Star Wars Insider – July 2019

STAR WARS INSIDER / 61

BACTABASICS

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04

01 Luke Skywalker, re

covering from a wampa attack, is immered in bacta fluid.

02 Clone troopers undergo medical treatment at a facility on Kamino.03 A bacta mask is used to further heal Skywalker’s injuries after a wampa attack.04 A 2-1B medical droid observes his unlucky patient after surgery to replace a lost limb.

02

of medical care gone awry, Doctor

Cornelius Evazan—the human with

a death sentence in 12 systems—was

trained as a cosmetic surgeon. Rather

than help his patients, Evazan utilized

his skills to infl ict atrocious experiments

upon them, and even worked with

Dryden Vos to create mutilated ‘cyber

slaves’ called the Decraniated.

On the other end of the spectrum,

Doctor Kalonia, a medical offi cer of the

New Republic with the rank of major in

the Resistance, used her knowledge to

advise Leia Organa during her pregnancy

and treat wounded soldiers, such as Finn

and Chewbacca, during battle.

Synthetic Limbs and Organs

Losing a limb isn’t any less painful in

the Star Wars galaxy as it is ours, but

advanced cybernetics mean recovery

and the restoration of functionality can

happen swiftly. Medical droids used

cybernetics to essentially rebuild Darth

Vader in a relatively short amount of

time. The mechanics-based technology

is ideal for replacing arms, legs, hands, or

in the case of Vader, most of a body.

Cybernetics can be utilized for

biological augmentation, too, as in the

case of the Guavian Death Gang; their

bodies have a mechanical reservoir that

continually feeds chemicals into their

blood to make them more effective

fi ghters. The Empire installed cybernetic

implants, like the ones worn by Lobot

and Tseebo, for a similar reason, but they

were optimized for productivity rather

than warrior skills.

On a harmless medical level,

cybernetics are valued for the

aforementioned limb replacement.

Mechno-arms are completely practical

replacements for organic hands and

arms, which can be lost for reasons

beyond lightsaber injuries. Patients can

have as much or as little mechno-arm

as they need grafted to their bodies.

Luke, for instance, only required a

replacement for his hand after the

incident on Cloud City, while Anakin

had most of his arm replaced after

his duel with Count Dooku. The

Rather than help

his patients, Evazan

utilized his skills

to infl ict atrocious

experiments upon

them.