| Born Xorn-zar-Tolleray, the Devaronian now known as Zaal-abi-Malynson was taken early in life to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant where he trained to become a Jedi knight. Under the tutelage of such teachers as Jedi Master Yoda, young Xorn found that he was extremely skilled in using the Force and looked forward to the day he would finally face the trials that would make him a Jedi Knight. Any fears he may have had about being sent away to the Agricultral Corps were lost when Jedi Master Sita Morogh chose him as her next Padawan.
Master Morogh had seen in young Xorn a passion for the care and treatment of the sick and the injured, and she believed that he would become a great Jedi healer. Xorn took to the healing arts with ease and believed that nothing could spoil the idyllic life that seemed layed out before him.
Unfortunately for Xorn the Clone Wars brought an end to that life. He was shocked to see the Jedi go for being protectors of peace to the leaders of the vast armies of the Republic and watched in horror as the numbers of dead and wounded rose. But through it all he tried to remain true to the pledge he'd made when he'd first become Morogh's padawan that he would never take another's life.
That pledge ended the day the Seperatists attacked Tuancapana. Xorn and Master Morogh had been sent to Tuancapana to help a Devaronian selttlement face an outbreak of the deadly disease plasmodaria only to find themselves in the middle of a Seperatist attempt to take the planet. When Master Morogh surrendered in order to save the last few Devaronian settlers, the leader of the Seperatist forces accepted the surrender until all were disarmed and then ordered the immediate execution of all present. Seeing his master and those she had just attempted to save with her surrender gunned down in such a ruthless manner drove Xorn over the edge. Turning to the dark side, he used the powers it offered him to obliterate the Seperatist leader and all his forces.
Realizing what he'd just done, Xorn was horrified by the thought that he'd given in so easily to the dark side. He was afraid that if he could so easily turn to the dark side to avenge the death of his Jedi Master that perhaps his true inner nature was that of a dark sider. Vowing to never let that happen, he chose not to use the Force again unless he had absolutely no choice. Xorn then took the name of Zaal-abi-Malynson, a young Devaronian male who had been studying to be a doctor and who had been one of those last few Master Morogh had been trying to save.
Zaal studied hard to become what the young Devaronian whose name he had taken had wanted to be. As the years went by he allowed his Force powers to atrophy, but the fact that they were still a part of him eventually prompted him to learn how to pilot a light freighter and seek other work so as to make it difficult For the Empire to find him. About three years before the Battle of Yavin he found himself joining Storm Force as both the pilot of the mercenary team's ship the Storm Front and the teams doctor. He also serves as the teams conscious, which often causes them to jokingly call him a Jedi. Little do they realize that if they could open that small box he's keeps keyed to his DNA that they'd find out the lightsaber inside would reveal just how true their jokeing name for him actually is. | 
