User:AdmirableAckbar/Bel Iblis

"Who better to send than Bel Iblis?"

- Grodin Tierce

Garm Bel Iblis was a Galactic Republic Senator of Corellian Sector, a skilled military leader, and one of the co-founders of the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

Senator
Garm Bel Iblis was born on the planet Corellia during the waning days of the Galactic Republic. Bel Iblis was extremely patriotic, and it was said that he embodied the Corellian spirit of independence. He served in the military for a time, learning how to operate blasters and becoming a talented tactician. Some time before the Separatist Crisis, he was elected as Corellia's representative in the Galactic Senate, proving to be a popular and charismatic leader, and making many allies in the Senate; among them was Fang Zar, the Senator of Sern Sector, who was a close friend of Bel Iblis' and shared his views on a great many things. Bel Iblis also married a woman named Arrianya, who bore two of his children. His Senatorial aide was Sena Leikvold Midanyl, whom Bel Iblis was very close to.

When Supreme Chancellor Palpatine enacted the Emergency Powers Act in 24 BBY, eliminating Chancellor term times, because of the threat of Count Dooku's secessionist Confederacy of Independent Systems, Bel Iblis began to grow concerned with Palpatine. He saw the Naboo man as a force of destruction, and suspected that Palpatine would not relinquish his power unless it was wrestled from him. Bel Iblis raised his concerns with many of his peers in the Senate, and was initially successful, but Palpatine bit back, doing his part to discredit Bel Iblis and lose him influence in the Senate. Two years after Palpatine had been granted Emergency Powers, with many systems still seceding to the Confederacy, the Supreme Chancellor scheduled a vote on the greatly debated Military Creation Act in two months' time. The Act would allow the formation of an Army of the Republic&mdash;something which had not existed in over a thousand years&mdash;to be used against the Confederacy should a war break out. Bel Iblis was an strong opponent of the Act; while many of his fellow Senators, such as Tendau Bendon, opposed based on purely idealogical grounds, Bel Iblis was also more pragmatic about the situation. He asked HoloNet News reporters how exactly such a military would be funded, and he stated that he would not allow the Corellian taxpayer to fund both the Republic army and the Corellian Security Force. Bel Iblis continued to be an outspoken critic of the impending vote for weeks in the Senate, as was the entirety of Corellia.

Before the Military Creation Act vote, Bel Iblis arranged private talks with Corellia's Diktat, Shyla Merricope, to discuss the vote and Corellia's role in the future of the Republic. Ultimately, they decided to enact a little-known proviso called Contemplanys Hermi, which translated into Basic as "meditative solitude;" it allowed Corellia and its constituencies to unilaterally withdraw from all Senate activities for as long as they wished, though it had not been used in over 450 years. Bel Iblis announced his and Merricope's decision in a meeting of the Senate, to the uproar of most of his fellow Senators. He was ushered out of the Grand Convocation Chamber by CorSec personnel amid cries of secession and disloyalty, and he refused to answer any questions posed by the media. He did, however, inform HoloNet News that Corellia was not seceding, but that it could not be part of a something which Bel Iblis and Merricope felt threatened Corellia's independence. Bel Iblis returned to Corellia; back on Coruscant, he was criticized by many, including Palpatine and Senator Orn Free Taa.

Corellia's actions sparked Palpatine to make a public address to Dooku, hoping to negotiate their differences peacefully, though Dooku spurned the offer. Ultimately, the Military Creation Act was passed, and a Grand Army of the Republic, consisting of clone troopers, was creating after the Clone Wars began. Bel Iblis hoped to maintain Corellia's neutrality for the duration of the conflict but, just seven days after the Battle of Geonosis, Republic-allied Jedi clashed with Separatist forces on his homeworld. Later in the war, full-scale conflict came perilously close to the Corellia system's borders, with neighbor Duro falling to the CIS in 20 BBY. Bel Iblis was strongly criticized for not lending the support of Corellia's fleet during the Battle of Duro, though Corellia was not without its vocal allies, such as Fang Zar.

Although he was not attending regular sessions of the Senate during the war, Bel Iblis often met with other Senators, including Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, and Fang Zar, who shared his views on Palpatine. Together, they began laying the groundwork for a political alliance publicly opposed to Palpatine's rule. In 19 BBY, with the threat of the Separatists almost vanquished, a group of Senators, titling themselves the Delegation of 2000, signed a petition asking Palpatine to step down; they also had serious qualms about Palpatine's new moffs, a type of regional governor which made the role of Senator almost obsolete. Bel Iblis was among those who signed the petition, though he was not present when they presented it to Palpatine. However, Fang Zar was there to represent Bel Iblis' interests. Palpatine reacted angrily to the petition, calling those who had signed it traitors, though, ultimately, it did not matter: a short time later, he abolished the Republic and created the first Galactic Empire, with himself as Emperor. The Senate was not dissolved, though it was in essence powerless; also, Corellia's "meditative solitude" was ended and Bel Iblis was once more compelled to attend Senate meetings. Palpatine had showed his true colors.

Some months after the Declaration of a New Order, Palpatine summoned a group of Senators including Bel Iblis to his chambers to discuss with them the role of the Senate in his Empire. He told them that the Senate would continue to operate for the foreseeable future, but that his say was final: the Senators were simply his advisors. During the meeting, Mon Mothma and Bel Iblis squirmed in their seats, and did not hide their anger and dismay at the turn of events. Days later, Bel Iblis' friend Fang Zar was executed by the Empire. Palpatine's actions also strained Bel Iblis' personal life, as his wife was a firm supporter of the Empire and its modus operandi. Their marriage went downhill, and their children were often witness to heated arguments between Garm and Arrianya. Despite this, Bel Iblis still greatly loved Arrianya and planned for the two of them to go on a second honeymoon to rekindle their marriage.

On the run
"He can do anything he wants to me&mdash;can take anything away from me that he will. I'll still fight him because it's the right thing to do. Period."

