Gilad Pellaeon

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Gilad Pellaeon was a dedicated naval officer, serving for seven decades in the fleets of the Galactic Republic, Galactic Empire, Imperial Remnant, and Galactic Alliance, rising to the position of supreme commander for the latter two governments. Pellaeon began his career in the Republic's Judicial Forces, where he ascended the ranks and captained the assault ship Leveler during the Clone Wars. Pellaeon developed a strong attachment to the navy as an institution, and when the Republic became the Empire, Pellaeon continued serving aboard the Star Destroyer Chimaera.

At the Battle of Endor, the Chimaera fell into Pellaeon's command, and he issued the retreat order. Captain Pellaeon remained in combat as one of the fleet's more prominent officers until the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who selected the Chimaera as his flagship and made Pellaeon his right-hand man. Pellaeon grew to respect and admire Thrawn throughout the Grand Admiral's campaign against the New Republic, but when Thrawn was assassinated at the Battle of Bilbringi, Pellaeon again was forced to call a retreat. After Thrawn's death and the failed return of Palpatine, the Empire crumbled around Pellaeon. He found himself serving as the second-in-command of the warlord Teradoc, but when Admiral Natasi Daala shared with him her vision of rebuilding the Empire and ending warlordism, he defected to her and played a key role in forming the Imperial Remnant.

Upon Daala's defeat at Yavin 4, she turned command of the Remnant over to Admiral Pellaeon, making him Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet. Pellaeon rebuilt the fleet and fought a series of campaigns against the New Republic, but was frequently driven back as the Remnant's resources shriveled. In 19 ABY, Pellaeon finally accepted that the only way for the Empire to survive was through a peace treaty, and forced the Council of Moffs to accept a truce with the New Republic. When the Imperial capital fell to the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong invaders years later, Pellaeon played on the Imperial fleet's absolute loyalty to him to overcome the old-line moffs' resistance and join the newly formed Galactic Alliance, leading a series of victories over the Yuuzhan Vong. At the war's close, Pellaeon retired, but returned to serve as the supreme commander of the Galactic Alliance Defense Force when his predecessor Sien Sovv was killed. In that capacity, Pellaeon led the Galactic Alliance through the Swarm War and the early stages of the Second Galactic Civil War before once more retiring. He returned to service as the head of state of the Imperial Remnant, but died in 40 ABY at Fondor, assassinated by Tahiri Veila when he refused to support Jacen Solo's faction of the Galactic Alliance.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Building a naval career 1.2 Disaster at Endor 1.3 A new hope 1.4 The campaign begins 1.5 Resurrecting the Dark Force 1.6 Pressing the advantage 1.7 Unexpected loss 1.8 Rebuilding the Empire 1.9 Ruler of the Imperial Remnant 1.10 Seeking peace 1.11 The Bastion Accords 1.12 A new enemy 1.13 On the sidelines 1.14 Wounded 1.15 The Empire strikes back 1.16 Return to service 1.17 Another war 1.18 Death at Fondor 1.19 Legacy 2 Personality and traits 3 Behind the scenes 4 Appearances 5 Sources 6 Notes and references 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Building a naval career

Gilad Pellaeon was born in 52 BBY on Corellia, where he stayed long enough to develop memories of his homeworld.^[2][1] However, Pellaeon spent the majority of his formative years on Coruscant, the capital of the Galactic Republic. Pellaeon did not care for the ecumenopolis, however, and always enjoyed departing it; he never considered it his home.^[1] Pellaeon's great ambition was to become a naval officer, and to that end he submitted his application to the elite Raithal Academy.^[7] He was not yet of age to enter, being only fifteen years old, and had falsified the data on his application to give a suitable age.^[1][3] The deception was apparently not discovered, as he was accepted. Pellaeon's academic career was above-average but not outstanding; he graduated in the top third of his class.^[10]

An undistinguished graduate, Pellaeon entered the Judicial Forces as an ensign.^[10][1] His first assignment was commanding an escort craft for a convoy of transports destined for Gavryn. When pirates attacked the convoy over Gavryn, Pellaeon avoided capture by flying near the magnetic pole, where the pirate craft's sensors were disrupted. When the vessel began to board the transports, Pellaeon's escort craft sprang from hiding and pounced on the pirate ship, destroying it and saving the convoy.^[10] His quick thinking impressed his superiors, who rewarded the young man with a series of promotions, causing a sharp uptick in what might otherwise have been an unremarkable career.^[7] As of 27 BBY, Pellaeon was placed high enough to hear rumors of the Outbound Flight project, but not enough to know much about it.^[4]

When the Confederacy of Independent Systems formed and the Clone Wars began, the Judicial Forces were folded into the reformed Republic Navy. Pellaeon served loyally throughout the Clone Wars with the rank of captain and command of the Acclamator-class assault ship Leveler.^[6][11] Pellaeon could not stand his communications officer, a man of weak skills who had gotten his position only due to his father's rank in the fleet.^[11] Approximately sixteen months into the Clone Wars, Pellaeon commanded a small fleet providing orbital support for Jedi General Ronhar Kim's invasion of Merson. The assault was a trap, however, devised by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to remove the troublesome Kim. Intelligence estimates vastly underrated the enemy presence, and Pellaeon had all he could do to preserve his ship, keeping him from rendering any aid to Kim and his troops pinned on the ground. In fact, Pellaeon judged the situation a complete loss and ordered a withdrawal, deciding it better to save his ships from destruction than to attempt to save the troops and die in the process. Kim's Padawan, Tap-Nar-Pal, indignantly ordered Pellaeon to hold his position, but did not have the authority to give orders to Pellaeon, and the naval officer made sure he knew it. Kim agreed with Pellaeon's assessment, approved the withdrawal, and ordered Tap-Nar-Pal, who was piloting a starfighter, to leave with Pellaeon. The Padawan refused and died in battle; Pellaeon withdrew and lived to fight another day.^[6] In that same month, Pellaeon, now under Jedi General Mas Missur, was assigned to take the Leveler to Gaftikar to support a rebellion by the Marit population which would secure the world's mineral wealth for the Republic. Pellaeon's small task force engaged Separatist ships over the world before deploying its forces to support the Marits, sustaining minimal casualties. Over the course of the war, Pellaeon developed a respect for the clone troopers and regarded them as fully human, unlike many other fleet personnel.^[11] Pellaeon later recalled fighting unstable clones as part of the fleet; he may well have spent the last months of the war serving in the siege of Saleucami, in which a clone Morgukai army was destroyed.^[4][12]

