Jom Barell

"Jom Barell. A pleasure to meet you finally. I just want to say again I appreciate you fighting the fight on Myrra. I had thought all of you SpeForce guys and girls died that day. I am happy I was wrong and thanks for taking the initiative." "Though you almost killed us."

- Norra and Temmin Wexley's first meeting with Jom Barell

Jom Barell was a human male who served in the Alliance to Restore the Republic, and later the New Republic. Bearing the rank of Sergeant major, Barell served in the New Republic Special Forces. He took part in the crisis on Akiva, making a difficult jump from atmosphere onto the planet while being shot at by turbolasers to discover what exactly the Empire was doing on Akiva. He commandeered one of the turbolasers on the planet and used it to shoot at an escaping yacht, which had many important Imperials aboard, as the planet rioted and overthrew the satrapy. After the crisis on Akiva, he joined a crew of Temmin Wexley, his mother Norra Wexley, the Zabrak bounty hunter Jas Emari, and former Imperial loyalty officer Sinjir Rath Velus to hunt Imperial fugitives.

During a mission to Vorlag to capture Vice Admiral Perwin Gedde, Jom fell in love with Jas Emari after arguing about her secret plan to "triple-cross" the crew in order to pay her debts. Jom later accompanied Norra's team on their quest to find the rebel smuggler Han Solo and to rescue his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca from Ashmead's Lock prison. Jom, Jas, and Sinjir later joined forces with Han and Chewie to liberate Kashyyyk from Imperial rule. Despite losing his eye, Jom and his companions manage to free the Wookiees. He later stayed behind to help the newly-freed Wookiees to rebuild their world.

The Rebellion
"We're pigeons to hunt up here. We need to be falcons&mdash;engage para-wings."

- Jom Barell saw action on Akiva

Before joining the Rebellion, Jom Barell grew up on a farm on the planet Juntar which bred long-legged critters for their meat, milk, and leather hides. He was a Sergeant major in the New Republic Special Forces in the months following the Battle of Endor. On one mission, he flew a gunship through an electrical storm on the planet Geonosis during a New Republic operation to stop the remnants of the Galactic Empire from reactivating the old Geonosian droid foundries.

Mission to Akiva
After the New Republic starfighter pilot Wedge Antilles was captured during a reconnaissance mission over the planet Akiva, Jom led a six-member SpecForces suborbital drop team that infiltrated the planet. For that mission, he was accompanied by Corporals Kason, Stromm, Gahee'abee, Polnichk, and Durs; all of whom donned parawings. After jumping out of their transport, the drop team came under fire from Imperial artillery cannons based in Akiva's capital city Myrra. Jom's comrades and the transport were destroyed during the jump, leaving him as the sole survivor.

Despite sustaining a broken arm, Jom survived his fall and managed to land into the side of a small wagon, that was carrying hay, fruit rinds, and animal droppings. Jom used his blaster rifle as a makeshift cane. The Sergeant major was soon confronted by three stormtroopers, who ordered him to surrender. Jom toppled a wooden overhang over the stormtroopers, trapping them underneath. Jom then grabbed one of the stormtrooper's blasters and shot them dead. Jom's arrival coincided with the outbreak of the Rebellion on Akiva, which had been instigated by a small band of rebels led by the starfighter pilot Norra Wexley, who had returned to Akiva to fetch her son Temmin. Jom witnessed Norra's rogue TIE fighter attacking other TIEs and a mob converging outside the Satrap's Palace, the seat of the Satrapy of Myrra.

Jom made his way to the Imperial turbolaser ground-to-orbit turret stationed at the Satrap's Palace. After shooting four more stormtrooper sentries, Barell climbed a ladder that led into the turret. Inside the turret, he encountered a young Imperial gunnery officer, a mere boy. The boy ordered Jom to raise his hands but Barell countered that one of them was broken. Unwilling to kill a youth, Jom attempted to convince the boy to desert his post. However, the boy, fearing retribution from his Imperial superiors, attempted to shoot Jom with his blaster. The New Republic soldier charged at the boy and slammed the young officer back onto the console. He then shoved the weeping youth inside a footlocker trunk. Despite the damage to the turret's controls caused by the scuffle, Jom managed to open fire on a Ryuni-Tantine Vita-Liner.