- Bel Iblis, speaking about Palpatine to Aach

Bel Iblis continued to serve as an Imperial Senator for many years, retaining his popularity on Corellia. He often visited schools on his homeworld; during one occasion several years before the Battle of Yavin, an eleven-year-old boy, Han Solo, asked a number of probing questions of Bel Iblis, about the Empire's treatment of non-Humans and about corruption in the Senate. Caught off guard, Bel Iblis later asked the boy his name, and made an effort to monitor his progress as he matured. Bel Iblis, Organa, and Mon Mothma continued to meet in secret at Organa's Cantham House residence on Coruscant; eventually, they decided that legitimately opposing Palpatine would never succeed, and began to discuss open rebellion. Mothma was far more outspoken in her criticism of Palpatine&mdash;before long she was accused of treason, and had to flee Coruscant and go into hiding, though Mon Mothma continued to visit resistance movements on many worlds, spreading sedition. Bel Iblis was next on Palpatine's list.

The Senator prepared a speech for an event at the Treitamma Political Center on the planet Anchoron, in which he would denounce the Empire and reveal Palpatine's dark motives. Bel Iblis was extremely nervous about the speech, as his pro-Imperial wife would be present. Just before he was scheduled to address the congregation, he received a message in his office from "Aach," the alias of Bail Organa's prime messenger and agent. The message told Bel Iblis to meet with Aach at the building's northeast exit immediately; worried, Bel Iblis complied and rendezvoused with Aach, who relayed a message from Organa: he had discovered information pertaining to the location of a top-secret Imperial project overseen by Grand Moff Tarkin, and needed Bel Iblis to send his most trusted aide to collect a datadisk on the planet Darkknell. A courier would be at the Continuum Void tapcafe on Darkknell with the datadisk, though he was demanding payment for the disk; Aach told Bel Iblis to give him whatever he demanded.

Their meeting was interrupted by a large explosion in the Treitamma Political Center; the Empire had planted explosives in Bel Iblis' office, intending to kill him. Aach wrestled Bel Iblis to the ground in order the avoid the blast, though the Corellian Senator was distraught at the loss of his wife and children. Aach eventually calmed him down and persuaded him to follow him to his ship, telling Bel Iblis that nothing could be done for Arrianya and the children. Aach gave Bel Iblis permission to use the Alderaanian's ship to flee, as he intended to stay on Darkknell to investigate the bombing. Bel Iblis offered to journey to Darkknell and carry out the mission, to which Aach reluctantly agreed.

Wearing a basic disguise, Bel Iblis traveled to Xakrea, Darkknell's capital city, making his way to the Continuum Void to meet with the courier of the datadisk. The datadisk had been stolen earlier that day, however, lifted from the courier's pocket by a female thief, and the courier fled Darkknell soon after meeting with Bel Iblis. The Corellian Senator would not give up, however, and decided to pay a visit to Seb Arkos, a slicer whom Aach had told Bel Iblis about, hoping that he could forge Bel Iblis a false identity so that he could attempt to track down the thief. Upon arriving at Arkos's store, he noticed CorSec Inspector Hal Horn and Imperial Intelligence agent Ysanne Isard departing the establishment, and suspected they were searching for him. However, they left without noticing him; Bel Iblis was relieved, but Isard's presence implied that Director of Imperial Intelligence Armand Isard was aware of the theft of the top-secret project's location and was hunting for it.

While Arkos furnished a new identity for Bel Iblis, he watched as Trabler, Isard's assistant, fired a blaster at a woman across the street, before the two Imperial Intelligence agents and Hal Horn departed in a landspeeder. Subconsciously believing the woman might have been his wife, Bel Iblis rushed to her aid; she had a blaster wound in her shoulder, and fell unconscious moments after he reached her. He carried her back to Arkos, telling the slicer that she needed medical attention. Eventually, the woman recovered, identifying herself as Moranda Savich and, realizing that Bel Iblis was part of the rebellion against the Empire, took him to her safehouse apartment in the city. Eventually, she revealed that she had been the thief who stole the datadisk, although she no longer had it in her possession, and she agreed to lead Bel Iblis to it and help him recover it in exchange for 50,000 credits. Things were complicated somewhat, however, by the fact that the package was in Isard's speeder, unbeknownst to the Imperial agent.

Savich needed to lure Isard and Horn to her and create a distraction so that she and Bel Iblis could retrieve the datadisk from the speeder; she contacted Darkknell Defense Agency officers and tricked them into sending several security landspeeders to a location near her safehouse, knowing that Isard would suspect it was related to the rebel activity. When Isard and Horn arrived at the street on which the tapcafe where Savich and Bel Iblis were hiding, however, they realized that Horn was wearing a choke-collar&mdash;it would kill him if she ordered it to or if she died. This compromised their plan, which entailed of Bel Iblis firing on Isard while Savich snuck into the landspeeder, as Bel Iblis did not want Horn, a good and honorable man in the Senator's eyes, coming to any harm. Savich was able to adapt the plan, though.

She contacted Horn via comlink, informing him and Isard that she had the datadisk and would hand it over for one million credits. She then recorded a message and transmitted it to Horn's comlink, so that Horn and Isard believed it they were speaking to Savich live, and submitted their location to Darkknell Defense; while the message played, she donned a disguise and approached Horn and Isard, pretending to be an old friend of Horn's, Allyse Conroy. While she talked to the duo, she swiped Isard's ID card; when Colonel Nyroska of Darkknell Defense arrived, she informed him that she was Isard and that the two others were rebels. Nyroska whisked them to the nearest cell, Savich fled the planet&mdash;after being paid by Bel Iblis&mdash;before her deception was discovered, and Bel Iblis retrieved the datadisk from the speeder. He found his way offworld and ensured the datadisk fell into the hands of Bail Organa.

The Alliance to Restore the Republic
"Do you understand me? I will not send my troops on a suicide attack. And I do not recognize your authority to order them to. I did not vote to place you in charge of the Alliance, and if Bail did, then he was gravely mistaken." "Senator Bel Iblis, I sincerely hope that was not an ultimatum." "Yes, I guess it is. This attack plan is fundamentally flawed, and you just don't have the expertise to know it." "I will not have ultimatums put to me, Senator. The Rebel Alliance will no longer require your services."

