Demetrius Zaarin

"Once again we have evaded Thrawn's grasp. I knew I could beat that&hellip; AHHH!"

- Zaarin's final words

Demetrius Zaarin was an ambitious Imperial officer who reached the rank of Grand Admiral. Zaarin's lust for power and prestige was unsatisfied even by his appointment to Grand Admiral at New Year Fete Week two years before the Battle of Yavin.

Projects
A brilliant strategist and a gifted scientist, Zaarin was appointed head of Starfighter Research and Development, and soon began work on a new model of TIE starfighter, the TIE Advanced. Once the TIE Advanced was tested and in production, it was soon followed by an even more capable starfighter, the TIE/D Defender.

With such advanced technology and vast resources at his disposal, Zaarin was one of Emperor Palpatine's most powerful vassals, of whom complete loyalty was expected.

TIE Experimental Project
With the TIE Defender development complete, Zaarin moved onto alternate forms of arms progression. He commissioned Lenzer to create the TIE Experimental Project, resulting in a new series of modified TIE craft, piloted remotely from a Beta-class ETR-3 escort transport. From research station Obsidian, Lenzer had the fighters ravage shipping an Alliance operations in the Vilonis Sector, while Zaarin deployed Shadow Squadron to protect development facilities such as Bretie Facility. Admiral Yamarus' Liberty Task Force soon got the better of Lenzer, and with Bretie destroyed, they moved onto Obsidian. The research station was demolished, and Lenzer failed to survive, but upon surveying the wreckage, Zaarin was confident that the project could continue in another form.

Coup
However, just as Darth Vader concluded dealing with the treachery of Admiral Harkov, Zaarin launched a coup d'état, attempting to kidnap the Emperor and hold him aboard the admiral's flagship, Glory. However, the kidnap attempt failed, as Vader crushed Zaarin's fighter support in the Ottega system much as was done in the Battle of Coruscant over twenty years prior, and Imperial forces managed to save the Emperor before he reached Glory. Vice Admiral Thrawn's Star Destroyer arrived in time to drive Zaarin off, but he and his forces escaped unscathed, and thus began a lengthy and costly operation under Thrawn's command to stop him. Thrawn's prior secret promotion to Grand Admiral was made official for his actions, and he replaced Zaarin.

Sparring with the alien Grand Admiral


His plans to install himself as dictator foiled, Zaarin retreated to the Outer Rim, having his forces loot and destroy any Imperial facilities they came by. One of these facilities was TIE Avenger factory station ZA-13. Eventually, Zaarin stalemated Thrawn, though losing increasing numbers of his ships in the process. Zaarin and his traitors remained at large for months. Finally, his technophilia proved to be his undoing, as he could not resist stealing the modified cloak-capable CR90 corvette Vorknkx during the Battle of To-phalion Base. Unbeknownst to Zaarin, Thrawn had allowed him to capture the corvette as part of his scheme, knowing that the hyperdrive became unstable when the cloaking device was activated. Following a defeat by Thrawn, Zaarin attempted to flee into hyperspace with the corvette, ignorant of the dangers. When the hyperdrive was engaged, it exploded, destroying the ship and killing Zaarin instantly.

Behind the scenes



 * In all of his computer game appearances, Grand Admiral Zaarin was voiced by Denny Delk.

Audio clips
[[Media:Zaa03.ogg|Hear Grand Admiral Zaarin]] (TIE Fighter Collector's CD-ROM)

Appearances

 * Star Wars: TIE Fighter
 * Star Wars: X-wing Alliance

Notes and references
Demetrius Zaarin