This liner turned out to be the Imperial financier Arsin Crassus's personal ship the Golden Harp, which was transporting several prominent Imperial officers and prisoners including Norra and her son. Jom's actions blew a hole in the ship's side and allowed Temmin to free the other prisoners. The rebellion on Myrra coincided with the arrival of a New Republic fleet which wiped out most of the Imperial fleet above Akiva. With the defeat of the Imperial forces on Akiva, the planet became the first Outer Rim world to join the New Republic.

Hunting Imperial fugitives
Several days after the liberation of Akiva, Jom joined forces with Norra, Temmin and several other companions including Mister Bones, the bounty hunter Jas Emari, and the former Imperial loyalty officer Sinjir Rath Velus in hunting down Imperial war criminals. By 5 ABY, Norra's team had captured six Imperial fugitives including Commandant Stradd, Prefect Kosh, Moffs Keong and Nyall, Vice General Adambo and the former Imperial Security Bureau minister Venn Eowelt. These captures coincided with the New Republic's victories against the scattered remnants of the Empire.

Jom later accompanied Norra and her team during a mission on the planet Vorlag to capture the former Vice Admiral Perwin Gedde, who had sought refuge with the Vorlaggn crime lord Slussen Clanker. During the mission, Jom and the rest of Norra's team were betrayed by the bounty hunter Jas Emari, who was heavily in debt. She pretended to sell Jom and the rest of the team to Slussen, who ordered his henchmen to imprison Jom and the others in his dungeon. Jom and his companions were housed in cages above several raging hroth-beasts.

However, Emari made arrangements for them to escape by attaching a set of keys to the neck of a hroth-beast. After freeing themselves and escaping the beasts and their captors, Jom and his team fled into a lava-tube which led to Gedde's quarters. There, they encountered Jas, who had already bound the drugged Gedde. The rebels then escaped aboard Emari's gunship Halo, which was flown by Norra's son Temmin. After escaping Imperial fighters, Jom and his team fled into space.

An unlikely lover
Once in space, Jom and the others confronted Jas over her "triple-crossing." When Jom told her that she could have gotten them killed, Jas responded that was part of the plan all along. Jom was particularly belligerent towards Emari and grabbed her. However, the Devaronian broke his hold and shoved Barell back. As the argument escalated, Temmin confessed that he was privy to Emari's plan. When Jom told Norra to control her son, Norra asserted her leadership of the team. When Barell questioned Norra's leadership, Jas told her to find another ship.

Eventually, Jas slapped Barell on the face. As the two fought, Norra tried to break up the fight. Jas and Jom soon found themselves in the bunkroom where they put aside their differences and kissed each other. As a result of their quarrel, the two became lovers. After arriving on the New Republic capital of Chandrila, Sinjir confronted Barell in private and told him not to hurt his friend Jas again. The former Imperial loyalty officer warned that he was skilled in combat. When Jom asked why Sinjir was not romantically interested in her, Sinjir asserted that he was nothing more than the bounty hunter's friend.

Later, Jom was present with Norra and Emari when they examined the body of Perwin Gedde. The former Vice-Admiral had died while in transit and Emari deduced that he had been poisoned with Kytrogorgia. After a period of rest and relaxation, Jom met with Norra and her crew aboard the Halo. When Temmin talked about his X-wing practice, Jom chastised the boy and reminded him that it was called training. When Jas theorized that the bounty hunter Mercurial Swift had poisoned Gedde, Barell asked whether the Empire had killed him. When Temmin suggested the Empire had killed Gedde to prevent him from divulging their secrets, Barell supported the boy's theory.

When Jas complained that Gedde's death caused them credits, Barell argued with her about ethics and orders until Norra broke up the argument. Norra then informed her team that Princess Leia Organa, a prominent New Republic leader, had solicited her services in rescuing Han Solo, who had disappeared while trying to rescue his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca during an ill-fated mission to liberate the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. Jom agreed to take part in the mission.