- Garm Bel Iblis, and Mon Mothma

The galaxy at large believed Bel Iblis dead, and this was further cemented when Isard used his supposed death in part of an elaborate story to absolve herself from any blame for her failure on Darkknell, claiming that her father, Armand Isard, was a rebel and that he had ordered Bel Iblis' death because he was about to read a pro-Imperial speech. It took a great deal of time for Bel Iblis to overcome the loss of his family; whereas before their deaths he had been considered something of a political maverick, after it he became withdrawn and sullen, for many years. The Corellian Senator began making preparations for his own open rebellion, and although he maintained contact with Mon Mothma and Bail Organa, his group remained separate from theirs, as his methods for dealing with the Imperial were more direct than that of his pacifist peers.

The Corellian Resistance was quite successful, but Bel Iblis recognized that none of the resistance movements was able to deal with the Empire by itself. At Bel Iblis' suggestion, meetings were held between the various leaders, including Mon Mothma, Organa, Sian Tevv, and Jenssar SoBilles, with Bria Tharen acting as the Imperial Senator's representative. Tevv and SoBilles, fearing Imperial repurcussions, shyed away from any alliance, but Organa and Mon Mothma agreed; the three leaders signed the Corellian Treaty, merging the three largest revolutionary groups and forming a new, organized rebellion&mdash;the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Although Bel Iblis was instrumental in founding the Alliance, Mon Mothma was credited by historians for its creation, and she quickly became its de facto leader.

Bel Iblis and Mon Mothma's talents complemented each other&mdash;he was a keen military strategist, she an inspirational public speaker&mdash;and the Alliance grew and grew under their and Organa's leadership. Bel Iblis had distinct views on how the Rebellion should operate, which made he and Mon Mothma frequently at odds. Many times, he advocated a military attack while his two opposite numbers vetoed him. Bel Iblis feared she was becoming addicted to power, though Organa often acted the mediator, ensuring relations between the two rebel leaders were decent, and he was one of few beings who could make Mon Mothma change her mind or see reason. However, Bel Iblis was increasingly relegated to a more backseat role in the Alliance, while his peers made all the decisions.

In 0 BBY, Bail Organa was killed when his homeworld of Alderaan was destroyed by the Death Star, leaving Bel Iblis as the only Rebel senior enough to stand up to Mon Mothma. She began to siphon off more and more power for herself, and Bel Iblis suspected that, should they overthrow Palpatine, she would take his place. Bel Iblis stayed on the with the Rebellion for several months, losing many friends and finding his name on an Imperial arrest list. Some time later, Mothma gave the go-ahead for an Alliance attack on an Imperial garrison at Milvayne in the Gyrica system without seeking the approval of Bel Iblis or any of her other military advisors. Before the attack was enacted, Bel Iblis called Mothma out for her actions at an Alliance conference, requesting that she postpone and reconsider the attack. Mothma overruled him, but a livid Bel Iblis questioned her motives in ordering the attack, claiming it was simply part of her grab for power. The two traded thinly-veiled insults, with Bel Iblis eventually stating that none of his troops would have a part in the attack; Mothma's Intelligence was flawed, as Bel Iblis' own sources informed him it was in fact a heavily fortified Ubiqtorate base, which his men would be unable to deal with. For his dissent, Mothma told Bel Iblis that the Rebellion no longer required his services. He stormed out of the chamber and took his loyal supporters&mdash;including Sena Leikvold Midanyl and another aide, Irenez&mdash;well away from Mothma's Alliance.

A man apart
"You're wondering why I didn't join the Alliance. Why I chose instead to run my own private war against the Empire."

- Garm Bel Iblis, to Lando Calrissian

Bel Iblis decided to wage his own private war against the Empire. With Midanyl and Irenez at his side, he planned many hit-and-run attacks on the Empire, sniping from a distance but causing no real damage to the Empire. Bel Iblis and his loyal forces continually moved bases so as to avoid detection from the Empire. Eventually, they hit a goldmine when they discovered that an old gambler on the Coral Vanda on Pantolomin knew the location of the fabled Katana fleet, a group of Old Republic dreadnoughts which had disappeared before the Clone Wars. The man's name was Hoffner, though he never revealed his identity to Bel Iblis. The former Senator's personnel were able to barter with Hoffner until he eventually agreed to retrieve some of the dreadnoughts for them, though he never informed them of the ships' actual location. Over time, Bel Iblis built up his supply of the dreadnoughts until he had five, though there was still over fifty remaining. The former Senator's flagship was one of the Dreadnoughts, named Peregrine.

During the height of the Galactic Civil War, Bel Iblis' army's crowning achievement was a successful assualt on the world of Tangrene, where his forces managed to sabotage and completely destroy an Ubiqtorate base and escape the world under the noses of three Star Destroyers without incurring any major losses or damage to their ships. While the attack was a resounding success, it opened the Empire's eyes to the threat posed by Bel Iblis' movement, and from then on they had to tread carefully to ensure the Empire could not track their movements and locate their base. Shortly after the mission to Tangrene, they established a new base, known as Peregrine's Nest. Bel Iblis later met Borsk Fey'lya, a Bothan member of the Alliance High Command who had designs on leading the Alliance. Knowing that Bel Iblis despised Mothma, Fey'lya channeled money into the Corellian's account and helped him establish the Peregrine's Nest, hoping that Bel Iblis would prove a helpful ally should the Bothan ever attempt a coup.

