Salman Paak

"Go! Go on!"

―Salman Paak^[4]

Salman Paak was a human male Ferrixian who operated the Repaak Salyard on his homeworld of Ferrix alongside his son, Wilmon, during the Imperial Era. In 7 BBY, Paak attended a Separatist meeting on Jondora where he met a woman who told him that, if he was serious about politics, he could act as a liaison for Ferrix to, unknowingly, the Axis network via the use of a fractal radio unit, which he would be paid to keep alive. He'd come to meet the network's leader, Luthen Rael, once and introduce him to local mechanic Bix Caleen, who would take Paak's place as liaison. Two years later, when a group of Preox-Morlana Corpos came to the planet in search of Cassian Andor—who had murdered two Corpos stationed on Morlana One—Paak helped sound the alarm around town to intimidate the incoming soldiers and free Bix, who had been handcuffed to a pipe by several Corpos.

In the ambush's aftermath, the Galactic Empire took over the Preox-Morlana Corporate Sector. After Caleen used the comm unit again to try to find Andor when his mother Maarva Andor was ill, the Imperial Security Bureau discovered the comm and arrested Paak, torturing him for information, and, according to ISB Lieutenant Dedra Meero, despite having little rebellious activity to his name, he was very resistant, leading the ISB supervisor to believe there were motivations larger than money at play. Paak eventually gave in and revealed the information about Caleen and Rael, although he did not provide a name for the rebel. The day after Paak's arrest, Wilmon demanded to know where they had taken his father, which drew a crowd of Ferrix residents around the salyard, inlcuding Caleen, whose use of the comm unit had alerted the ISB to Paak. The lead Imperial officer on the scene, Captain Vanis Tigo, saw Caleen and ordered his stormtroopers to arrest her, causing the woman to flee. They eventually caught up to her and arrested her, leading Caleen to a room in Hotel Rix, which was the makeshift headquarters for the Imperials, that contained a tortured Paak. Meero ordered for Paak to be removed from the chamber as Caleen called out to the man, earning no response.

Prefect Tigo later expressed to Meero that he would like to hang Paak as a message to the rest of the Ferrix residents, which the Lieutenant allowed. Later, angered by his father's death, Wilmon built an explosive device which he used to attack the Imperials at the Rix Road riot, which began as a funeral procession for Maarva Andor. Wilmon had been identified during the attack, and was able to escape Ferrix on a transport alongside Brasso, Caleen, Jezzi, and Andor's droid B2EMO.

Biography

Salvage yard and Rael's liaison

"What are we looking for?"
"Bendine Mesh-Tech filter."
"Yellow racks in the back. You might have to dig a little."

―Caleen uses a code phrase to ask Paak to use the comm unit^[3]

During the reign of the Galactic Empire, Salman Paak resided on the Free Trade sector planet Ferrix, where he operated the Repaak Salyard alongside his son, Wilmon Paak.^[3] In 7 BBY^[6] Salman Paak attended a Separatist meeting on the^[5] planet^[7] Jondora where he met a woman who suggested that if he was serious about politics, he could act as a liaison when he returned to his homeworld, using its unique commercial position to acquire stolen Imperial equipment. He was soon sent a fractal radio, and was paid to keep it alive. At some point, he also met with the rebel Luthen Rael, before introducing him to the Ferrix mechanic Bix Caleen.^[5]

Caleen then became the liaison on Ferrix, contacting Rael using the junction box located deep in Paak's salvage yard to contact the rebel when she had a bundle of items to sell. Two years after his journey to Jondora, in 5 BBY, Caleen entered the Repaak salyard where Wilmon alerted his father to the woman's presence. Caleen asked for a "Bendine Mesh-Tech filter", and Paak directed her to the yellow racks located in the back of the yard. In reality, Caleen had spoken a code phrase to request the man's permission to use the comm unit he was sent, as she had an item her friend Cassian Andor needed to sell quickly. She made her way to the back of the yard where she contacted Rael.^[3] The same night, when the Time Grappler struck his^[8] beskar anvil^[9] with a hammer, marking the end of the work day, Paak and Wilmon closed up their yard.^[8]

The corpos' intervention

Some days prior, Andor had traveled to the planet Morlana One, following up on a lead about his sister, whom he had not seen since he was a child. While there, he was involved in an incident with two Preox-Morlana Corpos, who were a corporate police of the Free Trade sector. Andor had killed the corpos Kravas Drezzer and Verlo Skiff after they harassed him, before fleeing the planet.^[3] Pre-Mor Enforcement soon sent an inspection team to arrest Andor for his crimes. After their arrival on the planet, Wilmon spotted the Corpos, and alerted his father. Paak then ran to the Caleen Salyard, which Caleen owned and worked at with her partner, Timm Karlo. He informed Caleen of the arrival of the Corpos, and that they were currently at Cassian's mother, Maarva Andor's house. Paak questioned what was going on and asked if she had saw the bulletin Pre-Mor had put out the night prior—they were in search of a Kenari male on Ferrix. Despite this, they could not have identified Andor as the perpetrator, leading Caleen to the conclusion that someone had ratted him out to Pre-Mor. She prepared to leave and warn Cassian, but was stopped by Karlo, who insisted that Andor could take care of himself. As Karlo was not privy to her conversation with Paak, Caleen became suspicious of her partner, and realized that he had been the one to rat Andor out. In disbelief, Caleen ran to find Andor, leaving a shocked Paak to ask Karlo what he had done.^[4]

As the Corpos made their way through the streets in search of Andor, Paak ran back to his salvage yard, where he ushered Wilmon to leave.^[4] He began drumming on a hunk of pipe hanging from a chain,^[10] alerting the residents of Ferrix to the arrival of the Pre-Mor soldiers. Wilmon began drumming on another hanging metal piece, leading the bystanders nearby to do the same on other pieces of metal, in an attempt to intimidate the Corpos. Shortly after, the sound of metal filled the entire neighbordhood. A shootout occurred between Andor and the Corpos, who escaped the planet with Rael, who had come to buy Andor's item as well as to recruit him. During that time, Caleen was apprehended and handcuffed to a pipe while en route to warn Andor, and Karlo was killed trying to rescue her. Paak and Wilmon soon freed Caleen from her makeshift imprisonment, dragging her away from Karlo's corpse.^[4]

Arrest and death

Some time later, following Cassian's escape from Ferrix, Maarva fell ill, leaving Caleen to take care of her. In an effort to find Cassian and alert him of Maarva's condition, Caleen attempted to contact Rael using Paak's comm unit. The salyard owner warned against it, as the Imperial Security Bureau, also known as the "ISB," would be monitoring frequencies looking for Cassian, but eventually allowed Caleen to contact Rael. However, she received no response from the rebel on Coruscant. Paak was soon arrested by the ISB and taken to Hotel Rix, which had become the Imperial operations center, and a group of Ferrix residents formed outside his salyard. The lead Imperial on the scene, Captain Vanis Tigo, spotted Caleen in the chaos and ordered for her arrest, and she was soon apprehended after attempting to flee. She was taken to the hotel and met ISB Lieutenant Dedra Meero, who had tortured Paak for information on the anti-Imperial movements on Ferrix. Caleen was taken to a room where a depleted Paak lay, who was soon moved away from the room so that Meero could interrogate Caleen.^[11] He then disappeared into Imperial custody^[12] and was executed.^[13]