Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: Dueling Ambitions marks the twelfth story arc presented in the comic book series, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
In the era surrounding the Galactic Republic's conflict with the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders, a Gotal male named Goethar Kleej was seized by The Crucible slaving organization. He was then compelled to undergo training as a contestant in swoopdueling events orchestrated by the Franchise entertainment conglomerate. Early in his forced tenure within The Crucible's training facilities, Kleej's enslaver, Chantique, in a fit of anger, commanded the severing of his cones. This act, the removal of the electromagnetic signal-receiving sensory organs unique to Gotals, constituted a grave offense within Gotal culture. To conceal this, Kleej later had artificial cones implanted, yet he still had to rely on his remaining senses. While enslaved, Kleej fathered a son, Aubin, with another Gotal. Aubin's mother possessed the ability to filter out the electromagnetic signals he received, but her subsequent death left Aubin vulnerable. Kleej excelled in his training, earning him a spot in the premier swoopdueling competitions, including the Solo Aerials held at Jervo's World—a massive space station operated by the Franchise above the planet Pantolomin. By 3963 BBY, he had secured four consecutive victories. Kleej's widespread fame led to advertising deals, endorsements, a toy product line, and his adoption as a mascot for the events. After winning his fourth Solo Aerials by defeating one of the D'qell Sisters, Kleej attempted to expose the Franchise's hidden slaving practices to the audience. Instead, a pre-recorded speech was broadcast, announcing his retirement and drowning out his pleas for help. The crew of the Hot Prospect encountered Gryph on Jervo's World, a location renowned for its extensive network of swoop-dueling arenas and the Hall of Champions. Gryph intended to defraud Jervo Thalien by exploiting a time lag between the arena's holofeed and the betting area. The Franchise's allowance of in-match betting meant Gryph planned to relay the match results to Jarael, who would quickly place bets on the winner before the feed reached the bettors. Jarael and Zayne's actions soon disrupted this plan. Jarael expressed moral reservations about defrauding legitimate bettors and disapproved of the duels' brutality. Zayne, however, was captivated by the Hall of Champions and the proximity to the swoop dueling arenas. His admiration for swoop racing during his Padawan years on Taris meant that his hero was not a Jedi, but the celebrated duelist Goethar Kleej. When a replica of Kleej's swoop bike was offered as a prize to the highest-ranking amateur in the Tandem Open, Zayne eagerly entered, much to the dismay of Gryph, who relied on him, and Jarael, who was angered by his selfishness. As retribution for threatening to reveal the slavery, Kleej was assaulted by two of Bardron's underlings—Bardron being the Krish overseeing the games—and threatened with a return to the training pits. Kleej noted that returning to the pits would at least allow him to see his son, whom he hadn't seen since the season began. Anticipating Kleej's emotional attachment to Aubin, Bardron revealed that the Gotal's son was entered in the upcoming Tandem Open and that the other competitors had been instructed to avoid him. Bardron offered Kleej a deal: if both he and Aubin won the Open, they would both be granted full retirement. However, the two Gotals would only meet in the finals if they both advanced. With Zayne absent, Hierogryph entrusted Jarael with placing bets, relaying the necessary information. However, she found herself unable to place the bets due to her discomfort with wagering on the brawls, a feeling she couldn't fully explain. While Gryph expressed his frustration with Zayne, Demagol, identifiable by Rohlan Dyre's armor, was apprehended by security forces under suspicion of being a saboteur connected to the Vindication cover-up. Gryph protested, explaining that Demagol's appearance was merely for show, stating that he was Jarael's client and she wished to sign him up for the duels. Meanwhile, Zayne Carrick, the former Jedi Padawan, entered the same Tandem Open round as Aubin and also progressed to the next stage. Kleej approached Zayne after the round, demanding that he protect Aubin to ensure his advancement to the finals, threatening Carrick's life if he failed. In the semi-finals, Carrick successfully guided himself and Aubin to the next round, although the Gotal struggled throughout the match. Kleej, meanwhile, had re-entered the sport in the same semi-final round, battling another contender, "Spikes," the "Mandalorian miscreant." The two exchanged blaster fire before Kleej leaped from his bike at "Spikes," engaging in hand-to-hand combat. They then turned and simultaneously shot a Night-Soarer competitor, leaving them as the final two and securing their places in the final round. Later, aboard the Hot Prospect, Jarael experienced a Force vision. In this vision, she was