Jagged Fel

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Jagged Fel
Biographical information
Homeworld	Nirauan[1]
Born	7 ABY (43)[2]
Physical description
Species	Human[3]
Gender	Male[3]
Hair color	Black[3]
Eye color	Green[3]
Chronological and political information
Era(s)	New Republic era[1] New Jedi Order era[3] Legacy era[4]
Affiliation	Empire of the Hand[1] New Republic[5] Galactic Federation of Free Alliances[6] Chiss Ascendancy[6] New Jedi Order[7] Jedi Coalition[8] Imperial Remnant[9]

[Source]

Jagged Fel, known as Jag to his friends, was an ace pilot who, much like his father, General Baron Soontir Fel, was dedicated to a life of military service and later became the head of state of the Imperial Remnant. Raised by his father and mother, Syal Antilles Fel, Jagged Fel was raised in the Unknown Regions among the strict and dutiful Chiss of the Empire of the Hand. Fel entered a military academy in his very early teens and had attained the rank of colonel and command of three squadrons of Clawcraft by age eighteen. At that same age, he had also lost two of his five siblings to battle against the myriad threats of the Unknown Regions. When the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the galaxy, Fel's father sent him to aid the New Republic in holding them back. Fel served at the Battle of Ithor, where he made the acquaintance of a young pilot named Jaina Solo and met his uncle, Wedge Antilles, for the first time.

Fel was recalled to the Unknown Regions some time after the battle, but returned after the fall of Coruscant to the Yuuzhan Vong. He helped Solo defend Hapes against a Yuuzhan Vong fleet before serving under his uncle in the defense of Borleias, where he began a romance with Solo which would grow intense as the war went on. Fel continued serving alongside her throughout the war and flew in the liberation of Coruscant, which gave the newly formed Galactic Federation of Free Alliances victory in the long war. His romance with Solo did not survive the war's aftermath as she drew away from all others and Fel was recalled to Csilla in the Chiss Ascendancy, where he eventually gained a captaincy in the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force.

Fel led the Chiss war against the Killik colonies, in which he was pitted against Solo. During the final battle of that conflict, Solo's mother shot him down when the Jedi attempted to stop the Chiss from unleashing a genocidal weapon against the Killiks. Fel spent two years marooned in the deadly jungles of Tenupe before he was rescued. During the war, he had guaranteed the parole of Lowbacca, a Jedi Knight who later returned to combat against the Chiss. This made Fel and his family responsible for all Lowbacca's damages, and when they could not pay, Fel was permanently exiled from the Chiss. He began tracking the last member of the Killik's Dark Nest, Alema Rar, and eventually gained Jedi support for his mission, tracking the Dark Jedi Rar in an uneasy partnership with Solo and her close friend Zekk. At long last, Fel personally killed Rar and in so doing restored his family's honor.

At the close of the Second Galactic Civil War, Fel aided the Jedi in defeating Darth Caedus. During peace negotiations, Luke Skywalker forced the Moff Council of the Imperial Remnant to accept Fel as the Remnant's head of state so that he could keep tight control of the devious moffs and in so doing allow a stable peace settlement.

[edit] Biography

[edit] A harsh upbringing

Jagged Fel was born in 7 ABY to General Baron Soontir Fel and Syal Antilles Fel, both Corellians, and named for his maternal grandfather, Jagged Antilles.^[2][10] Soontir Fel had been a highly successful Imperial fighter pilot and Syal Antilles was a holodrama star, performing under the name Wynssa Starflare, when they married. After the Emperor's death, however, Soontir's faith in the Empire was shaken, and when the New Republic captured him, he defected and served alongside his brother-in-law Wedge Antilles in Rogue Squadron. In 5 ABY, he was captured by Imperial leader Ysanne Isard and handed over to Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo, better known as Thrawn. Thrawn had carved out the Empire of the Hand, an Imperialist domain in the Unknown Regions dedicated to holding back the various aggressive species and states within. When Thrawn explained this to him, Soontir became convinced that this was work that needed to be done, and became the commander of the Empire of the Hand's starfighter forces. Syal joined him, and so Jagged was born on Nirauan, the site of the Hand of Thrawn—the Empire of the Hand's headquarters—and raised among the Chiss, Thrawn's people.^[10] Fel had two older brothers, Chak and Davin, as well as two younger sisters, Cherith and Wynssa. In addition, his younger brother Cem was raised as the family's shadow child, a Chiss tradition in which one child was kept secret in order to preserve the bloodline against assassination attempts.^[11]

Growing up, Fel idolized his brother Davin, and likely Chak as well. He also looked up to Thrawn, a master tactician and strategist and the founder of the government his father served; Thrawn's name remained respected years after his death in 9 ABY leading the Empire against the New Republic.^[1] The Empire of the Hand was left a secret to the wider galaxy as Soontir Fel and Empire of the Hand commander Admiral Voss Parck led campaigns against the various threats of the Unknown Regions.^[12] Soontir taught his son to respect Chiss and their excellent military skills, and Fel was raised as if he were a Chiss, complete with their disdain for adolescence, moving into adulthood early. He was held to Chiss standards, one Human among the isolationist and demanding Chiss.^[1][3] His father taught him to fly, to think critically and logically, and to master military tactics. Fel was raised by warriors to be a warrior.^[13]

In 18 ABY, as Fel began reaching puberty, he approached his father and asked for a commission in the same Chiss military academy Davin had attended. Fel received it, his presence there guaranteeing Soontir's loyalty to the Chiss. There, Fel trained among his Chiss peers, the only Human there. He received blue stripes on his uniform rather than their red, marking his difference. Fel was not the most outstanding cadet, and frequently crashed his clawcraft fighter. The chief mechanic at the academy, Obersken, frequently reprimanded Fel for his crashes, which often resulted from impulsive, undisciplined acts of attempted heroism. The Chiss were not interested in heroes but in disciplined, effective soldiers. Fel consciously looked on the desire to be a hero as a childish fantasy—one he had indeed had as a child—but he had a hard time controlling his instincts to save others at all costs.^[1] Fel was compared to his brother Davin, who had also had the same traits, comparisons which made Fel proud, as his hero Davin had recently died in combat.^[1][13]

In 19 ABY, rumors flooded into the academy of Thrawn's return. Fel was greatly excited, and the training schedule of the academy accelerated in case the Grand Admiral were to call the cadets into service. Fel was even given his own ship, an older craft called the Blue Flame. Fel was greatly disappointed when the news proved to be false, a hoax perpetuated by an Imperial moff using an impostor. Shortly after that news arrived, Commander Kres'ten'tarthi, the commander of Syndic Mitth'raw'nuruodo's Household Phalanx—an important Chiss unit of the Empire of the Hand—arrived at the base to announce the fall of the Hand of Thrawn to pirate forces. Fel was convinced, however, that Stent would not have come unless his father survived the assault. More immediately pressing, the pirates could have obtained the location of the secret academy. The cadets were to prepare for attack.^[1]

Fel and the other cadets rushed to the hangar, but a damaged pirate craft crashed through the dome, killing several students and the academy's commandant, Gimald Nuruodo, and destroying their clawcraft. The pirates had arrived, and knew the academy was there. Fel deduced that they were pirates, and not New Republic forces as Stent had suspected, by examining the ship's cargo. Stent was now the senior officer present, and issued orders to Cadet Commander Shawnkyr Nuruodo to collect weapons in order to repel an attack; she took Fel and several other cadets with her. When Nuruodo discovered that her key card had been lost in the attack, Fel blasted the weapons locker open, his unorthodox methods earning surprise from his Chiss peers. Fel returned to the hangar weighted down with charrics just in time to see Stent vanish in a blast of laser fire. With Stent assumed dead, Nuruodo was in command. She ordered the cadets to assemble in the central indoor forest, where they would make a stand against the pirates. Fel was uneasy with the plan, and when the pirates began bombarding the dome in which the academy was housed, he dove for cover with Nuruodo in the mechanic's bay. This caused him to realize the cause of his misgiving: the pirates would not attack on the ground until after a heavy aerial assault to soften up the base, rendering a ground defense ineffective. He explained to the cadet commander that he would take up Blue Flame—which had survived by being in the mechanic's bay after yet another crash, instead of in the hangar with the rest of the craft—perform poorly, and so lower the enemy's expectations in hopes that they would break off the bombardment and begin a ground assault.^[1]

Jagged Fel takes the Blue Flame into combat against the pirate raiders.

