User:Grand Moff Tranner/Sandbox

Welcome to my sandbox. Here I'll be working on articles in an effort to get them to FA or GA status. Feel free to leave any comments on the relevant talk page. See my resume for articles that have reached either FA or GA status.

Projects done: Kendal Ozzel, Osvald Teshik, Titus Klev, Argyus, Chiraneau, Ozzik Sturn, Unidentified Imperial captain (asteroid victim), Mar Tuuk, Unidentified Imperial II-class Star Destroyer (asteroid collision), Jerjerrod, Sigma-class long-range shuttle

=Lorth Needa=

Lorth Needa was a fleet officer in the Republic Navy during the Clone Wars and the Imperial Navy during the Galactic Civil War. He served as lieutenant commander of the Republic Carrack-class cruiser Integrity in Home Fleet Strike Group Five of the Coruscant Home Fleet during the Battle of Coruscant, in which he was prepared to destroy General Grievous's flagship, the Invisible Hand, should the general be unable to prove that Supreme Chancellor Palpatine was being held captive aboard the warship. During the Imperial era, Needa was promoted to captain of the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Avenger by Fleet Admiral Kendal Ozzel and assigned to Darth Vader's Death Squadron, often being tasked with following up on certain leads regarding the location of the Rebel Alliance's hidden headquarters. Needa served as one of Ozzel's advisors, earning him the distrust of both Vader and Emperor Palpatine.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Hoth, where General Maximilian Veers's assault on Echo Base forced the Rebels into fleeing, Needa and the Avenger were charged with capturing Han Solo's YT-1300 light freighter, the Millennium Falcon, and her crew. The Falcon outran the pursuing Star Destroyers and hid within the Hoth asteroid field, but the Avenger plunged into the field, intent on completing its assignment. While searching, the warship sustained damage, but when the Falcon emerged, the Avenger was right behind the freighter. Before Needa could detain the craft, Solo charged the Avenger and landed on a blind spot on the destroyer's conning tower. Having failed his mission, Needa went to the Star Dreadnought Executor to personally apologize to Vader. The Dark Lord of the Sith accepted his apology after making sure that the captain would never fail again. Two Imperial Navy troopers then dragged Needa's lifeless body away.

Republic Navy service
Needa was a veteran command officer, having served in Strike Group Five of the Coruscant Home Fleet during the Clone Wars. During the Battle of Coruscant, Lieutenant Commander Needa served as commanding officer of the Carrack-class cruiser Integrity. He trapped the Invisible Hand as it was trying to escape, and demanded the surrender of General Grievous. During this encounter he did not believe the general's statements that Supreme Chancellor Palpatine was aboard the Providence-class carrier/destroyer, and told him via hologram that he had ten minutes to prove his claim. Needa informed the cyborg general that if he could not, the ships of Strike Group Five would open fire on the Invisible Hand. Grievous did not surrender, but the Supreme Chancellor was rescued by the Jedi Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who forced Grievous to flee to Utapau.

A few days later, Palpatine declared himself Emperor and reformed the Republic into the first Galactic Empire declaring the Jedi Order an enemy of the state. As part of the subsequent Imperialization, the Republic Navy was reorganized into the Imperial Navy. Two weeks into Palpatine's New Order, the Emperor and his Sith apprentice Darth Vader spoke before a gathering of naval officers and announced that they were all required to serve the Navy in the unstable times, and any who dissented were purged from the military.

Captain of the Avenger
Needa would continue to serve in the navy, eventually rising to the rank of captain. Fleet Admiral Kendal Ozzel, commander of the Star Dreadnought Executor and Death Squadron, placed Needa in command of the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Avenger, a position previously held by Captain Ferdas. Needa gained a reputation for efficiency in quelling uprisings in the Outer Rim Territories, and Admiral Ozzel assigned Avenger to the "point" position in Death Squadron. Needa became one of Ozzel's closest advisors. Ozzel would often send Needa and the Avenger off on missions independent from the rest of the Death Squadron to check on certain leads regarding the Rebels' hidden fortress. Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine distrusted Needa along with Ozzel and his advisors, and Vader would execute any of them for the simplest of mistakes.

