Maarek Stele

Tan Maarek Stele was a pilot of the Imperial Navy and an Emperor's Hand. Like Darth Vader Luke Skywalker and Keyan Farlander Stele's Force-sensitivity enhanced his pilot skills to make him one of the greatest pilots in the Galactic Empire. In that capacity he flew as Vader's wingmate, served under Grand Admiral Thrawn and saved the life of Emperor Palpatine.

He was also well known as a test pilot, being one of the first to fly the TIE Avenger, and the first to fly both the TIE Defender and the Missile Boat into combat. He was also a "guinea pig" for some of Thrawn's more unusual tactics, such as using a TIE Bomber for defense.

Early life
Maarek Stele was born on Kuan, a forgotten backwater world in the Taroon system in the Outer Rim Territories that had been locked in a conflict with neighboring Bordal since the end of the Clone Wars, a conflict that had ruined both worlds' economies and left the people living under martial law. The son of Marina and Kerek Stele, his life changed after his father was kidnapped by Bordali agents when Stele was young&mdash;the Bordali hoped to make the famous scientist work for them against his own people. Marina and the young Maarek were forced to keep a low profile, if the Bordali were able to capture them they would be able to threaten their safety to ensure Kerek’s cooperation.

The stunt
Maarek, however, started to take chances. He became involved with illegal swoop gangs and, as an accomplished swoop bike pilot, began participating in competitions for money, undertaking dangerous stunts among the ruined high-rise buildings on his homeworld, though he made sure to participate under an alias. During one of these competitions, circa 2 ABY, Stele executed a near-perfect stunt, but returned to staging area to discover the swoop ring was being raided by the authorities. Stele acted quickly to avoid capture, fleeing on his swoop, but footage of the raid was publicly broadcast and Stele was soon identified.

Unaware of the footage of his escape, Stele returned to the small hangar where he kept the swoop to begin repairing the damage sustained in the stunt though, without the winnings from the competition, buying the parts he needed would be difficult. After dropping off the swoop he left to visit his mother in her hideout in the old city.

Marina informed Maarek that he had been shown on footage of the raid and, furthermore, that he had been identified by his real name. She was concerned that this may lead the Bordali to them and that they may need to move on and find another place to hide. Though Maarek initially thought she was over-reacting, it soon became clear that Marina was right when Bordali agents stormed the apartment and they were forced to flee.

The escape attempt, however, had been anticipated and six armed Bordali intercepted them as the fled. Unarmed and forced to surrender, Maarek and his mother were restrained and fitted with soundproof hoods over their heads before being led to a waiting shuttle bound for Bordal. Once in orbit they discovered how the Bordali had located them so quickly&mdash;after initially identifying Maarek from the raid footage they had begun a search which led them to capture his friend and fellow swoop pilot Pargo who had, under interrogation, revealed Marina's location.

When a commotion in the cockpit called all but one of the guards away, the unrestrained but apparently unconscious Pargo leaped into action, disarming and restraining the lone guard before freeing his friends. As they began to plan their next move the ship lurched suddenly and the cause of the distraction in the cockpit became clear&mdash;they had been caught in the tractor beam of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer. The Galactic Empire had arrived in the Taroon system to impose order and put an end to the longstanding Taroonian Civil War. The shuttle was soon boarded by Imperial stormtroopers and the occupants, their previous animosity soon forgotten, were transported to the Star Destroyer Vengeance.

Recruitment
Upon arriving at the Vengeance Maarek was separated from the others and left alone in a cell. After some time he was debriefed by an Imperial officer. His initial debriefing revealed Maarek's experience as both a swoop pilot and mechanic along with his father's teachings on astrophysics, skills which caused him to be identified as potentially useful to the Empire. The next day he was one of almost two hundred Kuani and Bordali prisoners selected to be invited to serve the Empire. In a small amphitheater on the Vengeance, Admiral Mordon, the officer tasked with subjugating the Taroon system, explained the "offer" to the recruits, and displayed a standard holographic message from Emperor Palpatine. Stele was drawn in by the Emperor's image and chose to serve the Empire with all his being.

Some of those who attended Mordon's speach returned to their homeworlds to help in the transition of power and, in the case of Marina, to look for her husband. Maarek, however, decided to serve the Imperial military, a decision which was influenced not only by his belief in the Empire but also by his desire to find his father who he felt was no longer in Taroon. Stele started work as a civilian mechanic in one of the main hangars aboard the Vengeance, a repair and construction facility where he worked diligently, repairing damaged starfighters after missions.

It was an unwritten rule that the repair staff were supposed to conduct test flights before returning starfighters to active service. Stele got his first opportunity to fly a TIE Fighter about a month after arriving on the Vengeance, having been shown the controls by the veteran mechanics.

