Ket Maliss Ket Maliss was a Dashade male assassin from the time of the Great Sith War who was cryogenically frozen for nearly 4 , 000 years following the near - extinction of his species . As a Shadow Killer , Maliss was one of the most accomplished Dashade assassins ; having originally worked as an enforcer for members of the Falleen House Sizhran , he was awoken several decades before 3 ABY to serve their descendant , Prince Xizor . Under the Prince ' s employ , Maliss visited Chalmun ' s Spaceport Cantina in Tatooine ' s city of Mos Eisley on at least two occasions . During the latter visit in 1 ABY , an Imperial curfew was imposed on the entire Tatoo system . A reluctant Maliss only left the establishment after Ackmena , the bartender , prompted the cantina ' s patrons to waltz out the door to her rendition of the song " Goodnight , But Not Goodbye . " By 3 ABY , Xizor had become the head of the criminal syndicate Black Sun , and that year saw Maliss wipe out the leadership of the Disac pirates on behalf of the Black Sun Vigo Sprax . He later joined a team of mercenaries and bounty hunters assembled by Xizor to track down the mercenary Limna Yith , who had stolen a datacard that contained a list of every Black Sun operative in the Verde system . The team pursued her to the planet Sedri , where they learned that she was on her way to an underwater village . Maliss and the others arrived first and massacred the village ' s residents , but they were soon joined by Yith , held captive by a team of smugglers who were working in opposition to them . A lightfight broke out that saw many of Maliss ' s allies killed , and the Dashade attempted to escape and fight another day . Biography . A deep sleep . Ket Maliss was a Dashade male who lived during the Great Sith War , a massive conflict that pitted the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order against the Brotherhood of the Sith . The Dashade were renowned and feared throughout the galaxy as deadly assassins and mercenaries , and Maliss was one of the species ' Shadow Killer s , an honorary title given to the most accomplished Dashade assassins . The species ' combat prowess saw them frequently hired by the Jedi , Sith , and cultures such as the Falleen species ; Maliss in particular worked as an enforcer for the Falleen House Sizhran . In the year 3996 BBY , during the height of the war , the Cron Cluster of stars went supernova , and the nearby Dashade homeworld of Urkupp was destroyed . The species was nearly annihilated , but members of House Sizhran had Maliss and their thirty - seven other remaining Dashade enforcers cryogenically frozen so as to preserve their abilities for use by future generations of Falleen leaders . Roughly every century , a new enforcer was released and made to serve House Sizhran ; Maliss was the thirty - eighth and final one , woken up several decades before the year 3 ABY to be a servant of the Falleen Prince Xizor , a member of the Black Sun criminal syndicate . Throughout those decades , Maliss served his master well as the last Shadow Killer . Late in 0 BBY , Maliss was on the planet of Tatooine to conduct lethal business in the city of Mos Eisley . While he was in the local Chalmun ' s Spaceport Cantina , a skirmish at the bar occurred between the Jedi Master Obi - Wan Kenobi and the outlaws Ponda Baba and Cornelius Evazan . Maliss was again in the cantina one evening midway through 1 ABY when an officer of the Galactic Empire appeared on the establishment ' s wallscreen and announced a system - wide curfew . Despite the urging of Ackmena , the bartender , none of the cantina ' s patrons were eager to leave , and Ackmena reluctantly served a final round of drinks to everyone free of charge . She sang the song " Goodnight , But Not Goodbye " as she dispensed the drinks , and the serenade prompted Maliss and the other drunken denizens to waltz out the door . The evening ' s events were recorded and broadcast throughout the galaxy as a program called " Life on Tatooine , " which was required viewing for all members of the Imperial forces . It was shown with the hope that viewers would be uplifted by a feeling of superiority over the cantina ' s lowly occupants . On the hunt . Over the next few years , Maliss continued to work for Xizor , who by 3 ABY had become Black Sun ' s leader . In that year , Maliss was hired by the Black Sun Vigo Sprax to deal with the Disac pirates , who had long pillaged the star systems surrounding the Sisar Run hyperlane . When Sprax had attempted to subtly discourage them from continuing , the pirates had responded by virtually shutting down the Sisar Run for three weeks , and Black Sun ' s profits in the region had subsequently suffered . Maliss killed Stano Hapin , the group ' s leader , and a number of other high - ranking Disac pirates within a matter of days . Sprax ' s agents were thus able to flush the leaderless group from the Sisar Run , but the Disac survivor Morturr Heth vowed revenge on both Maliss and Black Sun . Sprax ' s personal bodyguard , Shotarr Kass , also began to despise Maliss and view him as a threat . Not long afterward , Maliss joined a team of bounty hunters and mercenaries gathered by Xizor to track down the Barani List , which contained the names of every Black Sun operative in the Verde system . A datacard that housed the list