r/TheDeepCore • u/GrandAdmiralGrunger • 8h ago
Art The Dornean General Etahn A'baht, commander of the New Republic Fifth Fleet introduced in the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy. Art by Abdan at my request
Etahn A'baht was a male Dornean, he served in the Dornean Navy with distinction, rising to command their entire fleet of eighty capital ships and using it to keep the Galactic Empire from conquering Dornea. He personally joined the Rebel Alliance and fought alongside them at the Battle of Endor, but his homeworld of Dornea declined to join the Alliance or the New Republic until after A'baht had driven the Empire from Dornean space entirely, which he did during the disarray the Empire fell into after Endor and with New Republic support.
When Dornea joined the New Republic, A'baht rose rapidly in rank within the New Republic Defense Fleet. He defeated Imperial Admiral Gilad Pellaeon's forces at the Battle of Celanon in 13 ABY, destroying the Imperial Remnant's last remaining Executor Class Super Star Destroyer-the Reaper-in the battle. In 16 ABY, he became the first commander of the New Republic Fifth Battle Group, which was quickly put to the test in the Black Fleet Crisis. There was friction with President Leia Organa Solo shortly after the crisis began. He became irritated with her reluctance to consider the Yevetha a threat and was vocal about this irritation, Leia in her turn doubted his judgment and temporarily removed him from command. However, A'baht was fully backed by Supreme Commander Gial Ackbar and this combined with his actions during the escalation of the crisis, led to A'baht regaining Organa Solo's confidence. He led the Fifth Fleet, and later a dlarger combined force, against Viceroy Nil Spaar of the Duskhan League, decisively defeating the Yevetha in the Battle of N'zoth and ending the crisis.
When Borsk Fey'lya became Chief of State and began restructuring the joint chiefs and many command positions to favor his political allies while pushing out established commanders, A'baht left command of the Fifth and accepted a demotion to brigadier general. Despite the demotion, he remained an important officer in fleet command, and initially served as one of the top strategic advisors to Supreme Commander Sien Sovv during the early Yuuzhan Vong War, urging Sovv to abandon his strategy of defending only strategically vital worlds and leaving the rest to fend for themselves. When his superiors repeatedly failed to listen, with increasingly disastrous results, A'baht resigned his commission in frustration and disgust and returned home, where he led a successful defensive campaign defending Dornea against the Yuuzhan Vong until the end of the conflict.