Ky ' lessan The Ky ' lessans were a reptilian sentient species with oily , scaly skin . They were active in the galaxy during the Galactic Civil War and spoke Basic with a lisp . Soon after the Battle of Yavin , the Ky ' lessan known as Snake - Eyes , who was the assistant of Captain Scarlet Bloodhawk in her repair port , betrayed his boss for profit . Biology and appearance . Ky ' lessans were humanoid reptiles covered with damp , oily scales . They had a mouth structure allowing them to speak Galactic Basic Standard ; however , at least some Ky ' lessans demonstrated a lateral lisp when doing so ; that is , they pronounced the phonemes / s / and / z / as / θ / . Society and culture . Ky ' lessans were members of the galactic community by at least 0 ABY . Ky ' lessans could find work such as management or co - management in port repair operations , for instance . Some Ky ' lessans served as informants for the Galactic Empire , an organization widely known for its Humanocentric speciesism . At least on some occasions , individual Ky ' lessans were known by nicknames when dealing with other species . At least one Ky ' lessan displayed traits such as ambition and greed , resorting to immoral acts such as kidnapping and sabotage to obtain an economic profit . History . As of 0 ABY , Ky ' lessans were members of the galactic community . At that point , the governing Galactic Empire allowed Ky ' lessans to earn money in exchange for services to the Empire , even if those services were unrequested . Soon after the Battle of Yavin , the Ky ' lessan known as Snake - Eyes worked as the second - in - command of a little - known repair station owned by Scarlet Bloodhawk . Selfishly wanting full control of the station , Snake - Eyes betrayed and kidnapped Bloodhawk ; he then obtained an additional income by skimping on expenses . When a group of Rebel agents — old friends of Bloodhawk — arrived at the station for repairs to their Thorsen field driver , he reported their presence to the Galactic Empire in exchange for a nominal fee ; however , with a warning from the station ' s domodroid H2 - 1B4 , the Rebels rescued Bloodhawk and left the station , barely escaping from an Imperial cutter . Behind the scenes . The Ky ' lessans appeared in one of the " adventure ideas " of the " " , published by West End Games in 1987 . The species was not described in great detail , and was identified only by one member , Snake - Eyes . " Snake - Eyes " is never described as really having eyes similar to those of a snake ( i . e . , with vertical pupils and apparent lack of lids ) ; thus , his nickname may be ironic , and , as such , this article does not assume that Ky ' lessans have such eyes . Other West End Games books mention a KyLessia system and planet , as well as a KyLessian Fruit Distillate . Despite the similarity in spelling , no canonical source has connected the Ky ' lessans with KyLessia . The only known representative of this species spoke with a lisp , that could be a racial or an individual feature . In his particular case , Snake - Eyes replaced phonemes / s / and / z / as / θ / . Unexplained exceptions happened when the phoneme / s / was preceded by an alveolar approximant / ɹ / as in " sirs " ( pronounced " thirs " ) . The lisp did not apply either to the phoneme / ʃ / ( the last sound in " wish " ) .