When the Clone Wars came to an end and the Galactic Senate declared Palpatine Emperor and reformed the Republic as the Galactic Empire, Pellaeon continued serving in the new Imperial Navy. In short order, the Imperator-class Star Destroyer was introduced and Pellaeon was assigned to one, the Chimaera, as soon as it was built. He served as part of the command crew and was quickly made executive officer aboard the ship.^[10] During the years after the Empire's formation, the Chimaera sometimes undertook slaving raids to Kashyyyk on which Pellaeon served.^[5][13] During those years, Pellaeon had the opportunity to serve under such various and illustrious personages as Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, Darth Vader, Admiral Firmus Piett, and Emperor Palpatine himself.^[14]

Pellaeon had had a relatively promising career under the Republic, with promotions after the Gavryn incident and command of a small task force in the Clone Wars.^[7][6] In the New Order, however, his career seemingly stalled. Pellaeon spent some twenty years aboard the Chimaera as second-in-command without advancing in the fleet.^[10] Pellaeon's career was hardly floundering, as Bail Prestor Organa was able to point Pellaeon out to his daughter as a promising officer when Pellaeon attended the Grand Alderaanian Gathering in 9 BBY, but Pellaeon simply never moved from his position aboard the Chimaera.^[15] Pellaeon would later look on these years under Palpatine's Empire without fondness, though there was little evidence of overt discontent; certainly not enough for Pellaeon to have defected. Pellaeon was above all loyal to the Fleet as an institution; his main quarrels with the government were in the form of Palpatine's right hand, Darth Vader, whose easy spending of the officers under his command generated some significant measure of resentment within Pellaeon and many other Fleet officers; many officers also did not care for Palpatine's Death Stars, regarding them as bloated, inefficient expenditures that threatened the Fleet's position. However, Pellaeon's loyalty to the Empire overall did not waver.^[15][4][16] Pellaeon was sufficiently dedicated to the Imperial Navy to live life as a bachelor, considering the Navy his family.^[1] Around this period, Pellaeon, something of a ladies' man, had a liaison with an unknown woman, resulting in the birth of Mynar Devis. He also may have fathered Vitor Reige, though Pellaeon never confirmed Reige's ancestry.^[2]

Pellaeon's dedication to the Fleet was most evident in his expectations of his subordinates. He demanded that their conduct, discipline, and efficiency be worthy of the honor and prestige of an officer's commission in the Imperial Navy. He would not tolerate sloppiness, inefficiency, or casual demeanor from the Chimaera's crew but instead instilled his own sense of professionalism and pride in the Fleet within them.^[4][17]

In 1 ABY, the Chimaera had a stopover at Corellia for unknown reasons. He spent time on the ground in Coronet City, where he had a local agent recommended by Sergeant Tarl carry out some minor tasks for him. Pellaeon entrusted the agent with a datadisc containing orders from Vader, which the agent delivered to Lieutenant Errad Brytok, a junior officer aboard the Chimaera. Pellaeon also made use of the agent to arrest Helfin Hundi, an information broker selling Imperial secrets, and to assassinate the leader of an industrial espionage ring before recommending a future in Imperial Intelligence to the agent. During that time, Admiral Ozzel had Pellaeon look into a requisition from Captain Lorth Needa for replacement probe droids. Precisely why Pellaeon was assigned these administrative duties is unclear.^[8]

In 3 ABY, the Chimaera was present at a firing range over Carida when Ace Azzameen's freighter Otana briefly jumped into the system and Chimaera deployed TIEs to pursue it. Notably, the Chimaera was with Inexorable, Death's Head, Stormhawk, and Nemesis, all of which would remain serving as a concerted task force six years later, suggesting all were assigned to operate together.^[18][4]

[edit] Disaster at Endor

In 4 ABY, Pellaeon was present at the Battle of Endor. Pellaeon's commanding officer, likely an admiral, was second-in-command of the battle fleet and Chimaera was the designated command ship in the absence of Executor. Intended to be the trap that would destroy the rebellious Alliance to Restore the Republic, the battle was anything but successful. The Alliance Fleet proved surprisingly difficult to defeat, destroying the flagship Executor. Pellaeon watched, sickened, as the massive Star Dreadnought plunged into the Death Star, taking thousands of the Fleet's most promising officers with it.^[4] When the Death Star itself was destroyed and Palpatine killed, the fleet was thrown into chaos. With the loss of Grand Admiral Nial Declann's battle meditation, a massive communications disruption due to the fact that communications had been routed through the Death Star's communications node, and the general confusion of battle, the Imperial fleet's performance was disorganized and sloppy. The Rebel fleet began making significant inroads, and even the return of Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik could not hold back the Rebels. Pellaeon's commanding officer was killed in the battle when Rebel force made a concerted attack on the Chimaera and Pellaeon took command of the ship. With the situation desperate and chaotic, Pellaeon decided that the situation was untenable. In the chaos, the rest of the fleet may not even have known that Pellaeon's commander was killed; with the Chimaera as the designated command ship, Pellaeon was the one to relay the order to retreat to Annaj, the nearest sector capital. Teshik, meanwhile, held out in a doomed rearguard action.^{[19][4][20][16][21][22][23]}

At Annaj, the fleet regrouped. Dissension quickly emerged, however, as Admiral Harrsk took advantage of Pellaeon's junior rank to refuse to take orders and stormed off with his task force to build his own warlord empire.^[22] Others split off as well. With the would-be warlords gone, Pellaeon led the loyal remnant of the fleet back to Coruscant. There, he served the Empire for years, first under Grand Vizier Sate Pestage and then his successor as caretaker of the throne, Director of Imperial Intelligence Ysanne Isard. When the Central Committee of Grand Moffs attempted to break away and claim Trioculus as the legitimate Emperor, Pellaeon refused to support the further fracturing of the Empire. Pellaeon was popular among the fleet and had an excellent reputation, but Isard refused to promote him to admiral for unknown reasons.^[7][22] Nonetheless, Pellaeon remained an important part of the Imperial fleet and played a leadership role, especially after Isard lost Coruscant and fled to Thyferra. Pellaeon did not see himself as a contender for leadership, but merely as a steward and caretaker of the Imperial Fleet and cooperated with other high-ranking officers to preserve it as best they could. He shepherded the remaining Imperial forces as their territory continued to shrink, hating the number of retreats he was forced to order. The phenomenon of warlordism nibbled away the Empire's strength on one side as the New Republic continued to grow on the other. Eventually, the Empire was pushed back to only one-quarter of its former territory.^[10][5][7]

