Hask Taff

Hask Taff was a female Zygerrian film director and known as a master manipulator of the HoloNet. In the wake of the Clone Wars, Taff worked alongside reporter Anora Fair and disaffected Imperial officer Berch Teller to document the Galactic Empire's actions during the Antar Atrocity. Recreating the brutal arrests and executions of both anti-Imperial and pro-Imperial residents of the moon Antar 4, both Taff and Fair were targeted by COMPNOR for silent elimination. Teller was able to have them smuggled to safety hours before COMPNOR agents arrived to arrest them.
Five years after the fall of the Galactic Republic, Taff and fellow former Republic castoffs were involved in a plot to capture Moff Wilhuff Tarkin's corvette, the Carrion Spike. Using her mastery of HoloNet manipulation, Taff assisted the crew in creating false holofeeds in the style of old CIS Shadowfeeds from the Clone Wars and using them to confuse Imperial targets before launching their attacks. Eventually, the plan unraveled and Taff and the rest of the crew were taken prisoner by Moff Tarkin and transferred to Coruscant. After lengthy interrogations, Taff and her comrades were quietly executed to avoid the possibility of them becoming martyrs for anti-Imperial causes.
==Biography==
===The Antar Atrocity and Berch Teller's rebels===
Hask Taff was a Zygerrian film-maker who lived during the Clone Wars and the Imperial Era. She was a friend and collaborator of Anora Fair, an ambitious human journalist from the Core Worlds who built a reputation as a staunch critic of the Galactic Empire and Emperor Palpatine. In 18 BBY, Hask aided Anora's coverage of the Antar Atrocity by directing and producing holographic reenactments of the arrests and indiscriminate killings of civilians. Their main source was the disaffected Republic Intelligence station chief Berch Teller, who had trained many Gotal and Koorivar loyalists who perished during the Antar Atrocity.
Hask's work on the Antar Atrocity led pro-Imperial pundits to label her "a master of HoloNet manipulation." Hask and Anora's coverage of the Antar Atrocity led the Imperial Security Bureau to target them for assassination. However, Teller spirited them to safety. Hask and Anora joined Teller's rebel cell, which consisted of survivors and witnesses of the Antar Atrocity. The rebels shared a strong antipathy towards Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, the architect of the Antar Atrocity. Teller's rebel cell was aided by Vice Admiral Dodd Rancit, the Director of the Naval Intelligence Agency and a rival of Tarkin. Rancit supplied the rebels with Clone Wars-era weapons, starships, communications equipment, and intelligence.
===Theft of the Carrion Spike===
In 14 BBY, following the failed attack on Sentinel Base, Hask along with Anora, Teller, the Gotal pilot Salikk, the Koorivar operations specialist Cala, and the Mon Calamari engineer Dr. Artoz undertook a mission to steal Moff Tarkin's stealth corvette Carrion Spike. Teller intended to use Tarkin's starship to attack Imperial targets across the galaxy in order to inspire rebellion. Due to their film-making skills, Hask and Anora were tasked with producing holovids of the raids that would be broadcast on HoloNet. These holovids were intended to mimic the Separatist Shadowfeed broadcasts of the Clone Wars.
The insurgents were aided by Rancit, who planted a communications cache on the planet Murkhana. While Tarkin and Darth Vader visited Murkhana City to investigate, the insurgents forced their way aboard the Carrion Spike. Despite luring Sergeant Crest and most of the guards away, the insurgents faced stiff resistance from the ship's captain, comms officer, and two stormtroopers. During the skirmish, Hask accidentally damaged the ship's airlock when Anora collided with her.
The insurgents then fled offworld to the edge of the Murkhana system. While flying, Hask and Anora argued over who was to blame for the airlock damage. Hask criticized Anora for colliding with her while Anora blamed Hask for not keeping the gun's safety on. When Teller asked about the holocams, Hask responded that she would slave them to the HoloNet comm board. She added that it was fortunate that Tarkin's stormtroopers carried some of their storeroom components aboard. Hask also asked Teller why the Emperor would send Lord Vader to accompany Tarkin. Teller explained that Vader had visited Murkhana at the end of the Clone Wars and executed a Twi'lek Black Sun racketeer.
When Hask referred to the Emperor's second in command by his adopted name, Anora reminded her friend that Vader was a machine and a terrorist. Shortly later, Tarkin and Lord Vader gave chase in the Sugi crime lord's commandeered ship Parsec Predator During the pursuit, Teller chastised Hask for not checking for tracking devices. When Hask snarled that she could not find any, Teller retorted that she had not found any. As the pursuit continued, Hask and Anora deduced that their pursuers were none other than Tarkin and Vader. Hask also expressed curiosity at what lay beneath Vader's helmet.