Searching for answers
Jom Barell and Jas Emari traveled together to Nar Shaddaa, a crime haven moon in the Outer Rim Territories. The two visited a back market owned by Nyarla the Hutt, who told them that she knew nothing about Solo, Chewbacca or any Imperial prisons in Wild Space. As they made their way back to the Halo, Jom was stunned and knocked to the ground. He found himself and Jas surrounded by several Nikto gangsters led by Underboss Rynscar.

While Rynscar wanted to hand Jas over to the Black Sun crime syndicate, Jas managed to convince him that she would pay back double the debt if he let her go. Jas also managed to convinced Rynscar to tell them about Han Solo. Rynscar told Jas about a planet near Wild Space called Irudiru. Emari then shared this information with Sinjir, who was questioning the former Imperial Adviser Yupe Tashu. Sinjir discovered that Irudiru was home to a Siniteen prison architect named Golas Aram.

After returning back to the Halo, Jom tried to clean the mud off his clothes. When Barell accused Jas of selling them out, she responded that she was buying them more time. Before Jom could argue that Rynscar could not be trusted, Jas kissed him. After returning to Chandrila, Jom accompanied Norra and the rest of the team for a meeting with Admiral Ackbar and Princess Leia at the Skygarden above Hanna City. When Norra resigned her commission in the New Republic Starfleet to find Solo, Barell chose to stay behind since he did not want to depart on an unsanctioned mission.

Joining forces with Han Solo
Later, Jom Barell experienced a change of heart and decided to help Norra and her team find Han Solo. He traveled to Irudiru and arrived at Golas Aram's compound just in time to help Sinjir and Jas Emari fight several commando droids. He manged to blast off the head of a commando droid that was struggling with Emari. Jom then helped Sinjir destroy the remaining droids. Aram managed to flee the house but was captured by Norra before he could escape offworld. After Sinjir interrogated him, Jom chatted with Emari while Norra and Han Solo traveled to the town of Kai Pompos to gather supplies for their trip to the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. Having found Solo, Norra had agreed to help the smuggler rescue his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca from the formidable Ashmead's Lock prison.

Jom accompanied Norra's team and Han Solo on their journey to Kashyyyk. The rebels managed to slip through the orbiting Imperial blockade by posing as repair crew being sent to carry out maintenance work at Ashmead's Lock. After landing, Jom and his companions entered the prison ship only to be confronted by the computer system SOL-GDA, which demanded their passcode. When the rebels failed to produce it, SOL-GDA dispatched security droids to "incorporate" them into the prison.

Two of the security droids crawled onto him but he managed to bash one in the skull with his rifle butt and kick the other way. During the fight, Jom sustained a bloodied nose after headbutting a security droid. With Temmin's help, Han and Jas Emari managed to disable SOL-GDA by severing the cable linking the power generator to the stasis pod cells. Jom helped Solo and his rebel companions to free a hundred prisoners which included Chewbacca and Temmin's father Brentin Lore Wexley.

While Norra, Temmin, Mister Bones decided to return with the liberated prisoners on the Millennium Falcon to Chandrila, Jom decided to stay behind with Emari and Sinjir to help Han and Chewie liberate Kashyyyk from Imperial rule. While Jom was pessimistic that Han and Chewie's plan to liberate Kashyyyk would succeed, Jas managed to convince them by raising their failure to free Slussen Canker's slaves. Jom accepted Jas' arguments and decided to stick around longer to see what kind of damage they could inflict on the Imperial war machine. Jom and companions then left the Black Forest on Emari's gunship Halo and flew to a wroshyr tree. There, Solo briefed his allies about his plan to liberate Kashyyyk by finding Grand Moff Lozen Tolruck and disabling the inhibitor chips that enslaved Kashyyyk's Wookiee population.

Liberating Kashyyyk
A month after the events at Ashmead's Lock, Jom Barell and a team of Wookiee rebels captured an Imperial command station on the far side of Kashyyyk. They then tried to capture an Imperial shuttle platform that would allow them to travel to Grand Moff Tolruck's island fortress. However, they were attacked by Imperial forces. Jom's Wookiee companions managed to flee but he was captured by the Imperials, who brought him to Tolruck. In Imperial captivity, Jom was kept inside an iron kennel on grav-pads. He was interrogated by Tolruck, who ripped out one of his eyes and threw it into a camp fire.