In 4 ABY, Mothma's Rebel Alliance was victorious at the Battle of Endor, and Darth Vader and the Emperor both perished. The Empire was thrown into disarray, and the Alliance began a push for Coruscant. Bel Iblis believed that once the remnants of the Empire were fended off, Mothma would become an Empress in all but name. Deciding that Imperial attacks would likely cease since the Emperor's death, he made Peregrine's Nest a permanent base, and began stockpiling resources and ships should he needed to step in and stop Mothma. For over three years they waited&mdash;and Mothma install herself as a dictator. Bel Iblis' top lieutenants recognized that she never would, and deep down, so did he, but he would never admit to it. In 8 ABY, Grand Admiral Thrawn returned from the Unknown Regions to spear a campaign against Mothma's New Republic; with both sides desperate for new ships, Bel Iblis knew that if Thrawn discovered Peregrine's Nest he would take its armaments and dreadnoughts and destroy it. Bel Iblis' forces clashed with the Imperials at Linuri, though it was their last foray into Imperial space for several months.

Soon thereafter, Midanyl was meeting with Bothan Council-Aide Tav Breil'lya to discuss Fey'lya and Bel Iblis' allegiance on New Cov when an Imperial Victory I-class Star Destroyer attacked the planet. At the same time, former New Republic generals Han Solo and Lando Calrissian stumbled upon the meeting, and Breil'lya wished to execute them before they could inform the New Republic Provisional Council. Midanyl contacted Iblis and he ordered her to bring them to him at Peregrine's Nest; he sent three Dreadnoughts to deal with the Star Destroyer and cover Midanyl, Calrissian, Solo, and Breil'lya's escape.

When Solo and Calrissian arrived, Bel Iblis arranged an appointment with Solo, introducing himself and explaining to the former general that he remembered him from school many years previously and had been tracking his career. Solo was amazed to learn that Bel Iblis was still alive, and he was extremely respectful of the former Senator, referring to him as "sir." Bel Iblis invited Calrissian and Solo to a lounge so that they could exchange questions and answers, but Solo's companion was far less respectful and trusting of Bel Iblis, asking him why he hadn't joined the Alliance. Bel Iblis told them very little, aside from his connections to the Bothans, but promised to fill them in at a later time, when it suited him. In return, he asked them a number of questions about Mothma's role in the New Republic, though Solo, whose wife, Leia Organa Solo, was a member of the New Republic Provisional Council, informed him that she had less power than during the Rebellion. Bel Iblis eventually escorted the two men to temporary living quarters; Calrissian was still extremely distrustful of the "back from the dead" Senator, believing the whole Peregrine's Nest might be a ruse orchestrated by Thrawn.

In their quarters, Calrissian was able to identify Bel Iblis' dreadnoughts as belonging to the Katana fleet, and the two eventually ran into Midanyl. She told them of Bel Iblis' falling out with Mothma and asked them to use their influence to persuade Mothma to ask him back, knowing the former Senator would never ask Mothma himself. She also provided them with the location of the man who had provided Bel Iblis' resistance movement with the dreadnoughts. Bel Iblis realized they were not at their quarters, and he was waiting for the trio when they arrived at Calrissian's ship, Lady Luck. Solo told Bel Iblis the New Republic was in need of good commanders and that he should make amends with Mothma, but the Corellia refused, believing that he would look like a beggar and an old fool if he asked to be let in. Upset at Midanyl and Solo's betrayal, he left them, and the two former generals departed in Lady Luck.

Re-emergence
"I thought you and Mon Mothma had patched all that up." "Oh, we have. More or less. She's invited me back into the New Republic, I've accepted her leadership, officially all is well. But old memories fade slowly."

- Lando Calrissian, and Garm Bel Iblis

Bel Iblis pondered his decision for several days, until Midanyl received a message from Han Solo&mdash;he and Calrissian had located the Katana fleet, but the New Republic task force sent had been ambushed by a larger Imperial force. Solo requested that Bel Iblis send whatever forces he could muster to the task force's co-ordinates immediately, and the Corellian obliged. He took his six dreadnoughts to the battle, announcing himself when he arrived. Leia Organa Solo was aboard one of the New Republic vessels, and she informed Bel Iblis that Solo's request for assistance had not been sanctioned by the New Republic; however, she made the request official. The vessel's captain, Virgilio, expressed his pleasure at Bel Iblis' re-emergence, before giving the Corellian authority to attack the Imperial force as he pleased.

Bel Iblis ordered his dreadnoughts to surround the lone Imperial Star Destroyer remaining, sending swarms of ion cannon fire while his ships' shields absorbed the damage sent at them by the Imperials. Suddenly, however, a second Star Destroyer arrived in system; Bel Iblis split his forces to occupy the two warships, but even with ion cannons three dreadnoughts would be unable to fend off a Star Destroyer for long. Han Solo was aboard the Katana fleet's flagship, the Katana, which was slave-rigged to the remainder of the unoccupied dreadnoughts; he managed to send one of the other empty dreadnoughts into a collision with one of the Star Destroyers, crippling it and causing slight damage to one of the Bel Iblis' ships. The other Star Destroyer's captain, realizing the battle was going in the favor of the New Republic, retreated. However, it was not truly a victory, as Grand Admiral Thrawn had managed to get a hold of over one-hundred and fifty dreadnoughts of the Katana fleet.

Bel Iblis was welcomed back to the New Republic by Mon Mothma, though each was too proud to admit past failings and make amends. The Corellian provided the New Republic with all of his contacts through the galaxy, though he was not given a place on the Provisional Council&mdash;instead, he was inducted into the military and made a general. Some members of the Provisional Council, such as Admiral Ackbar, wanted him on the Council, though Mothma maintained that he was needed on the battlefront, claiming that she had every intention of inviting him onto the Council when the threat of Thrawn had been vanquished. General Bel Iblis retained command of the Peregrine, and the prestigious Rogue Squadron was assigned to his command.