Fel fired up his silver-blue ship and blasted through the hole which had been opened in the dome. He quickly found that his single ship was up against a corvette and several X-wings. He made an erratic attack, missing with most of his laser blasts. That fire covered the launch of two proton torpedoes, though, which destroyed two enemy fighters. Fel flew through the rubble, taking damage to his hyperdrive but losing his pursuit. He fed power into the hyperdrive, overloading it and then using the clawcraft's emergency detach function to launch the unit into the path of an oncoming fighter, where it exploded. This reduced the opposing force to two fighters and the corvette. Satisfied he had done as much as he could and that it was time to fake defeat, he rode the edge of the explosion away, then plummeted towards the dome, pretending to be out of control. He switched his repulsors on at the last moment, crashing through the dome and striking the hangar floor with significant force. The Blue Flame was wrecked and Fel himself sustained a nasty cut running from his right eyebrow back along his scalp as well as a possible concussion. He stumbled out of the craft and placed a fellow student's body within it to convince the pirates he had perished, then limped to the forest.^[1]

He collapsed upon finding Nuruodo, who examined him and declared him unfit for combat, but insisted he help her plan tactics. The two fighter pilots had set down and begun scouting, but the Chiss were able to ambush them. Only seven students remained capable of fighting, however; not enough to repel the numbers likely present within the corvette. A sudden idea struck Fel, who had one of the panels of mirrored transparisteel that had fallen from the dome dragged onto the forest path, where dead Chiss bodies were placed upon it. The other students suspended themselves from the trees over the path using ropes. Mirrored in the transparisteel, they too seemed to be bodies lying on the floor. When the pirate force advanced, the Chiss ambushed them, cutting them down from above as they looked for a threat on the ground. They were entirely defeated, and Fel and the Chiss were able to use the pirates' equipment to contact their superiors for assistance. In recognition of Fel's key role in tactical planning and the leadership he had provided, Nuruodo turned her position as cadet commander over to Fel.^[1]

Fel developed a large scar where the gash had been, and the hair along that part of his scalp grew white, creating a distinctive streak. Fel eventually graduated the academy, and at the age of sixteen he was handed the command of his own squadron. Within two years, he was a colonel and the leader of force Spike, a three-squadron group of clawcraft, and was an ace combat pilot who abided by strict Chiss discipline; his earlier impetuosity had been controlled. Fel became well-known as a leader, and pilots competed to fly under his command.^[3] Shawnkyr Nuruodo, his classmate, became his second-in-command and wingmate.^[13][14] He engaged in battle against the various threats of Unknown Regions, as did Chak, Davin, and Cherith.^[3][15] By 25 ABY, though, Cherith had fallen in combat in the Unknown Regions. Jagged keenly felt the pain of both her and Davin's loss in defense of a galaxy that did not even know they existed.^[3]

[edit] Aiding the New Republic

In 25 ABY, the Empire of the Hand intercepted a transmission from Supreme Commander Gilad Pellaeon recalling all forces to active duty in order to aid the New Republic against the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the galaxy. Soontir sent force Spike to aid Pellaeon's forces. Pellaeon eagerly accepted the Chiss group's aid. They accompanied his task force to Garqi, where they unexpectedly intervened to protect the extraction of Jedi Corran Horn and Jacen Solo from the Yuuzhan Vong-occupied world. Fel opened contact with Rogue Squadron and told them that the Chiss would take care of the enemy coralskippers. His force quickly eliminated the fighters, impressing the Rogues with their precise flying; for his part, Fel took satisfaction in saving the elite pilots of Rogue Squadron.^[3]

Horn's expedition had discovered that Yuuzhan Vong armor was allergic to the pollen of the Bafforr tree. Knowing this could be a key to winning the war, Pellaeon's forces, as well as those of Traest Kre'fey, the New Republic admiral whose forces they had aided, went to Ithor to protect the Bafforr homeworld. They prepared a joint defense, and Fel flew many simulator missions against Imperial and New Republic pilots in order to prepare for battle and get a feel for those he would fly alongside. Fel systematically worked his way down the ranks of top pilots, starting with the best, scoring kills against each. He was only killed twice in simulation, once each by retired New Republic legends Wedge Antilles and Tycho Celchu. He developed a respect for the other pilots, who hardly made it easy for him, but kept to himself among the rest of the Chiss contingent.^[3]

Fel was pleased to meet his uncle, Wedge Antilles, for the first time at Ithor.

It was only when there was to be a reception for arriving political leaders of the New Republic and Remnant that Fel engaged with the others. One hour before the ceremony, he met his uncle Antilles for the first time. Antilles had had no news of his sister for twenty years, and eagerly embraced his family member, who gave him news of his relations in the Unknown Regions. Fel deeply regretted that Antilles would be unable ever to know Davin or Cherith. During the actual reception, Fel caused an uproar when he greeted only his host, Ithorian High Priest Relal Towron, and his fellow military personnel with formal bows and handshakes. Antilles, however, gave Fel a bear hug. Fel was also pleased to make the acquaintance of Rogue Eleven, Jaina Solo. He had been impressed by her performance in the simulators, and told her as much. They had time for few pleasantries, however, before Antilles approached him and told him that his passing over of the New Republic politicians had offended them. Borsk Fey'lya, the New Republic's Chief of State, harangued Fel for his perceived speciesism, but he explained that he had passed them over not because of their race—he had greeted Towron and Kre'fey, both aliens—but because he disdained politicians. Fel was indignant at their accusations, and pointed out that among the Chiss, he had been the alien minority. He insisted that he had come to defend their freedom, not to take it, and that such displays were the reason he chose not to greet them.^[3]

When Elegos A'Kla's shuttle was recovered, Fel went to watch Horn and Antilles enter the ship, which had been modified with Yuuzhan Vong coral growths. Solo was there, and he engaged her in conversation. Sixteen years old, she was surprised by his maturity and grim nature at only eighteen years of age. Fel was surprised himself by her adolescent nature, a stage of his life quickly skipped amid Chiss culture. The two chatted, with Solo developing a slight attraction to him, and discussed maturity and Chiss culture. In the shuttle, however, Horn and Antilles found A'Kla's body. The Yuuzhan Vong commander, Shedao Shai, had issued a challenge to Horn.^[3]

When Shai's attack on Ithor came, Fel led his clawcraft against the invaders. The Yuuzhan Vong made landfall, but Horn was able to challenge Shai to a duel in which he staked the bones of Shai's ancestors, possession of which he had gained, against Ithor's freedom, with a one-week truce in advance of the duel so that more refugees could be evacuated. The attack was called off, and one week later the two battled on the surface of Ithor. Shai was killed, but his lieutenant, Deign Lian, did not abide by the agreement and instead unleashed a plague which wiped Ithor bare of life. It was a massive loss for the New Republic, and caused the Imperial Remnant to recall its forces to provide defense.^[3]

