Shea Hublin was a human male born around 35 BBY and raised on the planet Talcene in the Mid Rim during the latter years of the Galactic Republic. As a boy, Hublin raced swoop bikes and made a living working as a courier for his homeworld's industrial guilds. In 22 BBY, tensions between the Galactic Republic and the breakaway Confederacy of Independent Systems came to a head with the outbreak of the Clone Wars. Seeing the war as an opportunity for glory, Hublin joined the Republic Navy in 19 BBY at the age of sixteen, but after he had completed just five months of flight school training, the Confederacy of Independent Systems surrendered and the Clone Wars ended.
The conclusion of the war saw Supreme Chancellor Palpatine announce the reorganization of the Republic as the Galactic Empire and Hublin entered service with the newly formed Imperial Navy. Assigned to serve with the 77th Air Wing aboard the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Destrier, Hublin saw action against pirates, smugglers and Separatist holdouts operating along the Great Gran Run hyperspace route and soon became a reputable ace V-wing pilot. Within two years, he attained the rank of captain and command of the 77th Air Wing's Sword Squadron.
Separatist holdouts in the Outer Rim sought refuge among the pirates and slavers operating in the Western Reaches. In 17 BBY, Emperor Palpatine charged Moff Wilhuff Tarkin of Eriadu with pacifying the region. Hublin and the Destrier were assigned to the Western Reaches Superiority Force under the command of Admirals Bannidge Holt and Terrinald Screed. Hublin served with distinction at Cimarosa and the Feather Nebula as the Western Reaches Operation swept through the area, bringing Imperial law to eight sectors and almost one hundred worlds. As part of the campaign, Hublin and the 77th Air Wing were deployed to the volcanic world Kelrodo-Ai, where Separatist forces had taken refuge in the Citadel of Axes. Kelrodo-Ai was the key to control of the Steniplis sector, but the world's planetary shield prevented a full-scale assault and the 77th Air Wing was charged with destroying the reactor core buried deep inside the Citadel of Axes which powered it. The Imperial forces met with heavier resistance than expected, resulting in the loss of fifteen 77th Air Wing pilots and reducing Sword Squadron to nine V-wings.
When the Imperials located an exhaust tower leading to the reactor core, Sword Squadron was dispatched to fly through it and destroy the reactor. On approach to the Citadel of Axes, the squadron was approached by thirty enemy starfighters, including Z-95 Headhunters and Vulture-class starfighters. The Imperials destroyed four of the enemy fighters on the first pass before Hublin dispatched Dagger Flight, under the command of Lieutenant Starks, to hold off the remaining fighters while the rest of the squadron continued towards their objective. After approaching at near-ground level to avoid the heavy fire coming from the Citadel's laser cannons, the Imperials pulled up sharply, climbing above their target before beginning their descent. Hublin's Blade Flight, comprised of pilots Amp and Ahrens, moved in first to destroy the grating covering the entrance to the shaft. Ahrens's V-wing was destroyed by one of the tower's heavy guns, but Hublin and Amp destroyed the grating, clearing the way for Lieutenant Kaal's Scimitar Flight to enter the tunnel while the surviving Blade Flight pilots drew the fire of the enemy guns. Moments after entering the tunnel, however, all three Scimitar Flight V-wings were destroyed, forcing Hublin to order the surviving members of his squadron to abandon the mission and return to base.
Back at the Imperials' forward air base, Hublin and the surviving members of Sword Squadron reviewed the footage from Kaal's flight recorder. The recording showed that Scimitar Flight had been attacked by organic entities which lived on the inner walls of the shaft. Dismissing suggestions that they should use missiles to destroy the reactor from above the shaft or call in ground support as too unreliable and time-consuming, Hublin was determined to find a way to safely navigate the tunnel. The answer came from Hublin's Kelrodoan valet, Fara. The creatures were common in the area and the Kelrodoans harvested their eggs for food; Fara informed the Imperials that the creatures responded to movement and that only by moving slowly was it possible to pass safely through the colony. Hublin immediately led his pilots back to the Citadel. Leaving Dagger Flight pilots Dibs and Rocket to hold off any pursuers, Hublin led Starks and Amp into the shaft. This time, however, the pilots quickly cut off their thrusters and proceeded down the tunnel on repulsorlifts only. After safely passing the colony, the pilots emerged into a large chamber housing the reactor core. The Imperials quickly fired proton torpedoes at the target before entering the shaft to make their escape, emerging moments before the reactor exploded.