Battle of Hoth and aftermath
"Get a shuttle ready. I shall assume full responsibility for losing them, and apologize to Lord Vader."

- Needa, after failing to capture the Millennium Falcon

Before the Battle of Hoth could even commence, Ozzel died at Vader's hand for his mistake in bringing Death Squadron out of hyperspace to close to Hoth, allowing the Rebels to raise their shield and evacuate Echo Base. While the battle raged on between Blizzard Force and the Rebels on the planet below, the fleet of Star Destroyers were charged with preventing the GR-75 medium transports and other Rebel craft from escaping. Seventeen of the thirty GR-75 transports were destroyed by the Imperial fleet, but destroyers such as Captain Xamuel Lennox's Tyrant were disabled by the Rebels' planetary ion cannon. As the Imperials claimed victory, an infamous YT-1300 light freighter called the Millennium Falcon, piloted by smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca, escaped from Echo Base's main hangar with Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan aboard. Needa and the Avenger were charged with the pursuit and capture of the Falcon and its crew.

The Avenger pursued the Falcon from Hoth. However, Han Solo's light freighter outmaneuvered the Star Destroyer and caused it to nearly collide with another pursuing destroyer. After chasing the Falcon into the Hoth asteroid field, the Avenger lost track of the freighter when it sought shelter in a cave on one of the asteroids. Nonetheless, the destroyed ventured into the asteroid field at Vader's command. The Avenger suffered damage while it searched for the elusive Falcon, and the gunners stationed onboard were forced on destroying incoming asteroids rather than be on the lookout for the YT-1300 freighter. Needa informed Darth Vader that the Millennium Falcon had not appeared on their sensors for hours. While present during a holographic conference aboard the Executor, he asked the Dark Lord of the Sith to consider the damage the Imperial fleet had sustained, but Vader was set on capturing the freighter.

Death
"Apology accepted, Captain Needa."

- Darth Vader, after killing Needa

The Millennium Falcon eventually reappeared after discovering that the "cave" it had hidden in was in fact the mouth of a giant space slug. While the Avenger pursued the Falcon out of the asteroid field and into the neighboring Anoat system, the YT-1300 moved into what Needa had assumed to be attack position. As the freighter charged and narrowly missed the Star Destroyer's bridge, it vanished from the Avenger's sensors when Solo cut the ship's power and landed on a blind spot on the conning tower of the Avenger. Seconds later, Vader demanded an update on the pursuit.

Needa ordered his ship to rendezvous with the Executor in the Anoat system so he could personally apologize for losing Vader's prey, believing that it was the honorable thing to do. He ordered a TIE/sh shuttle to be prepared for his departure, and he took the shuttle to the Executor. On its bridge, Needa apologized to the Sith Lord, but Vader telekinetically throttled him to death as he had done to Kendal Ozzel earlier. Vader then formally&mdash;some would say cynically&mdash;accepted the man's apology. Needa's body was then dragged from the bridge by two Imperial Navy troopers.

Legacy
"Hey, it was your cousin who was martyred by Darth Vader after he let Han Solo escape Hoth. After all, your cousin had Rebel sympathies that he only confided in you, which is why he let Solo escape. Your having been punished with this duty proves the Empire suspected him, but could prove nothing."

- Pedetsen to Virar Needa

As a consequence of his failure, members of the Needa family were purged from the Imperial military on Darth Vader's orders. His first cousin once removed, Virar, had been attending the Imperial Academy during the Battle of Hoth, and as he was not ambitious, he had been allowed to live. Many family members, from Virar's grandparents to cousins, however, were all killed. Virar became the commander of one of Coruscant's orbital mirrors, OSETS 2711. His subordinates, including Cadet Pedetsen, believed that Lorth had failed in capturing the Millennium Falcon because he had sympathies to the Rebel Alliance. Pedetsen stated that Virar had been placed on OSETS 2711 because the Empire could not prove Lorth's alleged Rebel loyalties. Virar was even willing to believe this.