Bel Iblis' first conflict with Thrawn's forces occurred soon after his appointment to general; a fleet comprised of fifteen capital ship under Bel Iblis' command was ambushed by an Interdictor cruiser&mdash;which barred the fleet from entering hyperspace and fleeing&mdash;at the planet Qat Chrystac. Using the Interdictor's gravity well projectors, Thrawn used a new tactic, dubbed the Thrawn Pincer, to pull other Imperial warships out of hyperspace at the exact co-ordinates of the skirmish. Before long, Bel Iblis' Peregrine and other ships were facing over twenty Star Destroyers, including Thrawn's flagship, the Chimaera, and dreadnoughts, as well as swarms of TIE fighters. Bel Iblis sent Rogue Squadron to deal with the enemy starfighters at the edge of the system, and had an A-wing squadron ready to enter the fray. Using a new tactic, later dubbed the A-wing slash, Bel Iblis ordered Rogue Leader Wedge Antilles to cut thirty degrees to portside on his mark. When they did so, he sent the A-wing squadron into the space they had occupied moments prior; as a result, the Imperial fighters were caught flat-footed attempting to track the Rogues, and the A-wing squadron was able to pick them off easily. By this point, however, Bel Iblis' fleet was being pummeled by turbolaser fire, and had lost one third of its ships. Bel Iblis used the A-wing slash once again to distract Thrawn's forces while the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser Orthavan accelerated toward the Interdictor. Knowing that the Interdictor might not survive the encounter, Thrawn had its gravity well projectors turned off&mdash;Bel Iblis ordered an immediate retreat to Qat Chrystac's surface, where the New Republic had established a heavily fortified ground base.

His men spent some time recuperating on Qat Chrystac, though while they were there Bel Iblis received a distress signal from Lando Calrissian, whose mining colony on Nkllon was being raided by Imperial forces. Bel Iblis accompanied a small task force to Nkllon, but by the time they arrived there the Empire had already fled. Calrissian informed Bel Iblis of the repurcussions: over three million credits of stockpiled resources had been stolen, and Nomad City&mdash;which had previously able to move to avoid being melted by the sun's rays on one side of the planet&mdash;had been badly damaged. Calrissian knew that it would take more than twenty days to repair Nomad City; and, in twenty days, the dawn line would catch up with them, ruining the city and killing its inhabitants. Bel Iblis offered to transport the inhabitants to Qat Chrystac, and promised to take Calrissian directly to Coruscant to petition Leia Organa Solo to send a large ship to Nkllon to transport Nomad City offworld before it was destroyed.

They arrived on Coruscant several days later, and were granted an audience with Admiral Hiram Drayson. Calrissian requested an Assault Frigate for ten days so that he could relocate his mining colony, and Bel Iblis showed the admiral eight task forces around the galaxy that could easily spare such a ship for several days. Drayson, however, was adamant that Thrawn would take advantage of any missing ships, and repeatedly refused Calrissian's request; he was also a firm supporter of Mon Mothma, and Bel Iblis believed that may also have influenced his decision. Recognizing defeat, the two men left Drayson, hoping that Ackbar might return to Coruscant in time for Calrissian to pull in a few favors.

Defense of Coruscant
"You don't understand, Leia. This has nothing to do with me. It has to do with Mon Mothma. After all these years, I finally understand why she does things the way she does. I've always assumed she was gathering more and more power to herself simply because she was in love with power. But I was wrong&hellip;[She does it] because with everything she does there are lives hanging in the balance. And she's terrified of trusting anyone else with those lives. That's why I can't simply go down and take command. Until she's able to accept me—really accept me—as someone she can trust, she won't ever be able to give me any genuine authority in the New Republic. She'll always need to be hovering around in the background somewhere, watching over my shoulder to make sure I don't make any mistakes. She hasn't got the time for that, I haven't got the patience, and the friction would be devastating for everyone caught in the middle. When she's ready to trust me, I'll be ready to serve. Until then, it's better for everyone involved if I stay out of it&hellip;If you have to persuade her, Leia, it doesn't count. She has to decide this for herself." "Maybe she has&hellip;We've had more than our share of differences over the years, General. But that was a long time ago. We were a good team once. There's no reason why we can't be one again."

- Garm Bel Iblis, to Leia Organa Solo; Mon Mothma later joined the conversation

As they made their way back to their quarters, Bel Iblis noticed the absence of any guards in the Imperial Palace, and when Calrissian's comlink was jammed, his suspicions that something was amiss were confirmed. They made their way toward Calrissian's quarters so that he could retrieve his blaster, but en route they ran into Mara Jade, a former Emperor's Hand who was being kept in the Palace. Bel Iblis believed that she was responsible for the missing guards and communications disruption, though she informed him that a group of Imperials had infiltrated the palace. Jade accompanied them to pick up Calrissian's blaster; the group then split, with Jade and Calrissian traveling up one floor to try to warn Leia and Han Solo, while Bel Iblis went down one to try to muster up some reinforcements.

He found six well-armed security guards, and led them to where he had left Calrissian and Jade. They eventually found Jade facing off with a number of Imperials; Bel Iblis' men were able to force them back, though their progress was impeded. An E-Web heavy repeating blaster was in the process of being transported upstairs by additional security forces, though Bel Iblis knew that by then, the Imperials would have reached Leia and Han Solo and their newly born twins. He ordered him men to try and advance and take out as many of the Imperials down as they could; when the infiltrators located on the above floor arrived with hostages, he hoped to have as few enemies to deal with as possible. They managed to take out one after several minutes, though three remained. Mara Jade's time as an Emperor's Hand gave her an intricate knowledge of the palace's secret passageways, and she left Bel Iblis, hoping to intercept the other part of Imperial agents and catch them unexpected.

Jade was successful, and the Imperials were all killed, bar one, Major Molo Himron, whom Bel Iblis believed to be the leader. Along with Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, Bel Iblis began an interrogation of Himron, asking him how he entered the palace. Himron told them that Mara Jade had granted them access by opening several entrances from the inside. Himron was barely conscious, and the medic refused to allow Bel Iblis ask any additional questions. Bel Iblis had her arrested, at least temporarily, despite the objections of Solo, who believed she was trustworthy after stopping the Imperials from kidnapping his children.

