The Iteration

Prior to 41 ABY, the One Sith created an Iteration on the Sith world of Korriban. These Iterations were clones of Human individuals, bred in cloning tanks, essentially blank slates with only basic adolescent memories. This programming allowed the Iterations to function until their core memories were replaced using the Rakatan mindspear, an ancient memory transfer technology. The One Sith intended to use the Iterations as sleeper agents, replacing the people they "iterated." In 41 ABY, one particular Iteration was selected to replicate Jedi Knight Jaden Korr, with the goal of replacing him in the New Jedi Order and manipulating him when needed. Under the orders of the Chagrian Sith Lord Darth Wyyrlok, the Iteration's appearance was modified to resemble Korr. The Iteration was kept in a cloning tank filled with liquid, equipped with life support machinery and electro-impulses to stimulate muscle development and growth. The Umbaran Nyss Nenn, tasked by Wyyrlok to awaken the clone, approached the Iteration. With the help of the medical droid 1B-7, Nenn followed the orders, filling the Iteration's mind with basic knowledge. As the clone had never used his vocal cords, he had to adjust to speaking. Afterwards, Nenn inserted a mindspear containing information about Korr's early life into his head.

Subsequently, the Iteration's brain was filled with memories from Korr's life, from his young time with his adoptive parents on the galactic capital of Coruscant to his resolution of a crisis in 14 ABY involving a Sith cult that venerated the Dark Lord of the Sith Marka Ragnos. These memories led the Iteration to believe he was Korr, initially confused about his current situation and alarmed by his inability to sense the Force, as Nenn's mental power blocked his connection. However, Nenn spoke a code word that activated the Iteration's programming, making the clone realize his identity and purpose. Nenn then stopped using his talent, allowing the clone to feel the Force again. The Umbaran released the Iteration from the cloning tank, reminding him that he was replaceable and that his mission could be reassigned to another Iteration. The Iteration had barely adjusted to walking when Nenn ordered two guards to escort him to the Umbaran's scout flyer. Nenn and his sister, Syll Nenn, then placed the Iteration in suspended animation within a stasis chamber aboard the flyer, awaiting the moment to iterate Korr. The Iteration remained in stasis as the Umbaran siblings tracked the real Jaden Korr and another clone of his, Soldier, the latest in a Community of Force-sensitive clones created as part of the late Grand Admiral Thrawn's secret project to create powerful Force-using servants for the Galactic Empire.

The One Sith considered Soldier, Thrawn's greatest creation (or the "Prime"), and wanted to capture him for study. The Nenn siblings followed Soldier to the planet Fhost and then to a medical supply ship used by the Community to reach the entity known as Mother, which promised them refuge and salvation. In reality, Mother was a self-aware organic space station created by the Rakatan Infinite Empire, intending to use the clones for its own purposes. Nyss infiltrated the medical supply ship on Fhost, which Korr and his companions also pursued aboard the starship Junker, with Syll following in the scout flyer. This chase culminated in a brief skirmish between the Junker crew, the Community clones, and the Umbarans in a remote star system. Soldier and his surviving clone brethren escaped on the medical ship, pursued by Junker. Syll was killed in the fight, but Nyss extracted the coordinates of the star system Soldier planned to travel to from the medical ship's navicomputer before returning to the scout flyer.

Nenn, pursuing Soldier and Korr, decided it was time to awaken the Iteration. After doing so, Nenn tested a code word to momentarily shut down the clone before reawakening him and escorting him to the scout flyer's cockpit. Seeing Syll's corpse in the cockpit, the Iteration offered to take care of her body for Nyss, but the Umbaran, distraught by her death, refused and carried her away himself. The Iteration and Nenn soon arrived in a star system filled with radiation from a pulsar, where they spotted Junker flying on the outskirts of an asteroid belt. However, the Iteration did not sense Korr's presence on the ship, and Nenn believed the Jedi had taken Junker's Starhawk shuttle, Flotsam. Nenn attacked Junker but stopped firing when the Iteration sensed a dark side presence near one of the two planets in the system. They discovered the presence came from Mother, a surface installation connected by a tether to a section in space. Both the medical ship and Flotsam were docked with the station. The Iteration and Nenn docked with the station and went aboard, taking the one remaining mindspear to fill it with Korr's more recent memories and transfer them to the Iteration. They descended through organic lifts to the planetary portion of the station, but the Iteration soon lagged behind Nenn. When the Umbaran found Korr, he contacted the Iteration via comlink and ordered him to wait while he engaged the Jedi.