had been stolen by the mercenary Limna Yith , who then left a trail of destruction across the Sisar Run while fleeing from a team of smugglers hired by Vigo Sprax . When the Imperial Commander Surlev followed her trail to the Abek ' s Station shadowport and destroyed the station after Yith was not turned over to him , Xizor assembled Maliss ' s team to work in opposition to Sprax ' s agents in order to speed up the chase and stave off any further Imperial interference in Black Sun affairs . Maliss boarded the bounty hunter Gyran ' s " Arc Razor " and lazed listlessly around the passenger compartment with most of the team while Gyran and the assassin droid ERYX - 4 tracked Yith to the planet of Sedri . After picking an abandoned Imperial Garrison Base as Yith ' s most likely hideout , Gyran landed his ship outside of the base ' s sensor umbrella . The team then raft ed to their destination and scaled the walls of its vehicle bay . When ERYX - 4 detected a large heat signature , Maliss and the others followed it to an armory and discovered a large gweld creature , which they shot dead . The room also contained an empty lock box , which prompted concerns of a trap set by Yith ; EYRX - 4 hid a listening device inside the box in case she returned . While they waited aboard the " Arc Razor " , the device eventually picked up a conversation between Sprax ' s team of smugglers and a captive Yith who revealed that they were headed for a nearby Sedrian village . As the native Sedrian s were an aquatic species , the team donned wetsuit s and breath masks before pursuing . The team swam to the submerged village , massacred its residents and commenced searching for the datacard in the adjoining underwater caves , where they had to fend off blood - frenzied razort s . Yith and Sprax ' s team soon arrived in the caves with a group of Sedrian warrior monk s and were attacked by four surviving villagers . Maliss and his team joined in the fray and lobbed grenades at both groups . Gyran and two others then provided covering fire while Maliss and ERYX - 4 charged in to kill anyone who had been stunned by the explosions . They wanted Yith alive , but she proceeded to kill several members of Maliss ' s team with discarded Sedrian weaponry . The surviving villagers were armed by Sprax ' s agents and joined in the lightfight on their side . Maliss eventually realized that the battle was hopeless , and he attempted to escape in order to fight another day . After winning the battle , Sprax ' s agents continued their search . They soon recovered the datacard , which they were able to return to the Black Sun agent Kalend Thora . Personality and traits . Ket Maliss was a merciless warrior and a Dashade Shadow Killer — one of the most accomplished assassins among his species . During the Great Sith War , " Shadow Killer " was spoken only in whispers and gave those who heard it involuntary shivers ; nearly 4 , 000 years later , Prince Xizor still used it to denote Maliss . One of Xizor ' s top operatives , Maliss served the Prince well for decades and eliminated the leadership of the Disac pirates in a matter of days . While hunting for Limna Yith , he and his entire team massacred a Sedrian village that stood between them and their quarry . Maliss was the most feared member of the team assembled by Xizor to hunt for Yith . While the team was en route to Sedri , he warned Gyran with a snarl not to wake him frivolously ; upon rising , he did not interact with his fellows and only stared forward with determination . While drinking at Chalmun ' s Cantina , Maliss was one of many customers reluctant to leave in the wake of an Imperial curfew , but he joined in the line of patrons who danced out the door during Ackmena ' s song . Maliss had dark green skin , red - orange eyes , and a hairless head . As a Dashade , he could dissipate the heat emanated from his body and thus become difficult to detect with sensors . Behind the scenes . Ket Maliss first appeared as a nameless alien drinking in the Mos Eisley Cantina in 1978 ' s " The Star Wars Holiday Special " , in which he was played by an uncredited actor . Although a number of the alien masks in the scene were re - used from 1977 ' s , Maliss ' s was built new for the " Holiday Special " under the supervision of makeup artist Rick Baker . The Cantina scene took twenty - four hours to shoot , and some of the actors in alien suits passed out due to a lack of oxygen . One year later , Maliss appeared in the background of a drunk driving public service announcement set in the Mos Eisley Cantina . Maliss was first identified by name in the 1995 " Premiere Limited " set of the " Star Wars " Customizable Card Game . The " Ket Maliss " card gave the character a brief backstory and included a digitally manipulated photo that made it appear as if he were present in the Mos Eisley Cantina during the events of the original " Star Wars " film . Maliss ' s backstory was significantly expanded in the 1997 sourcebook " Secrets of the Sisar Run " , written by Craig Robert Carey ; Shane Hensley ; and Pablo Hidalgo for West End Games ' s " " . In one of the book ' s roleplaying scenarios , " The Barani Conspiracy " , Maliss opposes the player characters in a lightfight that they must win , but the only clue given to his fate is that he attempts to escape if the battle seems hopeless .