Beilert Valance

Beilert Valance, previously known as Cadet 404-913, was a human male who served alongside Han Solo as a cadet for the Galactic Empire at Carida Academy, the Imperial Naval Academy on the planet Carida. He eventually became a bounty hunter and was hired to hunt Darth Vader.

Imperial cadet
"The Empire is good. And pure. Scrumrats don't belong in the Navy, Solo."

- Beilert Valance, to Han Solo

Beilert Valance was a cadet for the Galactic Empire at Carida Academy, the Imperial Naval Academy on the planet Carida. During a training session, fellow cadet Han Solo spoke out of turn to their training officer Lieutenant Triosa Broog. She responded by ordering the cadets to run up a mountain in full swamp trooper gear. In response to this Valence and several others attacked Solo. Valance insulted Solo, claiming scrumrats like him didn't belong in the navy, but before he could cause any serious physical harm, cadet Kanina Nico&mdash;who strongly disliked Valance&mdash;cut in and told him to let the other cadet go.

While Solo was detained temporarily for trying to escape Carida in a TIE fighter, Valance climbed to the top of the cadet leader board, competing heavily with Nico. When Solo returned to see the leader board, he confronted him again. Solo tried to fight him, but was knocked to the ground by Valance. Solo then kicked him in the groin and hit him around the face with a tray. An officer arrived and questioned the incident, but Solo and Valance dismissed it as a misunderstanding to avoid punishment. Valance briefly threatened Solo after, before they both parted ways.

Later, Valance was partnered with Lyttan Dree for another training session. In TIE fighters, they were tasked with working together against the other pairs to obliterate their target. During the session, Lyttan's brother, Tamu Dree, flew in a collision course. Lyttan abandoned Valance and their mission for his brother, but it was Solo which saved him in the end. After, the cadets were put in a cell for not completing their task. Their punishment was making soup for the other cadets. When Solo became covered in live roots, Valance refused to let the Dree brothers help him.

One day, the cadets under punishment were approached by training officer Yurib Nakan, who reported that their work duties were already fulfilled for the day, supposedly thanks to Valance. He had Valance returned to flight training and other four flying the Quasar Fire-class cruiser-carrier which carried the rest of the cadets flying in TIE fighters. As a part of their training session, the cadets in TIEs had to fly across open space to rendezvous with a destroyer while Solo, Nico and the Dree brothers flew the carrier. Following the exercise, Valance was with the four cadets after they returned with the carrier. They had all been reinstated to full-flight status following their success in returning on time. Nakan entered the room after the news came to light and told Valance and the others that they would be combating real enemies.

Valance and the rest of the squad were assigned to Qhulosk. Before the Battle of Howlan, he argued with Nakan about Solo's fitness to fly into battle. Once the attack began, Valance took the lead. Solo strafed some cannons, but was pursued by three Qhuloskian fighters. Valance dropped in behind them, destroying them and saving Solo. He then took the point and led an attack on the shield generators that were protecting the Qhuloskian army. After a successful attack, Valance's TIE fighter was hit by enemy fire and heavily damaged. A pair of Qhuloskian fighters got behind him but Solo convinced Valance to turn off his engines so he would drop out of the line of fire and give Solo a clear shot at them. He restarted his engines, but was unable to maneuver his fighter. Before Solo could assist him, his fighter was hit by more enemy fire and he crash-landed, unable to eject.

Valance got out of his crashed starfighter and set up a defensive perimeter. When Solo and the rest of the squad approached him, he fired on them thinking they were enemies. Tamu applied first aid to his wounds. Valance expressed disbelief that the Empire would send his squadmates to rescue him and Solo informed him they did it on their own. While Valance couldn't believe it, Solo told him that Valance was like all soldiers, expendable. Solo got Valance on the back of his speeder bike, and Valance begrudgingly thanked him for the rescue. On their way back to base, they ran into a large group of Qhuloskian soldiers. Valance fired upon them, but the squad was quickly surrounded. They were saved by a group of Ghular slaves. After learning Nico's planet was next to be conquered by the Empire, Solo concocted a plan to make it look like she died in combat. Valance agreed to go along with the falsehood but warned her she'd be wanted by the Empire. When Valance got back to base and was sent to medical bay, he learned the Empire wouldn't replace his eye or leg and he would lose his flight privileges. He was upset, but Tamu guessed he would pay for them himself and re-enlist as a soldier so he could continue to serve.

Bounty hunter
Eventually, Valance became a bounty hunter. In his new career, he notably developed a grudge against the famous Dengar over some incident the latter referred to as "the Ralen job." Moreover, Valance made a habit of stealing bounties, which put him at odds with the Bounty Hunters' Guild. At one point, he lured a number of colleagues who had a score to settle with him to BG-RT's Tavern on Coruscant. Further flouting the Bounty Hunter's Code, he killed them all in the middle of the crowd, starting with Xonr, whom he incinerated. While returning to his ship, the Broken Wing, Valance was approached by a Tarsunt representing the Hidden Hand. As the Tarsunt tried to talk him into joining a team of rule breakers assembled by the Hand, Valance initially refused, since he would only work alone. However, he was quick to change his mind when he heard the target was none other than Darth Vader, the Galactic Emperor's right-hand man. The former Imperial met with the rest of the team: the tracker Honnah, the sniper Urrr'k, the slicer Chio Fain, the killer droid R9-19, and Dengar. Valance's very first reflex after punching Dengar was to incinerate R9-19, not just out of dislike for droids, but because he suspected him of being a mole. As it turned out, the loose cannon was right, since a snitch was found inside the droid's remains.

Personality and traits
Beilert Valance believed he could prove he was the best by beating others into submission, as demonstrated by his fight with Solo, which made him well suited for service in the Imperial Military.

Behind the scenes
Beilert Valance first appeared in the canon comic book Han Solo - Imperial Cadet 1, which was written by Robbie Thompson, illustrated by Leonard Kirk, and published in 2018. He was later identified as Valance in the third issue and identified as Beilert in the fourth. In Star Wars Legends, Beilert Valance first appeared in Star Wars 16: The Hunter, a 1978 comic book written by Archie Goodwin.

Appearances

 * Han Solo - Imperial Cadet 1
 * Han Solo - Imperial Cadet 2
 * Han Solo - Imperial Cadet 3
 * Han Solo - Imperial Cadet 4
 * Han Solo - Imperial Cadet 5
 * Target Vader 1
 * Target Vader 2
 * Target Vader 3