Personality and traits
Lorth Needa was an efficient commander, and could be ruthless at times, a trait he exhibited during the Battle of Coruscant, when he threatened the destruction of the Invisible Hand should Grievous choose not to surrender. He had been overconfident in his pursuit of the Millennium Falcon from Hoth, and this factored into his execution by Vader. Needa was an able leader, but both Vader and the Emperor were suspicious of him. The captain showed a degree of concern for both his crew and Vader's fleet when he suggested to the Dark Lord that they pull out of the asteroid field during the search for the Millennium Falcon, but Needa's failure in capturing Solo's freighter cemented, in Vader's mind, that the Avenger's captain was inept.

Behind the scenes
Lorth Needa first appeared in the novelization of 1980's The Empire Strikes Back. Known only as "Captain Needa" in the film, he was portrayed by actor Michael Culver. In the radio adaptation of the film, Needa was voiced by Nicholas Kepros. Needa was not given a first name until 1996's X-wing: Wedge's Gamble, when his first cousin once removed, Virar, revealed his first name to be Lorth.

In The Empire Strikes Back, after Vader executed Needa and as the Imperial Navy troopers carry his body away, Culver visibly locked his legs in such a way as to help those portraying the Navy troopers to stand him up easier. In Star Wars 40: The Empire Strikes Back: Battleground Hoth, Al Williamson and Carlos Garzon used reference photography of Needa's death for Admiral Ozzel's execution.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novel
 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back novel
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back radio adaptation
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back PhotoComic
 * Star Wars 42: The Empire Strikes Back: To Be a Jedi
 * Payback: The Tale of Dengar
 * X-wing: Wedge's Gamble
 * X-wing: Wedge's Gamble

Non-canon appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga

Notes and references
=Rulf Yage=

"Excuses are for weaklings!"

- Rulf Yage

Rulf Yage was a hardliner Human male Moff and a decorated Grand Admiral during the time of the Fel Empire in 130 ABY. A member of the Council of Moffs, he represented the interests of the Imperial Navy, having previously served as both the commander of Skull Squadron, an elite unit of Predator-class starfighters assigned to defend the Imperial capital world of Bastion, and the coordinator of starfighter tactics on the Star Destroyer Ephin Sarreti, attached to the Second Outer Rim Fleet. He married fellow Moff Nyna Calixte at one point in his life. Calixte eventually left Yage for High Moff Morlish Veed, but not before the marriage produced a daughter, Gunn, who Rulf treated as the son he always wanted.

During the waning years of the Galactic Alliance, the Moff Council allied themselves with Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Krayt's One Sith Order, a move done behind the back of the incumbent Emperor Roan Fel. The Sith sabotaged the Alliance's Ossus Project, an attempt by Yuuzhan Vong shapers to restore habitable conditions to worlds devastated in the Yuuzhan Vong War, and the Moff Council invoked the Treaty of Anaxes and declared war on the Alliance. Following a decisive Imperial victory above the Core World of Caamas, the Alliance surrendered to Grand Admiral Morlish Veed. Yage was tasked by the Sith with leading an Imperial attack on the Jedi Academy on Ossus, where his stormtroopers wiped out nearly every Jedi present, including Jedi Master Kol Skywalker, High Council member and champion of the Ossus Project. For his part in the victory, Yage was named the "Hero of Ossus." His actions at the battle also earned him the title of Moff.

Moff Yage returned to Coruscant, the new capital of the Empire, and was present during a meeting of the Moff Council when Darth Krayt usurped control of the Empire, killing a decoy of Roan Fel along with four of Fel's Imperial Knights. Krayt forced the Moff into subservience, and Yage and the others complied.

Naval career
"As a starfigher pilot, you anticipated your enemy's moves. You never applied that to politics. Nor would you let me help you. That's why Morlish Veed is the High Moff and you aren't."