back on Taris in the Jedi Tower, wearing the red spacesuit and wielding Carrick's yellow lightsaber. Instead of Zayne's Masters, she saw the men who played significant role in her life over the past few months: Malak, Rohlan Dyre, Demagol and Arkoh Adasca. The four men who expressed interest in Jarael in reality, told her that the reason for that was hidden within herself, pointing to her clouded past and mysterious destiny. A moment later Zayne Carrick appeared in the vision as well, bound in chains and blaming Jarael for betraying him. A mysterious woman who held Carrick's chains told Jarael that he now belonged to her and left her at the mercy of the four men. At that moment Jarael woke up and unwillingly overheard Zayne Carrick speaking to, what appeared to be, T1-LB. Realizing that Zayne was concerned about Goethar Kleej, Jarael showed him the non-edited version of his "retirement speech" which Hierogryph had lifted from the broadcast center. Zayne spoke to his childhood hero after this, where he taught Aubin a Force technique to block out the discordant signals that he was picking up. Zayne later became visibly agitated after Rohlan criticized him for teaching a Force technique to Aubin and not to Jarael. Unbeknownst to them, Jervo Thalien was plotting to sabotage them and the Kleejs in the final. Shortly before the start of the finals of the swoop-dueling event called the Tandem Open, the security on Jervo's World received an order to stop every Snivvian and Arkanian offshoot they saw, in order to capture Hierogryph and Jarael. This, however, proved to be unsuccessful, as the Snivvian already had himself and Jarael disguised in preparation for the next part of his confidence trick. Jarael, disguised as a blue-skinned species, flirted with the composer for the games and managed to switch his data cube containing a score for the finals with a cube that contained the full version of Goethar's speech as well as the conversation of Bardron and Thalien, which exposed the Franchise's slave dealings. Later, when Jervo Thalien arrived to watch the Finals of the Tandem Open and learned about the presence of his old rival, Marn Hierogryph on the station, Bardron comforted him by saying that he knew about everything that happened on the station and revealed that both Goethar Kleej and Zayne Carrick were about to meet with unfortunate accidents during the Finals, organized by the Franchise. The Tandem Final featured Zayne, Rohlan, the Kleejs, two Togorian sisters, a Tyluun Night-Soarer and a Mandallian Giant. However, Jervo's saboteurs had done their work; they had soaked the Night-Soarer's claws in venom, and removed the safeties from the Togorians' weapons. Most insidious of all, they had sabotaged the Kleejs' bike and Zayne's blaster. Despite Zayne's misgivings, Gryph was able to communicate a plan to Zayne through a comlink to get Goether and his son to safety. The plan involved replacing the official musician's score with Goethar's warning about the slave system and Jervo's plans to kill the Kleejs and their friends. The effects of the sabotage were soon apparent as Rohlan was temporarily disabled by a shot from the Togorians. When Goethar's accelerator jammed and brakes failed, he asked Zayne to grab Aubin. As they flew through a swamp, Zayne and Aubin fell off the bikes when the Mandallian Giant tried to ram them. Zayne tried to shoot him, but realized that his blaster had been tampered with as well. He jumped at the Giant with a long pole but was quickly knocked aside. Fortunately, Goethar defeated the Mandallian with a couple of well placed punches. Meanwhile, Rohlan was able to defeat the Togorian sisters by causing them to shoot each other. As the Night-Soarer attacked Zayne's speederbike, Goether crashed it through a weak section in the protective glass separating the duel area from the audience, which Gryph had also communicated to them. The Kleejs were finally able to escape, and Rohlan became the winner by default as he was the only undefeated participant who had not gone off of the course. During the escape, Goethar's and Jervo's speeches were played to the audience, causing the crowd to throw debris at Jervo. Rohlan received the "Goethar Special" bike to which Zayne requested he share with him. As the Hot Prospect was about to leave, Zayne asked Jarael to consider training with him in the Force. While they were talking, Goethar noticed Jarael's facial tattoos and immediately attacked her, warning her to stay away from him and his son. He then told Zayne that he never wanted to see his face again, and accused him of being a liar for associating with Jarael. As Jarael marched off to her room, Zayne ran after her, asking to speak to her. He asked if she had been a slave before she had linked up with Camper, but Jarael replied that instead of being a slave, she had been a slaver and closed the door in his face. Although Jervo had his people out trying to contain the public relations disaster, he told Chantique, a member of The Crucible slaving ring, that he wanted to sever ties with them. In response, Chantique strangled him to death with a long whip.