Jace Dallin

"You know the debt in pain and blood that has been paid to preserve the Republic. You will not dishonor those who died to preserve it&mdash;all our friends who fell during the Stark Hyperspace War. You've worn the scars on your face as a badge of honor from those days. This is simply a matter of being true to the man you have always been."

- Plo Koon to Jace Dallin

Jace Dallin was a career military man with a deep love for the Galactic Republic. He served as an aide to Militarist Senator Ranulph Tarkin and as second-in-command of Tarkin's private military. In 44 BBY, Dallin was pulled into the Stark Hyperspace War when Tarkin decided to lead his fleet to a summit with the Stark Commercial Combine, a gang of pirates. The fleet was ambushed by Iaco Stark's forces in an attempted power grab and Dallin barely made it to Troiken's surface. There, Dallin joined forces with the Jedi delegation to Stark's summit and held out for several days from the security of an abandoned spice mine. Dallin led Tarkin's army against Stark's forces and developed a deep respect for the Jedi leader, Master Plo Koon. During the fighting, Dallin received a wound to his face. Without access to bacta, the wound left a large, distinctive facial scar.

Dallin survived the war, joining the Republic's Judicial Forces. After that service, he returned to his homeworld and entered the Rendili Home Defense Fleet, where he rose to command the entire fleet. In the final year of the Clone Wars, Rendili was taken by the Confederacy of Independent Systems and Dallin faced the choice of following the orders of his homeworld's government, now a Separatist puppet, or defecting to the Republic he loved and against which he did not wish to fight. A delegation led by Koon arrived to negotiate with him&mdash;and if he would not surrender, to destroy Rendili's powerful fleet rather than let it fall into the hands of the enemy. When Dallin expressed his distaste for the Independent Provisional Government of Rendili, however, he and Koon were taken hostage in a mutiny led by Lieutenant Mellor Yago. A Jedi team stormed Dallin's flagship, freeing Dallin, who resumed command of the fleet and killed Yago in a gun battle on the bridge. Dallin joined the Republic, but his service was short-lived; shortly after the Declaration of a New Order, Darth Vader executed Dallin, ever loyal to the Jedi, for questioning the Emperor's word that the Jedi were traitors.

Early career
A native of the world Rendili, Jace Dallin eventually found himself serving as an aide to Senator Ranulph Tarkin of Eriadu. The fiery leader of the Galactic Senate's Militarist faction, Tarkin was committed to reestablishing the Republic Army and Navy. To that end, he secretly established a "prototype" force, modeled on the Republic's current Judicial Forces. As his trusted right-hand man, Dallin was the second-in-command of the self-styled "General" Tarkin's paramilitary forces. Tarkin may in fact have chose Dallin for his military savvy, with the position of aide covering his deeper role. Tarkin recruited only humans into his militia, and Dallin accepted the Humanocentric beliefs of Tarkin.

The Stark Hyperspace War
"Fame, recognition&mdash;a Jedi does not seek these things. It was enough to serve and have good come from that." "Maybe for you, Master Plo. But for the rest of us who fought there, who paid the price in blood and pain, we know the truth. You, Master Plo Koon, saved our lives. For that, you have our undying respect and loyalty, to our dying day."

- Plo Koon and Jace Dallin

The making of the conflict
In 44 BBY, the Trade Federation secretly conspired with the Xucphra Corporation to create an artificial bacta shortage, driving up prices of the precious medicinal fluid and netting both groups huge profits. However, Iaco Stark and his Stark Commercial Combine, a gang of Outer Rim pirates, preyed upon the bacta-carrying freighters of the Trade Federation. Stark then sold this bacta at lower prices, earning a reputation as a hero throughout the Rim, despite his criminal activities. Seeking a resolution, the Senate voted to hold a summit between the Trade Federation, Stark, and the Republic regarding the bacta shortage.

Tarkin, however, was determined that the crisis would be best solved by crushing Stark's pirates with military force. With Dallin at his side, he entered into an agreement with Nute Gunray of the Trade Federation; Gunray provided the location of the secret meeting, and Tarkin would arrive with his private fleet to destroy Stark. It was Tarkin's intent to lead a smashing military success, proving the value of a standing Republic army and navy and catapulting himself into the Chancellorship upon returning as a hero.