The insurgents took a hyperspace jump to the Fial system. However, Lord Vader was able to track them down using his meditation chamber aboard the Carrion Spike. When the Imperials resurfaced, Hask speculated there was a tracking device on the hull or concealed in the landing strut. Unable to do a full EVA search, Teller decided to do a second jump to the Galidraan Station. Before the jump, Teller assigned Hask to man the comm board.
===Raids on Galidraan and Lucazec===
Under Teller's leadership, Hask and her comrades attacked the Imperial station in the Galidraan system. Using the Carrion Spike cloaking systems, the insurgents attacked the station, inflicting considerable damage and casualties. Since the corvette was cloaked, the defending V-wing and ARC-170 starfighters were unable to locate and hit the Carrion Spike. Tarkin and Vader soon resurfaced aboard the Parsec Predator. Using Tarkin's knowledge of his own ship, they managed to inflict some damage on the Carrion Spike before being disabled.
During the dogfight, the Carrion Spike sustained some interior damage. Hask put out a fire in cargo hold three. Under Teller's instructions, she locked down the hold and disabled the exhaust fans to prevent them from venting any smoke or fire suppressant foam. Before jumping into hyperspace, the rebels ejected Vader's meditation chamber and destroyed the system's hyperspace buoy. The insurgents then raided the TaggeCo mining facilities on Lucazec. Hask and Teller produced holovids which were broadcast on the Imperial HoloNet, drawing the attention of the Emperor and the Imperial Ruling Council on Coruscant.
===Ordeal at Phindar===
With the Carrion Spike needing to refuel, the insurgents traveled to the planet Phindar in the Mandalore sector. Teller's source Rancit had confirmed that an Imperial task force had been deployed to Gromas in the Perkell sector; the other source of the Carrion Spike special fuel. In order to purchase the fuel cells from the orbital tanker above Phindar, Teller donned an Imperial uniform in order to pass himself as the Imperial Commander Abel LaSal. When Hask expressed concern that every depot between their location and Centares would be on the look out for the Carron Spike, Teller reassured her that their altered transponder would allow them to get through unnoticed.
When Hask argued that they should have stashed fuel somewhere, Teller countered that they had "broken the bank" getting the fuel cell shipment to Murkhana. Hask then raised the matter about indiscriminately killing civilians during their campaign and pointed out that people were working for the Empire because they had to eat. In response, Teller harshly argued that anyone who served the Emperor's New Order was a legitimate target and asked why she had not thought this through by now. Anora spoke up for Hask by suggesting that she was forgetful, prompting Hask to return a brooding nod.
Teller reiterated that even civilians mining ore or refueling Imperial warships were supporting the Emperor by default. He reminded Hask that their idea was to put the fear into anyone considering joining the Empire in order to slow the death toll and to punish them. When he asked if she understood, Hask indicated that she understood. When Anora quipped about Teller's "acting", Teller remarked that the Emperor would have eliminated the artists if he had his way.
Despite Teller's precautions, the Phindian administrator noticed something suspicious about "Commander LaSal" and alerted Tarkin and Lord Vader. Before the Carrion Spike had finished refueling, Tarkin and Lord Vader arrived with the Imperial escort carrier Goliath and the V-wing Yellow Squadron. While Cala prepared the ship's hyperdrive, the Carrion Spike ran circles around the tanker to prevent the Imperials from targeting the ship. The insurgents also managed to shoot down several of Vader's V-wings during the dogfight. Before fleeing into hyperspace, the insurgents also used a concealed explosive to blow up the Phindar tanker.
Following the escape from Phindar, Hask and her comrades tended to their wounds and the damaged corvette. Teller also praised Hask and Anora for their captivating holovids of the ordeal at Phindar. Though Teller was optimistic their holovids would spread to other sectors, Hask reported that she did not have a chance to edit out the lag before the tanker explosion. However, she was happy there was a sequence showing the starfighters ganging up on them. When Hask asked if Tarkin and Vader would have ordered the bombing of the tanker, Teller recounted Tarkin's ruthless career in the Outlands Regions Security Force and his rise to power with the approval of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. When Hask observed that Tarkin was also indiscriminately targeting civilians, Teller and Anora reassured her that they were the "good guys."
===Covering their trail===
Following the discovery of a paralight tracker inside one of the Carrion Spike fuel cells, Teller decided to mislead their Imperial pursuers by transmitting coordinates claiming they were traveling to the Obroa-skai system but getting their collaborator Knotts to dispatch the freighter Reticent as a decoy ship. In response, Tarkin and Lord Vader deployed substantial forces including three Imperial interdictor vessels to intercept the Carrion Spike. One of the interdictors, an Immobilizer 418 cruiser, malfunctioned, causing a massive hyperspace accident that claimed 1,100 lives.
