Herbaer Argoll

Admiral  was a male human who temporarily served in Death Squadron on-board the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Impregnable. He participated in numerous conflicts in the Galactic Civil War, though he eventually defected to the Rebellion. He assisted in numerous naval operations thereafter, including the decisive victory at the Battle of Endor, as a fleet officer.

Early years (24 BBY — 5 BBY)
Argoll was born on Metellos to a middle-class family. His father was a shipyard builder, while his mother operated as a mechanic. Although he had no desire to pursue the occupations of his parents, Argoll had a basic understanding of how ships operated as he approached adulthood.

In order to save money for a proper education, Argoll enlisted himself in the Imperial navy as an officer cadet at the Metellos Sector Academy. He graduated at the rank of lieutenant and was assigned to the planetary defense fleet over Ralltiir. Argoll was placed under the command of Vice-Admiral Gredge as a deck officer on the bridge in charge of supervising communications to and from the star destroyer.

Imperial service (5 BBY — 4 ABY)
At the time of the Subjugation of Ralltiir, Argoll was a captain and commanding officer of the Victory-class Star Destroyer Dominance. He was part of the Imperial blockade over the planet, to prevent transports from escaping the system. When the Tantive IV was leaving the system, Argoll gave orders to intercept and inspect the corvette, though his orders were superseded by Gredge, who wanted to maintain a tight formation. Little did either know that the Tantive IV escaped the system with a Ralttiirian rebel on-board.

Argoll was later transferred to the star destroyer Devastator, under Admiral Jergan after his promotion to Rear Admiral. He felt a sense of dread being a part of the crew, since the Devastator was a part of Vader's personal fleet, and that incompetence was not tolerated by the Sith lord. During a small skirmish initiated by Immobilizer 418s dragging a major Rebel supply convoy out of hyperspace, Jergan made a critical error that allowed a sizable number of escort fighters to destroy the interdictors and allow the convoy to flee back into hyperspace, despite heavy losses. Jergan was choked to death by Vader in the aftermath of the skirmish. Argoll was personally promoted to admiral to replace Jergon by Vader. Intimidated by the manner of death of his predecessor, Argoll proved himself to be a capable commander of his star destroyer.

He remained one of the admirals of Death Squadron and played an active role in blockading the sixth planet of the Hoth system. The Devastator was positioned to guard an escape route that the Rebels were expected to take when fleeing the planet. The Rebel tactic involving lowering the shields momentarily to fire their ion cannon and let an evacuation team through forced Argoll to move the Devastator to cover an opened escape route. He resolved to use the disabled Avenger to protect himself from further ion cannon fire while covering the sector. Argoll was able to destroy a Gallofree medium transport while positioned behind the Avenger, forcing the two escort fighters to flee into hyperspace without their assigned transport.

On Vader's orders, Argoll and the rest of Death Squadron chased the Millennium Falcon into the nearby asteroid field. Although he did as ordered, Argoll knew extremely well from his training in the academy that it was tantamount to suicide for any warship to attempt to navigate an asteroid field. He ordered the Devastator to flank the fleet on the starboard side in tight formation and concentrate on shooting the asteroids with various gun emplacements to allow safe passage for the fleet of star destroyers. Other admirals followed his example, with the Avenger taking the lead in the pursuit. Even with this precaution, the Devastator suffered severe damage, including a crippling blow to the star destroyer's bridge. The asteroid, though it shattered upon impact, caused a leak in one of the shield generators' core and forced Argoll to retreat from the asteroid field and abandon the chase. Argoll suffered minor injuries from the incident but was thankful when Vader excused his shortcomings. Due to the damage that the Devastator sustained while chasing the Millennium Falcon, the warship was cycled out of Death Squadron and temporarily replaced by the Impregnable, which Argoll transferred command to. Argoll later cited the experience as a major factor in his decision to defect to the Rebellion.

Behind the scenes
The surname Argoll is derived from argol, based on the Welsh surname Argall, meaning "dweller in a quiet place."