However, when Nenn did not return, the Iteration proceeded forward, finding the Umbaran dead, Korr heavily injured and unconscious, and Marr Idi-Shael, Korr's Cerean apprentice, also neutralized. Determined to proceed with the One Sith's plans, the Iteration took the mindspear from Nenn's body and inserted it into Korr's brain, beginning to fill it with his memories. Idi-Shael awoke and tried to stop the Iteration, but the clone dismissed him as nonthreatening, even revealing his plans. The Iteration attempted to kill the Cerean with his lightsaber, but Idi-Shael blocked the strike with a lightsaber of his own before trying to shoot the clone with a blaster. The Iteration easily disarmed his opponent of both weapons and prepared to strike again, but Idi-Shael surprisingly parried the blade with his bare hand and immobilized the clone by driving his fingertips into his throat, rendering him unconscious. Meanwhile, Korr succumbed to his injuries from the fight with Nenn and the mindspear insertion and died. Hoping to preserve his Master's persona, Idi-Shael took the mindspear and inserted it into the Iteration's head as the clone regained consciousness. However, the clone was not ready for the transfer, resulting in his memories and consciousness being completely overwritten by Korr's, effectively killing the clone.

Idi-Shael dressed the Iteration in Korr's clothes, severed three fingers from his right hand to match an injury Korr had recently received, and hid Korr's dead body. When Korr awoke in the Iteration's body, he was unaware of what had happened, believing he had only been knocked out by Nenn. Korr and his companions teamed up with Soldier and the clone child Grace to escape from Mother, which possessed its own consciousness and was trying to kill them. Despite the station's hostility, the group managed to escape and destroyed Mother in the process. Unaware that he was in the Iteration's body, Korr continued to act as before, but Idi-Shael worried that the Iteration might have survived the transfer and was waiting for the One Sith to activate its programming. Korr continued to serve the New Jedi Order from inside the Iteration's body, participating in the Force psychosis crisis and the emergence of the Lost Tribe of Sith.

The Iteration was an almost perfect clone of Jaden Korr, sharing his appearance as a tall man with brown hair and gray eyes. To match Korr's appearance, the clone's hair was cut short, his facial hair styled into a goatee, and he wore modern clothing. However, the Iteration, steeped in the dark side of the Force, had a more violent and cruel look. Marr Idi-Shael noted that the clone's eyes looked different from his Master's, despite being the same color. He also lacked a small scar on his right cheek that Korr had acquired as a child, which Korr noticed when he tried to shave after escaping Mother. Unlike Korr, who had recently lost three fingers on his right hand, the Iteration initially had all of his digits. Idi-Shael accounted for this discrepancy by severing three of the Iteration's fingers to match Korr.

The clone shared Korr's memories up to the defeat of the Disciples of Ragnos and initially believed himself to be Korr. However, he soon learned his true identity. The Iteration had some compassion, offering to take care of Nyss Nenn's sister's dead body, but the Umbaran refused his help. The Iteration found Nenn to be taciturn, while the Umbaran suspected the clone was uncomfortable knowing his mission required him to effectively die and become another person, even though the One Sith's programming was designed to make him accept his fate. The Iteration underestimated Marr Idi-Shael, revealing the mindspear's capabilities and believing he would easily kill the Cerean, even menacingly laughing as he tried. However, Idi-Shael fought back and incapacitated the clone. As he realized Idi-Shael's plan, the Iteration was horrified, as he was not ready for the memory transfer, which killed him.

The Iteration was Force-sensitive and deeply immersed in the dark side due to his creation by the Sith. He could sense the dark side aura of Mother and the absence of Korr's presence aboard Junker. However, his Force sense ability was limited, unable to detect his targets from afar and failing to detect Korr aboard Mother. The clone could use telekinesis, using it to throw Idi-Shael's blaster away when the man tried to grab it. The One Sith provided the Iteration with a red-bladed lightsaber, which he wielded in the fight against Korr's apprentice. The Iteration could also use the weapon to deflect blaster shots.

Paul S. Kemp created the Iteration for his 2011 novel, Riptide. Jaden Korr, who dies and is reborn in the Iteration's body in Kemp's story, had previously appeared in the Fate of the Jedi novel series, which takes place after Riptide. By establishing that Korr inhabited the Iteration's body after these events, Riptide effectively retconned the Iteration's first physical appearance, as a vessel for Korr, to the 2009 novel Fate of the Jedi: Abyss, written by Troy Denning. Riptide ended on a cliffhanger, mentioning the possibility, through Marr Idi-Shael's doubts, that the One Sith's plan had succeeded and that the Iteration continued to exist, waiting to be activated later.