Arbeloa

"I am the last of our people. I broadcast this warning in the hope that it will reach somebody. Anybody. The Yuuzhan Vong are coming."

- Arbeloa

Arbeloa, also referred to as Arb, was a member of the Cilare, a species of warriors exterminated by the Yuuzhan Vong around 25 ABY at the start of the Yuuzhan Vong War. He was the sole surviving member of his species following a one-sided engagement against the Yuuzhan Vong. Arbeloa was able to transmit a message warning others of the threat of the Yuuzhan Vong before being taken captive. His transmission was intercepted by the crew of the Pythea to whom he relayed his story. However, they were killed during a dogfight with Yuuzhan Vong vessels before they could warn Artorias, a peaceful planet located in the Outer Rim Territories that was later captured by the Yuuzhan Vong. Later, Arbeloa joined forces with the Artorian princess, Kaye Galfridian, and other slaves in a revolt on the slaveship they were being help captive on, the Tsam P'ah. He then accompanied the Galfridians on the former Yuuzhan Vong ship, now renamed Heart of Artorias, in their quest to rescue the refugees from Artorias.

Early life
"We were warriors&hellip; we were brutal, we were ruthless. Our children were taught to fight from the moment they could stand."

- Arbeloa

Arbeloa lived on Vonak, a primitive feudal world in isolation to the rest of the galaxy. A warlike people, his civilization, the Cilare, valued martial skills from infancy and their scientists disdained medicines in favor of war matériel. His people regularly hunted and subdued various fierce animal species. Consequently, they believed themselves to be strong and impregnable to any threat. They possessed primitive semi-industrial technology including tanks.

Around the time of the Battle of Dantooine in 25 ABY, a potent invasion force from the Yuuzhan Vong who were invading the galaxy landed on the Cilare homeworld and waged war on the warrior species. Despite their valor and arsenal, including tanks, they were easily wiped out by the onslaught of Fire Breathers. These deadly war beasts had flexible proboscises that spewed streams of gelatinous flame and pores that exhaled anti-laser aerosols. The Cilare were quickly exterminated as the Yuuzhan Vong pacified their homeworld.

As the last of his species, and near capture, Arbeloa was still able to transmit a signal into space&mdash;a warning to anyone who would listen. This message was eventually picked up by the two-person crew of the exploratory ship Pythea&mdash;the Chiss Panha and her Wookiee companion Sarkkin. The two spacers watched in horror as the warrior related the nature and culture of his species before warning them of the depredations of the Yuuzhan Vong.

Arbeloa's species had been devastated in the attack; he urged recipients of the message to flee the oncoming Yuuzhan Vong invasion force while they still could, as attempting to fight the species was futile. Given that Panha's species, the Chiss, had fought the Yuuzhan Vong before, she understood the nature of their threat to the galaxy. Picking up the presence of a Yuuzhan Vong fleet near them in hyperspace, they powered up the Phythea and fled towards the nearest world, Artorias, in an attempt to warn the Artorians. The crew of the Pythea alerted the planet Artorias but were intercepted by the Yuuzhan Vong fleet and attacked. Before their destruction, Arebeloa's warning was passed on by the crew of the Pythea to an inhabitant of Artorias. Unfortunately for the citizens of Artorias, he turned out to be a Yuuzhan Vong infiltrator and therefore did not warn the populace. Artorias was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong soon after this.

Captivity
"I promised this man your head. It's lucky you like pain. Because this is going to hurt."

- Kaye Galfridian, advertising Arbeloa's brutality to his victim, Commander Sha'kel

Of his people, only Arbeloa survived, and he was taken captive aboard a Yuuzhan Vong slaveship, the Tsam P'ah. There he met the Artorian princess, Kaye Galfridian, whom he initially derided as deserving to be tortured due to her perceived collaboration with the Yuuzhan Vong officials. After Galfridian led a revolt and freed Arbeloa, he pledged his service to her. He broke off a piece of his cage and used it as a melee weapon to attack the guards while Galfridian released more prisoners to join the revolt. Arbeloa accompanied Galfridian as she confronted the commander of the slaveship, Sha'kel. He later took the decapitated head of the Yuuzhan Vong commander to use as a hat.

Dibrook
Arbeloa was onboard the Heart of Artorias as it traveled through the Galaxy in its quest to assist refugees from the Vuuzhan Vong invasion. During these travels, the Heart encountered a Yuuzhan Vong attack on a space station loaded with survivors of recent Rim-world battles. Arbeloa boarded the Dibrook station with Kaye Galridian after the Heart of Artorias assisted the defenders in destroying the attacking Yuuzan Vong ships. When Odgen attempted to commandeer their ship, Arbeloa picked him up with one hand and slammed him into a wall, stating that the New Republic would not take their ship. Later, Arbeloa attended a strategy meeting with Kaye, captain Ogden and commander Bylsma on the bridge of the Dibrook station. He scolded Ogden when the captain yelled at Galfridian. After receiving an Enviro-suit from Dibrook Station, Arbeloa accompanied Galfridian to the surface of Dibrook in the attempt to rescue prisoners taken by the Yuuzhan Vong. When Ogden tried to usurp command from Galfridian, Arbeloa was directed to take the captain somewhere and bind him tightly to keep him out of the way. As the invasion force approached the shaper research facility, Galfridian ordered Arbeloa to give the order to halt. He responded by telling her that she shouldn't be afraid to give orders and lead her troops. When she pointed out that she ordered him to give the command due to his large size and the fact that she was small and likely to be overlooked, he apologized and gave the command. Galfridian thanked him for his words.

