Maarek Stele

Tan Maarek Stele was a pilot of the Imperial Starfleet and an Emperor's Hand. 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.

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 Borali 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 publically broadcast. He, along with his mother were captured by Borali agents who saw the footage and recognized his name. While being taken via a shuttle to Boraal 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. Stele joined the service as a "civilian defense contractor" aboard Vengeance. He 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. Little did he know the shuttle he saved contained Admiral Mordon himself.

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 labaled "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. It informed 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 D-34
Stele was transferred from Vengeance to an Imperial outpost in the Greater Javin region. Enroute 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 starfighters 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 be quite prophetic, and may well have been a vision sent to him by Palpatine through the Force.

Arriving at 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 the other six Alliance shuttles. It was after this mission that Stele 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. Stele aided in the defense, destroying four Y-wings, two Z-95 Headhunters 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 the Mugaari 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 led an attack from Alpha Squadron's TIE interceptors to retake the station, cutting down 3 X-wings, 3 A-wings, 4 B-wings and three Delta-class JV-7 shuttles.

It was discovered that the attack was launched from the light Calamari cruiser Lulsla, now taking on supplies in the Bruanii 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.

Sepan Civil War
Afterwards, he transferred on a semipermanent 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
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.

Behind the scenes

 * Stele's name perhaps comes from stele, an ancient grave marker.
 * 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 TIE Fighter and its subsequent expansions Defender of the Empire and Enemies of the Empire.

Appearances

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