Additionally, as the Empire lost ground, its sources of crewmen dried up. Instead of Academy graduates, Pellaeon had to make do with recruits trained on the job, and was even forced to order conscription raids to press men into service. Pellaeon was disgusted by such conditions, and the resultant decline in discipline and efficiency among his men. He made sure they were excellently trained, but they remained inexperienced and lacked a full, proper Academy education. Pellaeon was not optimistic as to the future of the Empire. Instead, he felt that all he had fought for was slipping from existence and that the Empire, despite having strength left to fight, was on the brink of extinction.^{[4][10][16][14]}

[edit] A new hope

In 8 ABY, four years after the defeat at Endor, Pellaeon was shocked and somewhat frightened to find a message incoming on the Chimaera's holopod unit—the one reserved for private messages from Palpatine or his closest subordinates. It had not seen use since his death, but now a message from the Unknown Regions was incoming, complete with the proper command codes. Nervous and expecting to see the Emperor risen from death, Pellaeon knelt to receive the message and instead found the image of an alien who identified himself as Grand Admiral Thrawn. The Grand Admirals had all been thought wiped out, but here was one, claiming to have returned from the Unknown Regions. The transmission included a set of coordinates at which Pellaeon should meet Thrawn. Pellaeon was stunned and overjoyed; hope for the Empire had returned.^[14]

Pellaeon eagerly proceeded to the rendezvous point, on the edge of the Unknown Regions. Thrawn's shuttle emerged from the mysterious territory and docked with the Chimaera, upon which Pellaeon first met Thrawn.^[14] In short order, Thrawn had command of the Imperial military and began to prepare it for a grand new offensive.^[4] Adding greatly to Pellaeon's prestige, Thrawn chose the Chimaera for his flagship, making Pellaeon his effective second-in-command.^[24] Pellaeon coordinated and oversaw all Thrawn's operations, save only his most personal and tightly held ones; even so, Thrawn never shared more information than was absolutely necessary.^[4][25][26] After the initial rush of enthusiasm, Pellaeon had a hard time getting used to the idea of an alien officer; whether because of speciesism or the simple novelty of such a thing under the Empire is unclear.^[10] Pellaeon was also unused to Thrawn's command methods; he had never before had a superior so willing to accept criticism and eager to hear different ideas from his own.^[16][5] Pellaeon initially could clash with Thrawn, as when the two had a lengthy and heated argument over Thrawn's use of difficult-to-coordinate and highly unconventional hyperspace microjumps as part of a battle plan. As Pellaeon gained more experience with Thrawn, however, he developed a strong respect for him and a firm belief in his tactical genius, appreciating the direction Thrawn was taking the military and revitalizing his confidence in the possibility of victory. Indeed, before the campaign had even commenced, Pellaeon was convinced that Thrawn could well be the greatest tactician and strategist the Empire had ever had.^[4][16]

Thrawn reorganized the Imperial Fleet and began a series of training and small raids to season it in combat without significant risk.^[24] In short order, the Chimaera was known as among the most efficient starships in the Imperial Fleet. One mission Pellaeon undertook was to Tatooine; Thrawn wished to purchase the moss-painting Killik Twilight, which had recently emerged and was up for auction in Mos Espa. When a mystery freighter attempting to make a landing—actually the Millennium Falcon—acted suspiciously upon seeing the Chimaera, Thrawn had his fighters divert to intercept it. Thrawn's strategies very nearly captured the freighter, but Han Solo and Chewbacca were simply too experienced and daring to be taken in, and the freighter escaped Imperial pursuit. Pellaeon's subordinate, Commander Quenton, went to the surface to retrieve the painting, but a chase across the planet ensued, with the Solos going after the painting as well. Thrawn himself went to the ground, disguised as a stormtrooper officer, and was finally able to secure the painting.^[17]

By 9 ABY, Thrawn's offensive was nearly ready to launch. He undertook his first major strike, an information raid on Obroa-skai. The actual raid was performed by scout ships which returned to Chimaera, and Pellaeon went to Thrawn's private chamber to inform him in person. It was only then that he discovered what precisely Thrawn had converted the former entertainment suite to and what he did in there: the chamber was full of art, including holographic representations of famous pieces. Thrawn studied it to gain psychological insight into his enemies. Thrawn barely had time to engage Pellaeon on the topic of art before an alert was sounded: a New Republic task force had followed the scout ships back to the Chimaera. Pellaeon heard the report of four Assault Frigates arrayed against them and, deciding the odds were against the Star Destroyer and its inexperienced crew, ordered a jump to hyperspace, which Thrawn belayed. Pellaeon watched in confusion as Thrawn deployed sentry ships, watched the response, withdrew them, and then ordered the Chimaera into a vulnerable position and deployed the TIEs in a Marg Sabl closure maneuver. The simple tactic allowed the Chimaera to utterly defeat the opposing force; Thrawn had found through the fleet's first response that it was commanded by Elomin and then exploited their psychological weaknesses by using a disorganized attack pattern. Pellaeon could only marvel at the Grand Admiral's thought processes.^[4]

After debriefing the pilots who had made the raid against Obroa-skai, Thrawn revealed to Pellaeon that the raid had given him the second piece for his master plan. The first was Myrkr, a world for which he had the Chimaera set course. The second was the location of Wayland—but Thrawn did not yet reveal what Wayland would provide him. When Chimaera arrived over Myrkr, Pellaeon sent down two shuttles to collect ysalamiri, unusual creatures capable of repelling the Force. He was, however, contacted by smuggler chieftain Talon Karrde, who had a base in the forest. Karrde volunteered his cooperation in removing the ysalamiri from their trees and demonstrated his rather extensive knowledge of the Empire—including Thrawn's return. Pellaeon, deeply suspicious, warily accepted Karrde's aid.^[4]

