. He offered his hand instead, exhibiting the Human ritual for offering friendship. Master Dalen Vigue and Oni Tubari found not an enemy, but a future Jedi. They felt the Force in this creature. Not overtly powerful, but holding a different strength and wisdom unlike any other. Birds of a feather know each other.

The Jedi told him of their trainings, the Force, and the Empire’s plight they've been running from, being hunted by them. Talek communicated the best he could with them, and fully understood he found what he was really looking for. Not only another way of fighting, but of living, of peace. He knew it like it was a fact.

They talked more and Talek showed them his ship. Master Vigue took a very big risk by telling Talek where Master Yoda was in his new home world of Dagobah, but Talek was also taking a big risk by showing them his cruiser. It was a strict rule on his world, enforced by death penalty. But the Master knew this creature was to be a great Jedi. He also knew it like a fact.

Now, he was entering into a field of knowledge that none of his kind had ever ventured to before. There had never been a Yautja Jedi before. Talek was the first.

On to Dagobah...