Gektl Gektls — occasionally spelled Gecktls — were a sentient species of bipedal reptilians native to the planet Hoszh Iszhir . They were regarded as tough survivors , and members of the species were capable of sloughing off their skin and even tails as a means of escaping danger . They were a long - established part of galactic society , known for their artistic and literary skill . Their painted eggs in particular were regarded galaxywide as beautiful and highly collectible artworks . The Gektl homeworld was protected with a planetary shield to defend its bounty of strategic metals from would - be invaders . Major Stafuv Rahz of the Imperial Military was a member of this species . Rahz betrayed his planet to the Empire , providing them with the codes necessary to breach Hoszh Iszhir ' s shield in exchange for his commission ; he was later placed in charge of an operation designed to lure and trap Rebels by executing a schoolteacher and her students . Biology and appearance . The Gektls were a species of sentient , bipedal reptiles that stood with a hunched , knee - bent stance . Their dorsal scales were green , while the scales on their underbellies were yellow . Their four - fingered hands were clawed and their feet had three clawed toes and a clawed heel . They had long , sinuous tails wrapped in concentric scales that peaked on top , giving them a jagged appearance . Gektl faces were long and slightly flattened , and the tops of their heads possessed three small crests of scales . They had yellow eyes and a long , narrow , pink tongue . The Gektl homeworld , Hoszh Iszhir , was a dangerous place ; one hemisphere was a barren desert , the other was covered with a poisonous atmosphere , and both sides were filled with deadly predators . As a result , Gektls were by necessity born survivors . The reptilians were hardy and physically resilient creatures . A Gektl ' s natural defenses included the ability to shed skin that had been grabbed , revealing the lighter green skin beneath ; they were also able to break off their tails . The sloughed skin could even be used to create decoys . Society and culture . Despite their aptitude for survival , Gektls were renowned for millennia for their literature and other artistic endeavors . Particularly valuable were Gektl painted egg s , which were some of the most highly prized collectibles in the galaxy . Each egg , when lit properly , conveyed scenes of significant Gektl historical events . When Gektls showed their teeth in what appeared to be a smile , the expression was considered to be a challenge . History . Gektls were natives of Hoszh Iszhir , a planet in the Gekto system . Located in the Uoti sector in the Core Worlds , the planet became a part of wider galactic civilization in the early years of the Old Republic . The planet was rich in precious metals such as guerrerite , and the Gektls established a planetary shield system to defend their world and its riches many generations before the Galactic Civil War . After Palpatine ' s rise to Emperor , he desired the resources of Hoszh Iszhir . He was given the opportunity to fulfill his desire when Stafuv Rahz , maintainer of the planet ' s shield system , traveled to Coruscant and sought an audience with the Emperor . Rahz offered Palpatine the codes to the shields in exchange for a position of power ; Palpatine granted him an Imperial Military commission and an assignment to keep the planets in the Gekto system in line . The Emperor then sent a fleet of Star Destroyers to bombard Hoszh Iszhir into submission , enslaving the Gektls and forcing them to mine the world ' s resources . Gektl in the galaxy . During the Cold War following the signing of the Treaty of Coruscant , the female Gektl Dao Stryver , a Mandalorian , attended an auction held by the Hutt Tassaa Bareesh , where the Hutt was holding a navigation computer and another mysterious object up for sale . Stryver fought with the other attendees for the prize , eventually taking the navicomp and locating the world of origin from which the other mysterious object — by then revealed to be a nest of hex droids , a dangerous and deadly type of droid — had come . There , the Gektl convinced the Republic and Sith Imperial forces to ally for a mission to destroy the hexes before they could take control of the galaxy . The mission proved to be a success , and the hex droids were eliminated . During the reign of the Galactic Empire , many Gektls were enslaved and put to work pulling ore from their homeworld ' s mines . One exception was Rahz , who , following the betrayal of his people , became a major in the Imperial Military . He supervised a raid of the mist - enshrouded world of Kar ' a ' katok and the capture of a native Shimholt , Ampotem Za , who eventually became the slaver known as the " Suprema . " Rahz continued serving in the Empire , and he became embroiled in an Imperial operation on Harix . Darth Vader sent him to kidnap the teacher Myoris Lin and her students , but her son Berd escaped with Luke Skywalker . Vader ordered Rahz to broadcast word that the captives would be executed as bait for a trap intended to capture members of the Rebellion . Skywalker brought Berd to a Rebel - allied spaceport , where the child recruited Rebel smugglers to carry out a rescue plan that used target drones as decoys to lure the Imperials out of position . Berd also warned the Rebels of the Imperials ' plans to trap them after he was made aware of it through a dream , and Skywalker and Han Solo destroyed Rahz ' s ambush force hidden behind the Talhu Slotted Peaks . Rahz , faced with the loss of this force and the jamming of comm channels , attempted to carry out the executions with his sonic projector weapon , but he was jumped by Skywalker and restrained by the Rebel smugglers , who had defeated Rahz ' s stormtroopers . Rahz shed his clothes , skin , and tail to escape them , and rushed to the projector . Berd rephased the power of the weapon , though , and when Rahz attempted to fire it , he was killed . Other Gektls became criminals . One such criminal claimed to have been the target of the bounty hunter IG - 88 ; he managed to escape by shedding his skin , allegedly inspiring IG - 88 to fabricate decoy shells to fake his destruction . Behind the scenes . The Gektls were created by Russ Manning in the form of Imperial Major Rahz in " Bring Me the Children " , an arc of the Star Wars comic strip published in 1980 and reprinted in " " in 1995 . Other than reprints of Manning ' s comic , Gektls were referred to only once in two and a half decades , as a brief aside in the of " " in 1996 ; in that book , the species was spelled " Gecktl . " In 2007 , " Aliens in the Empire " , an article written by Abel G . Peña and Rich Handley , was released in two parts in the online supplements to " Star Wars Insider 96 " and " 97 " . The first part briefly revisits Stafuv Rahz in the context of his capture of Apotem Za , the Suprema ; part two includes a full write - up of Rahz , which includes information on the Gektl homeworld and culture . These details , like much of Rahz ' s biography , were the creations of Handley . The species is mentioned in " The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia " , published in 2008 , and a Gektl character , Dao Stryver , appeared in the novel " " in 2010 .