With the ysalamiri collected, the Chimaera made for Wayland. Thrawn explained that Wayland had been Palpatine's private storehouse, untouched since his death. He had, however, left behind a guardian, whom Thrawn expected to be a Dark Jedi. Pellaeon, Thrawn, and Thrawn's Noghri bodyguard Rukh descended to the surface wearing portable frames on which the sessile ysalamiri dwelt. In the city, they met only an old man, who promised to take them to the Guardian. He led them to a mausoleum, explained that the Guardian was dead, and attempted to kill them with Force lightning. The ysalamiri dissipated the attack, saving Pellaeon's life. Thrawn played to the man's vanity and was able to recruit him for his own purposes. Joruus C'baoth, the insane clone of Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth and Guardian of Mount Tantiss, was now one more factor in Thrawn's plan to defeat the New Republic. In Mount Tantiss, Pellaeon, Thrawn, and C'baoth found the two final keys to Thrawn's plan: cloaking technology, and Spaarti cloning cylinders.^[4][16]

Pellaeon was shocked and disturbed to find why Thrawn wanted C'baoth, however: he wished C'baoth to use the Force to coordinate fleet actions, much as he suspected Palpatine had done. Pellaeon resisted Thrawn's argument that the defeat at Endor had happened as a result of Palpatine's death and the loss of his battle coordination, and disliked even more the idea that the Fleet had been under Palpatine's mental influence throughout his reign. When they returned to the Chimaera, Pellaeon went to speak with Thrawn, and warned him that he considered C'baoth unstable and dangerous to deal with. Thrawn was convinced that he could control the man. Pellaeon began to think that Thrawn's supreme confidence might be overconfidence. Nonetheless, the Chimaera's bridge remained properly protected with ysalamiri.^[4]

[edit] The campaign begins

Thrawn had promised to C'baoth that he would provide Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo to him to train, but Pellaeon was forced to report to him the failure of the Noghri strike team at Bimmisaari that was to have captured the pair. The bad news was ameliorated with a good report from the engineers left on Wayland: eighty percent of the Spaarti cylinders were working or could be easily repaired. Thrawn would soon have a clone army. Pellaeon received orders to prepare for the upcoming strike at the Sluis Van shipyards, but Thrawn was keeping all operational information extremely close to himself, and not even Pellaeon was allowed to see the whole picture. When C'baoth, present at the meeting, clashed with Thrawn over the promise to deliver the Jedi, Pellaeon was the one who proposed a compromise. Rather than C'baoth's demand that the Sluis Van operation not be undertaken until he could go and draw Skywalker to himself, he suggested that Imperial Intelligence find a world where C'baoth could conceivably have remained hidden throughout the Great Jedi Purge and begin seeding rumors of C'baoth's survival and reemergence. While that process began, C'baoth could aid in the battle's preparations. Both parties accepted Pellaeon's plan as favorable.^[4]

That preparation came swiftly in the form of a multi-system strike carefully coordinated by C'baoth. While Chimaera and her task force struck Bpfassh, C'baoth mentally relayed orders with instantaneous effect to two other groups attacking at the same time. It was then that Pellaeon realized the test was of C'baoth's skills and willingness to take orders. Becoming unnerved by the superb performance of the task force, Pellaeon called up previous statistics and compared them to the Chimaera's present performance. The crew was currently achieving a forty percent increase over its previous performance. Pellaeon could no longer deny the theory he had been so unwilling to believe. The operation was only to be a hit-and-fade; Pellaeon led the task force back into hyperspace after dealing significant damage to Bpfassh's defenses.^[4]

Pellaeon observed the Judicator's raid on Nkllon from a distance while C'baoth guided the ship's crew. The raid went well, netting over fifty mole miners for the Sluis Van attack, but during the battle C'baoth made mental contact with Skywalker and became convinced Skywalker would go to Jomark to follow up on the rumors. Thrawn ordered Pellaeon to arrange C'baoth's transport to Jomark—and to then be ready to backtrack and ambush Skywalker along the route to Jomark. Pellaeon pointed out to Thrawn that killing Skywalker, as Thrawn was considering, could backfire and cause C'baoth to end his cooperation and leave for Wayland, where he could wreak havoc on the cloning operation. Thrawn agreed with Pellaeon's assessment and modified his plans as a result. The ambush itself failed, however, when Skywalker reverse-triggered his acceleration compensator in a risky maneuver that caused the tractor beams to lose lock. To add insult to injury, they instead attached to a pair of proton torpedoes Skywalker had launched and drew them in, destroying the projector. When the tractor beam operator did not take responsibility for the escape and demonstrated an inability to think creatively, Pellaeon watched in surprise as Thrawn had Rukh execute him. Thrawn knew that Skywalker's hyperdrive would soon fail as a result of the maneuver, however, and had Pellaeon contact the local smugglers, including Karrde, and offer them a reward to pick Skywalker up while the Fleet was busy elsewhere.^[4] In addition, Thrawn's Mount Tantiss clones would require ships on which to serve. To that end, Pellaeon also was assigned the duty of contacting various smuggling and ship-thieving rings and putting out news of a reward for any stolen warships that could be funneled into Imperial hands.^[25]

In time, all was ready for the attack on Sluis Van. A freighter was inserted into the shipyards, busy with understaffed New Republic warships being used as cargo transports. Inside the freighter, in a cloaked bay, were several TIE fighters and the stolen mole miners. It gained entrance to the shipyards and then suddenly exploded, releasing the fighters and miners. At that instant, Pellaeon led Thrawn's task force into the system. As Pellaeon engaged the outer defenses, which put up stiff resistance, the mole miners burned their way into the bridges of the cargo-ferrying warships and deployed troopers to capture them. The plan went off without a flaw until Wedge Antilles, Skywalker, Solo, and Lando Calrissian observed a mole miner in action and were able to puzzle out Thrawn's plan. Calrissian had owned the facility the mole miners were stolen from, and used his override codes to start the mole miners' drilling equipment up once more, burning through the bridge's control systems and preventing Thrawn from taking control of the craft. Thrawn would not get the new warships he had wanted for his clones to staff; the Battle of Sluis Van, supposed to be the first victory which would set up the rest of the campaign, was instead a defeat. Pellaeon carried out Thrawn's order to withdraw.^[4]

