Tyr Taskeen

"So now I have two ex-Imperial officers to babysit. If we could capture Darth Vader, we'd have enough Imperials for a party."

- General Tyr Taskeen to Brenn Tantor and Beri Tulon, commenting on their defections

Tyr Taskeen was a skilled Rebel general during the Galactic Civil War. He convinced Brenn Tantor, an Imperial general, to defect to the Rebel Alliance in 3 ABY and continued to supervise Tantor for years afterwards.

Starship salesman to Rebel commander
"If you betray the Rebel Alliance, the Empire will never get the chance to execute you."

- Tyr Taskeen to Brenn Tantor

Tyr Taskeen, a native of Alderaan, never expected to become a military man. After completing his education, he began a career as a free-ranging independent starship dealer, selling advanced starships to spaceports and individuals, mostly in the Outer Rim. This business strategy helped him expand rapidly until he was running a large and very profitable company.

His world came crashing down when the Empire nationalized his company. Additionally, many of his non-human employees were taken into slavery. Furious, Taskeen returned to Alderaan, where he knew he would be able to find contacts who could help him join the Rebellion.

Although he lacked a military background, Taskeen had many other attributes that made him extremely useful to the Rebellion. His personal wealth, business experience, numerous contacts, and familiarity with the Outer Rim put him in a position to build and manage several Rebel bases in the Rim.

These skills, and his success in using them, soon brought him to the attention of the Rebel leadership. He received promotion after promotion, until he gained the rank of general. While not a tactical genius, Taskeen was a skilled administrator, competent officer, and exceptionally dedicated to the cause.

The defection of Brenn Tantor
"I'm going to give you a chance to fight for your beliefs."

- Tyr Taskeen to Brenn Tantor

In 3 ABY, Taskeen commanded a Rebel force that captured Abridon in cooperation with the Abridon Nationalists. While initially a great victory for the Rebellion, the mission swiftly became a disaster. The Imperials counterattacked within days, devastating Rebel positions around the capital city, retaking the capitol, and capturing several Rebel dignitaries sent to negotiate with the Abridon government, one of whom was Jedi hero Luke Skywalker. Finally, the Imperial ground forces crushed the final Rebel base. Taskeen, listening in on Imperial transmissions, heard Grand General Brashin issue the order to destroy a refugee camp filled with innocent civilians. General Brenn Tantor, the commander who had so devastated Taskeen’s forces, refused. Brashin exchanged harsh words with his subordinate and locked him out of command.

Taskeen saw an opportunity, and took it. He surreptitiously contacted Tantor, offering the Imperial general a comm frequency to contact him if Tantor was willing to consider defection. Shortly thereafter, Tantor contacted him with the information that he would be at Kalaan in two days.

Taskeen rushed to Kalaan and set up a temporary base to await Tantor’s defection, fully aware that it could be an Imperial trap. Nevertheless, it would have been irresponsible to let pass the opportunity to recruit such an exceptionally skilled and highly placed Imperial officer. Tantor escaped from Imperial custody on Kalaan and brought with him a fantastic series of bonuses: a Tracked Mobile Base command vehicle, a squad of defecting stormtroopers, and most impressively of all, Luke Skywalker, who had also been incarcerated on Kalaan.

Tantor was brought to a Rebel fleet in orbit, where Taskeen met him in person for the first time. To the defector's surprise, Taskeen's soldiers immediately took him into custody. Taskeen allowed Tantor to squirm in the brig before finally going to meet with him. Taskeen questioned Tantor's usefulness, and the ex-Imperial offered to prove himself by capturing an All Terrain Armored Transport. "Cautiously intrigued", Taskeen was willing to commit, but Tantor claimed that first he needed to rescue Beri Tulon, an Imperial colonel and Tantor's mentor, who had attempted to defect on Abridon. Now imprisoned on Ruul, Tantor knew that he had knowledge of an AT-AT manufacturing facility. Still suspicious of Tantor's loyalty, but unwilling to pass up the opportunity to get such a powerful machine in the hands of Alliance technicians, Taskeen assented to Tantor's plan, but warned him that he would remain under Taskeen's watchful eye.