Fel decided to send one of his squadrons back with Pellaeon to report to his father, but kept the other two in Republic space to fight alongside the Rogues and learn more about the enemy.^[3] Imperial forces requested Fel's aid in liaising with the Chiss, but he preferred to remain in New Republic space and fight.^[16] Fel continued to fight with the Rogues for much of the next year, growing closer to Solo, with clawcraft present as late as the Battle of Kalarba, in which Solo was wounded and put on medical leave.^[17][10] By 27 ABY, however, Fel returned to the Unknown Regions, recalled when General Baron Fel decided his squadrons were not making a significant impact.^[18][13]

[edit] Return to battle

Fel wished to return to the known galaxy and aid the New Republic, rather than sit on the sidelines, but his father held him back until Coruscant, the galactic capital, fell to the Yuuzhan Vong. Once he got that news, Soontir called Jagged into his office and charged his son with a scouting mission into the galaxy to learn more of the Yuuzhan Vong and discover how to defeat them. Jagged was excited to have the opportunity to make a difference, but sobered by the news of Coruscant's conquest and the death of a Solo child—though when he asked, Soontir assuaged Jagged's immediate fear that Jaina had perished; it had been her younger brother, Anakin. Fel's scouting mission would not be in force; he took only his executive officer, Nuruodo, with him. He was unwilling to risk any more Chiss, who he felt would be needed at home.^[13]

Fel traveled first to the barren orb that had been Ithor, seeking a reminder of why he fought. After visiting there, he set course for the Hapes Cluster, which had been opened to refugees. He predicted that would draw a Yuuzhan Vong attack, and planned to be there to observe—and to fight it off. Leaving hyperspace for a course reorientation, he nearly collided with a freighter, which he found to be under attack by four coralskippers. In short order, however, he and Nuruodo eliminated them, then assisted the freighter in reaching Hapes. The two clawcraft continued there as well, where Fel hoped to build a new squadron to aid him in combat and scout more effectively.^[13]

On Hapes, Fel was greeted by Leia Organa Solo, Jaina's mother, and Kyp Durron, a Jedi Master he had met previously but did not particularly like. Fel informed the two that there would not be any further aid from the Empire of the Hand, but had little time to talk before the Hapan officials, informed by the freighter crew, requested the two pilots' aid in escorting Jaina Solo's captured Yuuzhan Vong craft down to the planet; they were worried it could be a trap, and the two had combat experience against the Vong. Fel accepted Durron's offer of aid, and so two clawcraft and an X-wing escorted the remnants of the Myrkr strike team down.^[13]

Fel began building his Vanguard Squadron, recruiting three more pilots in addition to Durron. He trained them to work together, and sent them across the Hapes Cluster to scout various locations. One such mission was to Gallinore; just before the jump to hyperspace, however, Fel held Durron back. The two remained in orbit, where they found seven Hornet interceptors, the same fighters which had engaged Solo's craft earlier. Fel wanted to hunt down these mysterious raiders. He quickly eliminated three of the craft, as did Durron, then used himself as bait, luring the enemy pilot into firing his turbocharged cannons until they became unstable, then dropping back to destroy the ship in conjunction with Durron. Fel arranged for the ejected pilots to be picked up, then took the opportunity to ask Durron why Jaina Solo despised him; Durron revealed that he had lied to her in order to lure her into an attack on a Yuuzhan Vong worldship. The Jedi also suggested that Fel seek further answers from Solo herself by using his father's title to gain an invitation to the state dinner which would be held in the Hapan palace.^[13]

Fel was indeed invited, and attended in formal uniform. He found Solo and started flirting with her until she suggested they leave the ball. He led her out by the hand, but former Queen Mother Ta'a Chume emerged to speak with Solo; Fel excused himself and departed. Ta'a Chume intended to groom Solo to marry her son, Prince Isolder, as part of her political manipulations, but desired Solo to be more experienced in matters of love first. She planned to encourage Solo in pursuing Fel, then assassinate the young man and push Solo onward to Isolder. Her conversation with Solo only subtly circled around her intentions, however. While they talked, Durron called Fel away to attend Anakin Solo's funeral. Jaina Solo arrived after her conversation with Ta'a Chume.^[13]

Colonel Jagged Fel.

The next morning, he sought out Solo and invited her to join Vanguard Squadron, but he declined. Fel was somewhat disappointed by her cool reaction to him, as he was becoming attracted to her. Fel returned later, seeking an apology for her attitude, but when she offered more of the same, he departed. Still not understanding her attitude, he went back the next day to try to patch up the quarrel, but she was gone, along with Durron. Fel was annoyed that she had taken one of his pilots without notifying him. Driven by curiosity to see Han Solo and see what example the bond that produced Jaina's parents could provide, Fel headed to the Hapan refugee camp, where the Solos had set up residence. As he approached their tent, however, he heard and saw what seemed to be a battle, drew his charric, and ran to provide aid. Solo punched Fel upon first entering the tent, mistaking him for an assailant. Fel stunned two of the attackers, both wearing Hapan uniforms, and threw the third off Solo, who had sustained a bad gash to the head. The third attacker escaped, and Fel had a passerby summon medical attention. While Fel was outside the tent, however, the two stunned assailants recovered and escaped. Organa Solo arrived and asked Fel for details of the attack; they could only surmise that Solo had been provoked into a fight by the arrival of Isolder's agents seeking to present Organa Solo with a dowry and ask for marriage. Organa Solo prepared to leave the planet with her husband, and had Fel round up the other Jedi to leave with them.^[13]

When Jaina returned, Fel immediately went to her and brought news of her mother's departure. During the conversation, he mentioned his opinion that she should not trust Ta'a Chume as much as she did, then noticed Tenel Ka Djo, Ta'a Chume's Jedi granddaughter, storming off after having overheard the comment. Fel rushed off to apologize, but Ka revealed that she had merely wished to draw Fel off to speak with her; she trusted Ta'a Chume less than Fel did. Ka explained to him her grandmother's intrigues, and enlisted his aid in trying to stop her from exerting her influence over Solo. Fel caught up to her eventually and tried to gently advise her to keep from marrying Isolder, but Solo misinterpreted his remarks, thinking he was trying to dissuade her from pursuing him, and stormed away.^[13]

As Solo began inventing tactics and devices to confuse and taunt the Yuuzhan Vong forces menacing Hapes, Vanguard Squadron flew with her to test and refine her methods. When they drove off a small approaching fleet with skillful use of gravitic decoys which mimicked the signature of Solo's captured Yuuzhan Vong ship, Fel was impressed and congratulated Solo after the battle, but Nuruodo rebuked him, feeling Solo was to undisciplined, and telling him that word was gathering of a coup that would put Solo in power. Fel realized this would mean an attack on Teneniel Djo, the current Queen Mother and Isolder's wife, and went to warn Tenel Ka. On his way, he was intercepted by Hapan guards and imprisoned. Solo felt his distress in the Force and arrived with Durron to spring him from his cell inside the palace. They rushed to Djo's chambers, but were too late. Ka took the crown, placing her mother's secret war fleet under Fel's command.^[13]

At that same time, the Yuuzhan Vong fleet was making a concerted attack. As Fel rushed to his fighter, Durron informed him that Solo had never intended to marry Isolder, and intimated that she was interested in Fel. He took to the skies, assuming control of the fleet as it arrived and leading it to defeat the oncoming force. After the victory, Fel reached out to Luke Skywalker, arranging a meeting to discuss the war effort.^[13] That meeting, however, may have fallen through.^[5]