During the preparation for the battle, however, Thrawn and Pellaeon had found that Karrde had recovered Skywalker and kept him imprisoned, but not turned him over; eventually, he kept him from being taken in by the Imperials.^[4] After Sluis Van, the Chimaera went to Myrkr to deal with Karrde. The ground assault found the base deserted and bereft of usable evidence. Thrawn had predicted that Karrde would be watching from the cover of a distant asteroid, however, and only the Force-assisted precognition of his second-in-command, Mara Jade, allowed Karrde to escape before Thrawn's interdictor jumped into the system and powered up its gravity well projectors. Thrawn was decidedly unhappy with the outcome.^[25]

[edit] Resurrecting the Dark Force

Pellaeon himself was later furious when C'baoth disobeyed a direct order when Force-coordinating an engagement at Taanab. He had never liked having the willful and unstable Dark Jedi in a position of power, and his refusal of an order was one more sign to Pellaeon that the man was a loose cannon and should not be counted on. Thrawn explained to him that C'baoth's coordination abilities were vital to the war effort and he could be kept under control with ysalamiri; if military discipline must be bent to keep him involved in the war effort, it would be. Pellaeon did not like it and thought the whole affair could backfire catastrophically, but could not persuade Thrawn of it.^[25]

Pellaeon proceeded to Honoghr, the Noghri homeworld, with Thrawn, who wished to make a show of power and remind the Noghri of their obligations. Too many Noghri teams had failed in capturing Organa Solo. Pellaeon found the process of standing beside Thrawn as the Noghri clan leaders made their ritual obeisances highly boring. The display was broken up when Lieutenant Tschel handed Pellaeon a report on an unusual occurrence: a Noghri commando's ship had nearly been late in returning the recognition signal. Upon examination, further irregularities were uncovered. Thrawn noticed the minor commotion and, upon receiving the report, decided to pay a visit to the commando, Khabarakh, in his hometown. Pellaeon started a technical team on a survey of Khabarakh's ship, then joined Thrawn in the clan dukha where the Grand Admiral interrogated the commando. There were no obvious flaws in his story and the group departed, but Thrawn was convinced the Noghri had lied.^[25]

When another, more detailed sweep of the ship produced results, Pellaeon brought them to Thrawn.^[25] He was, as ever, subject to Rukh's stalking practice in the antechamber of Thrawn's suite: with the lights off, Rukh would sneak behind Pellaeon and suddenly speak from just over his shoulder, appearing as from thin air. No matter how prepared Pellaeon was for it, it always spooked him, and he always rebuked Rukh for it and insisted he discontinue the practice.^[25][4][26] With that over, Pellaeon briefly discussed other matters with Thrawn before notifying him that Wookiee hairs had been found aboard Khabarakh's transport. Furious and convinced that the Wookiees had caught and interrogated Khabarakh on his failed mission to Kashyyyk, Thrawn insisted on making a show of power to remind the Noghri where their loyalties lay. Thrawn arrested Khabarakh against the protestations of the local maitrakh, who was forced into submission by a display of orbital bombardment from Pellaeon's gunners.^[25]

When Thrawn received a report from a captured Mara Jade, he shared it with Pellaeon: Karrde knew the location of the long-lost Katana fleet, two hundred slave-rigged Dreadnaughts. Pellaeon had had youthful ambitions of finding it himself when it vanished into hyperspace early in his Republic career; now the prospect of finding the half-legendary ships could swing the narrow balance of the war. She promised to bring the location, but Thrawn had the Chimaera follow her to Karrde, and began efforts to search for others who might know the location so as to expedite the process. Karrde was captured, but Jade returned with Skywalker to spring him from the Chimaera's brig. Pellaeon and Thrawn were unable to prevent their escape.^[25]

Thrawn was, however, not discomfited. He was confident that he had the location of an associate of Karrde who had knowledge of the location as well. The Chimaera proceeded to Pantolomin, where Hoffner was captured and brought before the Imperials. He gave up the fleet's location easily enough, and Pellaeon was soon coordinating the recovery and staffing of most of the Dreadnaughts. Some were still left when Karrde led the New Republic there, however. The Chimaera prepared to aid the Judicator, present at the Katana site, but C'baoth suddenly arrived on a Lancer-class frigate, the crew of which he had under his mental control. The Dark Jedi demanded to talk and would not be dissuaded. Pellaeon was forced to send Peremptory to the fleet battle while Thrawn dealt with the increasingly dangerous C'baoth, who declared himself in command of the Empire and insisted on taking control of the Mount Tantiss cloning project. Meanwhile, the battle was lost, but there were only a handful of Dreadnaughts remaining to the New Republic. The Empire had won the round.^[25]

[edit] Pressing the advantage

With the Katana Dreadnaughts and Mount Tantiss's clone forces, Thrawn was ready to begin striking against the New Republic in earnest. One month after the battle for the Katana fleet, the attack began with an elaborate series of feints meant to draw forces from the New Republic base at Ord Pardron to the defense of various worlds under coordinated attack, then to hit Pardron itself, drawing the New Republic's full attention. Meanwhile, the Chimaera struck at the true target: Ukio, a major agricultural world. Pellaeon went to Thrawn's suite to inform C'baoth that the assault was about to begin; C'baoth used the opportunity of finding Pellaeon outside the ysalamiri bubble to mind trick him into ordering the secret creation of a special clone at Mount Tantiss, and then to forget such a thing had even taken place. Pellaeon could hardly believe it as he said things he did not at all believe, but C'baoth's mind-twisting influence was too great for him to resist. Pellaeon stood by C'baoth as the Dark Jedi coordinated the strike. The Chimaera fired upon Ukio's planetary shield; cloaked freighters which had been inserted beneath the shield fired, controlled and coordinated by C'baoth, such that the beams appeared to pass through the shields. Terrified of this seeming superweapon, the Ukians capitulated. Thrawn had Pellaeon coordinate the occupation.^[26]