After three months on the Vengeance, the Taroon system was long since pacified and occupied, and Maarek had become quite proficient at flying TIE series starfighters while on maintenance test flights, his swoop experience making him a natural. While piloting a newly repaired TIE Interceptor on a test flight above Farboon, a distress signal was broadcast from a nearby shuttle. With the Star Destroyer unable to assist in time, Stele was instructed to assist. When he reached it he saw the debris of the shuttle's escorts and two Y-wings shooting at the shuttle. Stele moved quickly to attack the Y-wings, succeeding in drawing them away from the shuttle. Despite the arrival of two X-wings, Stele delayed the Rebel assault until reinforcements could arrive.

Only after he returned to the Vengeance did Stele learn that the shuttle he saved was carrying Admiral Mordon. Impressed with Stele's initiative and untrained skill, Mordon nominated Stele to join the Imperial Navy and undergo pilot training.

Training
A few days later Maarek boarded a transport bound for a facility where he would undergo his basic military training. He, along with several other recruits, spent the journey in the cold, uncomfortable cargo hold as the Empire attempted to break them and weed out the weak. This process would continue as Stele received an orientation in the Imperial military and basic training under Senior Master Sergeant Jona T. Stark. Over the next two months he was instructed in military procedure, put through physical training and tested. Eventually his basic training was complete and he was then relocated back to the Vengeance for flight training. The first part of his training was spent in simulators and, after a week, he moved on to trainer starfighters under the watchful eye of Captain Trox.

During his time on the Vengeance, Stele was brought under the wing of Mordon, who took a liking to the young pilot. The Admiral gave Stele a password to use with his aides whenever he wanted to speak to him, "There's a fog over Celadon City." The pair talked often in the Admiral's private garden aboard the Star Destroyer, discussing history, combat techniques and the current galactic political situation. Mordon passed on some of his experiences with dogfighting, piloting and command, which Stele summarized into twenty-three rules labeled "Some General Combat Tactics". It was Mordon who first prompted Stele to seek out the Secret Order of the Emperor to gain advancement opportunities. He also confided in Stele his concern over disloyalty amongst some senior fleet officers and suggested that the Empire's downfall may not be due to the Rebel Alliance, but its own commanders.

During his training Maarek received his first assignment, a brief stint aboard a corvette patrolling space for smugglers. Here he got his first taste of combat duty when a freighter running weapons for the Alliance was detected. When engaged, a squadron of Alliance shuttles arrived, but was routed by the Imperial patrol and Stele destroyed three Rebel shuttles during the skirmish. During the mission Stele witnessed the death of one of the other TIE pilots as his TIE Fighter collided with a shuttle and was destroyed&mdash;the shuttle took only minimal damage. The incident highlighted to Stele that the only way to survive as a TIE pilot was to fly the better craft, an opportunity only usually available to the elite pilots, and Stele resolved to be counted among this group.

That same night Stele had a strange vision of the Emperor in which Palpatine said, "You have been called upon to join us, for the good of all beings&hellip;You are mine." The dream would be quite prophetic and may well have been a vision sent to him by Palpatine through the Force. He would have several more similar visions over the coming months.

Around the end of his training, Stele was devastated to learn that Admiral Mordon had died of "natural causes". Mordon was quickly replaced by (Acting) Admiral Coross and several crew members were interrogated by investigators, a process they were told was "standard procedure". Stele was questioned about his relationship with Mordon and offered all he knew. Unsatisfied after several hours of questioning, the investigators forced him to drink a mysterious liquid that made him forget the subsequent interrogation. Days later he received a message, supposedly from his mother but a reference to Celadon City made him realize that something was amiss. Using the password Mordon had given him, Stele decrypted the message to find a hidden message recorded by Mordon before his death, informing Stele that Mordon had ordered his transfer to a remote Imperial post to avoid the treachery he suspected may have led to his death.

Defense of Outpost D-34


Stele was transferred from Vengeance to an Imperial outpost in the Greater Javin region. Arriving at Outpost D-34 in the Anoat Sector, Stele was assigned a TIE Fighter and piloted the starfighter on daily patrol and inspection missions. D-34 was positioned along a major hyperlane, giving Stele plenty of vessels to inspect for Imperial Customs. After the recent Imperial victory at Hoth in 3 ABY, patrols of Javin space increased on the belief that Alliance vessels would attempt to cross through one of its major hyperlanes. While on patrol, Stele identified a group of ten Alliance fugitives aboard Onece 3, disabled it for boarding and destroyed it's escort.

Stele had found his assignment to D-34 dull, spending much of his free time in simulators, and had soon realized that this was not an assignment which was likely to lead to greater opportunities. However, after this mission Stele met a Cloaked Figure, his first encounter with the Secret Order Admiral Mordon had mentioned. He was instructed to check with one of their envoys before missions as they would often have additional tasks that required doing, beyond those set by his superiors. Were he to succeeed, he would be rewarded with the opportunity of joining the Order.

