My name is Taran Ragnan. I find people with unique abilities to do the missions the Republic, publicly, cannot.
—Taran Ragnan introducing Cade Slarwalker to himself and Antimatter Squadron.
Taran Ragnan was a member of the Coruscant Security Force (LOTF) who investigated the Cerrano Case. Eventually, he joined the Brotherhood and rose through the ranks, becoming second only to Dylan Antiunknown. Taran became an Admiral in the Republic navy and was in charge of gathering and commanding Antimatter Squadron. The first iteration of the group escaped from him on Felucia, and after he successfully formed a new group which also escaped, Dylan ordered his exile to Tatooine (LOTF). His position was succeeded by his longtime partner Cyana Bastra.
Biography[]
Early Career[]
Taran originally had joined the Coruscant Security Force by 41 BBY, where he was one of the first responders to an explosion resulting in the deaths of Jason Battleboots and Garm Antiburst. He arrived in time to console and send help for Jason's apprentice, Ganner Slarwalker, who had survived the blast.
By 30 BBY, however, Taran was recruited by Dylan Antiunknown and joined the Brotherhood. One of his first assignments was to frame Hans Cerrano for the murder of his mother, a successful undertaking which gained infamy and became known as the Cerrano Case.
After the Cerrano Case, Dylan was able to place Taran into the Republic Navy as a Rear Admiral; he later became a full-fledged Admiral by the time of Operation Supernova. The unusal shift in position attracted the attention of Republic Intelligence, which eventually deduced his true loyalties.
A New Ally[]
Chancellor Palpatine met with Cyana Bastra, one of his top agents, and offered her the mission but warned her that she would have to sacrifice every aspect of her life to fool the Brotherhood- including her husband, Barak Dakens. Cyana, loyal to the Republic and its ideals above all else, accepted the mission. She was placed into the Brotherhood and met with Taran as part of his crew on Coruscant, which immediately headed to Dantooine to deal with Yula Ardinn. On Dantooine, Taran, backed by a group of mercenaries, cornered and abducted the Jedi Master, and took her to Taran's Venator-class Star Destroyer.
Once aboard, Taran interrogated a drugged Yula alongside Cyana, but the ship was attacked by the Nightsisters, led by Talzin and Yula's master, Nyri Tacon. The duo attempted to escape with Yula, but were cornered, leading to a stalemate until Nyri attacked. Cyana killed the Jedi Master, which enraged Yula, who escaped, wounding and scarring Cyana before she and Taran quickly ran into an escape pod. Though the assignment was a failure, Taran was impressed by Cyana's performance and remarked that she deserved a promotion as he prepared first aid for her. Indeed, Cyana would go on to become Taran's second-in-command.
Antimatter Squadron[]
Under orders from Dylan, Taran oversaw the capture of Hans Cerrano (now under the alias of Hans Novastar), Cade Slarwalker, Ranulph Darkhitch, Siri Tokolighter, and Blaze Terrant. The mercenaries formed the first Antimatter Squadron, which would be a covert Brotherhood strike team under the guise of a Republic one.
However, the team would not last long. Antimatter Squadron was dispatched to Felucia to eliminate a Separatist general who had been a thorn in the side of both the Brotherhood and the Republic. Unbeknownst to Taran, the Shadow Assassin Arek Saris had beat him to eliminating the general, and had replaced him to lay low after 'eliminating' Darth Massikus. When the team arrived, Saris easily captured them. They were then rescued by Ganner Slarwalker, now a Jedi Master who had followed Saris and was determined to defeat him.
However, Dylan would eventually find himself in need of Taran's aid again when he decided to eliminate Nebula Corporation executive Dani Morrow. He met with Taran and Cyana on Nar Shadda along with Cade, who was currently working for Dylan. Though neither of the two were happy to hear about the plan, they both complied and quickly went to work gathering new recruits.
Operation Supernova[]
The second Antimatter Squadron was comprised of Praxon, DX-245, Kev Marnath, and Asura Tyuki. Taran had them given neural implants that allowed them to be controlled remotely, assembled them aboard the Exarch, and gave them their mission: infiltrate Dani Morrow's party and kill her.
The mission was a near failure due to the unexpected intervention of Hans Novastar and Cade, as well as an attempt from Praxon to rebel and save Dani. However, Asura, in control of DX-245, killed Dani to save Praxon's life. At the same time, Kev Marnath fought and was defeated by the duo, who tried to interrogate him. Taran took control of Kev using the neural implants and made him mock Hans over the death of his mother, which provoked him into killing Kev.
Back onboard the Exarch, Taran locked the team up save for Praxon, who became the first test subject of the experimental DX Neural Interface, which allowed for its user's brain to be synced with that of a DX-series droid, in this case DX-245. Cyana expressed her doubts that the droid could control Praxon, but Taran assured her such a thing was impossible.
Conspiring with Asura, Hans and Cade attatcked the Exarch, prompting Taran sic Antimatter Squadron on them whilst preparing to escape with Cyana. The two got away from the battle unharmed, but lost control of the neural interface due to Ranulph Darkhitch's slicing, and lost control of DX-245 when his restraining bolt was torn out.
Taran and Cyana returned to a hidden Brotherhood base in the Unknown Regions to meet with Dylan, who expressed great dissatisfaction at Taran's failures. He demoted Taran, having Cyana take his place. Dylan did not, however, execute Taran, as he knew Taran would suffer more in obsolescence, instead exiling him to Tatooine.
Personality and traits[]
At his core, Taran wanted to be powerful more than anything else. His ambition was always apparent to those around him, and he made great strides towards power, beginning as a mere officer in the Coruscant Security Force and becoming an Imperial Admiral before his exile. Though he had once been a moral man, even comforting Ganner Slarwalker after his Master's death, Taran's power hunger was so strong that he never once doubted his actions, including his cover-up of the Cerrano Case; in fact, he even mocked Hans about the event later on.
Taran was an aspiring leader, though his loss of Yula Ardinn and both Antimatter Squadrons were enough to convince Dylan to replace him.
Behind the scenes[]
Taran was originally named Valcor Cenvax, based on an idea for a story the author -Price-, DylanTBest, and Justjeulin had that also inspired Antimatter Squadron.
Taran's last name is derived from the word "Ragnarok".
Appearances[]
- LOTF: Ganner Slarwalker (First appearance)
- LOTF: Dark Matter
- LOTF: The Hunted
- LOTF: Resurgence (Mentioned only)