Maarek Stele

"Enough of this charade! Gamma 1 is the Emperor's stool pigeon!"

- Harkov

Tan Maarek Stele was a pilot of the Imperial Navy and an Emperor's Hand who eventually elevated to the status of Emperor's Reach. Like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, 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.

Recruitment
Maarek Stele was the son of Marina and Kerek Stele, 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. His father was a famous scientist who was kidnapped by Bordali agents when Stele was very young.

Stele was an accomplished Swoop bike pilot who engaged in illegal races for money. During one of these races, circa 2 ABY, the race was raided by the authorities, and Stele fled while still aboard his swoop to avoid capture, however he had been identified, and footage of his escape was publicly broadcast. He and his mother were captured by Bordali agents who saw the footage and recognized his name. While being taken via a shuttle to Bordal to serve as hostages, their shuttle was captured by an Imperial Star Destroyer. The Galactic Empire had arrived in the Taroon system to impose order and put an end to the longstanding Taroonian Civil War.

For three months, Stele remained imprisoned aboard Vengeance. With experience as a pilot and mechanic, and his father's teachings on astrophysics, Stele was one of two hundred Kuani and Bordali selected to be offered to serve in the Emperor's military. Admiral Mordon, the officer tasked with subjugating the Taroon system, explained the "offer" to the recruits, and displayed a standard holographic message from Palpatine. Stele was drawn in by Emperor's image and chose to serve the Empire with all his being. He joined the service as a "civilian defense contractor" aboard Vengeance, and then worked as a mechanic in the ship's spacecraft intermediate maintenance department.

Stele worked diligently in the TIE Fighter launch bays, repairing damaged starfighters after missions. After three months, the Taroon system was pacified and occupied, and Maarek had become quite proficient at flying TIE Fighters while on maintenance test flights before returning them to active service. While piloting a newly repaired TIE interceptor on a test flight above Farboon, a distress signal was broadcast from a nearby shuttle. Stele engaged two Y-wings and two X-wings, delaying the Rebel Assault until reinforcements could arrive, unaware that the shuttle he saved contained Admiral Mordon.

Training
Impressed with Stele's initiative and untrained skill, Mordon nominated Stele for pilot training. For two months, Stele received an orientation in the Imperial military and basic training under Senior Master Sergeant Jona T. Stark, and was then relocated to Vengeance for flight training. The first part of his training was spent in simulators and then moved on to trainer starfighters under the watchful eye of Captain Trox.

During his training, Stele was brought under the wing of Mordon, who taught the young pilot about dogfighting, piloting and command, which Stele summarized into 23 rules labeled "Some General Combat Tactics". The pair talked often in the Admiral's cabin, discussing history, combat techniques and the current galactic political situation. 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 Starfleet officers and suggested that the Empire's downfall may not be the Rebel Alliance, but its own commanders.

Weeks later, Mordon was declared dead and replaced with Acting Admiral Coross. Stele was interrogated about his relationship with Mordon and offered all he knew. Unsatisfied, his questioners forced him to drink a mysterious liquid that made him forget the subsequent interrogation. Days later he received an encoded 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. En route to Javin, he served 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 fighters arrived, but was routed by the Imperial patrol. After his first mission, Stele had a strange dream of the Emperor in which Palpatine said, "You have been called upon to join us, for the good of all beings, you are mine." The dream would be quite prophetic and may well have been a vision sent to him by Palpatine through the Force.

Arriving at Outpost D-34 in the Anoat Sector, Stele was assigned to TIE/ln Alpha 1 and piloted the starfighter on patrol and inspection missions. D-34 was positioned along a major hyperlane, giving Stele plenty of vessels to inspect for Imperial Customs. After the 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. It was after this mission that Stele met a Cloaked Figure and had his first encounter with the Secret Order Admiral Mordon had mentioned. 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 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 3 X-wings, 3 A-wings, 4 B-wings and three Delta-class JV-7 shuttles with a TIE Interceptor.

It was discovered that the attack was launched from the light Calamari cruiser Lulsla, now taking on supplies in the Bruanii Sector. Stele was once again called on, and flew Assault Gunboats in two waves against the cruiser: 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 Lulsla was destroyed and the Battle of the Bruanii Sector was won.

Sepan Civil War
Afterwards, he transferred on a semi-permanent basis to the Victory-class Star Destroyer 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 be repelled from a transfer of new production TIE Advanced 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.

Service under Thrawn
Harkov was shaken by Stele's newfound curiosity, and had him 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. Stele's wingmates on the Stalwart were his comrades from the Fogger, Alimet, Ketcher, Carith, and Grommet. It was at Thrawn's formal inspection of NL-1 here that Stele was first noticed by the Vice Admiral, when Stele's TIE/sa starfighter 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.

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 which 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