Several days later, Thrawn launched his first major offensive against a key New Republic world: Coruscant. A small force of Imperial forces arrived in the system, including two interdictors, which positioned themselves to allow more Imperials ships to be dragged out of hyperspace at a later t time. With Ackbar offworld inspecting various military bases, Admiral Hiram Drayson was placed in charge of defending Coruscant, though most of his subordinates knew that Bel Iblis would have a better chance of outwitting Thrawn. Midanyl urged him to offer his help to Carlist Rieekan and Drayson and the other military commanders attempting to combat Thrawn's tactics, but he refused, stating that he would only take command if Mon Mothma herself asked him. He went to the observation gallery, alone, where he monitored the battle and realized that the Imperials' interdictors were going to mimic the tactic used at Qat Chrystac. Leia Organa Solo arrived moments later, hoping to take up where Midanyl had left off, but he told her to contact Drayson and inform him of the Thrawn Pincer maneuver. Organa Solo was unable to get through to the admiral, and by the time she reached one of his subordinates it was too late. Two Victory-class Destroyers arrived, ambushing a Golan III Space Defense NovaGun.

Both Organa Solo and Bel Iblis knew Drayson was no match for a being of Thrawn's tactical nous; she attempted to persuade him to take command down below, but he refused. He had realized that Mon Mothma's continual gathering of power for herself was not because she wished to become a tyrant, but because she so many lives were at stake and she was unable to hand over the responsibility for them. He told Organa Solo that he would only work with Mothma if she trusted him completely and asked him back. Mothma herself arrived at that moment, telling Bel Iblis that they had had their fair share of differences but that she was ready to overcome them. He accepted, and requested that he take command of Coruscan't defense.

Bel Iblis immediately pulled all forces away from the Golan defense platforms and back towards Coruscant; the platforms could take considerably more damage than Drayson had anticipated. In pulling back the dreadnoughts defending the platforms, he gave Thrawn the option of staying put and fighting with the Golans or following the ships back toward the surface and coming within range of the ground artillery. He sent Harrier to cover them. One of his subordinates informed him that the Chimaera was using all of its launching tractor beams, even though its hangar bay was empty of any starfighters or other craft. Realizing they may have launched a cloaked ship, Bel Iblis ordered his forces to monitor the vector it would have left on and focus their sensors on its path. During their search, Evanrue was struck by a large, unidentified object, and badly damaged. Believing Thrawn may have launched cloaked asteroids, he ordered his ships to fire ion cannons towards where they estimated the object that had struck Evanrue to be, hoping to knock out the asteroid's cloaking device and take it intact.

Searching blind
"It almost doesn't matter how many are up there. Eventually, their orbits will decay, and letting even one hit ground would be a disaster. Until we've cleared them out, we can't risk lowering the planetary shield."

- General Carlist Rieekan

Thrawn left soon thereafter, after seemingly launching over two hundred asteroids from his ship. Bel Iblis, knowing how expensive cloaking devices were to construct, was of the opinion that Thrawn had only launched a few asteroids and had used his launching tractor beams to fire nothing and trick the New Republic. A conference was called between Bel Iblis, Rieekan, Drayson, Mothma, and Organa Solo. Rieekan informed them that, even if Bel Iblis' suspicions were correct, there was still a great danger: the asteroids would eventually leave orbit and collide with Coruscant, killing many. Thus, they could not risk lowering the planetary shield.

During the meeting, Colonel Jak Bremen interrupted them to inform them that Mara Jade&mdash;who was still being kept in custody in the palace, had escaped. Mothma ordered Bremen to prepare a search party to confirm their suspicions that Jade had left the palace, but Leia Organa Solo told him not to bother&mdash;she knew where Jade was. Thrawn had been making use of clones, and Jade believed she knew where the cloning facility was located. As their was currently an information leak&mdash;dubbed Delta Source&mdash;in the palace, she, Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo had opted not to inform anyone, and Skywalker and Solo had accompanied her in the search for the cloning facility. Many in the room, such as Bremen and Drayson, wanted to punish Organa Solo for her duplicity, but Mothma returned their focus to the defense of Coruscant, and gave Bel Iblis a new set of tasks.

In the coming days, Bel Iblis helped Organa Solo in her attempts to unearth who&mdash;or what&mdash;Delta Source was. He used his influence to help her set up an operations room for expert slicer Zakarisz Ghent so that he could monitor the transmissions made in the palace and locate Delta Source. Bel Iblis was also involved in the formation of the Stardust plan along with Drayson and Rieekan, which they hoped would neutralize the threat of the cloaked asteroids. They sent several transports, including the Harrier, into orbit and had them drop dust particles in the vicinity of where they suspected the asteroids to be. The ships then fired negative ion beams into the dust and charged toward it, their sensors looking for turbulence that the visual displays and the eyes alone could not detect. On their first try, they located an asteroid and disabled its cloaking system, but it exploded soon thereafter; the Grand Admiral didn't want anyone researching his technology.

While the other commanders continued the Stardust plan, Bel Iblis continued his work with Organa Solo is rooting out Delta Source. They determined that it was not an advanced recording device, as regular counterintelligence sweeps turned up nothing, and that it wasn't a person, after Ghent cross-referenced the information sent to Thrawn by Delta Source and those who were privy to it, with no positive results. Bel Iblis, Organa Solo, and the princess' aide, Winter, noted that all of the recorded conversations occurred in the palace's Grand Corridor, and concluded it Delta Source may have been a droid, programmed to leave the Corridor whenever palace security were carrying out their counterintelligence sweeps. Organa Solo and Winter went to the Corridor during the next sweep, observing to see if any droids left, but none did. However, Organa was able to discover the real Delta Source&mdash;the ch'hala trees that lined the entire corridor. Jak Bremen had a team dig them up, and they discovered an advanced recording system, undetectable by his counterintelligence sweeps.

