Captain Pellaeon

Captain (later Grand Admiral) Gilad Pellaeon, the elderly Imperial Navy Captain in command of the Chimerea, took the remnants of the Imperial fleet and retreated from the Battle of Endor. Born on Corellia years before Anakin Skywalker, Pellaeon lied his way into the Judicial Forces when he was just fifteen. While serving aboard various starships with the Old Republic, he learned about the ebb and flow of politcal tides, and saw that the military was something of a constant.

He developed a military sense that kept him in the background, making sure his troops were well-fed and respected, rather than bullying them into submission. After the death of Emperor Palpatine at Endor, Pellaeon had no desire to lead the Empire, but he felt it was his duty to keep the Imperial fleet together. Thus, when Grand Admiral Thrawn emerged from the Unknown Regions to take control of the Empire, Pellaeon was more than willing to turn the fleet over to Thrawn, despite Thrawn's obviously alien background. He served Thrawn well, respecting the alien's uncanny insights while providing tactical assistance when necessary.

Following the death of Thrawn at the hands of his own Noghri bodyguard, Rukh, Pellaeon took Thrawn's remaining ships and fled to the Core Systems, where he came in contact with High Admiral Teradoc. The two marshalled a large fleet of Victory-class Star Destroyers, and rivaled Harrsk for leadership of the Imperial forces for a number of years. When Admiral Daala showed up and tried to combine the strengths of the feuding warlords, Pellaeon sided with Daala, who only wanted to restore the Empire. The two of them arranged a summit of all the warlords on Tsoss Station, but were forced to poison them all when they failed to cooperate. Pellaeon became Daala's first officer, and was placed in command of the remaining seventeen Imperial-class Star Destroyers. He was to be the primary attack for that assaulted the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. His attack was perfect, slipping into the system before the Jedi knew it. However, his Imperial conditioning failed to prepare him for the power of the Force. The Jedi, under the focus of the Khommite jedi Dorsk 81, used the Force to physically fling the entire Star Destroyer fleet out of the Yavin System, knocking out navigations and hyperdrives. Pelleaon was able to recover all his ships, as well as Admiral Daala's escape pod, before leaving to the system. After Daala's rescue, she resigned her command, and turned control of the Imperial fleet over to him. While he stll had no desire to rule the Empire, Pellaeon felt that the situation was the Battle of Endor all over again. He took the fleet back to the Core Systems to regroup.

Pellaeon assumed the position of Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy, and worked against all odds to rebuild the fleet. He spent several years trying to overcome the problems with the cloaking device, and eventually tested the Computer Combat Predictor. However, its inability to truly aid in a cloaked fight was the last straw in the back of the dwindling Imperial animal. He suggested to Moff Disra that the Imperial remnants should negotiate a surrender with the New Republic some ten years after Thrawn's death, hoping to obtain amnesty rather than execution. Although the majority of the Moffs were in agreement with the plan, Disra's own machinations kept him from wholeheartedly agreeing.

Pellaeon began his attempts to contact the Republic by sending Colonel Vermel to meet with Garm Bel Iblis, but Disra captured Vermel before his message was fully delivered. Pellaeon, meanwhile, waited for Bel Iblis as Pesitiin, where Disra sent Zothip and the Cavrilhu Pirates to ambush him. Pellaeon's forces dispatched the pirates, but continued to wait for Bel Iblis. However, Bel Iblis was on a mission to Yaga Minor, so it was Ghent who actually received the truncated message from Vermel. He brought the message to Leia Organa-Solo, who agreed to meet with Pellaeon. Their initial talks were tentative but promising, and both agreed to return to their sides and meet at a later date. Meantime, Pellaeon and Commander Dreyf discovered Disra's plans, and began to press the matter with the Moff. Pellaeon eventually won out over the renegade Moff Disra, and soon signed a peace treaty - later known as the Pellaeon-Gavrisom Treaty - with the New Republic.

He assumed command of what became known as the Imperial Remnant, and maintained a distanced relationship with the Republic until the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the galaxy. Then, Pellaeon agreed to help the war effort during the Battle of Ithor, only to be recalled to Imperial space by the short-sightedness of the Moff Council. Pellaeon feared that the Moffs' decision to stay out of the fight - so long as the Yuuzhan Vong avoided the Empire - was the wrong thing to do, but his half-century of experience made him hold his tongue for several years. He worked hard to bolster the forces protecting Bastion, but the Imperials were no match for the surprise attack launched by the Yuuzhan Vong shortly after the Second Battle of Coruscant. Bastion and Muunilinst were lost almost immediately, and the destruction would have been worse if Luke Skywalker hadn't arrived on the scene. Pellaeon gladly accepted the help of the Jedi, who were searching for the planet Zonama Sekot, and was able to hold off the alien invaders long enough to evacuate the central Imperial systems. However, the Chimaera took heavy damage, and Pellaeon himself was nearly killed. Only the skilled work of the Jedi healer Tekli kept him alive. Once the Imperial Remnant regrouped at Yaga Minor, Pellaeon started his own recovery, and began training his forces with tactics developed by the newly-formed Galactic Alliance.

Despite the fact that he was confined to a bacta tank, Pellaeon was also instrumental in helping Jacen Solo convince the Moff Council that it needed to adopt the Galactic Alliance's tactics in order to ensure the very survival of the Empire. When he was able to emerge from the bacta tank, Pellaeon once again took command of the Imperial Navy, and threatened to secede from the Empire if the Moffs didn't accept Jacen's offer to join the Galactic Alliance. Once the Moffs agreed, Pellaeon took the Imperial fleet and began to harass the retreating Yuuzhan Vong forces, hoping to defend the Imperial Remnant by joining the war effort to defeat the alien invaders throughout the galaxy. As the battle neared its conclusion, Pellaeon was appointed the commander of the Galactic Alliance's Fourth Fleet, and was instrumental in the final battle against the Yuuzhan Vong near Coruscant. In the wake of the Yuuzhan Vong surrender, Pellaeon prepared to return to the Imperial Remnant as its primary liaison to the Galactic Republic. Before he left, however, he found time to return the moss painting Killik Twilight to Leia Organa Solo. In the wake of the death of Admiral Sien Sovv, Pellaeon agreed to serve as the Supreme Commander of the Galactic Alliance's military, until a more permanent replacement could be named.