Despite the diversion, Tarkin and Vader managed to interrogate the crew of the Reticent and learned about Knott's involvement. Tarkin subsequently discovered information on the HoloNet incriminating Teller and his followers including Hask. He realized that the insurgents were seeking revenge for his role in the Antar Atrocity years earlier. In private, Anora regretted dragging her friend Anora into Teller's insurgency. However, Teller reassured Anora that Hask was willing to choose to remain with them regardless of the odds stacked against them.
===Attack on Nouane===
Acting under Rancit's guidance, Teller and his crew attacked the Imperial facility in the Nouane system. Despite exiting hyperspace deeper in the system to avoid the capital ships, the Imperial facility was well-defended and the Carrion Spike was forced to retreat into space. The ship also sustained considerable damage to its armaments, shields, hyperdrive, stealth systems, and sublight drives. Following the escape from Nouane, Hask reported that the rebels did not come off well in the holovids the Empire had released of the Nouane engagement.
After Anora pointed out that Teller's mysterious source had betrayed them, the rebels decided to evacuate the Carrion Spike and send it on autopilot to Carida. As expected, Rancit had intended to destroy the Carrion Spike and her rebel crew in order to cover up evidence of his collusion with the rebels and improve his standing in the Imperial Ruling Council. However, Lord Vader had discovered his treachery and confronted the Vice-Admiral. As punishment, Vader forced Rancit to climb aboard an escape pod and issue the order to destroy it.
===Last stand and execution===
After abandoning the Carrion Spike, Hask and her comrades joined the rest of Teller's cell aboard Berch Teller's warship, a modified Providence-class carrier in a star system near the Gulf of Tatooine. Since much of the Imperial Navy was dispersed across the galaxy hunting down the Carrion Spike, Teller and his followers designed to ambush an Imperial convoy ferry supplies to the secret Death Star project. Teller assigned Hask and Anora with the task of producing a "galactic-class holovid" depicting the raid.
For the ambushed, Teller marshaled his rebel cell's entire assets including the Providence carrier, a Nebulon-B frigate, numerous droid fighters, and several Z-95 Headhunter and Tikiar starfighters. When the convoy entered realspace, the insurgents jammed their HoloNet and communications transmitters. Though the convoy's escort gunboats and frigates formed a defensive circle around the cargo ships and transports, the insurgents' ships blasted at the escorts, allowing droid fighters to dart through the gaps and attack the cargo vessels.
However, the tide of the battle turned with the arrival of Moff Tarkin aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Executrix. After deploying V-wings, Tarkin unleashed his Star Destroyer's firepower on the Nebulon-B frigate and the Providence carrier, crippling the ship. During the battle, Hask and Anora produced a holovid showing Teller escaping on his starfighter to fight another day. Hask and her comrades stayed behind so that Teller could escape on his Headhunter fighter.
Following the battle, Hask along with Anora, Knotts, Dr Artoz and the surviving crew were captured by Tarkin's stormtroopers. Hask maintained a defiant silence while Anora verbally taunted Tarkin. Over the next three weeks, Hask and her fellow rebels were interrogated by Tarkin, Lord Vader, and the Imperial Security Bureau. The rebels were then privately executed to avoid giving them a martyrs' death.
==Personality and traits==
Hask Taff was a tall and slender female Zygerrian. She had feline features including pointed, fur covered ears, a narrow nose, and triangular face. Hask had rubicund, reddish fur. She was a close friend and collaborator of the journalist Anora Fair though this did not stop the two from arguing on matters such as who was to blame for damaging the Carrion Spike airlock. Though Hask feared and loathed the Emperor's executor Darth Vader, she did not share Anora's unwillingness to refer to the Sith Lord by name. Unaware of his true identity, Hask wondered what lay beneath Vader's helmet.
Unlike her friend Anora, Hask was more questioning of Teller's policy of indiscriminately targeting civilian miners and refuel station personnel because they served the Imperial war machine. Hask later came to appreciate Teller's perspective when she observed that Tarkin also indiscriminately targeted civilians but accepted Teller and Hask's reason that their actions were justified because they were the "good guys." While Anora regretted embroiling Hask in Teller's insurgency, Teller reassured Anora that Hask would most likely choose to remain with them. Teller was proven right when Hask remained with her comrades when Tarkin's forces captured them.
==Skills and abilities==
Hask was a skilled film-maker who directed and produced holographic reenactments of the Antar Atrocity. Her skilled film-making abilities led Imperial pundits to call her "a master of HoloNet" manipulation." Though she knew how to use a blaster, Hask was not a soldier and did not know how to keep the gun's safety on.
==Behind the scenes==
Hask Taff appeared in Tarkin, a 2015 novel written by James Luceno and published by Del Rey.
==Appearances==
*Tarkin 
==Notes and references==
Category:Females
Category:Resistance fighters
Category:Zygerrians