Garth Breise

"Way to go, newbie."

- Garth Breise, to Yomin Carr

Garth Breise was a Human male astronomer at the Extragalactic Society's ExGal-4 exploratory base on the Outer Rim world of Belkadan, where he worked the night shift at the facility's sensor station in 25 ABY. Breise also filled the position of engineer at the base and was often tasked with technical assignments, such as building proprietary equipment.

Well-liked at ExGal-4, Breise regularly conversed and played dejarik with his colleagues. He also worked alongside Yuuzhan Vong advance agent Yomin Carr, who was incognito at ExGal-4 to prevent any transmissions from alerting the galaxy at large to the imminent threat that the Yuuzhan Vong posed. During an inspection of the base's communications tower, which Carr had sabotaged, Breise was killed by the Yuuzhan Vong agent to deprive the base of its engineer and effectively sever its link to the outside. Breise's colleagues mourned his death before many of them were assassinated by Carr.

Career at ExGal
"He'll get bored with it soon enough."

- Garth Breise, discussing Yomin Carr's enthusiasm for working at ExGal-4

A Human male astronomer, Garth Breise was stationed at the Extragalactic Society's ExGal-4 listening post on the Outer Rim Territories planet Belkadan during the time of the New Republic. As part of a team monitoring the edges of the galaxy for signs of extra-galactic life, Breise worked the night shift at the base, which he had come to find monotonous. His primary responsibility was manning his sensor station while observing and monitoring areas of space for a scientific anomaly or discovery that would benefit the galaxy; in addition, he also had engineering acumen.

A dark discovery
"Two days." "Make it tomorrow. We want to give them time to get on the spot."

- Garth Breise and Danni Quee argue over the repairs to ExGal-4's communications

In 25 ABY, rookie ExGal member Yomin Carr detected an unusual object entering the Helska system and impacting with that system's fourth planet. Breise was quick to praise Carr, unaware that his colleague's Human appearance was only a disguise&mdash;Carr was secretly an advance agent for the Praetorite Vong, a vanguard force for the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong, and had been closely observing that point in space.

A team that included Breise's good friend Bensin Tomri was scrambled to investigate the anomaly; however, the base could not make contact with any outside agency due to damage to ExGal-4's communications tower&mdash;sabotage perpetrated by Carr to protect preparations for his people's impending invasion. Breise would stay behind to repair the fault, a task that he felt obligated to perform regardless of his disdain for it; being reprimanded by colleague Danni Quee was the outcome Breise wished to avoid.

When Breise and Carr went to climb and repair the damaged communications tower, Breise happened upon several small red beetles on the ground around the tower, unaware that they were Yuuzhan Vong-developed creatures known as dweebits that Carr himself had introduced into the ecology of Belkadan to aid in the Yuuzhan Vong's future terraforming efforts there. Barely noticing the gas that the dweebits were producing, and reluctant to blame any of the damage on the beetles as Carr suggested, Breise decided to see to any problems at the top of the tower first, and he led the way up the construct.

His last task
"Why?"

- Garth Breise, shortly before being killed by Yomin Carr

Knowing that any transmissions resulting from a successful repairing of the tower would likely call attention to the incursion of the Praetorite Vong, Carr made ready to ambush Breise at the summit of the tower. As Breise was momentarily distracted by the departure of the base's Spacecaster shuttle, which carried the outbound team members, Carr struck Breise's windpipe and, as Breise put one hand to his throat, struck him again on the wrist of the hand with which he held on to the tower before cutting Breise's climbing rope with his coufee blade. Despite his efforts to regain his balance, Breise fell a hundred meters to his death, hitting the side of the tower and finally landing on the ground. Carr momentarily expressed regret&mdash;not for Breise's killing, but for the probability that his falling body had crushed several dweebits on the ground.

Following Breise's death, the other present members of the ExGal-4 team were immensely upset. Bensin Tomri never learned of Breise's fate, as he died on Helska IV. Tee-ubo Doole, another team member, dreaded informing Tomri of Breise's death, but she remained unaware of Tomri's fate before dying from the dweebits' gas unleashed on Belkadan by Yomin Carr.

Personality and traits
"I just want to get this stupid work over with."

- Garth Breise, despairing of his latest task

Garth Breise was an active member of ExGal-4, both in professional and social respects. Competent and hardworking, he was also an avid conversationalist, and discussing new members at the base was one of his favorite subjects. Moreover, he praised intelligent observations and discoveries made by team members. Breise also enjoyed playing dejarik with other team members, such as Bensin Tomri, Tee-ubo Doole, and Danni Quee.

Breise's engineering skills meant that repair jobs were handed over to him, such as building a connector to sort cables after the communications tower at ExGal-4 was damaged. Despite his dislike of certain responsibilities at ExGal-4, he took them on with aplomb, as refusal meant being berated by Quee. Despite this readiness, Breise did not hesitate to express sullenness and sarcasm if he felt put upon. While going to effect repairs on the base's communications tower, Breise was safety-conscious, acting on concerns raised by Yomin Carr and using ExGal-4's floodlights to check for any potential dangers&mdash;namely, Belkadan's redcrested cougars&mdash;near the tower.

Behind the scenes
Garth Breise was introduced in the 1999 novel The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime by R. A. Salvatore.

Appearances

 * The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime
 * The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime audiobook (Random House Audio)
 * The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime audiobook (Talking Book Publishers Inc.)