General Vaklu

General Vaklu was an Onderonian general and commander-in-chief of Onderon's armed forces during the Mandalorian Wars, the Jedi Civil War and the Dark Wars and a villain in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords.

History
During the Mandalorian Wars, Vaklu lead the resistance against the Mandalorian Wars, Vaklu lead the resistance against the Mandalorian occupiers. He was supported and loved by many, and decorated as a war hero.

Alliance with the Dark Lord
During the Dark Wars and First Jedi Purge at the hands of the Emperor, Darth Nihilus himself, Vaklu gained much support from within the Onderon military and from the populace of Onderon to seize control of the throne of Onderon from his cousin, Queen Talia.

However, Talia still had considerable influence within the Council of Lords, and many viewed it unlikely that Vaklu's movement would receive a super majority vote.

During this time, an Iziz councilman loyal to the Queen believed that Vaklu was planning to kill Talia. During a council meeting, the man threw himself at Vaklu in an attempt to kill him. Vaklu survived the ill-planned encounter, and his soldiers killed the man during his arrest.

Vaklu—having cut off the Queen's diplomatic and economic ties to the Republic, taking control of the media to spread his propaganda and lies, and, having garnered a large following within the Council of Lords, had decreased her political powers on Onderon—was ready to focus on preparations for a coup. Vaklu was approached by the Sith Empire lead by the Dark Lord, Darth Nihilus. Nihilus offered the use of his soldiers and fire power to overthrow the Queen, all in return for Vaklu allowing Nihilus to investigate the tomb of Sith Lord Freedon Nadd on Dxun, the largest moon of Onderon. Vaklu agreed and joined forces with the Sith.

Civil War and Vaklu's downfall
"You're time is at an end, Talia. You're people have abandoned you and now your life is forfeit."

- General Vaklu to Queen Talia during their battle in the throne room of the Onderon Royal Palace.



With all other facets of his plan complete, Vaklu began to initiate the final piece of his well-constructed plan. Vaklu only had a part of the military to use for his overthrow of the Queen, since, although most of the military supported Vaklu's ideals most were very loyal to the Queen. Even with a portion of the military and Sith allies, Vaklu still needed to draw support away from the palace, to make it vulnerable to assault, thus making his victory more likely. Vaklu used his more radical supporters like Anda and Ponlar to create riots and draw military strength and officers away from the Sky Ramp, the most direct route to the palace. However, Vaklu was faced with an unexpected problem. Vaklu's Sith allies warned him of a powerful Jedi, that posed a great threat to his plans, one Vaklu had heard only rumours of: Meetra Surik, on business to Onderon, that at this point was unknown.

The Sith recommended that Vaklu take out Surik's ship, the Ebon Hawk, upon its arrival at Onderon. Vaklu charged his right hand man and most loyal supporter, Colonel Tobin, with the task of dispatching the Hawk. Colonel Tobin failed however, and the Ebon Hawk was able to elude both destruction and capture. Tobin returned to Vaklu with the bad news, and dispatched a group of scouts to search for the Hawk's crew on Dxun. While disappointed with Tobin, Vaklu was able to make Tobin's failure work to his advantage. The attack on the Hawk had triggered a massive battle within the blockade. Onderonians feared that war was on their very doorstep. Vaklu used this fear to his advantage, saying that a capital-class Republic vessel had attacked Onderonian starships in attempt to break the blockade, even though the Hawk was only a small freighter. His control of the media assured that no other, accurate reports of the battle were aired.

Playing on the concept of a Republic conspiracy, Vaklu stepped up his plans, seizing "spies" in larger quantities, and prohibiting anyone from leaving Onderon without a visa. Soon after, he ceased the distribution of visas, and stranded many who sought to leave Onderon before a civil war erupted. As the situation escalated, Vaklu was informed by Tobin that Surik was actually in Iziz, despite being vigorously hunted by Tobin's men. Vaklu suspected Surik was searching for a Jedi named Kavar, rumoured to be an adviser of the Queen, possibly for revenge. Vaklu once again decided to play the situation to his advantage. Vaklu ordered Tobin to observe the Jedi and wait to ambush Kavar, and to detain the Exile during the ambush so that Tobin could propose an alliance in order to deal with the Sith, once the Queen was overthrown. Surik did not appear to be on a revenge trip however, and made it quite obvious that she supported the Queen, and even helped loyalist troops stop a separatist riot. Surik did meet with Kavar however, and Tobin was sent to deal with Surik and her friend Kavar.

Tobin had been lured away by Kavar during the ambush however, and was so unavailable to help his men kill Surik, thus allowing her to escape. Separatist-friendly soldiers and citizens were sent to prevent Surik from escaping, but all failed in doing so.

With Surik gone and Kavar back at the palace, Vaklu wasted no time in preventing Talia from undoing his plans; he immediatly initiated the final stage of his plan and attacked the palace. While Vaklu attacked the main entrance of the palace; Sith-led forces attacked the Sky ramp, thus cutting the Queen off from reinforcements. They also worked on deactivating the palace's exterior turret defences in order to gain air superiority. However, Surik soon returned, in dramatic style, by combat dropping into Iziz, by way of an old Mandalorian Basilisk war droid, instilling the fear of a Mandalorian invasion into Vaklu's troops. Surik was no great Mandalorian invasion, but she was enough to disrupt the Sith assault on the Sky Ramp, and led a contingent of Loyalist troops to clear the Sky Ramp and reach the palace.



By that time, Vaklu had already caught up with the Queen, and they engaged in a heated duel with vibroswords, while Tobin attempted to re-join Vaklu by breaking through a nearly impervious force-field with a drexyl larva. Tobin was able to seal Surik out of the outer chamber long enough for the drexyl to break the barrier. The Sith beast masters lost control of the drexyl, however, and Tobin was seemingly killed. Having defeated most of Vaklu's troops in the outer parts of the palace, Surik rallied the remaining Loyalist troops and attacked Vaklu's forces within the throne room. Vaklu, meanwhile, was unable to contend with Talia's youthful vigor, and was thrust into a stalemate. Tired and desperate, Vaklu ordered his men to gun Talia down. Surik was able to come to Talia's aid just in time, and Vaklu was captured. Vaklu, defeated and at Talia's mercy, declared that Talia's reign would not be easy, as her attachment to the Republic would destroy Onderon. He then taunted her by saying he would be free within a week by his supporters. But to Vaklu's horror, Talia intended to execute Vaklu on the spot. It was then that Surik pointed out that if Vaklu was executed, it would make him a martyr to his supporters; the captive General was nonetheless sentenced to death and executed by firing squad.

Despite Vaklu's beliefs, the Republic recovered and Talia brought peace and prosperity to Onderon.