- Nyna Calixte to Rulf Yage

Rulf Yage, a Human male, attended the Imperial Academy before starting off his career in the military of the Fel Empire as a starfighter pilot in the Imperial Navy. Yage became a member of Skull Squadron, which was assigned to the defense of the Imperial capital Bastion, and he soon rose to the position of squadron commander. He married Nyna Calixte, the eventual Director of Imperial Intelligence, and the relationship resulted in a daughter, Gunn, whom Rulf raised as the son he always wanted. After serving in Skull Squadron, Yage was assigned to the Star Destroyer Ephin Sarreti, part of the Imperial Second Outer Rim Fleet. While onboard, he was responsible for coordinating the fleet's starfighter tactics. Yage was eventually promoted to the rank of admiral, but around the same time, Calixte left him for High Moff Morlish Veed, also a member of the Navy. In an effort to overcome the growing amount of bitterness in his life, Yage embedded himself in his duties.

Seat on the Council of Moffs
When the Galactic Alliance's Ossus Project, an effort by the Shaper caste of the Yuuzhan Vong to restore life to planets destroyed in their invasion of the galaxy from 25 ABY to 39 ABY, began to harm the inhabitants of the devastated worlds, the Council of Moffs had decided to invoke the Treaty of Anaxes and declare war on the Alliance in 127 ABY. A year later, the Moffs&mdash;without the knowledge of Emperor Roan Fel&mdash;allied with the One Sith Order of Darth Krayt, the Dark Lord of the Sith, and it was the Sith who had sabotaged the Ossus Project. The Sith-Imperial War reached its final stage by 130 ABY, when above the Core World Caamas, Grand Admiral Veed's forces brought about a decisive Imperial victory when he forced the Alliance commanders into surrendering. Coruscant fell to the Empire around the same time. The Alliance Triumvirate became nothing more than a puppet to ensure the peaceful transition from Galactic Alliance to Galactic Empire; Emperor Fel had made the viceroys over what was left of Alliance Space.

But one final act in the war had yet to come. Yage, now a Grand Admiral, led an attack on the Jedi Academy on Ossus alongside Sith Lord Darth Nihl. Stormtroopers and Sith alike eradicated the majority of Jedi present, including High Council member and champion of the Ossus Project, Jedi Master Kol Skywalker. For his part in the massacre, Yage&mdash;who was praised as the "Hero of Ossus" &mdash;was appointed Moff and given a seat on the Moff Council, where he represented the interests of the Imperial Navy. The Council met on conquered Coruscant at a point following the massacre, and while Moff Veed was concluding his report to the Council and Emperor Fel on the events on Ossus, Darth Krayt and three of his minions&mdash;Wyyrlok, Maladi, and Nihl&mdash;entered Fel's throne room and proceeded to usurp control of the Empire. The Dark Lord slayed the four Imperial Knight bodyguards present before assassinating the man who sat on the throne. Though Krayt had only killed a decoy, the Moffs were quick to pledge their loyalty to their new Emperor, Krayt.

The search for Skywalker
Seven years into his reign as Emperor, Krayt began to realize that his body was failing him. He had become aware of the healing power that Jedi-turned-bounty hunter Cade Skywalker possessed through Moff Konrad Rus's contacts on Bastion, where Skywalker had healed Imperial heir Princess Marasiah Fel after she had been injured during an encounter with the Sith on Vendaxa. The Dark Lord of the Sith hoped to capture the former Jedi and convert him to the dark side of the Force with the hope that his abilities could be used to increase the Emperor's own longevity. Skywalker soon arrived on Coruscant in his Helot-class transport, the Mynock, and there he was pursued by Skull Squadron under Moff Yage's daughter, Gunn "Gunner" Yage. On orders from the Moff to take Skywalker alive, Gunn and her pilots ultimately lost the Mynock when Skywalker hid it in the Coruscant Undercity.

