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CharactersGeneral Carlist Rieekan
Leader of the Rebel forces stationed at Echo Base during the Battle of Hoth. Tall and commanding, Rieekan was revered by his troops, who willingly served the idealistic general despite the terrible conditions on the ice planet. On his order, numerous Rebel pilots sacrificed their lives to allow the remaining Alliance forces to escape Hoth. The memory of all those who were slain at the Battle of Hoth continues to haunt Rieekan and influences all of his decisions as a vital member of the New Republic Council. Born on the peaceful world of Alderaan, Carlist
Rieekan left his home planet at a young age to join the Army of the Republic, where his
superiors instantly recognized his leadership skills and keen tactical mind.
While enlisted, Rieekan also befriended such men
as Jan Dodonna and Crix Madine, whose ideals he adopted in time. Thus, when the Empire rose to power, Rieekan
immediately swore his allegiance to the Rebel Alliance. As his first assignment, he was placed in command of all covert Rebel operations in
the proximity of the Alderaan system. While
serving his post, he made strong connections to Bail Organa and his family, including
Princess Leia, although he had to make great efforts to ensure that such links were never
discovered by the Emperor. It is believed that Rieekan was at a transmission
station near Delaya, one of Alderaans sister planets, when his homeworld was
attacked by the Death Star. As the massive
battle station approached Alderaan, Rieekan received a number of panicked transmissions
from the doomed planet. Rieekan knew that
there would be no time to evacuate and he feared that if he tried to intervene, he would
reveal Alderaans connections to the Rebel Alliance. Faced with this terrible dilemma, he could only hope that the Imperials were
boasting and would not, in fact, vaporize Alderaan. Sadly,
this was not the case and the planet was completely destroyed. Rieekan rejoined the main body of the Rebel
Alliance and became a general, and eventually commander of Echo Base on Hoth. During the Battle of Hoth, Rieekan was instrumental in developing delaying tactics used by the Rebel snowspeeders to stall the approaching AT-ATs. With Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles he even devised a method for toppling an Imperial walker using a snowspeeders power harpoon, a method used effectively by Wedge during the conflict. Rieekan managed to escape Hoth and survived numerous future battles. When the New Republic was forming, Princess Leia personally chose Rieekan to serve as her second-in-command on the New Republic Council. During this turbulent time, it was Rieekans duty to assume Leias role in her absence. After surviving an assassination attempt, Rieekan was appointed to a post of New Republic Intelligence Director, a position he held throughout the New Republics confrontations with the Yevetha. As related in the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy, Rieekan was responsible for terminating the official search for the vagabond ghost ship that had mysteriously kidnapped Lando Calrissian, Lobot, C-3PO, and R2-D2. However, he also allowed Colonel Pakkpekatt to continue the quest for the vagabond in Landos starship, the Lady Luck.
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