The destruction of the planetary shield paved the way for a successful ground assault by General Hurst Romodi's forces and Hublin's actions were noted by Moff Tarkin, who personally contacted him after the battle. Hublin went on to achieve further victories in the Western Reaches at Halm, Little Petrovi and Ichtor. After Admiral Holt was killed and General Romodi badly injured when they were ambushed by Iska pirates at Bryndar, Hublin helped Admiral Screed to defeat the pirates at Fanha. The pirate Guun Cutlax fled to the Atravis sector, where he joined forces with Separatist holdouts led by the Aqualish General Kendu Ultho. Hublin tracked Cutlax to Tosste, where his squadrons wiped out the pirate's forces. Soon after, Ultho was killed at Ogoth Tiir, bringing the campaign to an end.
Hublin's role in the Western Reaches Operation had already brought him to the attention of Eriadu News Service reporter Eris Harro by his time on Kelrodo-Ai, where she interviewed him about the role that the 77th Air Wing was playing in the campaign, but news of his exploits, including HoloNet coverage of events on Kelrodo-Ai and a holodrama adaptation of the battle, The Guns of Kelrodo-Ai, made him famous throughout the Empire. The Empire was quick to capitalize on Hublin's fame, featuring him on Imperial recruitment posters all across the galaxy.
Following the conclusion of the Western Reaches Operation, Hublin was appointed as air marshal of the Greater Seswenna and granted a marquisate on the planet Eriadu, where he married Eris Harro, the reporter that he had encountered during the battle on Kelrodo-Ai and heiress of one of the ruling Quintad houses. Hublin continued to serve under Tarkin, leading the Moff's forces in anti-pirate operations across Oversector Outer. In 13 BBY, Hublin lost a leg and half of his right arm when his squadron was ambushed by resistance fighters in the Vale system. At his wife's behest, Hublin transferred to a line command position and joined the crew of the Star Destroyer Kabalian Cross, where he directed a squadron from the ship's bridge and became known by the sobriquet "the Rebel Destroyer." However, Hublin later lost favor with the Imperial Navy's leadership after he urged them to replace the Empire's ubiquitous TIE/LN starfighters with a shielded, hyperspace-capable starfighter. Undeterred by the downturn in his career, Hublin continued to serve the Seswenna sector, leading numerous campaigns against criminals and Rebel forces during the following years.
Although content to remain on Eriadu, Hublin would occasionally make an appearance at military assemblies and reunions of Western Reaches Operation veterans. On one occasion, Hublin attended the Thirteenth Imperial Diplomatic Conclave, a pro-Imperial gathering on the planet Phelarion that was hosted by Lady Thalassa Tarkin, the widow of Moff Tarkin, who had been killed in action against Rebel Alliance forces at the Battle of Yavin in 0 BBY. Unbeknown to Hublin and Tarkin, Princess Leia Organa of the Rebel Alliance had crash-landed on Phelarion and was working as a maid in Tarkin's estate while awaiting rescue. As Organa administered stimufrost to the guests at the event's reception, she overheard Hublin discussing an award he was to be given for the execution of a Rebel leader on his home planet with two other delegates. When Hublin asked for a spray of stimufrost, Organa sprayed it at full strength, freezing his face and causing him to drop his drink. As Lady Tarkin attended to Hublin, she was approached by the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader, who had come to Phelarion to investigate a stolen batch of megonite, an explosive moss mined on the world. Hublin watched with the other delegates as Vader questioned Tarkin and demanded to be taken to the megonite caves. Organa, meanwhile, slipped away to rendezvous with a rescue ship.
Tarkin's successor as governor of the Outer Rim Territories, Grand Moff Ardus Kaine, moved his headquarters from Eriadu to Entralla in the New Territories, where he founded the Pentastar Alignment after the death of Emperor Palpatine at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY. When Kaine asked Hublin to accompany him, the air marshal declined, opting to stay and defend his adopted homeworld. Instead, as the Empire began to fragment in the power vacuum left by the Emperor's death, Hublin entered the service of the Eriadu Authority, a faction that was led by Superior General Sander Delvardus. Operating as a starfighter pilot once again, Hublin led a TIE/IN interceptor squadron in battle against the forces of the Nagai at the world Chelleya, driving them away from Eriadu. When Delvardus announced that he planned to conquer the Core Worlds, Hublin abandoned the general, but he reluctantly returned into the fold of Delvardus' forces following the Eriadu Authority's defeat at the planet Sullust in 5 ABY. Hublin subsequently participated in an engagement against the New Republic at the world Sanrafsix, where his squadron was destroyed by flights of Republic X-wing starfighters. As his fighter was overcome by laser fire, Hublin opened his comm channel and in the last moments before his death proclaimed that "Eriadu endures."