C'baoth was growing increasingly dangerous. He could be focused and calm at one moment, and toweringly furious at the next. Pellaeon considered it only a matter of time before he killed someone. C'baoth came to Pellaeon and Thrawn and demanded an assault on Coruscant to seize Organa Solo; when his impractical order was refused, he threatened to kill Thrawn. Thrawn merely pointed out that he had a different plan in mind: an Intelligence team raid on the Imperial Palace to capture her. Mollified, the Dark Jedi left, but Pellaeon once more expressed his concerns over C'baoth to Thrawn. The Grand Admiral was convinced that C'baoth could still be manipulated and controlled for as long as they would need his services. They then discussed the false trail Thrawn was creating to convince the New Republic he was shipping his clone armies through various planets. Skywalker was the one following the leads, and the Chimaera nearly captured him over Poderis, but he escaped their tractor beams with a covert shroud gambit. It immediately sprang to Pellaeon's mind that the last time Skywalker had done so, the tractor beam operator had died. Thrawn spoke with the operator, Ensign Rejlii Mithel, and discovered that he had made an inventive, if ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to counteract the covert shroud gambit. Instead of killing him, Thrawn promoted Mithel for his quick thinking and ordered him to begin developing new strategies to counter the covert shroud. It was then that Pellaeon, remembering the way Vader had treated his subordinates, fully realized that Thrawn's Empire was a very different institution.^[26]

When some of Karrde's smuggler allies, recently stirred up against the Empire, destroyed a nearly-completed Star Destroyer in the Bilbringi shipyards, the Chimaera arrived to assess the situation. Pellaeon was surprised that Thrawn allowed the commander of the shipyards to keep his position, but even more surprised when C'baoth barged onto the bridge. Furious that Thrawn's Intelligence team had failed, C'baoth demanded an attack on Coruscant. Thrawn responded that he already had a raid planned against Coruscant. When entering the minds of the workers on the asteroids Thrawn indicated were to be used in the plan, C'baoth came to the wrong conclusion, convinced that Thrawn would use them to destroy Coruscant. The Dark Jedi then took mental command of the Chimaera's entire crew, save Thrawn and Pellaeon, who were inside an ysalamir bubble. C'baoth intended to take the ship to Coruscant and begin an attack, but when Thrawn pointed out how woefully unprepared C'baoth was for such a battle, the Dark Jedi relented.^[26]

The attack was ready to go forward, and Pellaeon was worried about the Dark Jedi's ability to take over the ship and disrupt the attack in pursuit of Organa Solo, when C'baoth strode onto the bridge. He demanded that Pellaeon prepare him a ship to travel to Wayland. Thrawn arrived on the bridge shortly and agreed to C'baoth's request. With that out of the way, the task force jumped to Coruscant. There, they set up an interdiction field and took out Coruscant's communications, then weathered the New Republic counterattack until General Garm Bel Iblis, who had recently returned to the galactic stage after leaving the Rebel Alliance and hiding away from the galaxy, took command of the defense and withdrew his forces to the cover of Coruscant's ground-based weaponry. That left the Chimaera free to perform its real purpose in the strike. The Star Destroyers deployed twenty-two cloaked asteroids and performed dry firings simulating the launch of nearly three hundred asteroids overall, then withdrew. Without the ability to know where the asteroids were, Coruscant was forced to maintain its shields at all times lest an asteroid slip though, effectively blockading itself. Pellaeon and Thrawn then proceeded to the Kanchen Sector and secured it for the Empire.^[26]

In order to detect the asteroids in orbit over Coruscant, the New Republic would need a crystal gravfield trap array. They did not have any, but the Empire had two: one at Tangrene and one at Bilbringi. The New Republic began making a very subtle buildup around Tangrene, but Thrawn decided that it was a very convincing decoy and that the actual attack would be at Bilbringi. After C'baoth arrived at Wayland, however, Pellaeon received shocking word from the garrison. General Freja Covell, whom Thrawn had sent along with C'baoth, was dead and C'baoth had taken over the garrison and issued odd orders. Pellaeon's mistrust of the Dark Jedi had been proven correct. Thrawn ordered the garrison commander to isolate C'baoth, refuse to permit those soldiers C'baoth had sent off on his orders back into the mountain, and attempt to secure it. However, they could take no direct action; it was time for the defense of Bilbringi—and the ambush of the New Republic fleet which did not expect the presence of Thrawn and his massive fleet.^[26]

[edit] Unexpected loss

Thrawn's Interdictors pulled the New Republic fleet out of hyperspace earlier than planned and began to engage it. His bowl-shaped formation enveloped the New Republic's cone and began a stiff exchange.^[26][27] Pellaeon was pleasantly surprised: he had worried constantly that Thrawn was gambling wrong in predicting that the Tangrene buildup was entirely false. Now Thrawn was proven right. A portion of the New Republic force broke off and began a run against the shipyards, forcing Imperial forces to their defense. Pellaeon and Thrawn were disheartened, but hardly defeated. A high-priority message from Wayland came in, and Pellaeon began to read it aloud: a New Republic force was attacking the facility—and it included Noghri. That was as far as he got, as Rukh suddenly lashed out and struck Pellaeon across the throat, stunning him and dropping him to the floor. Khabarakh had not been merely been captured by Wookiees. He had met Organa Solo and recognized her as the heir to Vader—the hero whom they revered for his "aid" to them. Khabarakh had brought Organa Solo to Honoghr, where she revealed that the Empire had kept the Noghri in perpetual debt and servitude to them by continuing to poison their world under the guise of cleaning it of damage. Rukh had finally learned the truth, and with the Noghri's aid to the New Republic thus revealed, he took action. Pellaeon strained to hit the emergency alarm, then turned to find Rukh's knife protruding from Thrawn's chest. Thrawn looked into Pellaeon's eye, smiled, and said his last words: "But it was so artistically done." As Pellaeon watched, his commander died. Pellaeon quickly assessed the situation: the New Republic breakthrough to the shipyards and the badly weakened position of the fleet. Thrawn could have been able to win the battle, he thought, but he was not Thrawn. Pellaeon ordered a retreat.^[26]

The fleet retreated to the border of the Unknown Regions, where Pellaeon took stock of the situation. Pellaeon could have been a kingmaker; he had been popular before Thrawn's return and his position as Thrawn's right hand had only increased his prestige. He could have attempted to seize control of the military himself or delivered Thrawn's battle fleet to any of the stronger warlords for reward.^[24][27] Pellaeon, despondent over Thrawn's death and what seemed to be the end of the last hope for a unified Empire, initially planned to go down fighting in a heroic last stand on the edge of the Unknown Regions. He had no desire to rule or to support warlordism, and wanted to show his devotion to Thrawn with a final battle in the shadow of the Unknown Regions.^[28] However, as the Imperial Ruling Council reestablished its control over the Empire, Pellaeon returned to it and looked for orders from the Empire's leadership; if there was central leadership in the Empire, he would follow it.^[24][28] The Imperial forces gathered in an immediate counterattack against Coruscant, hoping to take the New Republic off-guard. Coruscant was taken, but the Imperial unity dissolved into a civil war. Suddenly, a new force swept into the chaos: Palpatine. Reborn in a clone body, Palpatine once more took control of the Empire and unified it, even bringing in most of the warlords. Pellaeon swore loyalty to the emperor.^[24][29] Pellaeon served in Operation Shadow Hand, taking back territory for the Empire. However, in the recapture of Duro, the Chimaera came under heavy assault. Most of the senior officers were killed, and Pellaeon was forced to abandon the ship he had served on for so many years.^[7][24]

