Carlist Rieekan/Legends

"General Rieekan still bears the guilt of Alderaan's destruction on his shoulders. He has vowed never again to hesitate, never again to let the Empire's cruelty surprise him."

- Kem Monnon

Carlist Rieekan was an important military commander in the Alliance to Restore the Republic and one of the New Republic's first Ministers of State.

Early life and career
Rieekan grew up on the peace-loving world of Alderaan. Despite his homeworld's idyllic nature, the young Rieekan knew that sometimes fighting was necessary to prevent further tragedies. His staunch ideals led him to enter military service in the Judicial Forces at the age of 17, and he served in the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. His natural leadership abilities enabled him to quickly move through the ranks and to enter Officer Candidate School.

When the Galactic Empire took over, it was only natural for Rieekan to stay true to his own ideals and to follow Alderaan into joining the Rebel Alliance. He was able to find joy and solidarity in the secret knowledge that the members of the Royal House of Alderaan, the Organas, were chief proponents of similar hopes for the restoration of freedom.

Galactic Civil War
"We've got to hold them until all transports are away. Prepare for ground assault."

- General Rieekan, during the Battle of Hoth

At the outset of Alderaan's involvement in the Galactic Civil War, Rieekan commanded covert operations in the Alderaan system. His command included a network of communications satellites that linked star systems near Alderaan. When the first Death Star arrived in orbit around Alderaan, Rieekan was inspecting a new satellite transmission station in a far orbit around Delaya, Alderaan's sister planet. Almost immediately, frantic transmissions were sent to Rieekan—desperate pleas for evacuation ships. However, Rieekan feared that evacuation at that moment would reveal Alderaan's Rebel sympathies. Instead, he called the Empire's bluff, only to see his homeworld instantly obliterated. It was to his own horrified dismay that, through secret intelligence sources, he knew of the battlestation's capabilities. While there was little Rieekan truly could have done in that moment, he blamed himself for not taking action. Never again, he vowed, would he mistakenly opt for subtlety and caution over action. Never again would he gamble with the lives under his command.

Following the Rebellion's victory at Yavin, Rieekan would serve the Alliance as a line officer. He served at Nentan along with Bren Derlin. There, he oversaw the evacuation of many civilian refugees hoping to find asylum from the Empire. He then managed the evacuation of several thousand liberated Rebel prisoners at the Battle of Tiems. His strategy there was later considered a text book defense by Crix Madine. He also oversaw the evacuation of the base at Dankayo, and the destruction of the Imperial armored transport Elusive, preventing vital Alliance intelligence from falling into Imperial hands, which would have jeopardized Rebel operations in three sectors. His service in these operations earned him a reputation as an officer capable in directing large scale evacuations.

Rieekan's service after Yavin also saw him working closely with the fledgling Rogue Squadron, sending them on a number of escort and rescue missions. During his secret meeting with recently defected Imperial officer Crix Madine on Corellia in 1 ABY, Rieekan and Madine were rescued from an Imperial ambush by Rogue Squadron, with some timely assistance by Han Solo and Chewbacca aboard the Millennium Falcon. Rieekan was a strong supporter of Madine during the period when he faced heavy distrust from some Alliance members who thought him to be an Imperial spy. He teamed Madine and the Rogues on a number of operations, including the campaign against Moff Kohl Seerdon's forces. The eventual inclusion of Madine as Chief Military Advisor in Mon Mothma's Advisory Council proved essential for a number of critical Alliance victories, including the ground assault at Endor years later.



His successes at Nentan, Tiems and Dankayo made General Rieekan a perfect candidate for the command of the new, secret Echo Base on Hoth in 2 ABY in the event that the base required either defense or evacuation or, as the case was, both. He was given the rank of theater commander in charge of all Rebel ground and fleet forces in the Hoth system. Rieekan brought Major Bren Derlin, who he had served with at Nentan, to Echo Base to serve as head of security and operations. When the facility came under siege in the Battle of Hoth, Rieekan employed the delaying defense he had preemptively designed that allowed much of the base's personnel to escape. Still, his directive was issued in pain. He knew that the same plan that would save the lives of many would also mean the deaths of many brave soldiers.