A change of heart
Dallin and Tarkin readied their fleet for action. Aboard the flagship Invincible, Dallin awaited Gunray's signal that the conference on Troiken was underway. With its receipt, the armada jumped into hyperspace. Dallin was unaware, though, that Stark had anticipated the betrayal and used it to justify his power grab. A navcomputer virus was piggybacked on Gunray's signal while Stark attacked the delegates. Tarkin's fleet's navigation computers were scrambled, resulting in most of the fleet missing their destination. Dallin and the Invincible were among the one-third of the fleet which made it to Troiken, where they were badly outnumbered by Stark's fleet. The Invincible was heavily hammered by enemy ships as the fleet was decimated; Dallin looked to Tarkin for orders, but the senator had frozen. Senator Finis Valorum, the Republic's delegate to the conference, had escaped with Gunray and their Jedi escort, and contacted Tarkin with instructions to land at Mount Avos and take shelter in an abandoned spice mine inside the mountain. Tarkin angrily refused to take orders, but the Invincible was near destruction, and after a particularly damaging hit, Tarkin relented. Dallin issued the orders to evacuate the troops and defend their escape pods; Tarkin parroted those orders seconds later. The two then escaped in a life pod shortly before the Invincible was destroyed.

Dallin made planetfall on the Lycinder Plain in front of Avos, where the surviving army troopers entered the mine and began fortifying it while under fire from Stark's forces. They were swiftly joined by Valorum, Gunray, and Jedi Masters Plo Koon, Adi Gallia, and Qui-Gon Jinn as well as Jinn's Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi. Jedi Master and Jedi Council member Tyvokka had died in Stark's betrayal. Dallin took an active role, inventorying the group's supplies and organizing the troops.

Koon used his telepathic powers to read Stark's mind, discovering that Stark and his confederates planned to launch a surprise attack. Dallin and the Jedi prepared, and the Second Battle of Qotile saw many soldiers wounded but was a Republic victory as Dallin's troops used the high ground to fend off Stark's advances and Koon's telepathy allowed him to know of any sorties and rally the Jedi against them. After the battle, Koon and the other Jedi visited with the wounded, healing, comforting, and reassuring them. Seeing the Kel Dor Jedi serve without ego and display genuine concern for the troops broke Dallin of his Humanocentrism. Additionally, Dallin had become disillusioned with Tarkin after the senator's failure under fire, displays of egocentrism, failure to treat his soldiers as more than tools for his own ends, and defeatist attitude at Avos. With those factors, Dallin's loyalty began to swing from Tarkin to the Jedi, and Tarkin was largely ignored as Dallin began taking his orders from Koon, for whom he developed an immense personal respect.

Under siege
After the battle, the Jedi developed a plan to sneak Valorum and Gunray back to Coruscant, where Valorum would plead for reinforcements; with the Troiken group's communications jammed, they were assumed dead. Dallin begged for Koon to stay, knowing that the troops looked up to him and depended on the Jedi Master for their morale. Koon agreed to stay while the other Jedi accompanied the diplomats. Dallin led a diversionary battle while the Jedi escaped the caves. After aiding the others in acquiring a ship, Jinn and Kenobi returned to Avos, with the addition of Jedi Knight Tholme and his apprentice Quinlan Vos, who had stowed away on a freighter which arrived on Troiken after they conducted an investigation of the bacta crisis. Meanwhile, one of Dallin's patrols came across the Xexto Billibango, a native who wished to aid the Republic. He warned them of the threat of challat eaters in the mines&mdash;huge swarms of flesh-eating insects. Just in time, the Jedi were able to bring down a section of the caves, trapping the newly awakened challat eaters.

Due to another warning from Billibango, the Republic was made aware of a surprise attack by Stark's forces. Enemy troops surged into the caverns of Mount Avos, but Dallin's troops rallied against them. During the battle, Dallin was wounded in an explosion; had Billibango not shielded him, he might not have survived. Instead, Dallin received a bad gash to the left side of his face. It was stitched up, but as the troops had no bacta, it healed into a large, distinguishing scar. Dallin spent the rest of the war with half his face swaddled in bandages.

