Ledre Okins

"I thought perhaps Admiral Okins might command the expedition.''" "Did you?" "But if it is your wish, I shall lead the attack." "''It is my wish. You may take Okins if you like, but you are to personally ensure the assault."

- Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine discuss the assault on the Vergesso Asteroids

Okins, a Human male, was one of the oldest admirals in the upper echelons of the Imperial Navy during the Galactic Civil War. A by-the-books officer, he had obtained his ranking through years of loyalty to the Empire and by simply following orders, rather than by taking great risks or being a tactical genius. Okins' loyalty came to the attention of Emperor Palpatine, who frequently dispatched Okins to lead task forces of fleet commanders who were not following Imperial regulations. Everything Okins observed he reported back to the Emperor.

In 3.5 ABY, shortly following the Battle of Hoth, Darth Vader tasked Okins with overseeing the destruction of a secret Rebel Alliance shipyard in the Vergesso Asteroids from aboard Vader's personal flagship, the Super Star Destroyer Executor. Okins successfully led the Executor in a tremendous rout of the Rebel shipyard, destroying hundreds of vessels in a great victory for the Empire.

Biography
"Scramble our fighters. I don't want to waste firepower swatting these annoying&hellip;flies with our big guns."

- Admiral Okins, during the Battle of the Bajic Shipyards

The Emperor's toady
Okins was an upper-echelon Imperial Navy admiral during the height of the Galactic Civil War. Okins toiled through years of loyal service to the Empire to reach his position, but his rise through the ranks was not marked by ambitious allies looking to use Okins to further their own standing. Rather, Okins established himself on merit alone by demonstrating daily competence and simply following orders. He owed neither favor nor loyalty to anyone but the Empire itself. As a result, Okins was older than many admirals in the Imperial Navy's higher echelons by 3 ABY.

Okins' unwavering loyalty to the Empire brought him to the attention of the Emperor, who considered Okins the perfect lackey to do his bidding. The Emperor often assigned Okins to lead small task forces to eradicate pirates or subjugate planets. Typically, Okins was given authority over a fleet commander who had skirted Imperial regulations and acted on ego and ambition, and an officer finding himself serving under Okins knew that everything that happened would be reported back to the Emperor.

On occasion, Okins was even assigned to some of the Emperor's most trusted advisors, including Darth Vader, to ensure his master's wishes were carried out. Shortly following the Battle of Hoth in 3 ABY, Vader returned to the Imperial capital of Coruscant aboard his flagship, the Super Star Destroyer Executor, to make his report to the Emperor regarding his encounter with his son, Luke Skywalker, on Bespin's Cloud City. With him, Vader brought along Okins so that Admiral Firmus Piett, the Executor ' s commanding officer, could stay with Vader's fleet, the Imperial Death Squadron, and continue the Empire's hunt for the Rebel Alliance.

Vergesso Asteroids assault
In 3.5 ABY, Okins was present on Coruscant when the Empire learned of the presence of a flourishing Rebel shipyard in the Vergesso Asteroids, which had been operating under Imperial noses. The Emperor tasked Vader with the responsibility of personally overseeing the shipyard's destruction, against Vader's own preference. Vader did not consider it necessary that he go along for the assault, believing any half-competent line officer could see it through to successful completion, so he selected Okins to join him in command of the Executor for the expedition. Outside the Imperial Palace in Coruscant's Imperial City, Vader ordered Okins to prepare a task force in preparation. Supporting the Executor would be the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Avenger and two Victory II-class Star Destroyers, the Victory 1 and the Victory 2.

Nearly a standard week after earning the assignment, Okins and the Executor arrived in the Lybeya system of the Bajic sector, home of the Vergesso Asteroids. The Rebel shipyard was a giant asteroid housing hundreds of docked starships undergoing repair, less than a challenging operation. Before Okins could bring his task force to engage the shipyard, however, several Rebel capital ships emerged from behind the asteroid, and suddenly Okins was faced with a far greater challenge than simply eliminating a repair yard.

The Rebel capital ships soon deployed a dozen starfighters to meet the Imperial task force, to the annoyance of Okins. He ordered the Executor ' s TIE operations officer to scramble their own fighters in response, not caring to waste the Executor ' s firepower on such insignificant targets. Still, the presence of Rebel fighters proved enticing to Vader, who chose to join the battle in his own custom TIE fighter, despite Okins' voiced reservations, leaving the destruction of the shipyard solely in Okins' hands.

Okins led the Imperial task force in eliminating the minor Rebel resistance and obliterating the shipyard, destroying hundreds of Rebel vessels and thousands of troops within&mdash;a great victory for the Empire. As soon the assault concluded, the Executor immediately returned to Coruscant so that Vader could return to his domestic affairs.

Personality and traits
Okins perfectly exemplified the Imperial Navy's by-the-manual officer. He climbed the Imperial Navy's command ladder not by taking great risks or with tactical ingenuity, but by simply doing what he was told and following the orders of his superiors. Even though he was one of the oldest upper-echelon admirals in the Imperial Navy, the middle-aged Okins seemed older than he truly was due to his many weathered years of loyal service.

Okins never considered himself manipulated by the Emperor. He saw his work for the Emperor as merely his way of serving the Empire, because, in his mind, being a loyal servant meant doing whatever you were told, not pursuing personal agendas or trying to destroy your peers. Should orders be ignored, the chain of command would collapse, and the Emperor's will would not be realized. Okins considered his link in that chain vital, no matter how minor.

Among Okins' standard equipment was a blaster pistol, comlink, and a datapad.

Behind the scenes
Admiral Okins first appeared as a minor character in the May 1996 novel Shadows of the Empire, by Steve Perry. The June 1996 Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook, written by Peter Schweighofer, provided Okins with a brief background as one of the Emperor's lackeys in the Imperial Navy. Artist Ray Lederer provided the sourcebook's illustration of Okins.

Appearances

 * Shadows of the Empire novel