Maarek Stele

Maarek Stele is the official player character (regardless of what pilot name is entered, in the same manner as Farlander and Ace Azzameen) in the 1994 game TIE Fighter and its subsequent expansions Defender of the Empire and ''Enemies of the Empire'.

The male human was originally a fairly good swoop pilot born on the planet of Kuan, which was at war with the planet Bordol until the Empire declared martial law in the system; thus, he enlisted with the Imperial-class Star Destroyer (ISD) Vengeance as a starfighter mechanic. However, one day while taking a TIE Interceptor (T/I) out for a test flight he picked up a distress beacon and responded, where he found a Lambda-class shuttle under attack by two X-Wings and two Y-Wings; he fought them off, then found that he'd unwittingly saved the commander of his ship, Admiral Mordon, of the ISD Vengeance. For this, he was put through pilot school and graduated.

His first actions were from the space station Outpost D-34 in the Javin sector where freighter inspection and base defense against Rebel bombers. He transferred to the Nebulon-B2 modified frigate (M/FRG) Fogger for a bombing run against a meeting of Mugaari arms-runners and Rebels and then to retake the seized Outpost D-34. It was discovered that the attack was launched from the light Calamari cruiser Lulsla, now taking on supplies in the Bruaani sector, so Stele led assault gunboats in two waves, first to deplete the Lulsla's starfighter defenses, then to clear a last-ditch minefield, and finally to disable the commander's shuttle and the officers' shuttle; the unfortunate enlisted crew were simply blasted into space.

Afterwards, he transferred on a semipermanent basis to the Victory-class Star Destroyer (VSD) Protector, serving in Admiral Harkov's campaign to end a civil war in the Sepan system; however, that backfired when the two sides then decided to join against the Empire, an Imperial commando team having kidnapped their leaders' children by mistake, and they had to repelled from a transfer of new production TIE Advanced (T/A) fighters from the escort carrier Tropsobor to the VSD Protector. However, on an inexplicable whim, Stele decided to inspect the Imperial shuttle Omlaut when it arrived soon after the completion of the TIE Advanced squadron to the Protector, and found that it was carrying a Rebel advisor, who promptly met behind closed doors with Admiral Harkov.

Thus, Stele was quickly transferred to Vice Admiral Thrawn's VSD Stalwart, to help in the construction and guarding of space station NL-1 in the Pakuuni sector, beating back both the Rebels and Pakuuni pirates. It was at Thrawn's formal inspection of NL-1 here that Stele was first noticed by Thrawn, when Stele's TIE bomber acted as escort for Thrawn's transports to and from the VSD Stalwart; in beating back A-Wings, X-Wings and three waves of Lambda-class shuttles, Stele impressed Thrawn with his skill in using the bomber in a defensive role it was not designed for.

[To be continued]