Later, his friend Sinjir went to rescue Jom disguised as an Imperial officer named Lieutenant Jorrin Turnbull. However, Sinjir was quickly discovered by Grand Moff Tolruck, who stabbed him in the calf with a kishakk blade. Later, Jom was kept in a cage while Sinjir was forced to fight Tolruck's attache Odair Bel-Opis for the Moff's amusement. Despite being beaten by Odair, Sinjir managed to disable Tolruck's control module using a hyperwave transceiver spike concealed inside his heel. As a result, the Wookiees revolted enmass and quickly overwhelmed their Imperial masters.

Sinjir then freed the wounded Jom from his cell. The two men then went to confront Grand Moff Tolruck in his throne room. However, a defiant Tolruck revealed that he had ordered the orbiting Imperial Star Destroyers to bombard Kashyyyk. Sinjir and Jom left Tolruck to his own devices while they rejoined Han and Chewbacca. Later, Jom along with Han, Chewie, and Sinjir infiltrated the Star Destroyer Dominion using a transport loaded with webweaver spiders. The rebels unleashed the webweavers on the Star Destroyer's crew and fought their way to the bridge. However, they were captured by stormtroopers.

Jom and his companions were brought before the Dominion commander Vice Admiral Domm Korgale, who believed victory was in sight. However, New Republic reinforcements arrived in the form of Princess Leia aboard the Millennium Falcon, Captain Antilles' Phantom Squadron, and Admiral Ackbar's cruiser Home One. Jom and his companions managed to break free of their Imperial captors and hijack the Dominion. They then used the Star Destroyer's guns to destroy the nearby Star Destroyer Vitiator. As a result, the remaining ship Neutralizer surrendered to the New Republic; ending Imperial rule on Kashyyyk.

Following the liberation of Kashyyyk, Jom helped pack thermal detonators aboard Emari's ship Halo. In private, Jom told Emari that she was right that he had come to Irudiru to chase her. He also told her that he had stayed with her team and given up his eye because that was the right thing to do. Knowing that Jas was still worried about her debts, he reassured he that she did the right thing by staying on Kashyyyk. Jom then told her that he would stay behind to help the Wookiees and bid the bounty hunter farewell before she returned to Chandrila with Sinjir. While the Wookiees had retaken their homeworld, they needed help to flush out the remaining Imperial holdouts.

Personality and traits
"I can't likely do both. I'm just one man, not three like you fine soldiers&mdash;"

- Jom was a dangerous fighter even when wounded

As a New Republic Special Forces soldier, Jom Barell was skilled at hand-to-hand combat and knew how to operate a blaster. While he was a capable killer who could gun down enemy combatants without any hesitation, Jom was reluctant to kill children and youths. On on occasion, Barell attempted to use psychological and emotional manipulation to convince a young Imperial gunnery officer to desert his post. Despite sustaining a wounded arm, Barell was still a deadly fighter. Due to his childhood growing up on a farm, Jom was familiar with four-legged critters.

As a New Republic soldier, Jom supported the New Republic's vision of bring justice and freedom to the galaxy. He was infuriated when Jas Emari pretended to betray them in order to pay off some debts. Despite their passionate arguments over money and ethnics, he still fell in love with her. Jom's loyalty to Norra led her to accompany her team on a quest to find Han Solo and later rescue Chewbacca. Jom's willingness to do good and to fight the Imperial war machine led him to take part in the liberation of Kashyyyk. Despite losing an eye, he was proud of the role that he and his companions played in freeing the Wookiees from the Empire.

Behind the scenes
Jom Barell first appeared as a tertiary point-of-view character in Chuck Wendig's 2015 novel Aftermath, which was released as part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens multimedia series. Barell later appeared in the novel's 2016 sequel Aftermath: Life Debt.

Appearances

 * Aftermath
 * Aftermath: Life Debt