There's a lot of lessons I learned throughout my career. One of the toughest of them all... nobody believes in their own end until it's upon them, until it can't be escaped. You can't escape destiny, nor postpone it. All you can do is try to make a difference.
—Grand Admiral Bast
Lazarus Bast - the "Veteran" - was a Human male who earned some notoriety as the Grand Admiral of the 8th Fleet in the Imperial Navy, not to mention being counted among Darth Vader's most favored. Most notably, he participated in the Outer Rim Pacifications, in particular the Cleansing of New Plympto, in addition to participating in the Galactic Civil War. Throughout his tenure, Lazarus Bast had a strained working relationship with Wilhuff Tarkin, Thrawn and Josef Grunger, all while working alongside Danetta Pitta and Gideon and commanding the likes of Wullf Yularen, Feyet Kiez, Nils Tenant, Soontir Fel, Jerec, Khabarakh and his own brother, Moradmin Bast.
To most of the galaxy, Admiral Bast was yet another technological aberration fashioned by the Galactic Empire to spread terror. Within the New Order, reception to this officer was mixed: while some praised him for his efficiency as a commander, others shunned him for his disturbing cybernetics and merely tolerated his presence. His characteristic silence was only equaled by the ruthlessness needed to "make a difference". Having earned himself the favor of Darth Vader, Bast was among the most capable Imperial Officers within the Imperial Military's ranks. Content with standing by the side of the reigning Sith Lords, the Grand Admiral was unwilling to broker any rival for their attention.
Lore[]
The Grand Admiral of the Imperial Navy's 8th Fleet, Lazarus Bast is a significant higher-up in the Galactic Empire's ranks. The favor he holds with Darth Vader, though irking to Wilhuff Tarkin, has somewhat shielded him from being completely shunned for his disfigurements.
History[]
Born into the Bast family, Lazarus followed the tradition of his forebears by entering the Academy of Carida. Though his ingenuity, determination and quick-thinking in naval scenarios earned him praise from Tallatz and Gillad Pellaeon, Lazarus was not without detractors, chief among them being Kendal Ozzel, who often criticized his intolerance for his peers' ineptitude - which had led to some fights on the academy's grounds; many of the students involved were "Core World flunkeys", as Lazarus called them, who had high-placed patrons in the same elite circle as Ozzel. Nonetheless, Bast graduated with top marks and enlisted in the Galactic Republic's Judicial Forces, soon rising to the rank of lieutenant.
Lieutenant Bast was soon assigned to Captain Wullf Yularen's flagship, the Consular-class cruiser Firewolf, and distinguished himself under his command within Primal Squadron during the First Battle of Malastare. A Corporate Alliance fleet of Fantail-class destroyers and Diamond-class cruisers - led by the privateer Admiral Trench from his personal flagship, the Cumulus-class Star Destroyer Invincible- had blockaded the planet of Malastare, with the CA's Magistrate Passel Argente claiming the world to be heavily indebted. In response to Senator Aks Moe's request, the Judicial Forces dispatched Primal Squadron and Jedi Master Kep-She to break the Corporate Alliance's hold on Malastare.
Following the rise of the Empire, Bast was promoted to full-Commander, though only formally as he was sidelined from active service and command of the Second Fleet was ceded to the more popular and staunch Fleet Admiral Josef Grunger. Nonetheless, his expertise on the battlefield, his strong resolve and his confident conviction of always making a difference made him one of the officers most interviewed by and invovled with the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order, holding encouraging speeches to the the recruits in the Empire's corps. Not many months later, Commander Bast was chosen by Lord Darth Vader - the new personna of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker - to be one of the flight group leaders working directly under him in his personal fleet, Death Squadron. From aboard the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Exactor, Commander Bast assisted in crushing the Separatist holdout of Toonbuck Toora, as well as numerous other upstart cells under the command of Lord Vader and Governor Tarkin as part of the pacification of the Outer Rim. His display of strategy, unscrupulousness and competence especially on Sy Myrth, Raxus Secundus and New Plympto raised him to the rank of Fleet Admiral and granted him a commission as the commander of the Eighth Fleet. For his flagship, he chose the Lucrehulk-class battleship Dleefnarc, which he had shattered in the Battle of Cato Neimoidia, and had it repaired, modified, outfitted with the best technology and renamed the Veteran.