The invasion force's rear guard was attacked by a group of thralls and Arbeloa helped subdue a blue-skinned Twi'lek. Soon after, a recon force was attacked by Tsalok, and Arbeloa along with the rest of the invasion force witnessed the cruelty of the Yuuzhan Vong when Tsalok ripped the leader of the recon mission in half with his bare hands. A large group of thralls gathered in the valley below the invasion force and Arbeloa stood by Kaye as she was convinced by her mother that there was nothing that could be done to save converted sentients. Arbeloa explained to Kaye that they had to destroy the thralls in order to rescue prisoners that could be saved. When the attack began, Kaye ordered Arbeloa to clear a path through the army so they could reach the Yuuzhan Vong compound as quickly as possible. He grabbed a large, shoulder-mounted multi-barreled gun and used the heavy firepower to clear a path. Upon reaching the Yuuzhan Vong compound, Arbeloa and Kaye were confronted by a group of shapers that Tsalok had ordered to fight a holding action due to his suspicions that they were spying on him. Arbeloa and Kaye quickly destroyed them and entered the compound where they found a group of prisoners held in a large bubble. Before they could free them, gas started to pour into the container and caused the prisoners to mutate into thralls. Arbeloa was able to rip open one of the membranes and rescue a single child. They managed to escape before her mother obliterated the Yuuzhan Vong compound with the weapons of the Heart of Artorias. When Kaye faltered due to feeling the death of her father, Arbeloa picked her up and asked her if she was ok.

After the battle, Arbeloa put the rescued child in an enviro-suit and watched the recovery operation with Kaye. He postulated that it might have been for the best having all the prisoners and thralls destroyed by the Heart of Artorias since they were clearly in pain. She disagreed and stated that they were sentients and there was no way of knowing what could have been done to cure them. She then revealed to him that she felt her father die and it was somehow made possible through her brother. Arbeloa told her the story of when his father died and how he fled to the forest to avoid facing the fear of life without him. He then asked Kaye how she could became strong enough to stay in control. When Kaye went to inform the queen of the results of the mission, Arbeloa stayed behind to assist with the burial of the dead. He was present at the memorial service that was held later at the mass grave and traveled on the Heart when it departed Dibrook to head to Shramar to meet up with some refugees from Artoria.

Shramar
Upon landing on Shramar, Arbeloa disembarked with Kaye and faced the large Imperial force that was sent to ensure that there would be no problems. When a young girl broke through the line of stormtroopers and rushed toward Arbeloa and Kaye, she was shot. Arbeloa retrieved her body and discovered she was still alive. He whispered to the girl to play dead so he could safely bring her aboard the Heart. He was present when the girl revealed the truth about what was happening on the planet. When the New Republic forces arrived, Arb escorted Bylsma to the control room of the Heart but was asked to stay outside by Kaye. Yuuzhan Vong forces broke through the blockade around the planet and landed troops on the ground. Arbeloa was sent with Kaye to marshal the defenses so that the 500,000 refugees on Shramar could be safely evacuated. During the fierce battle, Arbeloa saved the journalist Cianba by throwing her to the ground. When all the refugees were on-board the Heart, Arbeloa signaled for a full retreat. After the fleet fled the Yuuzhan Vong attack at Shramar, Arb stood behind Queen Galfridian as she addressed the people who had survived the battle. The Queen vowed to fight the Yuuzhan Vong, and promised to show them how. She then revealed herself as being a member of the Yuuzhan Vong race by removing her masquer. The warrior gaped in surprised but stood quietly behind her as the Queen announced the formation of the Outer Rim Alliance.

Behind the scenes
On February 7 2009, the official Star Wars website announced that Dark Horse Comics would be releasing a new comic series titled Star Wars: Invasion, revolving around the events of the Yuuzhan Vong War, which itself had been the focus of Del Rey's nineteen-book New Jedi Order series. The comic was released in July of the same year, with two eight page previews released online in the months of May and June, respectively, as a prelude.

Arbeloa was introduced in the first of these installments, Star Wars: Invasion 0, Part 1, which was was released on May 8. This same issue also introduced Chiss explorer Panha and her companion, the Wookiee Sarkkin. His role in the series was brief since he did not appear in the second half of the sixteen page comic and was only mentioned. In the comic, the warrior was drawn by artist Colin Wilson and colored by Wes Dzioba.

On July 14 2009, the official Star Wars website released details on a new issue titled Star Wars: Invasion 4: Refugees, Part 4. The comic cover showed the unidentified warrior standing behind another protagonist, Kaye Galfridian, leading to the assumption that Arbeloa would play a role in future issues within the series. He was also named in this issue.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Invasion 0, Part 1
 * Star Wars: Invasion 2: Refugees, Part 2
 * Star Wars: Invasion 3: Refugees, Part 3
 * Star Wars: Invasion 4: Refugees, Part 4
 * Star Wars: Invasion 5: Refugees, Part 5
 * Star Wars: Invasion 6: Rescues, Part 1
 * Star Wars: Invasion 7: Rescues, Part 2
 * Star Wars: Invasion 8: Rescues, Part 3
 * Star Wars: Invasion 9: Rescues, Part 4
 * Star Wars: Invasion 11: Rescues, Part 6
 * Star Wars: Invasion: Revelations