Lowbacca
The tall, furry Wookiees have always had an affinity for the Force, so it was no surprise to Luke Skywalker when Chewbacca's newphew, Lowbacca, became an initiate at the Jedi Academy. The nineteen year old -- barely an adolescent by Wookiee standards -- would train there with other students, including Han and Leia's own twins, Jacen and Jaina Solo. The twins quickly befriended the tall, lanky Wookiee. Lowbacca didn't wear any kind of training clothes. In fact, all he wore was a glossy, syren-fiber belt, which held a strange little egg-shaped electronic device: a Miniaturized Translator Droid known as Em Teedee. It translated Lowie's growls, barks, and snuffles for the other students and the Jedi instructors at the academy. Em Teedee had been programmed by C-3P0, the prissy, golden protocol droid, and had the same speech pattern and basic personality that Threepio does. Lowie, as he likes his friends to call him, soon became friends with the humorless Dathomirian girl named Tenel Ka. Together, the quartet of youngsters explored the jungles of Yavin Four, and on a solo flight of his T-23 Skyhopper, Lowie saw a crashed TIE Fighter, apparently incapacitated since the first Battle of Yavin. Utilizing Jaina's mechanical talents, they began repairing the ship, even adding a hyperdrive module. But the TIE pilot, Qorl, was still alive, and more than a little crazy. He managed to captured Jacen and Jaina; Tenel and Lowie escaped, but in the excitement Em Teedee was knocked off Lowie's belt. Lowie was unable to communicate with anyone at the Great Temple that housed the academy, as none of them spoke Wookiee. Finally, using the communication equipment to call the Falcon, he told Chewbacca what was going on. His uncle and Han returned just in time to save Jacen and Jaina, but not in time to stop the TIE Fighter from escaping. Weeks later, Lowie and the twins accompanied Lando to his corusca-mining GemDiver Station. A fleet of Imperial Skipray blastboats and an assault shuttle attacked the station. Raiding it, the stormtroopers and a mysterious Dathomirian Nightsister captured the trio of young Jedi. The Nightsister, Tamith Kai, planned to train them at the Shadow Academy in the Core systems. The three were separated, and Em Teedee was taken away from Lowbacca. Tamith kept Lowie in seclusion, pelting him with high-pitched sonics and cold-water blasts. Little by little, the witch brought out the Wookiee's anger. When he destroyed the sonic generator, she returned Em Teedee to him. But the translator had been reprogrammed. "The Empire is your friend," the little droids chirped. Lowbacca switched it off, knowing that he could not afford to give in to the dark side. Eventually, the Solo twins and Lowie did manage to escape, arriving in the shuttle bays just as Luke and Tenel Ka were arriving to rescue them. The Jedi Master and his students returned to Yavin Four, where Lowbacca reprogrammed Em Teedee and returned to his studies.
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