User:Grand Moff Tranner/Sandbox

"He is as clumsy as he is stupid."

- Darth Vader

Kendal Ozzel was an officer who served in the Republic Navy during the Clone Wars and the Imperial Navy during the Galactic Civil War, as commander of the Super Star Destroyer Executor, and an admiral of the Imperial Navy. He served Darth Vader in Death Squadron, with the Executor being Vader's flagship. Ozzel's intelligence was questioned by many, including Vader, and his achievement of the rank of admiral is considered by many to be a mystery.

Early Life
Kendal Ozzel was born on the planet Carida, a descendant of trading mastermind Mann Ozzel. He was regarded as clumsy and stupid, so that many fellow officers were puzzled as to how he achieved promotion, but he was driven by immense personal ambition. For a short time, Ozzel served as an instructor at the Imperial Academy on Coruscant. He was the presiding officer at Han Solo's court-martial for saving Chewbacca. Han took a fairly low view of his intelligence.

Solo later sighted Ozzel aboard the Executor in the Black Widow Nebula before the vessel was officially launched.

Ascent
In 0.5 ABY, he was Captain of the Imperial Star Destroyer Reprisal, the largest capital ship in Shelsha Sector, and probably ranking officer of the area's small Sector Group. He oversaw the brutal massacre of "Rebel sympathizers" on the planet Teardrop, after which the Reprisal was assigned a full tactical unit of the Imperial Security Bureau under the command of Colonel Vak Somoril, to further prosecute the suppression of resistance in the sector.

When a group of stormtroopers killed ISB Major Drelfin and fled the Reprisal, Ozzel and Colonel Somoril mistakenly believed that the subsequent arrival of Mara Jade in Shelsha Sector was part of a high-level investigation into the incident, and they conspired in an unsanctioned scheme to kill her. Mara was ultimately unable to prove their complicity, but suggested to Darth Vader that he should keep a close eye on Ozzel, a suggestion that evidently appealed to the newly-appointed Supreme Commander's dark sense of humor.

Ozzel unexpectedly achieved his aim of being promoted to Fleet Admiral, as well as command Vader's flagship, the Executor, with Firmus Piett as his senior subordinate. Perhaps simultaneously, he was also promoted to overall commander of Death Squadron, a promotion assisted in part by the loss of the cadre of able officers whom Willhuf Tarkin had assembled aboard the Death Star, and which took place despite whispered rumors that he had Rebel sympathies.

Speculation abounded as to the exact nature by which Ozzel achieved his prestigious command position. Many believed older ties between Imperial military command and Ozzel's bloodline were chiefly responsible for his sudden and inexplicable rise. Another theory explained his achievement as Ozzel acting as a figure-head of command in Vader's fleet, aside from Vader himself, to appease the high-ranking members of the general staff. Regardless of the nature of these rumors, Ozzel was in command of hunting down the Alliance High Command headquarters using whatever devices he deemed necessary. To this end, he took a very personal approach to his mission, preferring to follow up substantial leads himself. This often meant diverting the fleet on less than productive forays, which soon earned the ire of Vader, who grew tired of these indulgences. As a result Ozzel was relegated to the true position of figure-head that he occupied, serving merely as a go-between for issuing Vader's orders to the Executor's rank and file.

According to rumors that had reached Alliance Intelligence, Ozzel and Vader rarely saw eye-to-eye. In 1 ABY the Rebels managed to plant seeds of discord between Vader's fleet commanders. Ozzel took the bait and believed the rumors that said that Vader wanted to replace him with a junior officer.

Shortly before the Battle of Hoth, Piett and his staff received a transmission from a probe droid of the rebel shield generator, suggesting there was life in a supposedly uninhabitable system of Hoth. Despite his tendancy to indulge in unsubstantial leads, Ozzel dismissed the lead, stating that the shield generator most likely belonged to smugglers. Darth Vader, however, was certain that they had found the Rebel base, and ordered his fleet to the Hoth system.

Death
"You have failed me for the last time, Admiral."

- Darth Vader to Admiral Ozzel



Believing that he could best defeat the Rebels by surprising them, Ozzel brought the fleet out of hyperspace very close to the sixth planet of the Hoth system, alerting the Rebels to their prescence and allowing them to activate an energy field, rendering orbital bombardment useless. Upon realizing Ozzel's failure, Darth Vader Force Choked Ozzel to death and made Ozzel's subordinate officer, Piett, commander of the Executor.

Behind the scenes
Kendal Ozzel was played by Michael Sheard in The Empire Strikes Back, who also portrayed Adolf Hitler in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the third installment of George Lucas' other successful trilogy. In the audio drama version of The Empire Strikes Back, Ozzel was voiced by Peter Michael Goetz.

The name 'Kendal' is a reference to the character Danny Kendall from the British Grange Hill TV series, with whom Sheard's character 'Mr Bronson' had a long-standing enmity. The name first appeared in The Official Star Wars Fact File in the UK (the reference was put in with Sheard's blessing) and later made its way to the official website.

There are inconsistencies between the various sources describing Ozzel's path to becoming Vader's senior subordinate in Death Squadron. Most notably, he appears as an Admiral aboard the Executor under Vader's command in Scoundrel's Luck, which apparently takes place while Vader is still in a healing trance in his TIE after the Battle of Yavin. However, the depiction of Vader's recovery here contradicts that shown in Star Wars Empire 14: The Savage Heart.

Appearances

 * The Hutt Gambit
 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * Doom Mission
 * Allegiance
 * Star Wars Rebellion: My Brother, My Enemy
 * Star Wars Galaxies
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back novel
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars 39: The Empire Strikes Back: Beginning
 * Star Wars 40: The Empire Strikes Back: Battleground: Hoth
 * LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
 * The Longest Fall