[edit] The defense of Borleias

With Hapes relatively secure, Fel, Solo, Durron, the Wookiee Jedi Lowbacca, and Vanguard Squadron made their way to Borleias, where Antilles had fortified his fleet group after the fall of Coruscant, had gathered the Solos and Skywalker and several other allies, and was preparing a prolonged defensive to occupy the Yuuzhan Vong as long as possible; he knew Borleias could not stand forever. With Antilles and Skywalker, Solo broached the topic of starting her own squadron, where she could experiment with her "Trickster" tactics, playing on her association with the Yuuzhan Vong deception goddess Yun-Harla. Skywalker handed over his Twin Suns Squadron to her, and Fel petitioned to join. The thought of psychological warfare and Force-enhanced coordination techniques interested him, and he wanted to work alongside Solo to develop them. Solo and Antilles accepted, and he turned Vanguard Squadron over to Nuruodo's command. Fel would be working within the New Republic command system, with both Solo and his uncle as his superiors, but Fel had no problem taking orders. He was given the callsign Twin Suns Three and placed in a shield trio with Solo and Durron.^[5]

In accordance with the Trickster deception, Solo was to be treated as if she were indeed a goddess, giving Twin Suns Squadron special privileges. Fel predicted that she would have them paint their fighters individually, and decided to paint his clawcraft black, with the claws silver and covered in blood-red splashes; he thought the design would be the most offensive to the technophobic Vong. When Solo did issue that order on a practice run, he was ready to implement it. That same practice run was their first effort in the use of Force-enhanced coordination. Solo and Durron linked their minds through the Force, attempting to strike simultaneously as possible at a variety of targets floating in space; Fel was to see how quickly he could match their target. Fel correctly predicted Solo's first target, allowing him to fire extremely quickly. Solo was mildly annoyed at his ability to anticipate her, but he predicted the second target as well. This went on, with Solo trying to become more unpredictable and Fel attempting to figure out which target she would focus on; Solo slowly grew more difficult to predict, but there remained a minuscule lag between her shots and Durron's. Fel suggested that this was due to Durron, being older, having slightly slower reflexes and advised that Solo either hesitate very slightly between deciding to fire and pulling the trigger, or let Durron choose the targets. That strategy reduced the gap to only one-hundredth of a second. Shortly after implementing that idea, however, Solo sensed something wrong in an unoccupied area of the system and led the others to investigate. There, they found an incoming Yuuzhan Vong force. They used the new tactics to deal with the three coralskippers dispatched against them, then found that the frigate analogue in the force was launching something. Closer investigation revealed they were living captives, encased in a jelly-like substance, on a trajectory to burn up in Borleias's atmosphere; a taunt from the Yuuzhan Vong. Fel immediately requested a shuttle to pick them up. While Solo and Durron attempted to use the Force to slow them down—made difficult by their very high velocity—Fel maneuvered his clawcraft in among the victims. He slowed, matched their pace, and began bumping captives as gently as he could, vectoring them into open space rather than towards Borleias. Seeing this, the others joined him, vectoring all twenty-two to safety, though four died of cold exposure. The piloting skill involved was sufficient to gather applause from the ground crew upon returning to base.^[5]

The Twin Suns were assigned to Operation Starlancer, a scheme in which several "pipefighters" were escorted into formation over Borleias, with the point being to trick the Yuuzhan Vong into believing that they were a superweapon system with powerful lasers which could fire through hyperspace to strike distant targets.^[5][14] Solo, meanwhile, was being tutored in psychological warfare by Wraith Squadron experts, who suggested she get a porter to maintain her goddess image. She attempted to enlist Fel in the role, but he refused, pointing out that putting Durron in the role would be far more significant. Solo was annoyed by his superior manner, but could not disagree with his logic.^[5]

When the Twin Suns and other elite squadrons escorted the pipefighters up for a test-firing, they found themselves attacked by coralskippers, though the firing itself went off without a hitch. The initial resistance was weak, but kept the Twin Suns in place long enough for a pair of Yuuzhan Vong interdictors to arrive and deploy a flood of coralskippers. They were trapped, and had to fight their way out. Fel came up with an idea to clear an escape vector; he ordered Solo and Durron to launch shadow bombs—Force-guided proton torpedoes—and have them trail him as closely as possible, then blasted forward. He jinked through the coralskipper swarm, making a solo run on the interdictor cutting the squadron off from Borleias. When he neared, he opened up with laser fire, which the ship's dovin basal-generated voids caught. His fire drew the voids away from where the two shadow bombs struck. There was now a hole through which to escape, but Fel was grazed by a void during the attack, stripping his shields and pulling him off-course, back into the swarm of enemy fighters. Fel stood no chance of surviving, but insisted his comrades flee rather than die trying to save him. Solo ordered the squadron to jump back to Borleias, but neither she nor Durron could bring themselves to leave their comrade. Three against fifty, they headed into the dogfight against Antilles's explicit orders; even he accepted that his nephew was dead, and did not wish to see others waste their lives saving him. Durron used a desperation tactic, pulling one of the interdictor's singularity shields around with the Force until it sucked itself into its own gravitic effect. Fel was able to use his craft's agility to maneuver through his opponents, and the three were able to make it through the engagement zone against the odds, with Rogue Squadron arriving to eliminate their remaining pursuers.^[5]

Jaina Solo, the New Republic pilot and Jedi with whom Fel began a romantic relationship.

Upon returning to base, they were greeted by Antilles's right-hand man, Colonel Tycho Celchu, who summoned Fel and Solo to Antilles's office. While they waited outside it, Fel asked Solo to talk privately. They went down the hall to an empty conference room, where Fel asked Solo why she had insisted on saving him. Solo could only say that she was tired of the death surrounding her before breaking down in tears; Fel took her in his arms, told her he was not going anywhere, and kissed her. When they parted, he sent her back to her quarters to recover, and went to see Antilles in her place. Fel explained that he thought disciplining Solo at this point would damage her emotionally, and that the day's events were an aberration. Antilles was not happy, but agreed that the goddess persona gave him an excuse to withhold discipline, then personally congratulated Fel on his survival.^[5]

When the Yuuzhan Vong began a ground invasion, Fel and the other pilots were called to defend the base. Upon discovering that several coralskippers were traveling under the foliage to evade detection, Fel, Solo, and Durron did the same. Fel sneaked into position next to an advancing column, then set down, with Durron and Solo controlling a pair of shadow bombs behind him. Fel, ahead of the others, directed them in placing their bombs along the enemies' path, where the Jedi detonated them like mines, killing two rakamat armored beasts. As they fought, however, the Twin Suns were continually ordered back until finally they were alongside the base itself. All the other units fell back at the same rate, clearing the way for Operation Emperor's Hammer. Antilles had the Super Star Destroyer Lusankya begin an orbital bombardment, completely wiping out the Yuuzhan Vong ground forces now evenly gathered around the base. The attack had been defeated. With Lando Calrissian's successful return from an insertion mission as well, Calrissian threw a massive celebration to which Fel invited his new girlfriend Solo.^[5]