It was not long before the Alliance launched a punitive attack against D-34, in order to clear the hyperlane for more Hoth refugees. Stele aided in the defense of his temporary home, driving off the Rebel attackers and disabling the shuttle Scutz, which yielded a group of Alliance officers.



After his success at D-34, Stele was transferred to EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate Fogger, where he befriended Flight Officers Carith, Alimet and Ketcher. Assigned to a TIE Bomber of Alpha Squadron, Carith and Alimet flew on Stele's wing in a raid against Alliance freighters passing through a Mugaari supply depot. Stele's kills included the two massive freighters Gallon and Romold, the Alliance operative-carrying Dawn and a number of escorting Y-wings. Upon Fogger's return to D-34, it was discovered that the Alliance had seized control of the station. Stele fought to regain D-34, cutting down several X-wings, A-wings, B-wings and Delta-class JV-7 escort shuttles with a TIE Interceptor.

It was discovered that the attack was launched from the Calamari light cruiser Lulsla, now taking on supplies in the Bruanii Sector. Stele was once again called on, and flew Assault Gunboats in two missions against the cruiser: first to deplete the Lulsla's starfighter defenses, then to clear a last-ditch minefield and disable shuttles being used to evacuate the commander and officers while others attacked the cruiser. The Lulsla was destroyed and the Battle of the Bruanii Sector was won. Moreover, Stele discovered Imperial probes aboard a container during the battle, confirming the Secret Order's suspicions that somebody was leaking technology to the Rebels.

Sepan Civil War
Maarek was just getting used to life on the Fogger when, shortly after the attack on the Lulsla', he received a sudden transfer to the Victory-class Star Destroyer Protector, serving in Admiral Harkov's campaign to end a civil war in the Sepan system. On his first mission, to rescue a Ripoblus convoy from Dimok attack, Stele discovered that one of the ships in the convoy was carrying Imperial weapons and found further weapons on a Dimok installation in a subsequent mission to stop a Ripoblus attack&mdash;on both occasions he was acting on suspicions voiced by the Secret Order. Despite his discoveries Stele's actions brought him to the attention of his superiors and he was twice disciplined by Captain Trace who warned him not to exceed his orders.

The Imperial intervention 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 be repelled from a transfer of new production TIE Advanced fighters from the escort carrier Tropsobor to the VSD Protector. However, acting on instructions from the Secret Order, 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.

Stele's time on the Protector had been successful, seeing him receive two quick promotions to lieutenant and then captain and, after this final mission, the Secret Order rewarded him for his loyalty, bringing him further into their ranks.

Service under Thrawn
Stele soon received another transfer and, although the reasons for this were not clear, he suspected that the Secret Order had been responsible in an effort to remove him from Harkov's control while they investigated him for suspected treason. He found himself stationed on the Nebulon-B2 frigate Ludwick, as part of a task force commanded by Vice Admiral Thrawn which was charged with the construction and guarding of space station NL-1 in the Pakuuni system. On the Ludwick he was reunited with his comrades from the Fogger: Alimet, Ketcher and Carith. After the pilots sneaked into a hangar during a visit by Vice Admiral Thrawn, Commander Buckeye punished them by ordering them to help clean up a pirate base after an Imperial attack.

With NL-1 established Stele helped defend it against a Rebel attack until Thrawn arrived in the Victory-class Star Destroyer Stalwart and was promoted to commander after the attack was repelled. It was at Thrawn's formal inspection of NL-1 here that Stele was first noticed by the Vice Admiral, when with most of their other fighters undergoing repairs, Stele's TIE Bomber acted as escort for Thrawn's transports to and from the VSD Stalwart. In beating back an attack by the Rebels and Pakuuni Pirates involving 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.



The new hyperdrive technology
After NL-1, Stele was transferred to the service of Admiral Zaarin, and aided him in obtaining new hyperdrive technology from the Habeen who had achieved a breakthrough in making a new hyperdrive model that could be small and reliable enough for the new TIE Avenger with the help of the Nharwaak. While the Habeen were doing business with the Empire, the Nharwaak were planning in doing business with the Rebellion. During his time with Zaarin, Stele had stopped a Nharwaak raid on a Habeen convoy, destroyed the main Nharwaak base, thwarted a Nharwaak raid on the Habeen research facility and protected a meeting between the Habeen and Zaarin to close the deal. He also aided in the attack on the Nharwaak when they were trying to sell the hyperdrive technology to the Alliance.

Harkov's betrayal
Stele was then transferred back to the Protector, and was asked to demonstrate to a pair of Rookies how to destroy a minefield with an unshielded craft. While he was in the process of doing this, Harkov ordered the Rookies to destroy Stele. Shocked at this betrayal, Stele called for backup, and Secret Order forces entered the area in the Nebulon-B2 frigate Osprey, allowing Stele to escape.