Gunn and her squad mates Jae Akura, Brodie Coburn, and Tev Rimon returned to the Skull Squadron Hangar, where Gunn encountered her father. Rulf announced that the loss of the Mynock had been unacceptable, but Gunn replied that the ship's indentification hadn't been confirmed, and that their failure was inevitable, as they would not have been able to take out the ship without risking Skywalker's death and therefore disobeying Rulf's own edict. The Moff wasted no time in berating his daughter&mdash;he had issued an order, and had no desire to listen to their excuses for failing. Gunn proposed that, should her father be dissatisfied with her handling of the squadron, he could dismiss her whenever he wished. Rather than do so, he ordered his daughter to attend dinner the following evening at the Naboo Queen restaurant&mdash;and not to be late. Akura was astonished that Gunn had been able to survive her childhood, but she stood up for her father, noting that he had wanted a boy.

Skywalker ultimately fell into Krayt's hands when he was captured by Hands Talon and Nihl after infiltrating the Temple of the Sith and attempting to free the Bothan Jedi Hosk Trey'lis. At a meeting of the Moff Council the following day, Darth Maladi informed the Moffs that the search for Skywalker had been called off, but she refused to divulge any information despite Moff Calixte's assumption that Skywalker had been captured. As the discussions continued after Maladi cut her transmission, Yage accused the Chiss Moff Fehlaaur that the Chiss Ascendancy was harboring the forces of deposed Emperor Roan Fel. Fehlaaur and Yage bickered over the reported sighting of the Mynock in the Coruscant Undercity until Moff Geist of the Imperial Army intervened, announcing that Skywalker's whereabouts were no longer relevant now that the search for him had been called off. He realized that the Council had less power than they had under Fel, and Yage responded that their current predicament had been the result of Calixte's machinations with the Sith to bring them in on the Empire's side during the Sith-Imperial War. Calixte tried to defend her actions by reporting that the war&mdash;which the Council had wanted in the first place&mdash;had been going poorly for the Empire. Fehlaaur and Geist offered further opinions on the matter, but Morlish Veed put a halt to it and called for unity before revealing his intentions to capture Skywalker for the Council's own purposes against Krayt's Order. When Geist and Fehlaaur departed, Yage left for dinner with his daughter, leaving Veed and Calixte to comment on their own plans.

Personality and traits
Yage was not as cunning and devious as the other members of the Moff Council, something that his former wife Nyna Calixte would often point out to him. It was because of those traits, she claimed, that Morlish Veed was the High Moff rather than her former husband. Following his separation from Calixte, Yage led a bitter life, and he tried to hide that by throwing himself into his duties in the Navy. He was a skilled starfighter pilot and tactician, as shown by his command of the elite Skull Squadron and his coordination of fighter tactics for the Second Outer Rim Fleet. His skills eventually earned him the rank of Grand Admiral and, after his successful attack on the Jedi Temple on Ossus, a seat on the Council of Moffs. He was known to be one of the hardliner Moffs.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Legacy 8: Allies
 * Star Wars Legacy 1: Broken, Part 1
 * Star Wars Legacy 14: Claws of the Dragon, Part 1
 * Star Wars Legacy 15: Claws of the Dragon, Part 2
 * Star Wars Legacy 19: Claws of the Dragon, Part 6

Notes and references
=Intimidator=

The Intimidator was an Imperial Executor-class Star Dreadnought used by the Imperial Navy's Black Sword Command. Originally undergoing work at a shipyard in the Core Worlds, it was transferred to the Black-15 shipyard above the planet N'zoth in the Koornacht Cluster to free up space for similar-sized warships. Eight months following the Alliance victory at Battle of Endor, while attempting to withdraw all military personnel and equipment in the Cluster per edict, the Intimidator was seized by the native Yevetha workers led by the Yevetha leader Nil Spaar as part of their mutiny against the oppressive Imperials.

Renamed the Pride of Yevetha, she would go on to serve as Viceroy Spaar's flagship during the Black Fleet Crisis, which pitted his Duskhan League against the New Republic under Chief of State Leia Organa Solo. The Pride was one of numerous Duskhan League vessels that participated in the Great Purge, an ethnic cleansing of the Koornacht Cluster enacted by the xenophobic Yevetha.