Rieekan abandoned Echo Base sometime midway through the battle, escaping aboard one of the thirteen GR-75 medium transports that managed to run the Imperial blockade of the planet and reach the secret rendezvous point. He was immediately assigned to the EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate Redemption for a time. Later in 3 ABY, he dispatched Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa on the mission to destroy the Imperial superweapon known as the Tarkin.



Rieekan continued to serve the Alliance as theater commander for the Alliance High Command. During this time, he still performed field missions alongside young tactics genius Risiev Credal. After Credal's apparent desertion, Rieekan wrote a report for the Task Force on Alliance Security about the threat he posed: He explained that Credal's genius helped to develop Attack Pattern Delta and that, if he had deserted, all of the Rebel tactics were exposed. During this time, Rieekan also wrote a threat report about the Brosin Underground.

While stationed at the Alliance base on Arbra, the General oversaw the plan to hide the Rebel fleet in the chromosphere of the planet's sun. Rieekan was later pleased to be one of the officers who presided over the hearing that reinstated Luke Skywalker to the rank of Commander, exonerating him of the charges brought against him for the presumed death of Rebel pilot Shira Brie.

New Republic era


During the early years of the New Republic, Rieekan was placed in Alliance military administration, where he was responsible for devising overall campaign strategies against the Empire. He was one of the prime planners of the campaign that drove the Empire from Coruscant. He continued to serve in that position during the Thrawn crisis. Rieekan was later involved in the struggle against a renewed Empire lead by Palpatine's clone, which forced the New Republic to leave the former Imperial City.

Rieekan moved on to politics, after the New Republic's return to Coruscant, serving as Leia Organa Solo's Minister of State. In this capacity, he acted as her second-in-command to the Ruling Council and took over during her absences. One of these occasions was her disappearance during the trouble on Nam Chorios. During this stage of his career, Rieekan survived a poisoning attempt, which was intended to throw the New Republic into chaos.

Years later in 16 ABY, as the director of New Republic Intelligence, he decided to terminate Colonel Pakkpekatt's pursuit of the mysterious ghost ship that carried Lando Calrissian, his aide Lobot, C-3PO and R2-D2 as involuntary passengers. However, Rieekan did allow Pakkpekatt to take Calrissian's ship, Lady Luck and three volunteers to search for the ship.

Yuuzhan Vong War
When the Yuuzhan Vong War reached Coruscant, General Rieekan came out of retirement and oversaw the efforts of the Coruscant Planetary Defense Force. Despite Rieekan's able command, the alien invaders overwhelmed the New Republic forces and conquered the galactic capital. Carlist Rieekan remained a member of the reorganized Galactic Alliance, and participated in the planning of the final assault against the Yuuzhan Vong.

Behind the scenes

 * General Rieekan was played by Bruce Boa in The Empire Strikes Back.
 * In the audio drama version of The Empire Strikes Back, Rieekan was voiced by Merwin Goldsmith.
 * In Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike, he was voiced by Dan Barton.

Appearances

 * Scavenger Hunt
 * Allegiance
 * Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * The Paradise Detour
 * A New Beginning
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back novel
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars Infinities: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Of Possible Futures: The Tale of Zuckuss and 4-LOM
 * LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
 * Star Wars 51: Resurrection of Evil
 * Star Wars 58: Sundown
 * Star Wars 65: Golrath Never Forgets
 * The Courtship of Princess Leia
 * The Last Command
 * Dark Empire
 * Jedi Search
 * Champions of the Force
 * Planet of Twilight
 * Shield of Lies
 * Tyrant's Test
 * Star by Star
 * The Unifying Force