The Twin Suns continued flying combat missions against minor incursions and raids as the Yuuzhan Vong forces stood off from Borleias, as well as developing new tactics, such as a missile which launched a spread of ball bearings of the same heat and gravity as proton torpedoes, overwhelming an enemy craft's dovin basals and allowing actual proton torpedoes through. One day, however, Nuruodo approached him, asking him to return to the Unknown Regions with her. She felt they had spent enough time scouting, and it was time to make their report. Fel, however, felt that Borleias would be a key test of Yuuzhan Vong character, and only by riding out the entire campaign could they know how to defeat them. Moreover, Fel felt that his presence was vital there, as any damage he dealt the Yuuzhan Vong at Borleias weakened their ability to strike at the Chiss. He also admitted that he had come to identify with the Republic pilots, and felt they were worth protecting as well as the Chiss. Nuruodo still wished to leave, and Fel reached an arrangement with her in which she would return and file their report after Borleias fell while Fel stayed, to return eventually. If she died before Borleias fell, however, Fel would have to return and report.^[14]

Meanwhile, Fel continued his romance with Solo, though pressing military matters kept them from spending as much time together as they would have liked. The Yuuzhan Vong maintained a constant pace of harassment, drawing down Borleias's resources and wearing down the pilots.^[14] When Solo suggested that Zekk, a longtime friend of hers with an intense, unrequited infatuation with her, pilot a B-wing she was planning to use in the squadron, Fel told her Zekk was not a good enough pilot and suggested a shuttle pilot named Beelyath instead. In fact, Fel thought Zekk was good enough but wanted Zekk kept well away from Solo.^[14][7] Eventually, Fel suggested he and Solo have a talk with Durron, who had been withdrawn from the group. They invited him up to a picnic on the roof of the base, where Solo convinced Durron to engage with the group and assured him that his presence did not interfere with Fel's relationship with Solo.^[14]

At long last, Antilles was ready to end the siege of Borleias; he readied an evacuation of the base and sent up the pipefighters, now seemingly fully operational, to draw a Yuuzhan Vong response. The Twin Suns, along with the other elite fighter squadrons, went up to guard the pipefighters and maintain the illusion. However, when the enemy forces arrived to engage them, Fel and the others jumped to hyperspace. They emerged around the Lusankya, guarding it from enemy coralskippers. The massive ship had been damaged badly in the constant harassment, and Antilles had chosen to strip it of many functional systems and turn it into a suicide ram against the Yuuzhan Vong flagship. The forces designated to capture Solo, whom the Yuuzhan Vong wished to have for a twin sacrifice with her brother, pursued them, and the Twin Suns used more of their misidentification techniques to fool the ships into chasing a missile, destroying many enemies. Meanwhile, Lusankya successfully rammed the enemy worldship, rendering the battle a significant, if costly, victory for the New Republic.^[14]

[edit] Signs of progress

Nuruodo returned to make her report, and Fel was reinforced with a full squadron of clawcraft, including Nuruodo. They were technically assigned only to scout, but Fel was able to push them into a combat role.^[19][6] He was able to keep the unit in known space long after they were supposed to be recalled, and reported back to his father only irregularly.^[20] Twin Suns Squadron had already been broken up so that new squadrons could be formed around its members and Fel was given command of a rookie E-wing squadron to train. Fel was eventually assigned to lead his squadrons in patrols of the Hydian Way, which was being mined by the Yuuzhan Vong. Fel found the relentless pace of combat draining, and resented being pulled away from Solo, but performed his duties anyway. The squadron was eventually able to find and destroy the main minelaying ship for one section; later that same day, they rescued the Millennium Falcon from a coralskipper attack. Fel was invited aboard the Falcon, where conversation turned to the Solos' diplomatic mission to the Empire. Fel explained to Vana Dorja, the Imperial commander aboard, that logic dictated the Empire ally with the Yuuzhan Vong—short-term logic. He pointed out that while the Empire would enjoy some benefits of an alliance with the Yuuzhan Vong, those would eventually disappear as the Yuuzhan Vong turned against them or assimilated them into their pain-worshiping culture. Their interests were simply incompatible with those of the Remnant, whereas those of the New Republic were compatible. When the meeting was finished, Fel sent a message to Jaina telling her about it and her mother's feeling in the Force that Jacen Solo had survived his capture by the Yuuzhan Vong, expressing his desire to be with her and celebrate.^[19]

Eventually, Fel's unit was rotated to Kre'fey's fleet, where Solo was based, for maintenance. Having felt that Solo's response to him had grown ambiguous in her holomessages, he decided to conduct an experiment, waiting in her quarters when he arrived and seizing and kissing her as soon as she entered. She kissed back before she Force-pushed him across the room and into a shelf. He considered the early lack of opposition a success, and gave a relatively unembarrassed greeting to Jacen, who had been accompanying Jaina. Fel urged Jaina to delegate her work to her junior officers and spend the evening with him. Solo insisted on a game of sabacc, in which she came out far ahead, then relented to Fel's romantic advances. With action upcoming against the collaborationist Peace Brigade government on Ylesia, Fel volunteered to participate and Kre'fey accepted.^[21]

In the battle itself, Fel accompanied Solo's Twin Suns down to the surface, clearing several opposing fighter craft along the way. Once there, Solo dismounted to aid in the capture of the Peace Brigade leadership, but Fel was called away when Yuuzhan Vong reinforcements arrived in orbit. Yuuzhan Vong forces which had a managed to remain hidden ambushed Solo's group; Fel returned to the surface to provide air cover. The enemy was at very close quarters to the New Republic forces, so Fel arranged his rookies in echelon to his side, positioning himself along the divider to keep the pilots over enemy territory, then led them in a successful strafing run. With the ground forces free, Fel escorted them to orbit, then joined in the battle against the reinforcements.^[21]

Fel enjoyed what remained of his time with Solo, but eventually had to return to the Hydian.^[21][19] He maintained regular contact with her through holomessages, sharing the events and frustration of his assignment. Solo went on to participate in the Battle of Ebaq 9, in which the Yuuzhan Vong were soundly defeated by a strategy of the venerable Admiral Ackbar's making and Solo herself killed the Yuuzhan Vong warmaster, Tsavong Lah. Meanwhile, newly elected Chief of State Cal Omas reorganized the New Republic into the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances in a bid to strengthen the government.^[19] After the victory at Ebaq 9, Nuruodo returned to Chiss space, causing another Chiss female, Eprill, to take on the role of second-in-command. Within a few months, Fel was stationed on Mon Calamari, the new capital after the loss of Coruscant, and the newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel Solo arrived there as well. Both were assigned to escort the Millennium Falcon on a diplomatic mission to make contact with areas of the galaxy that had been cut off since Coruscant's capture and bring them into the Galactic Alliance. Several of the Twin Suns pilots were split off into a new squadron under Lowbacca while Fel and half his Chiss were folded into Twin Suns to make a complete squadron; Fel and Solo would serve as squadron co-leaders. Eprill was given command of the other half of the Chiss squadron and orders to build a new full unit from it. During the meeting to explain the mission, Solo received a comm call from Tahiri Veila, a distressed young Jedi friend. Fel was among those who rushed to find her; she was only partially conscious and apparently delusional. She was rushed to receive medical care, and Fel and Solo stood watch outside her room as Jedi healers sought to find the problem.^[6]

Jagged Fel's father, Soontir Fel, joined the Chiss Ascendancy, taking the position of Assistant Syndic of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet and moving Fel's family to Csilla.