Koon was able to make telepathic contact with the Jedi Council through his niece, Sha Koon. The Republic refused to send aid, but the Jedi worked out a plan. The Jedi arrived over Troiken soon after, leading a task force of Trade Federation ships co-opted by a promise not to reveal the Federation's role in manufacturing the bacta crisis. Stark was telepathically offered amnesty by Koon in return for betraying his forces, which he did. Koon planned to trap Stark's army by retreating though the caverns, then sealing the entrances explosively. Dallin commanded the evacuation, but on reaching the exit&mdash;the last opening to be sealed&mdash;he found that Tarkin had disappeared with the charge that was to have been used to seal the exit. Tarkin, furious that Koon had usurped his command, was determined to go out a hero. He used the explosive to clear the cave-in that had trapped the challat eaters, unleashing them on Stark's troops. Koon was the last to emerge, sealing the exit behind him with a Force-triggered rockslide. Stark's forces were defeated, and Dallin joined his troops in celebrating the end of the Stark Hyperspace War.

Life in peacetime
After the war, Dallin joined the Judicial Forces of the Republic. By 30 BBY, he was a crew member on the Consular-class Space Cruiser Intrepid. In that year the Intrepid was called upon to carry a Jedi contingent including Mace Windu, Gallia, and Koon to Kiffex, where they recovered the Jedi Padawan Aayla Secura. Dallin, ecstatic to have Koon aboard, went back to see the Jedi during the return trip to Coruscant. With Koon were Windu, Gallia, Tholme, and Secura. Secura stared at Dallin's scars, unusual in a galaxy with access to bacta, which he explained were "battle flags" from the war. Secura had had her memory erased during a failed mission, and so the group recounted the events of the war to her. At the end of the reunion, Dallin expressed his intense gratitude to Koon for the Jedi Master's service in the war, to which Dallin felt he owed his life.

Dallin eventually retired from service to the Republic, returning to his homeworld of Rendili. There, he joined the Rendili Home Defense Fleet. A former officer in the Judicial Forces and a senior-ranking veteran of the largest conflict in recent memory, Dallin quickly became the commander of the entire Home Defense Fleet. With the rank of captain, he commanded the fleet of Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers from his flagship, the Mersel Kebir.

Torn loyalties
In 22 BBY, the Clone Wars broke out across the galaxy. Dallin, ever loyal to the Republic, stood ready to defend Rendili against Separatist attacks. However, halfway into 20 BBY the Independent Provisional Government of Rendili took control, possibly with Separatist military aid, and gave its allegiance to the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Dallin was now presented with a dilemma: turn his back on his homeworld and his duty as an officer, or turn his back on the Republic he loved and for which he had given so much?

The Republic, well aware of Dallin's patriotism, sent a task force to negotiate with him. Koon, now a High Jedi General in the war, and Captain Jan Dodonna, a rising naval star and fellow veteran of the Stark Hyperspace War, were to travel to the Mersel Kebir and enter talks with Dallin, seeking his defection and that of Rendili's powerful Home Defense Fleet along with him. High Jedi General Saesee Tiin commanded a task force of three Acclamator I-class assault ships which would, if negotiations failed, engage Rendili's fleet.

Koon and Dodonna came aboard, and Dallin confessed his confusion to them; Koon told him that his greater loyalty must lie with the Republic. He was interrupted by ambitious Lieutenant Mellor Yago, however, who insisted that orders be obeyed. Dallin rebuked the junior officer, telling him that Rendili had been taken by force and the Independent Provisional Government was merely a mouthpiece for the Separatists. Accusing Dallin of treason, Yago drew his blaster and, backed by several other junior officers, placed Dallin under arrest and took command of the fleet. With a knife to his neck and a blaster to his head, Dallin ordered Koon to disregard Dallin's own life and put down the mutiny. Koon refused, claiming there would be another time. Dallin, all other Home Defense Fleet senior officers, and the Republic emissaries were taken to the brig.

Yago secretly called for Separatist reinforcements while attempting to use his captives as hostages and force a Republic withdrawal. Tiin, iron-willed, refused; he had his orders and would carry them out. Instead, Tiin offered Yago a chance to surrender and time to reconsider before he mounted his attack. The Separatist fleet arrived before the last hour was up, though, and the battle began. In the brig, Koon warned Dallin and Dodonna to ready themselves for rescue.

Jedi Masters Kenobi and Vos, Padawans when they fought alongside Dallin during the Stark Hyperspace War, infiltrated the Mersel Kebir while Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker disabled its hyperdrive. Freed, Dallin, Dodonna, and the Jedi stormed the bridge while the other senior officers reestablished Dallin's command on the lower decks. Dallin ordered all those aboard to surrender or be summarily shot in the ongoing firefight. Wielding two blasters, Dallin had Dodonna cover him as he went after Yago, the center of the mutiny. Dallin found himself mere meters from Yago, each with a blaster leveled at the other. Each officer pulled the trigger; Yago missed. Dallin did not.

