Admiral Gilad Pellaeon

Species: Human

Age: Unknown

Gender: Male

Homeworld: Corellia

Physical Description:
Height: 1.7 meters, grey hair, mustache and beard

Affiliation/Social Standing:
Imperial Navy-Commander of the Imperial Star Destroyer Chimaera, and joint commander of the Imperial Fifth Fleet in the Meridian Sector.

Force Sensitivity: None

Personality:
Consumate professional, loyal, level-headed. Is very distrustful of Force-users. He is also somewhat prejudiced against non-humans, but it has been tempered since serving with the late Grand Admiral Thrawn and Admiral Zxyll.

Style/Fashion:
Standard Imperial uniform

Weapons favored:
Blaster pistol

Strengths:
His command ability- His intelligence, loyalty and aptitude for command accounts for his longevity in the service of the Empire.

Weaknesses:
His disdain for Force-users has gotten him into some potentailly precarious situations with those who ally themselves with the dark side of the Force.

Special skills:
He is a very practical and competent commander, and it has earned him great respect within the Imperial ranks.

Personal History:

When the Empire splintered after the death of Emperor Palpatine, boundless avarice among the competing warlords hastened the decay of the New Order. Infighting fragmented the once powerful regime, allowing the New Republic to take control of its dwindling territories. Gilad Pellaeon, a veteran Imperial fleet officer with over five decades of experience, stood as a rare example of integrity during those chaotic times. As a young man, Pellaeon lied about his age to gain admittance into Raithal Academy, one of the most prestigious military learning centers in the galaxy. Graduating as an ensign, Pellaeon served with distinction, earning commendations for outwitting pirates over the planet Gavryn.

By the time of the Empire, Pellaeon was transferred to the Star Destroyer Chimaera, where he worked his way up the command chain, eventually serving as second-in-command. The Star Destroyer Chimaera was part of the Imperial fleet amassed at the Battle of Endor. When a concentrated assault by Rebel forces killed the ship's captain, Pellaeon seized command of the vessel as the Imperial Fleet was routed. All throughout the battle, Imperial officers were committing tactical blunders, choosing to go out in a blaze of glory than call for a prudent retreat. It was Pellaeon who issued the final order to withdraw, commanding the remnants of the fleet to regroup at Annaj.

A dedicated fleet officer, Pellaeon was not fueled by ambition or dreams of power. He was a soldier, not a politician, now serving an Empire without an Emperor. He struggled to maintain order, but many warship commanders refused to follow his leadership. The Empire splintered into scattered fiefdoms ruled by power-hungry warlords, with Pellaeon's small fleet retreating from the growing New Republic territories. It was a far cry from the remembered glories of the Empire. With the prestigious Academies of the Core now under the control of the New Republic, the Imperial territories had to rely on conscription to fill out their ranks. Pellaeon's bridge was a shameful assembly of untrained novices bristling under his stern command.

Five years after the Battle of Endor, the Empire was a quarter of its former size. They had been pushed far from the Core Worlds. It was during this bleak time that Pellaeon received a surprising communiqué from Thrawn, the last surviving Imperial Grand Admiral. The alien mastermind tactician chose Pellaeon's Star Destroyer to be his flagship during his campaign to retake the Core.

Pellaeon served loyally at Thrawn's side as his trusted confidant. The captain overcame his initial reservations over serving an alien superior, since Thrawn proved his worth time and again by crafting intricate strategies that repeatedly confounded the New Republic. Under Thrawn's leadership, the Empire struck back, and reclaimed much of its lost territories. Thrawn's undoing, however, was trusting his Noghri underlings. When Thrawn was killed by a treacherous bodyguard, the Imperial momentum sputtered. It was like Endor all over again; Pellaeon taking command of the leaderless task force, trying to rein in the chaos after the death of a mastermind.

Once again, opportunistic Imperial warlords pounced. Rallied by Thrawn's impressive push to the Core, they attacked Coruscant. They lacked the refinement of Thrawn's tactical mind, and rather than take the capital intact, they destroyed much of it. The Empire again fragmented, and a wasteful Imperial Civil War broke out. It was then that a cloned Emperor Palpatine returned to take control of the Empire, and Pellaeon continued to serve loyally, despite crushing losses. The New Republic defeated the Emperor's clone, and the remaining warships retreated to the Deep Core of the galaxy. There, High Admiral Teradoc created yet another fiefdom with a mighty fleet at his disposal, commanded by the newly promoted Vice Admiral Pellaeon.

Admiral Daala was next in the lengthy series of Imperial successors. She gathered together the 13 ruling Imperial warlords at a conference, and executed them in cold blood. Daala appointed Pellaeon as her second-in-command, and then ordered an ill-planned attack on Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy. Pellaeon led the fleet of Victory Star Destroyers that pressed the assault, but the entire fleet was scattered aside by an incredibly powerful display of the Force. Daala was defeated, and Pellaeon stepped in to fill the power vacuum.

However, with all the remaining warlords squabbling for power, Pellaeon was unable to lead effectively and the Empire remained fragmented. With no one to step up and unite the factions, this continued until Thrawn's protoge, Zxyll emerged from obscurity to re-unite the factions. Zxyll, recognizing Pellaeon's loyalty to Thrawn and his talent, formed a partnership of sorts to once and for all restore the Empire to it's former glory.