They left Veila in the care of the Jedi, and the next day they sparred in unarmed combat practice; Solo was able to defeat Fel, but he enjoyed simply being with her. He had been feeling stressed by the constant combat and looked on the upcoming mission as a chance to get away from the grind of war and spend quality time with his significant other. After the session, he attended a meeting with Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker, who were going on a diplomatic mission to the Chiss and searching for the living planet Zonama Sekot, which they believed to be key to ending the war and within the Unknown Regions.^[6] Fel's family and possibly the Empire of the Hand as a whole had recently been integrated into the Chiss Ascendancy itself after a Chiss civil war, and Fel was able to inform them who to contact with their inquiries.^[6][11] Fel did not wish to betray the secretive Chiss by telling the Skywalkers too much, but they seemed to know much already and felt it imperative that the Chiss be persuaded to enter the war.^[6]

Fel worked with Eprill to decide who of the Chiss pilots should be left in the unit and who should transfer to Twin Suns Squadron. He and Solo worked on their squadron; each would switch off the duties of squadron command every day, and they decided to integrate the units such that half the shield trios had a Chiss leader with two Twin Suns wingmates and half had one X-wing and two clawcraft. While this could be awkward initially, they felt it was the best way to build coherence through the unit in the long term. When the Skywalkers departed for their mission, he helped load the Jade Shadow and saw them off. Three days later, the Millennium Falcon, Twin Suns Squadron, and the Lancer-class frigate Pride of Selonia under Captain Todra Mayn departed for the Koornacht Cluster, where the Galactic Alliance had lost contact with the locals on the border, reports had the xenophobic Yevetha possibly on the attack, and an anonymous informant had warned the Solos there was a trap waiting.^[6]

[edit] Diplomatic tour

During their departure, Fel was deeply disturbed to see what seemed to be intense hatred in Veila's eyes, so strong that Fel instinctively reached for his sidearm. The look quickly passed, however, and he was left wondering about Veila, who was included in the mission. She had once been imprisoned and experimented upon by the Yuuzhan Vong, and he wondered if there might be more to her. He aired his concerns over Veila, couched in more general terms, with Organa Solo, but the older woman insisted the young Jedi Knight belonged on the mission. Fel relented but remained uneasy and resolved to keep an eye on her. The task force made for Galantos, a New Republic world on the outer fringes of the Koornacht Cluster. Fel, wishing to watch Veila, volunteered to be part of the landing party.^[6]

The local Fia excitedly greeted the group—consisting of Fel, Han and Leia Solo, Veila, the Solos' two Noghri bodyguards, and C-3PO—and led them to their quarters, which Fel swept for listening devices before opening a link with the Selonia. Organa Solo and Veila went out for a walk, with Veila splitting off to reconnoiter the area; however, she had another episode, responding to some unseen attack before collapsing. Fel took a look at the communications network and determined that the HoloNet blackout was the result of only a minor routing error which could easily be corrected; he found it suspicious that it had not. Meanwhile, Solo took off from orbit to search the Koornacht Cluster for news on the Yevetha, whom the Fia had mysteriously assured them were no longer a problem. Fel was to transfer back to orbit to take command of the squadron while she was gone, but due to various delays and his own unease with the situation on the ground, did not. Instead, he went to search where Veila had collapsed; having seen holos of her spell, he thought the episode began after she glanced at something in her hand. He found a small trinket, which seemed to be it, then finally went to ascend to orbit. When he entered his clawcraft, though, a message appeared warning him to leave the world immediately. Filing it away as yet another suspicious occurrence, Fel made for orbit.^[6]

Once on station, Fel received simultaneous reports of new arrivals. One group was Solo and one of her wingmates, both damaged by attack from the lone Yevetha survivor of what appeared to be a brutal Yuuzhan Vong attack; the Chiss pilot Miza had died. The other group was a small Yuuzhan Vong force; Fel scrambled the Twin Suns to respond. He and his pilots were outnumbered three to one, but the Yuuzhan Vong had not expected resistance and so were slow to respond effectively. The Galactic Alliance forces were able to cripple the two slaveships sent to seize the Fia, with Fel saving Solo from heavy pursuit at one point in the battle. When the Fian defense fleet—a few squadrons of Y-wings—decided to ally with Galactic Alliance rather than the Yuuzhan Vong with whom they had cut an obviously bad deal, Fel assigned one element to continue the harassment of the slaveships, one to provide cover, and the third to follow him in an attack on the Yuuzhan Vong command ship, which self-destructed when its captain realized defeat was imminent.^[6]

The Solos, meanwhile, contacted the mysterious individual who had left the warning in Fel's craft; a member of the large, loose, but very well-informed Ryn Network, he informed them that the Fia had promised resources to the Yuuzhan Vong in exchange for the destruction of the Yevetha and suggested they travel to Bakura next to counteract another attempt at Yuuzhan Vong corruption. When the Fia reconnected to the HoloNet, the task force received news that the Skywalkers' group, including Jacen Solo, had aided the Remnant in successfully driving off a Yuuzhan Vong assault. Fel carried the news to Solo, and shared his concern that the Yuuzhan Vong might try to use the same divide-and-conquer strategy against the Chiss.^[6] He also shared his worries about Veila, and the two decided that one would always keep an eye on her.^[20]

Solo had the role of Twin Suns leader when they arrived at Bakura. There, an anonymous heckler, resentful of the losses suffered when the New Republic had recruited Bakuran aid eleven years before, interrupted the comm conversation between the Millennium Falcon and ground control. During the conversation, an orbiting ship disgorged Ssi-ruuvi fighters, causing Fel and the Twin Suns to scramble and nearly sparking a battle before it was made clear that the fighters were Bakuran-controlled and serving only as an escort. Upon debarking for a meeting with the Bakuran leadership, the Solos learned that the P'w'eck species, slaves of the Ssi-ruuk who had invaded Bakura decades ago, had overthrown their former masters and were negotiating with the Bakurans for alliance. Meanwhile, in orbit with Selonia, Fel was alarmed when an out-of-control freighter emerged from hyperspace on a course too near the Selonia. He warned it to change course, but with no response he had to resort to physically pushing it out of the way. While he was alongside it, it became apparent that the ship was about to explode and he quickly ordered the Twin Suns away. All survived the explosion, but Bakuran control recorded an escape pod launch just before the detonation. It would be unable to land properly, and so Fel clamped onto it and pulled it aboard the Pride of Selonia, discovering that Bakuran Prime Minister Molierre Cundertol was inside and had escaped from kidnappers. Fel found Cundertol's behavior and explanation for his escape somewhat suspicious, however, and shared his concerns with the Solos.^[20]

Fel remained in orbit while the three Solos and Veila dealt with the Bakurans; when Veila had another spell, Han and Leia Solo were able to determine that it was somehow related to the "Riina Kwaad" Yuuzhan Vong personality that had been implanted in her by Yuuzhan Vong shapers earlier in the war, and which they thought she had escaped. She ran off when confronted, and the Solos shared this information with Fel. In the middle of that discussion, however, Fel was informed that a fleet had reverted from hyperspace; the Keeramak, leader of the P'w'eck rebellion, had arrived to seal the alliance. Fel was later informed that Jaina Solo had been observed helping Malinza Thanas, supposedly a violent resistance leader but actually a peaceful protester and Luke Skywalker's sponsor child, escape from custody and was now the subject of an arrest warrant. He was annoyed and worried by this turn of events, but had to remain in orbit to guard the Selonia and make sure the P'w'eck contingent did not cause trouble. While in orbit, he received news of a large explosion at the consecration ceremony that was to mark the alliance; Cundertol was presumed killed. Solo resurfaced, however, exposing the scheme as the work of Deputy Prime Minister Blaine Harris and clearing her own and Thanas's names.^[20]

Fel's Chiss pilots integrated with those of the Galactic Alliance in Twin Suns Squadron.