Palpatine was eventually defeated, and the Empire passed into the hands of Carnor Jax, then Xandel Carivus. Pellaeon may have remained in the Empire long enough to serve Carivus as commander of his forces, but with Carivus's death, the Empire splintered, its leadership in chaos.^[30] To protect his crew amid the infighting, Pellaeon joined the forces of the warlord Teradoc, based in the Deep Core. Pellaeon hated warlordism and did so only reluctantly, but there was no longer a significant Empire for him to serve, and Teradoc had the largest fleet remaining. Pellaeon hoped that things would remain stable and secure in Teradoc's fleet until some sort of leadership emerged to unify the Empire's scraps. It never did. Teradoc promoted Pellaeon to Vice Admiral and gave him command of his fleet of seventy-three red-hulled Victory-class Star Destroyers, which Pellaeon led from the 13X.^[22][7][31] Teradoc was less interested in attacking the New Republic than in feuding with his fellow warlords, especially Harrsk. Pellaeon found himself raiding his former fellow Imperials more often than he did the New Republic.^[31]

[edit] Rebuilding the Empire

In 12 ABY, Admiral Natasi Daala, who had emerged from the Maw a year before, began an effort to reunify the squabbling warlords and turn their attention to destroying the New Republic rather than each other. While she happened to be appealing to Harrsk, Pellaeon executed a raid on Harrsk's forces, destroying his flagship Shockwave. In retaliation, Harrsk forced Daala to lead an assault on Teradoc's base. Pellaeon led his Star Destroyers out against the attack, but before the two forces engaged, Daala fired on Harrsk's craft, disabling it. She then issued an open communication condemning the infighting and began a self-destruct process that would destroy her ship and take Harrsk with her, claiming she no longer wished to serve in such an Empire. Pellaeon surrounded Harrsk's forces but did not attack. He admired Daala's desire to take the fight to the New Republic and her purity of intention. Pellaeon opened a channel himself and ordered a cease-fire. Teradoc rebuked him over the comm, but Pellaeon was now confident in his choice. He took a shuttle to Daala's Firestorm, where Harrsk was finally convinced to order a cease-fire as well. Daala took the Firestorm, accompanied by two of Pellaeon's Star Destroyers, to a secluded area to negotiate away from Teradoc and Harrsk. Daala explained that she wished to reunify the elements of the Empire, but had no ultimate desire for command of it. Pellaeon suggested that Daala call a conclave of warlords and, if nothing else, work out a truce and agree on a common attack strategy against the New Republic. Daala agreed and left it to Pellaeon to make the arrangements. Before he returned, however, she gave him a breath mask and told him he would know when to use it.^[31]

Pellaeon invited the thirteen strongest warlords to remote Tsoss Beacon, where Daala had prepared a room for the meeting. Many were recalcitrant; Pellaeon had to use all the credibility he and Daala had to convince them to attend. Pellaeon had to hope Daala's appeal would be effective. He arrived ahead of the warlords, who were only permitted to attend if they dismissed their fleets and bodyguards and came alone. Pellaeon stood at Daala's side as she convened the meeting. In short order, "Superior General" Delvardus attempted to walk out, and Daala activated a time-locked door. No one would leave for three hours. In that time, she ordered them to select a leader from among their number for the new alliance. Instead, there were three hours of feuding and arguing. Pellaeon's faith in the process slowly sapped away. Finally, when Harrsk physically assaulted Teradoc, Pellaeon pulled Harrsk off his former leader and threw him on the table. Daala had had enough. She proclaimed the warlords to be incorrigible, and released a nerve gas into the air. Pellaeon grabbed for his breath mask and watched as the thirteen most powerful warlords of the Deep Core died.^[31]

Pellaeon and Daala began the process of taking command of the disparate warlords' forces. They traveled from one base to another, consolidating their fleets and armies. Some resisted and had to be destroyed, but most of the warlords' subordinates willingly entered the new union. At Delvardus's base, Pellaeon and Daala brought his body back to his second-in-command, a Colonel Cronus, and delivered with it an ultimatum: join their new Empire or be punished as rebels. Cronus joined, and took Pellaeon and Daala to see Delvardus's secret advantage: a stealth-armored Super Star Destroyer known as the Night Hammer. Daala's fleet was suddenly much more powerful.^[31]

Daala and Pellaeon oversaw the rebuilding and rearming of Imperial forces. They revitalized production and boosted morale in their subordinates. Daala also actively recruited those groups who had been marginalized by the Empire: females and nonhumans. She had been marginalized herself in the past and would have none of it; Pellaeon had served alongside Thrawn and seen what nonhumans could bring to the Empire. Besides the Night Hammer, they amassed forty-five Imperial-class Star Destroyers and one hundred twelve Victory-class Star Destroyers. Cronus was given command of the fleet of Victories, while the larger Star Destroyers fell to Pellaeon, while Daala took the Night Hammer as her flagship.^[31]

Daala was eager to begin dealing damage and hated administrative details, but Pellaeon oversaw the rebuilding and urged Daala to have patience. Rushing into battle or neglecting the details of management would undo all the progress they had made. Daala brushed his concerns off, stating she was not interested in running the Empire but intended to pass control to Pellaeon or someone else once victory was won. Pellaeon was shocked; he did not consider himself as any sort of candidate for rule. Daala sought Pellaeon's advice in formulating their attack plan; she recognized that she had done poorly in the minor campaign she had waged upon departing the Maw, and wanted Pellaeon's experience and honest opinions. Daala was looking for a target which would provide a significant and morale-boosting victory, yet be unlikely to seriously damage their forces. Pellaeon suggested the same world Daala had in mind: Yavin 4, the site of the Jedi Praxeum. Pellaeon further suggested that Cronus take his ships and strike a variety of minor targets, sewing panic and tying up assets in the New Republic. Daala agreed.^[31]