Docked at the Black-15 shipyard
The Intimidator was one of three Super-class warships assigned to Black Fleet of the Black Sword Command, a naval unit within the Imperial Military assigned to the defense of the Core Worlds. Eight months following the death of Emperor Palpatine at the Battle of Endor, the Intimidator was stationed at the Black-15 shipyard above the Yevetha homeworld of N'zoth in the Koornacht Cluster, where it had been transferred from the Core Worlds to free up the necessary amount of space for construction of another Super-class vessel. Out of the nine ships undergoing repairs at the dock, only the Intimidator was spaceworthy.

When Imperial garrison commander Jian Paret received an order to withdraw all military personnel and destroy whatever had to be left behind, Paret used the Intimidator as his command ship during the evacuation, having moved to it within an hour after receiving his orders. However, with only one-third of a crew aboard, and the need to transfer all of the garrison's assets and personnel to the warship before destroying the repair yard, Paret was unable to leave as quickly as he had wanted. However, to avoid any potential hostile moves from the predominantly Yevetha work force, Paret hid the true nature of the Imperial evacuation behind the facade of a departure drill.

However, Yevetha underground leader Nil Spaar knew of the imminent Imperial withdrawal, and had chosen the time to seize the Black-15 shipyard and all of the vessels present as part of a plan five years in the making. With the transfer of the Victory-class Star Destroyer Harridan from patrol duty to active service at the battlefield at Notak, Spaar saw that the Imperials were essentially defenseless. In Sections 17 and 21 of the Intimidator, over a dozen external hatches were rigged to report their status as secured and sealed during an emergency battle-stations lockdown. The Yevetha leader had taken additional precautions should the ship attempt to escape&mdash;a package of explosives, disarmed only by a constant signal, would destroy the ship if the shields were activated, blocking the signal and detonating the bombs. With these measures in place, two Yevetha commando teams&mdash;one led by Spaar and the other by his second in command, Dar Bille&mdash;boarded the Intimidator through the rigged hatches. Silently and quickly, the two teams converged on the bridge without having to fire a single shot. When they breached the command deck, they killed seven of the crew present before securing the remainder.

As the events unfolded, Imperial Governor Crollick's shuttle and a convoy of Imperial transports rose from N'zoth's surface toward the Intimidator as the warship slid out of her berth at the shipyard. When the transports began decelerating in preparation for docking, Spaar ordered all of the warship's autotargetting batteries to open fire on the inbound ships, a move that killed twenty thousand soldiers, technicians, bureaucrats, and families. Spaar concluded the bloodshed by taking Paret and executing the commander with his dew claw, a retractable blade that emerged from a Yevetha's wrist. The Yevetha leader wasted no time in announcing that the remaining crew were now the prisoners of the Yevetha Protectorate.

In the service of the Yevetha
By 16 ABY&mdash;twelve years after the failed Imperial evacuation of N'zoth&mdash;the Intimidator had been renamed Pride of Yevetha and was pressed into service as the flagship of Duskhan League Viceroy Nil Spaar.

Behind the scenes
The Intimidator first appeared in the novel Before the Storm, the first book of The Black Fleet Crisis trilogy.

The third book in the series, Tyrant's Test, was the first to provide the designation "Executor-class Star Destroyer" for the Intimidator and her sister ships. However, recent sources such as ___________________ and ___________________ have updated the name as "Executor-class Star Dreadnaught," in addition to increasing the length of the class from 8,000 meters to 19,000 meters. This article reflects these changes. However, despite this, The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia refers to the Intimidator as a "Super-class Star Destroyer, a term widely used to describe the 8,000-meter-long Super Star Destroyers.

Appearances

 * Before the Storm
 * Shield of Lies
 * Tyrant's Test
 * Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial

Notes and references
=Megador=

The Megador was a Super-class Star Destroyer utilized by the Galactic Alliance during the Swarm War and the Second Galactic Civil War.

Appearances

 * Dark Nest III: The Swarm War
 * Inferno
 * Invincible

Other projects

 * Wullf Yularen
 * Nahdonnis Praji (still under construction; not on Wookieepedia)
 * Tenn Graneet (still under construction; not on Wookieepedia)