At the end of the ceremony, however, the P'w'eck forces suddenly began disgorging fighters. They were not P'w'eck at all, but Ssi-ruuk who had manipulated the Bakurans into allowing them to consecrate the world so they could wage war without endangering their souls, per their religious beliefs. Fel further realized that the mixed P'w'eck and Bakuran "honor guard" which had been in the sky had been a ruse; the Ssi-ruuvi fighters had locked tractor beams on the Bakuran fighters and were attempting to capture them for entechment. Fel immediately took action, leading the Twin Suns to break up the formation as the Bakuran Defense Fleet moved to attack its betrayers. Fel and his pilots initially had much success, but when a pair of fighters dropped onto his tail, Fel took an evasive route along the surface of a moon to evade them, clipping a canyon wall on his way back into orbit and damaging his fighter; a Bakuran Y-wing was able to destroy his pursuers. By that time, all his pilots had been killed or captured, and the Y-wing was quickly captured by a new set of fighters. He considered self-destructing his fighter to avoid having his soul enslaved to power Ssi-ruuvi machinery, but had no desire to give up when there was still a chance of escape; while he considered this, his fighter was caught in enemy tractor beams. Fel received orders from Mayn to stand down; he did not trust the Ssi-ruuk, but decided not to blow his engines in suicide. As the enemy fighters ferried him in to a capital ship, he noticed that the tractor beams pinning his craft in place were weakening. He quickly realized that the P'w'eck were turning on their masters, this time for real. He and the other captives, now inside the Ssi-ruuvi shields, turned on the Ssi-ruuk piloted fighters before Fel organized an assault on their capital ships. He crippled as much of their offensive power as he could; in short order, both enemy carriers surrendered. The Bakurans and P'w'eck reached a new, genuine treaty.^[20]

As soon as he could, Fel met back up with Solo; his brush with entechment had him wishing to spend as much time with her as possible. They watched over Veila, who had passed out once more. The local member of the Ryn network, Goure, arrived with a Kurtzen native and shared his own belief that the Riina Kwaad personality was the source of Veila's problems, and could only be solved be integrating the personality with Veila's, not excising it. Fel stridently objected, but Goure insisted it was the only way; he also suggested they travel to Onadax next. The Kurtzen performed a spiritual cleansing ceremony in the hope that it would help Veila recover, then left.^[20] Fel was among those who sat watch at Veila's bedside in shifts to make certain someone would be there if she awoke. At Onadax, Han and Jaina traveled through the city, but had difficulty contacting the Ryn agent Goure had said would be there. When riots broke out across the city while Jaina was still there, Fel was worried for her safety. He was briefly alarmed when the Selonia lifted off, but soon discovered Solo had been recovered; he simply hadn't been informed of it over the comm.^[22]

On Onadax, Han Solo had been able to pick up at the last minute Droma, a Ryn he had once partnered with earlier in the war. Droma revealed to them that Generis, one of two major communications links with the Unknown Regions—and thus the Skywalker party—had fallen to the Yuuzhan Vong and the second, Esfandia, was under attack. The group immediately set course for Esfandia, with Fel making the jump in his clawcraft while Solo stood watch over Veila. Upon arriving there, they found overwhelmingly large numbers of Yuuzhan Vong, but in very short order a pair of Star Destroyers jumped into the system under Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon. They opened contact, and the Galactic Alliance forces began aiding the Imperials, targeting the yammosk-carrying command ship Kur-hashan. Heavily outnumbered, the battle was not easy, but Fel and his pilots began making headway against the Yuuzhan Vong.^[22]

When the northern enemy flank proved more resistant than Pellaeon would have liked, the Grand Admiral requested that Fel's three best pilots help root out the yammosk he suspected was there. When Fel requested further instructions on how to accomplish this, Pellaeon simply told Fel to "surprise" him. Taking the challenge to heart, he sprang upon a wild scheme to disable the cruiser and the corvette in the north flank, one of which had to house the yammosk. Fel faked being disabled and went into a death roll towards a disabled Yuuzhan Vong gunship; just before striking it, he fired and was able to come to a stop inside the hole he made; to the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, he appeared to have crashed and died. He used his own engines to push the hulk while trimming away internal mass with his lasers to make the ship easier to move. He guided it between the cruiser and the corvette before destroying the gunship, sending large fragments towards the two enemy capital ships. The debris still had active dovin basals, preventing the Yuuzhan Vong ships from destroying the wreckage before it collided, damaging the ships and creating weak points Pellaeon's TIEs quickly exploited. Fel rode one piece to the corvette and into it, burrowing through the ship with his lasers and doing enough damage to cripple the ship before cutting his way back out.^[22]

That victory was enough to force a stalemate, with the Yuuzhan Vong withdrawing to the other side of the planet and each side keeping the other from inserting pilots into the atmosphere in search of Esfandia's mobile relay station. Fel, his clawcraft scorched by his tactic, returned to the Selonia for maintenance. On landing, he learned that Solo was in a coma after attempting to aid Veila; he immediately rushed from his cockpit to be with her. The chief medic was unsure what had happened, but theorized that Veila's two personalities were fighting for dominance within her psyche, and Solo had joined with Veila in the Force to help her, but had no come out. Fel was heartbroken at the thought of losing Solo, and admitted to himself that he loved her. He demanded to be left alone with her, then took her hand and began speaking. He told her he would not leave until she awoke, and confessed his love for her. Inside her mental meld, Solo heard him and took strength from his words, joining with Veila to integrate the two personalities, creating a new, merged personality in Veila's body. Fel was vastly relieved when she woke up.^[22]

The Falcon had gone to ground on Esfandia during the battle in order to search for the relay station; after finding it, they were able to get a message to the Galactic Alliance forces giving their position, but the enemy force were sufficient to prevent a landing. Instead, the group made use of Veila's new integrated personality to contact B'shith Vorrik, the enemy commander, from a Yuuzhan Vong hulk and convince them that the Kwaad personality had won and Veila had turned traitor to the GA. Vorrik allowed the hulk to make landfall, with Fel, Solo, Twin Suns pilots Jocell and Enton Adelmaa'j, and Imperial pilot Arth Gxin also stowed aboard. In environment suits to protect against Esfandia's freezing and unbreathable atmosphere, they sped from the landing site on speeder bikes towards a meeting spot with a contingent from the base, led by Han Solo. The group rigged a transponder with mines as a trap, then had Veila call it in as the location of the base. Fleeing to an area from which they could ambush the Yuuzhan Vong that would converge on the location, they waited for the Yuuzhan Vong to arrive and trigger the mines. When the did, Fel and the others flew out to engage them. When Jaina's bike crashed, Fel helped Veila and Droma protect her from oncoming forces. He volunteered his bike for Droma to take the injured Solo back to the base, leaving him on foot with Veila. The two cut their way out until Han Solo and Adelmaa'j picked them up and took them back to the base. However, when the charges on the transmitter refused to blow remotely, Fel returned with Veila to trigger them manually. There they found Eniknar, the base crewman the Solos had suspected of being a traitor. Honest but mortally wounded, Eniknar volunteered to stay behind and trigger the damaged controls, which had lost the capability to program a delay before the explosion.^[22]

With that, they fooled Vorrik into thinking the base had been destroyed; Pellaeon completed the victory in space, destroying the enemy fleet. After the battle, Fel was placed in charge of organizing the Ryn fleet which had showed up to aid Pellaeon, then put to work leading cleanup efforts to keep the battle debris from plummeting to Esfandia's surface. With the victory there, the tour was declared over, and the task force returned to Mon Calamari to rest and recover.^[22] With the tour concluded, Solo was restored to sole command of the squadron, in which Fel continued flying.^[23]