In preparation, the two held a rally for the forces involved in which Pellaeon laid out the attack plan and stirred up the spirits of the troops, then introduced Daala to the crowd. A started outburst from one of the crowd, however, revealed two Jedi spies in the audience. The pair escaped, alerting the New Republic. In response, Daala moved up the timetable, launching the attack immediately. Pellaeon proceeded to the system with seventeen Star Destroyers, commanding from the bridge of the Firestorm. Daala would follow in the renamed Knight Hammer to mop up and strike a greater psychological blow. Pellaeon deployed a jamming net as he eagerly contemplated striking the first blow of a major Imperial campaign that would have a chance of making a serious difference. He ordered a landing force to be deployed, which the unarmed Jedi combated with the Force. Pellaeon was suddenly shocked, however, to find himself thrown across the bridge as his Star Destroyers were blasted out of the system. The Jedi trainees, working together, had used a massive thrust of the Force to knock Pellaeon's ships away from the jungle moon. None of the crew were quite sure what had happened, and it took time to recover and to bring the ships under control. The hyperdrive had been damaged as well. Pellaeon ordered his ships to proceed towards Yavin 4 on sublight power. Meanwhile, Knight Hammer reached the battle, supplemented by some of Cronus's Victories. Cronus himself was killed and the 13X destroyed by New Republic reinforcements, and Pellaeon only reestablished communications with Daala shortly before the Knight Hammer was fatally crippled. The battle was lost, and Pellaeon, sickened by the utter defeat of what had seemed to be a spectacular campaign, waited at the edge of the system, recovering what escape pods came his way. The last one was a command pod, and he found Daala inside. Upon climbing out, she immediately resigned and turned command over to him.^[31] While she departed, she maintained contact with Pellaeon, and let him know that if needed, he could recall her to service with the transmission of a drumbeat signal based on the Darakaer legend, which she enjoyed.^[2]

[edit] Ruler of the Imperial Remnant

Pellaeon, now an admiral and Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet, had not wished for power, but was up to the task of wielding it. With the Deep Core warlord forces unified, Pellaeon decided the barren and remote area held little future for the Empire. He moved his fleets into the Outer Rim and Mid Rim, where he joined with existing fortress worlds, warlords, and moffs. One of those territories he absorbed was the Pentastar Alignment, which controlled the Super Star Destroyer Reaper; Pellaeon had found his new flagship. With his fleet bolstered and a new, more vital power base, Pellaeon took the offensive, building a strong Imperial state in the Mid and Outer Rim, plus isolated territories across the galaxy.^[24] The moffs of the Imperial sectors formed the Council of Moffs, a deliberative body which retained most decision-making authority in the new government. Pellaeon retained command of the military and was party to the moffs' decision-making process. He was technically subordinate to them, but his legal control over the military and personal popularity among the military and citizens gave him significant leverage over the Council of Moffs.^[9] Pellaeon also abolished slavery and took significant steps against anti-alien bias in the new regime; he wished to remove some of the Palpatinist excesses of the old Empire.^[7][9] The new state came to be known as the Imperial Remnant.^[22]

After six months of consolidation and preparation, Pellaeon felt secure in launching his first major offensive.^[24] Pellaeon's fleet massed near Agamar awaiting his arrival.^[32] When all was in order, he struck and captured the New Republic world Orinda. The New Republic was slow to respond, and Pellaeon followed up by taking six more systems. General Wedge Antilles of the New Republic led the counterattack from the Super Star Destroyer Lusankya. In a month of battles, Antilles forced Pellaeon back to Orinda. There, the two fleets clashed, Antilles aboard the Lusankya and Pellaeon aboard Reaper. Pellaeon was able to destroy the fleet carrier Endurance, robbing Antilles of most of his starfighters. Antilles was forced to retreat; Pellaeon had won a major victory for the fledgling Imperial Remnant. He held on to Orinda, and the New Republic settled for fortifying its holdings along the border.^[24][7]

When the planet Adumar was rediscovered, it sent out invitations to both the Empire and New Republic to court its allegiance. A potentially powerful source of munitions, Adumar adored pilots, and Pellaeon sent as its delegation Turr Phennir and three other pilots from the 181st Imperial Fighter Group while Admiral Teren Rogriss ferried them there in the Agonizer. The planet was too important to fall into New Republic hands, and Rogriss was under orders to bombard the world if it chose to join the New Republic. Rogriss was deeply unhappy with his orders, and Antilles—the lead New Republic delegate—was able to contact Rogriss and convince him to defect. The world fell into New Republic hands.^[33] Pellaeon angrily took the Reaper to Adumar and bombarded the recalcitrant world.^[7] The offensive became bogged down, however, tying up some of Pellaeon's resources.^[24] The revelation during that campaign that Senator and Minister of State Q-Varx of the New Republic was a traitor, however, robbed Pellaeon of an extremely highly-placed spy.^[24][34] When the New Republic began pushing into the Antemeridian Sector—a new addition to the Imperial Remnant ruled by Moff Getelles—it was able to roll over Getelles and into Pellaeon's territory. Pellaeon had to rush from Adumar and fight back a New Republic thrust which could have penetrated deep into his territory. He was ultimately successful, but lost the Reaper in the clash.^[24]

Pellaeon lost momentum, and the New Republic slowly nibbled away Imperial territory. Bright spots remained, as in the acquisition of four advanced Star Destroyers and the experimental weapons testbed EX-F in the aftermath of the Black Fleet Crisis, and the recapture of the Chimaera in the Battle of Gravlex Med, in which Pellaeon faced Ackbar himself. In 17 ABY, Pellaeon attempted to capitalize on the confusion of the Almanian Uprising, believing that the New Republic would not be willing to put its all into repulsing his attack. The gamble failed; the New Republic hit back hard, sending the Third Fleet—including the Super Star Destroyer Guardian—and Fifth Fleet against him, leading to a series of hard-fought battles. The Battle of Champala was a major engagement, but the conclusive battle was at Anx Minor, where Pellaeon again faced off against Ackbar. This time, Ackbar came away with a surprise victory, destroying the