Taskeen and Tantor set up an ambush on the convoy carrying Tulon to the Tarkin Detention Facility. Tantor performed wonderfully both in the ambush and in a raid on a nearby Imperial computer complex that obtained the access codes to the walker manufacturing facility on Trasse. Taskeen's suspicions were not yet allayed, but he was slowly gaining confidence in Tantor.

Now supervising yet another ex-Imperial, Taskeen was pleased when Tantor and Tulon managed to seize an AT-AT from Trasse without complications. However, he had no time to celebrate, as Grand General Brashin appeared in the system aboard the Star Destroyer Inquisitor. Tantor was forced to rush to take control of a planetary ion cannon and successfully seized it and disabled the Star Destroyer.

With the successful completion of the mission, Taskeen began to put more trust in Tantor. He placed the general in command of a mission to Abridon. There, Taskeen observed approvingly from the Nebulon-B frigate Lucky Star as Tantor trounced the Imperial garrison he himself had installed and freed a camp of prisoners, including Hamman Flatt, the former lieutenant governor of Abridon. Flatt told Taskeen and Tantor that in gratitude, the Abridon Nationalists would make available several A-wings from the shipyards of Sayan. With knowledge of the upcoming Battle of Endor, Taskeen was eager to add to the Aliance’s starfighter complement. Tantor fought his way through the war-torn city, and a Hover Transport full of pilots safely flew the A-wings to Sullust, where the Rebel fleet was preparing to attack the Death Star II.

Rebel victories
"Welcome to the next chapter in the history of the galaxy."

- Tyr Taskeen to Dellis Tantor, about the fall of Coruscant

Taskeen and Tantor then returned to the main Rebel force. Tyr Taskeen was one of four generals involved in planning, supervising, and executing the ground mission to destroy the shield projector on Endor. General Crix Madine was the primary planner, while Tantor, who had helped set up the shield bunker as an Imperial, oversaw the operation from the Lambda-class shuttle Tydirium. General Han Solo led the commando squad that actually destroyed the bunker.

The incredible victory at Endor resulted in the deaths of Emperor Palpatine, Supreme Commander and Executor Darth Vader, Grand Admiral Nial Declann, and many more important Imperials, throwing the Galactic Empire into chaos. However, the Empire was not destroyed. Over two more years of battle would be required before the Rebel Alliance, now the New Republic, undertook the invasion of Coruscant, capital of the Empire.

Taskeen directed General Tantor to land a force just small enough to avoid detection by Coruscant’s advanced sensor net near the north pole. That force disabled the sensor nodes in that region and cleared the way for the New Republic to land a massive assault force undetected. Tantor next breached the defensive wall along the edge of the ice cap and captured a series of vital Imperial facilities, including a hospital, repair bay, artillery platforms, and walker storage depots.

Republic forces pushed on to the final battleground: the Imperial Palace itself. Facing off against the ferocious Imperial defense, commanded by his old nemesis Grand General Brashin, Tantor pounded through layer after layer of Imperial armor, weapons emplacements, and air support until a final infantry invasion secured the Imperial Palace.

It was then that Tantor discovered that his brother Dellis, long thought dead at the hands of the Empire, had been held in a dungeon in the sublevels of the Palace. Taskeen was there to meet the brothers as they emerged from the Palace. Taskeen warmly congratulated his friend and welcomed Dellis to freedom. Looking out at the crowd celebrating the New Republic’s victory, Taskeen anticipated a bright future.

Behind the scenes
In Star Wars: Force Commander, Tyr Taskeen was voiced by Michael Bell.

The name Tyr Taskeen could be a reference to Tir Asleen, a kingdom in the Willow universe. Tyr is also the name of the Germanic god of courage, strength, justice, victory, defense, and battle.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Force Commander