With Yago gone and the bridge pacified, Dallin was able to quickly reassert his authority over the Home Defense Fleet. After Yago's treatment, he had made his decision. Dallin ordered his fleet to disengage from the Republic assault ship Sundiver and turn against the two Separatist core ships, defeating them in short order. With that done, Dallin negotiated the full surrender of the Rendili Home Defense Fleet to the Republic; with its loss, the Independent Provisional Government likely collapsed. The Dreadnaughts of Dallin's command were converted into prison ships for the housing of Dark Jedi&mdash;and in the future, Jedi.

Sudden changes
"They were looking to make an example and Jace, unfortunately, gave them a target."

- Jan Dodonna to Sagoro Autem, speaking of Palpatine and Darth Vader

With the example of the Rendili Home Defense Fleet, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine had a law passed folding all planetary navies into the Republic Navy. Either through his defection or that law, Dallin once more gained a chance to serve the Republic directly. Fighting for the Republic Navy in the final six months of the Clone Wars, Dallin held the rank of captain by the war's end.

Concurrent with the Separatist surrender, Palpatine declared a New Order, transforming the Republic into the Galactic Empire. Shortly thereafter, Dallin was among many captains of the new Imperial Navy summoned to Coruscant for an audience with Emperor Palpatine. There, Palpatine revealed his deformed visage, which he claimed was the result of a Jedi attack. The Jedi had been declared enemies of the state during the transition to the Empire, but despite that Dallin, in the front row, objected, his disbelief bubbling into words. Darth Vader immediately rounded on Dallin, asking him if he accused the Emperor of dishonesty. Palpatine introduced his new, black-armored enforcer to the Fleet, and Vader asked Dallin to clarify his statement and do so with great care. Dallin suggested that some sort of mistake or misunderstanding had occurred, citing the high moral quality of all Jedi he had known&mdash;and Vader, the man who six months ago as Anakin Skywalker had helped rescue Dallin, lifted Dallin into the air with the Force, choking him, and then dashed him headfirst to the floor. Vader and Palpatine had wished to make an example, and Dallin had provided their opening. The Emperor would be unquestioned and resignations would not be permitted, while all officers' fitness for command was reviewed. Dallin was among the first naval officers to be executed by Vader, but he would not be the last.

Personality and traits
"I suggest only that some terrible mistake has been made. The Jedi I have known have all been honorable individuals&mdash;"

- Jace Dallin to Darth Vader

Dallin began his career as a devoted Militarist and supporter of Ranulph Tarkin and his Humanocentrism. As he saw Tarkin crumble under fire in the Stark Hyperspace War, however, Dallin lost his respect for the self-styled "General". Instead, he turned his allegiance to Koon and the Jedi after seeing their compassion for his troops and firm leadership in the crisis, renouncing Humanocentrism.

Dallin was an intensely loyal individual, and he developed a fierce devotion to Koon and the Jedi, feeling that he owed his life to them. Even when faced with Palpatine and Vader's insistence that the Jedi were traitors, Dallin earnestly defended them. Dallin's loyalty also extended to the Republic. Though he had little problem supporting Tarkin's manipulations, the sacrifices Dallin made in the Stark Hyperspace War and his turnaround in attitude gave him a strong appreciation for the Republic he had fought to defend.

Behind the scenes
The character of Jace Dallin was created by writer John Ostrander for the Star Wars: Republic arc The Stark Hyperspace War, in which he was illustrated by Davidé Fabbri. Dallin was a recurring supporting character in Republic, appearing again in The Dreadnaughts of Rendili and Loyalties, both written by Ostrander. Dallin was never illustrated twice by the same artist, however, with Jan Duursema illustrating him for The Dreadnaughts of Rendili and Luke Ross doing so in Loyalties.

Dallin's eyes are consistently colored brown, except for at least one panel (displayed in the "Personality and traits" section of this article) of The Stark Hyperspace War, in which they are colored blue in what is presumably a non-canonical coloring error.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Republic: The Stark Hyperspace War
 * Star Wars Republic: The Dreadnaughts of Rendili
 * Star Wars Republic 78: Loyalties

Notes and references
Jace Dallin