Bel Iblis and his peers were moderately successful with Stardust plan, locating and destroying twenty-one asteroids, though they determined that the only way to be entirely sure they had not missed any was to obtain a crystal gravfield trap. New Republic Intelligence located three, all under Imperial control, and Ackbar prepared a plan to attack the Imperial shipyards at Bilbringi and steal a crystal gravfield trap from there. However, shortly before the assualt on Bilbringi was due to occur, smuggling kingpin Talon Karrde contacted Leia Organa Solo and Bel Iblis, informing them that he and a group of fellow smugglers had recently been in the Bilbringi system and had witnessed Imperial forces loading twenty-two asteroids onto Thrawn's Chimaera&mdash;Bel Iblis' team had already destroyed twenty-one, and Thrawn had destroyed one himself during the attack so, according to Karrde, there was none remaining. The New Republic, fearful that Karrde's information may not have been accurate, decided to go through with its attack regardless, but Ackbar was tricked by Thrawn. The Grand Admiral had anticipated the attack and was waiting for the Republic fleet. However, Thrawn was struck down by the blade of his bodyguard, Ruhk, and the New Republic were ultimately successful. With Thrawn's death, it appeared as if a time of peace was beginning.

The fall of Coruscant and other crises
"Coruscant is surrounded. Our defenses have been forced to retreat. We estimate the planetary shield will fall by morning&hellip;We'll be pulling out tonight&hellip;We have no choice. There's no way to get word to our fleets in other sectors, and even if we did, they couldn't get here before the shield fails&hellip;The New Republic will survive. Only its headquarters will move. We don't want Coruscant destroyed too, when all the Empire wants is to destroy us. Once we're off planet, the populace ought to be safe enough&hellip;We need all the lifting capacity we can beg, borrow, or steal for the evacuation." "&hellip;The New Republic can't just hijack my ship!" "Actually, we can. And we will."

- Garm Bel Iblis and Taryn Clancy

Bel Iblis was given a place on the Alliance High Command, and placed permanently in charge of Coruscant's defense. Just a year after the conclusion of the Thrawn crisis, the remaining Imperial warlords banded together and launched a major offensive on the New Republic. They caught Bel Iblis completely unawares when a massive Imperial force assaulted the Republic's capital, bombarding the planetary shield and laying siege to the planet. The Republic presence in the system was easily picked off by the Imperials, and no reinforcements could arrive in time. Mon Mothma gave the order to evacuate the world before the shields fell, and Bel Iblis was tasked with overseeing the evacuation.

The upper echelons of the New Republic decided upon the location of a new base, but they had no way of safely transmitting the co-ordinates to other portions of their fleet. He began using whatever ships he could find to pierce the Imperial blockade and rendezvous with other elements of the fleet; when all New Republic Intelligence vessels had left the system, he began calling on civilian couriers and freighters for assistance. A captain of one such courier ship, Taryn Clancy, was less than content with the situation, exclaiming that the New Republic could not just take her ship. Bel Iblis told her that he would, whether she was on it or not, and she ultimately agreed. Bel Iblis got as many ships as he could in the air before eventually lowering the shield so that they could flee and enter hyperspace. The evacuation was mostly successful, and Bel Iblis was one of the last to depart for the new headquarters of the New Republic on Mon Calamari. The New Republic later learned that Palpatine had returned to lead the empire in a cloned body, and his forces laid siege to the ocean world. Bel Iblis, along with General Wedge Antilles, co-ordinated various aspects of the planet's air defense. Ultimately, they were able to repel the Imperials; over a year later, the reborn Emperor was vanquished, and the Empire again seemed on the verge of total collapse.

Jedi Academy stuff.

The New Rebellion stuff.

Keeping the peace
"New Republic force! What are you doing? You have no right to move against me." "On the contrary, Speaker Plarx. I have every right. You have just opened fire on New Republic spacecraft. Surrender immediately, or prepare to be destroyed." "I protest Your ships provoked us into defending ourselves." "Last chance, Speaker. Surrender or face the consequences."

- Plarx, and General Garm Bel Iblis

In 19 ABY, the New Republic discovered a partial copy of the Caamas Document, which revealed that the Bothans had been responsible for an Imperial attack on Caamas in the aftermath of the Clone Wars which had almost wiped out the species, although the identities of the individual perpretrators were unknown. A large conflict occured, known as the Caamas Document Crisis, as many New Republic member states wanted to punish the Bothan species harshly for the actions of several unidentified Bothans decades prior. The New Republic fleet, including Bel Iblis, attempted to reduce the tensions and act as mediators through the crisis. Early on in the crisis, Bel Iblis was stationed at a prominent New Republic starfighter base on Morishim, accompanied by a small fleet and Wedge Antilles' Rogue Squadron. While there, a CR90 Corvette arrived, followed closely by an Imperial Star Destroyer, which intercepted it and snagged it via tractor beam. The Star Destroyer fled the system before Bel Iblis could scramble any fighters, though the base personnel were able to pick up fragments of a relayed message from the corvette, in which the words "Bel Iblis" could be clearly heard.

Lando Calrissian and Wedge Antilles presented the recording to Bel Iblis, though it was completely uncohesive and undecipherable. Bel Iblis was mystified as to what the corvette was attempting to do, though his subordinates theorized that it may have been a theft-and-defection from Imperial Space gone awry. Bel Iblis believed it was something more, though, as he knew the Imperial Remnant did not have enough Star Destroyers to spare to send one on such a simple mission. Bel Iblis and his staff also isolated the word "Vermel" in the recording, and he recognized it as the name of one of Gilad Pellaeon's top lieutenants, Meizh Vermel. Although most of his comardes disagreed with him, he believed it was something more than a theft-and-defection, and put all his efforts into deciphering the message.

Bel Iblis' efforts had to put aside for a time, though, when he was assigned to help deal with "Vengeance," an anti-Bothan terrorist group which had been at the center of many riots, including a disastrous one on the Bothan homeworld, Bothuwai. Many suspected it was an Imperial group aiming to destabalize the New Republic. He was also tasked with trying to discover what the term "Hand of Thrawn" meant, after it was found on datacards in the Imperial library on Wayland. Above-the-board investigations proved fruitless, so Bel Iblis had Commander Corran Horn, Rogue Nine, meet with his father-in-law Booster Terrik, an information broker and smuggler with a far reach and many information sources throughout the galaxy. Terrik knew no more than the New Republic about Vengeance, however, and Horn returned to Bel Iblis with no additional information about the group. He was able to provide limited information about an unidentified starship that he flown past Terrik's personal Star Destroyer, the Errant Venture, and transmitted a message in a foreign language. The message mentioned Thrawn's full name&mdash;Mitth'raw'nuruodo&mdash;and Horn believed it might have been linked to the "Hand of Thrawn." Bel Iblis relayed the information onto his superiors, in turn.

