- "I don't know how long you will survive there. I do know that you will die there.
Die slowly." - ―Sil Sorannan to Nil Spaar, just before ejecting him into hyperspace
Sil Sorannan was a red-haired Human male and officer who served in the Imperial military. He served as a Major the 6th Sector Army, otherwise known as Black Sword Command, in the Koornacht Cluster in 4 ABY. He would be captured by the enslaved Yevetha during their revolt, in which all ships and personnel of the Command were captured. One of the lucky captives to survive the ministrations of the Yevethan Duskhan League, Sorannan would develop a special system to take back the Imperial vessels in Yevethan hands and mount an escape from the Koornacht Cluster.
Biography[]
- "A frontal assault with overwhelming force; that is the way war was meant to be fought. Strength against strength, not the weak and cowardly tactics of the Rebel Alliance. You have grown some since I last knew you..."
- ―Sil Sorannan as the New Republic Defense Force attacks N'zoth
The Human male Sil Sorannan served as a pilot with a Research Section team trying to discover ways of dropping bombs directly from hyperspace, and was subsequently stationed with Black Sword Command in the Koornacht Cluster. As Imperial forces began to withdraw from Koornacht in 4 ABY, eight months after the Battle of Endor, the Black Fifteen shipyards at N'zoth were overwhelmed by the rapid Yevethan insurrection and Sorannan was one of three hundred thousand Imperials taken captive, relocated to a prison camp on the moon Pa'aal, where the Yevetha forced them to divulge the secrets of Imperial technology, such as turbolasers and hyperdrives.[1]
Over time, Sorannan became the de facto leader of his fellow Imperial prisoners and formed a secret command group, plotting to strike against their Yevethan overseers when the moment was right. This plan was finally expedited in 17 ABY, when the Imperial prisoners were dispatched to the ships of the Yevethan fleet to aid in the war effort. Sorannan was stationed in the fire control center of the Super Star Destroyer Intimidator—renamed Pride of Yevetha as the Duskhan League flagship—and charged with maintaining the data server for the target registry and its electronic links throughout the ship.[1]
During the Battle of N'zoth, Sorannan and his shadow command used a built-in slave circuit system to gain control of the Imperial starships in Yevethan hands. From the bridge of Intimidator, Sorannan informed the New Republic that he and "Camp Pa'aal Squadron" were rejoining the Empire, and the fleet entered hyperspace for the Deep Core. En route to their destination, Sorannan saw to it that Nil Spaar was deposited into hyperspace aboard an escape pod. Before the Camp Pa'aal Squadron's escape, he noted the New Republic assault with some grudging respect, surprised to see them fighting a genuine fleet action instead of the Rebel Alliance's hit-and-run tactics. He extended a brief message to New Republic General Etahn A'baht, expressing his desire to leave the Cluster and his deferral of the situation to New Republic jurisdiction. With that, all Imperial ships jumped from the area under the control of Sorannan's system.[1]
Sorannan then presided over the execution of hated Yevethan viceroy Nil Spaar, who had helped to orchestrate the Yevethan uprising that saw the Imperial presence on N'zoth and many other worlds reduced to slavery and death. With the assistance of several underlings, Sorannan forced the restrained alien into an escape pod on the Intimidator. Voicing his hatred of Spaar and briefly describing his experience with launching bombs into hyperspace, which was ultimately a dead end, Sorannan launched the pod and Spaar into hyperspace, wishing the viceroy a slow death as he did so.[1]
Personality and traits[]
Sil Sorannan, a human male and Imperial officer, was a stout and courageous individual, as well as being technically proficient; skilled in the use and deployment of experimental weapons, his scheme to bring the vessels of the Empire, purloined by the Yevetha, back under what he considered rightful Imperial control was nothing short of technical genius.[1] Subjected to harsh conditions under the yoke of the Yevetha for twelve years, Sorannan stood firm even while others around him were killed or committed suicide, and harbored a strong hatred for his captors, with a special dislike for their ruler, Nil Spaar, whom he would delight in killing in a cruel yet oddly just fashion.[1] In doing this, Sorannan described his grief at losing so many comrades, whose faces he would see for the rest of his life.[1] Even when speaking with the commanders of the New Republic, whom Sorannan still characterized as the Rebel Alliance of old, Sorannan was respectful and even expressed admiration for their progression in tactics, which had evolved from "cowardly" guerrilla combat to overwhelming force.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
Sil Sorannan makes his only appearance in the novel Tyrant's Test by Michael P. Kube-McDowell, which forms the third installment of the Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy. Appearing in several plot-specific scenes towards the book's conclusion, Sorannan is responsible for killing off the trilogy's villain, Nil Spaar. An experimental Imperial vessel named in the novels as the EX-F has since been identified as a Sorannan-class Star Destroyer in The Essential Guide to Warfare. Other than this, however, Sil Sorannan has not made an appearance since.
Appearances[]
- Tyrant's Test (First appearance)