This act of treason was evidence enough for the Emperor to send the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet, Lord Darth Vader, to personally deal with Harkov. Stele participated in a campaign which stranded Harkov at a Rebel outpost, allowing Vader to launch an all out assault. During the battle, Stele located Harkov's escape transport, and personally exacted revenge on the turncoat Admiral by disabling it. Harkov was then taken to Vader who brutally executed him.

The new starfighter
Stele was also instrumental in the development of the TIE Avenger, being one of the preliminary test pilots. Also in development was the TIE/D Defender, an operation in which Stele was heavily involved. He was patrolling the station where 6 prototypes of the new starfighter were developed and were being readied so that Darth Vader could inspect them. The station then became under attack from A-wings and B-wings, the raid however was successfully driven off. The next raid was at Vinzen Neela 5 where the prototypes were being delivered to the Imperial Escort Carrier Hininbirg. The raid consisted of X-wings, B-wings, A-wings, Y-wings and the two CR90 corvettes Mar Duun and Vop Hui The Rebels were again beaten back by Stele. The development then reached a critical phase during which the Rebels attacked again with X-Wings, B-wings, A-wings, and Delta-class DX-9 stormtrooper transports. During this latest raid, the Rebel B-wings employed a new warhead, the Mag pulse torpedo. The raid was once again beaten back by Maarek Stele. Stele also disabled a B-wing containing the new warheads and guarded the capture operation. The Mag Pulse warheads were manufactured by Galactic Electronics; more specifically, the warheads were traced back to Galactic Electronics' Space Station Pondut. Maarek Stele took part in the capture of the station.

The Zaarin Insurrection
While mopping up the remainder of Harkov's fleet, Lord Vader's flagship, the Garret, came under fire from forces under the command of Zaarin. The attack force consisted of three groups of Assassin-class corvettes called Arditi, Falcon and Bakaar but the corvettes were all destroyed. Sensing that the Emperor was in danger, Vader selected a few ace pilots, Stele included, to accompany him to Coruscant, in the hopes of saving the Emperor. They were stalled by the Immobilizer 418 cruiser Harpago however the Harpago was destroyed. Stele was able to locate Palpatine who was kidnapped from the Majestic in time to save him from being to delivered to Zaarin in the Glory.

The loss of the Omar Factories
Stele was then assigned to the Omar system where TIE Avengers were being produced to stop Zaarin from destroying the Deep Space Manufacturing Facilities there. His first assignment was to hold off the Raptor long enough for the evacuation of three Factories known as Omar. After which he had to stop an attempt made by Zaarin's forces to loot equipment from ZA-13, during which, he stopped all of the craft that were looting the equipment and recovered the stolen materials of ZA-13. Stele then had to escort personnel to ZA-13 while repelling another attack by Zaarin, consisting of Assault Gunboats, three CR90s Caplure, one Carrack Cruiser called Jumimi and three Delta-class DX-9 stormtrooper transports. Stele then escorted the convoy Rope 17 to ZA-13 where rebels were attempting to destroy the convoy with multiple star fighters, some of them armed with their new Mag pulse warhead and CR90 Corvettes, the rebel raid was driven off again. They then found out where the rebels were manufacturing this new warhead, which was space station RS-32. Under command of Thrawn who was commanding Victory I-class Star Destroyer Sceltor Maarek then launched an attack against the station, captured it and acquired the new warhead. However Zaarin launched a sneak attack on not just Thrawn, who had successfully escaped thanks to Stele, but ZA-13 was destroyed along with the rest of the factories. However Maarek still got a medal.

Back under Thrawn, Stele protected the Emperor en route to Endor, eliminated Rebel ships and finally saw to the destruction of the rogue Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin.

The 181st
Stele's pursuit of Zaarin prevented him from participating in the Battle of Endor. After the battle, more and more officers followed the trail Zaarin had blazed and became backstabbing warlords, leading Stele to question the Empire's worth. Baron Soontir Fel stepped in to renew Stele's faith in the Empire, recruiting the Emperor's Hand to join the legendary 181st Imperial Fighter Group. Stele's faith was restored, and he served the Empire even as it dwindled into the Imperial Remnant.

During the early stages of the Yuuzhan Vong War, Stele patrolled the Remnant's borders to ensure the war did not spread to their territory.

Behind the scenes

 * Stele is the official player character (regardless of what pilot name is entered, in the same manner as Keyan Farlander and Ace Azzameen) in the 1994 game Star Wars: TIE Fighter and its subsequent expansions Defender of the Empire and Enemies of the Empire.
 * A stele is an ancient grave marker.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: TIE Fighter
 * Defender of the Empire
 * Enemies of the Empire
 * Stele Chronicles