Soon thereafter, Bel Iblis' fleet got a panic call from the the Sif'kric system, pleading for New Republic intervention. They had few details about the situation, but Bel Iblis responded to the call anyway, without waiting to seek authorization from Coruscant. The fleet arrived to find that a large Frezhlix force had blockaded Sif'kric, preventing the Sif'kries from exporting their most valuable export, pommwomms, which had to be processed offworld within thirty hours or their medical effects would be rendered useless. Bel Iblis ordered the men under his command to avoid head-to-head confrontation with the Frezhlix at all costs, as he was unsure of his legal bounds. He spoke with the Frezhlix leader, Plarx, who informed him that the New Republic had no place stepping in&mdash;the matter was between the two species, one of which, the Sif'kries, had stopped the Frezhlix Senator from supporting the anti-Bothan Drashtine Initiative.

Bel Iblis was informed, both by Plarx and by his own personnel, that it would be illegal for them to interfere without an official request from the Sif'krie Senator. Bel Iblis, however, had a plan. He contacted Corran Horn on a secure channel, and had him run a scan for any of the blockaded freighters that belonged to Booster Terrik. Horn identified Sycophant Jolly as one of Terrik's ships, actually named Hoopster's Prank and as such Bel Iblis was within his rights to have it impounded. He sent Rogue Squadron to the freighter, though they had to fly through the Frezhlix fleet to reach it. Bel Iblis explained the situation to Plarx, but the Corellian's opposite number opened fire on the Rogues anyway, allowing him to legally intervene and disperse the blockade. Bel Iblis had his fleet maneuver into attack formation, and demanded that Plarx surrender immediately. The Frezhlix refused, and General Bel Iblis had his forces open fire, defeating the smaller opposition fleet.

Preparations
"The final line of the situation is that any serious New Republic presence over Bothawui at this point would be construed as support of the Bothans against their critics." "It would be nothing of the sort. It would be a voice of calm and reason in the middle of a very dangerous flash point. There are sixty-eight warships here already, all of them engaged in a twelve-way glaring contest with each other, all of them ready to jump if any of the others so much as sneeze. There has got to be someone here who can mediate any problems before they collapse into all-out war." "&hellip;You will not be the one chosen for the dubious honor of mediator. President Gavrisom has already selected another task for you&hellip;If Bothawui is the flash point, then it is the Caamas Document which is the spark. President Gavrisom has therefore concluded that the New Republic's best chance of defusing the controversy is to obtain an intact copy of the document. To that end, you are to proceed immediately to Ord Trasi, where you will begin assembling a force for an information raid on the Imperial Ubiqtorate base at Yaga Minor." "With all due respect, Admiral, President Gavrisom must be joking. Yaga Minor is possibly the most heavily defended system in Imperial or New Republic space." "&hellip;I'll be honest: I don't like this any more than you do. But it has to be tried. If war breaks out over this issue, we don't have enough ships or troops to either force or maintain a peace. The entire New Republic could conceivably collapse into total civil war&hellip;I may also say, that if there's any way this can be done, you are the one who can do it."

- Admiral Ackbar, and Garm Bel Iblis

The Frezhlix government were up in arms over Bel Iblis' actions, and Admiral Ackbar contacted him aboard the Peregrine hours later. Bel Iblis gave the Mon Calamari his own recollection of events, and though Ackbar saw it his way, he informed Bel Iblis that Chief of State Ponc Gavrisom might not, due to political pressures. Their conversation was suddenly cut short when Ackbar's hologram disappeared, and Bel Iblis' communications officers told him that a HoloNet relay on nearby Mengjini was not functioning. They then received a call for help from Mengjini, informing them that dissident elements had sabotaged the relay and were attacking them. Bel Iblis' fleet traveled there, and solved the problem, before later being summoned to intervene in a small conflict by the Di'tai'ni.

Bel Iblis kept his fleet at Di'tai'ni for a time; he had a hunch that there would be trouble of some sort, and had his fighter pilots sleep in their cockpits so that they could respond to any distress calls with maximum efficiency. He was proven right, when the Bothans sent a signal to the Peregrine informing the general that a Leresen fleet had arrived at Bothuwai. Rogue Squadron reached the system before Bel Iblis' capital ships could, and Wedge Antilles spoke with the Leresen; they informed him that Bothan security guards had killed two of their kin during a riot, and that, per their native custom, twenty innocent Bothan lives must be taken in retaliation. The Rogues' starfighters had been sabotaged, so they were unable to stop the Leresen fleet destroying a Bothan space station, taking twenty-one lives; Bel Iblis was too late.

Appearances

 * Republic HoloNet News Core Edition 15:3:02
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novel
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * Interlude at Darkknell
 * The Paradise Snare
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game
 * The Force Unleashed novel
 * Rebel Dawn
 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * Star Wars Empire 23: The Bravery of Being Out of Range
 * Star Wars Galaxies
 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
 * Dark Force Rising
 * The Last Command
 * X-wing: Isard's Revenge
 * Jedi Search
 * Dark Apprentice
 * Champions of the Force
 * I, Jedi
 * The New Rebellion
 * Specter of the Past
 * Vision of the Future
 * Survivor's Quest
 * Edge of Victory I: Conquest
 * Star by Star
 * Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
 * Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand
 * Destiny's Way
 * The Final Prophecy
 * The Unifying Force
 * Betrayal
 * Exile
 * Destiny's Way
 * The Final Prophecy
 * The Unifying Force
 * Betrayal
 * Exile