[edit] Winning the war

Twin Suns Squadron was placed under the command of General Antilles and based aboard his flagship, the Mon Mothma. Fel flew at Duros, where Antilles's task force, unknown to all but the general himself, was merely a distraction to draw off Yuuzhan Vong forces and allow the reconquest of Fondor. When Lensi, a Duros member of Rogue Squadron, confronted Solo with complaints about the plan, Fel defended her, his uncle, and the battle plan, calling it a tactical necessity and suggesting Lensi look at it from a wider perspective.^[23]

Antilles's fleet was next sent to participate in the reconquest of Bilbringi. That fleet would be the first in, reconnoitering the area and transmitting the ideal jump destinations for fleets under Pellaeon and Kre'fey; unified, the three fleets would secure the system for use as a staging point to take back Coruscant. When the group dropped into the system, however, they found the HoloNet down, sabotaged by a new Yuuzhan Vong bioengineered weapon. Surrounded, outnumbered, and interdicted, they could not summon their reinforcements. The fleet made for the in-system interdictor and the ships around it, with the out-system group sending a wave of coralskippers towing metal-chewing grutchins. The grutchins covered the capital ships and could not be dislodged, threatening to sabotage the fleet. Antilles ordered a highly unusual tactic; the best pilots, including Fel, would fly extremely close to the capital ships' hulls, burning the grutchins off with their exhaust. With pinpoint piloting, the tactic was successful.^[23]

When Antilles's sensors detected an old Golan II defense platform, he sent Twin Suns to investigate it for possible reactivation and also to send a courier to Kre'fey and signal him to approach. Solo tasked Fel with taking two other pilots to carry the message to Kre'fey. However, the battle was decided before Kre'fey and Fel made it to Bilbringi; Solo was able to use the Golan against the Yuuzhan Vong fleet and Antilles pulled off a victory. Fel and Solo returned to Mon Calamari for a brief period of recreation before their next mission.^[23] Fel transferred out of Twin Suns and took back command of Vanguard Squadron, which had been filled out by more Chiss reinforcements, including Nuruodo.^[24]

Fel continued flying in operations alongside Solo's Twin Suns, and was assigned to assist them in the rescue of an important convoy of prisoners, but was held back at Mon Calamari when worries arose of enemy action against the Galactic Alliance's capital. When Solo returned from battle, he met her and attempted to comfort her, as she was distressed over the fact that her parents had not reported back for some time after going to Caluula, which was now under attack.^[24]

When Mon Calamari came under Yuuzhan Vong assault, Vanguard, Twin Suns, Rogue, Scimitar, Blackmoon, and Wild Knights Squadrons were stationed at the outer-system point designated Iceberg Three. Fed targeting information on the enemy fleet by a swarm of probe droids, Vanguard, Twin Suns, and Rogue Squadrons were assigned to destroy several tentacle-shaped formations of coralskippers and small craft extended from the main battle group. Fel was in the first wave, clearing out approach lanes for the others. The capital ships counterattacked down those lanes and the tentacle formations shifted, however, destroying many Galactic Alliance fighters, including half Fel's squadron. The fighters, most of them damaged, were ordered to retreat and clear fire lanes for friendly capital ships; Fel cut exit routes for his comrades, then had the Twin Suns form up on him and led them to help Solo escape. He then retreated in-system with the rest of the fighters and regrouped, but the Yuuzhan Vong retreated shortly thereafter when Zonama Sekot, found by the Skywalkers, jumped into the Coruscant system, terrifying the Yuuzhan Vong.^[24]

Fel piloted the distinctive Nssis-class clawcraft during his time with Twin Suns Squadron; his clawcraft was wrecked in the liberation of Coruscant.

Solo was sent to Sekot as part of a Jedi contingent, and Fel took over Twin Suns Squadron as his decimated unit was once more folded into it. The unit was attached to the Fourth Fleet under Pellaeon and stationed on Right to Rule in preparation for the recapture of Coruscant. He personally requested the mission leading the assault and escorting the ground forces to the surface along with the Rogues, Wraith Squadron, and the Taanab Yellow Aces.^[24]

Fel led his pilots through openings in the Yuuzhan Vong defenses created by Pellaeon's ships, but lost his first transport to dovin basal mines. The second craft he and his now much-reduced squadron were assigned made it through. Fel covered its landing, but was brought down by ground fire and crashed into a Vongscaped forest. Page's Commandos rescued him and reported his survival to control. Page's men joined with the Wraiths and local Yuuzhan Vong resistance forces led by Shamed Ones who saw the Jedi as their salvation, and armed Fel for ground combat. They secured a landing site in the capital district, and Fel was relived to see Solo land safely and greet him before going off into battle. Fel himself was shuttled to Westport, where he was put in the cockpit of a spare X-wing. He did not care for the X-wing, less nimble than his craft even when not in atmospheric conditions, but dutifully provided air cover for the assault on Yuuzhan Vong Supreme Overlord Shimrra Jamaane's palace. When Luke Skywalker killed Shimrra in his throne room, the Yuuzhan Vong surrendered. Fel put down and searched for Solo, but she and her brother had gone missing inside the palace. He nearly went in to look for her himself, but Mara Jade Skywalker convinced him to fly escort for the Millennium Falcon, which was taking a wounded Skywalker back to orbit. At that moment, the pinnacle of Shimrra's Citadel, an area fitted as an escape craft, launched into orbit with the Solo twins aboard it. Fel and the Falcon pursued, and were able to safely recover them. Fel put down on Coruscant while the Falcon proceeded to Sekot; Fel would not see Solo for several more weeks amid the chaos and work of ending the war.^[24]

With their victory, Fel—his clawcraft repaired or replaced—was assigned to escort Yuuzhan Vong ships to Zonama Sekot, where the surrendering forces were contained on the living world. Fel was able to confirm that Solo was in Middle Distance on that planet, and received permission to land and finally speak with her; he was able to relay a message through Talon Karrde to have her await him. They met in the snow, embracing each other before walking hand-in-hand to see the sights.^[24] Fel invited Solo to go back with him to Csilla to meet his family, which had now been reduced by Chak's death in the Unknown Regions during the later years of the war, but Solo regretfully confessed that she could not go.^[24][11] Fel felt wounded, and sensed that she had decided to end their relationship, but she explained that the time was simply too tumultuous for her and she needed to attend to her duties and have time to sort out their relationship. Fel told her that their relationship might work out after all, as he had been assigned by the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force to liaison with the Galactic Alliance and would remain in the known galaxy after going back to visit his family. The pair decided to continue their romance.^[24]

[edit] Fighting friends

Fel and Solo had had a strong relationship, enough for marriage to be considered a possibility, but they eventually drifted apart as Solo had difficulty maintaining her bonds with others after the war.^[11] She chose to end the relationship, though each still retained feelings for the other.^[25][11] Sometime after that, Fel was recalled to the Ascendancy, where he took up a position as a commander in the Expansionary Defense Fleet.^[11]

In 35 ABY, Fel was given military command of a fleet under the supervision of Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano and sent to intervene in a border dispute with the Killiks, a hive-minded insectoid race which had been rapidly expanding for several years and even absorbed several families of Chiss into their hive mind. The Ascendancy considered them a significant threat, and when they moved to Qoribu, threateningly near to Chiss space, the Ascendancy responded. Fel's fleet unleashed defoliants on Qoribu to rob the Killik