At the insistence of Governor Tarkin, Lord Vader dispatched Admiral Bast at the helm of the Eighth Fleet to quell the insurgency on Jabiim, whose flames had been ignited by the interference of Saw Gerrera's Partisans. From aboard the Veteran, the experienced officer refused to waste time by coordinating a land invasion and instead ordered an immediate orbital bombardment, daunting the rabble-rousers into fleeing for their lives and eliminating the rallied rebels with one swift stroke, at the expense of civillian casualties which Imperial High Command was careful to leave out of its report to the Imperial Senate - though some like Senators Mon Mothma, Bail Organa and Yarua were privately aware of the atrocity. Still, Bast was displeased at Gerrera's escape and invested resources placed by High Command at his disposal in a pursuit of the Partisans in their dens in the Outer Rim, resulting in the narrowing of most of the rebels' activities to the Terrabe sector, much to the irritation of Tarkin due to the daily shipments transferred from there to Scarif for "Project Stardust" being harried by the Partisans. Following the Gentis Coup, Emperor Palpatine and Lord Vader deemed that due to the immensity of the Imperial Military's numbers, additional high ranks were needed to more easily supervise and loyalty officers to keep in check its divisions: navy, army, security and intelligence; to this end they established positions such as that of Grand General and Grand Admiral. Though Admiral Bast was initially considered for the latter, his promotion was delayed in favor of that of fellow Admirals Demetrius Zaarin, Rufaan Tigellinus, Grunger, Peccati Syn and Octavian Grant who enjoyed more favour in the Emperor's Court.
Still he was undeterred by this favoritism and upheld his duties, crippling some of the most notorious pirate bands, such as the Ohnaka Gang, and rebel cells within the Outer and Mid Rims. When offered a posting on the DS-1 Orbital Battle Station, the "Death Star", thanks to his increasing standing with the Empire's sovereign rulers, Bast refused due to his animosity towards Tarkin and a disbelief in the superweapon superiority over the regular military shared by Vader. The Admiral was infinitely more concerned by the Partisans, as well as the chances of a unified Rebellion against the Empire, and so concentrated all of his efforts and available assets on hounding Gerrera whenever possible. Following these pests' destruction of a kyber crystal meant for "Project Stardust", Bast took it upon himself to limit his adversaries' influence as much as he could and succeeded in thwarting their heists and plots in engagements above Raxus, Onderon and Cato Neimoidia, which earned him the praise of Vader and finally his elevation by the latter to the position of Grand Admiral of the Eighth Fleet; his main rivals with whom he fiercely vied for recognition in the eyes of the reigning Sith Lords were Grand Admiral Grunger of the Second Fleet and Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Seventh Fleet, though the officers would be required to occasionally cooperate with one another for the good of the Empire.
Grand Admiral Bast's progress in the political area of the Empire was temporarily halted by Grand Admiral Tigellinus and his close ally, Admiral Conan Antonio Motti, both of whom were among the privileged few endorsed by Governor Tarkin based on their usefulness and familial ties rather than combat awareness: the two officers would often ask their patron to demand Bast's constant management of meager mundane tasks in the Outer Rim, keeping him far from the Core and specifically from the capital world of Coruscant where the Empire's primary seat of power was; the Grand Admiral hated the monotony of his work and his current lack of opportunities at any major accomplishments which all but assured the stagnancy of his career, not to mention his dislike of the Grand Moff and his underlings intensified. Bast's hurt pride was ultimately avenged ironically by the Alliance to Restore the Republic in the shocking Battle of Yavin, that saw the loss of the "Death Star" and the demise of Tarkin. With spare places in the upper social class of the Empire now ripe for the taking, the Grand Admiral seized the chance by throwing his support behind the counterattack against the Rebellion - his unannounced late arrival and unorthodox tactics brought the wrath of the military upon the insurgents and allowed for his quick subsequent return to Coruscant where he was hailed as one of the heroes of the Empire. There was no ball nor parade from which Admiral Bast would hence be absent from, for he commonly accompanied Lord Vader and the rest of his grim entourage of battle-hardened veterans - such a moment was seen in the unveiling of the Executor-class dreadnaught Executor.
As the Galactic Civil War raged on, Bast often joined the Eighth Fleet with Vader's Death Squadron in pursuit of the evasive Rebel Navy, scoring several victories at the Sith Lord's side just like in the old days, but was also sent by his latter superior to scare off the criminal Zann Consortium's thugs who secretly in league with the nefarious Black Sun were hindering important shipments of arms, materials and credits to various installations. When one of the Imperial Advisers was abducted en route to one such space station, Emperor Palpatine bid Admiral Bast retrieve the dignitary - as an added incentive, he was threatened that if he did not see this mission through all that he had built for himself might crumble before his very eyes. In spite of all his exemplary canny abilities and available tools, he failed to free the captured envoy, who was sold by the privateers who had kidnapped him to the Rebellion. As punishment, Palpatine assigned Bast to deal with General Garm Bel Iblis' forces with insufficient starships at his disposal: the Grand Admiral lost his flagship, the Veteran, to his foe while the handful of vessels that had been at his command were all destroyed and he himself did not escape unscathed: his broken bodily shell awaited finding by the Empire, who was none too pleased with the vanquishing of the shamed Bast's flotilla.
More than seventy-five percent of his shape replaced with unattractive cybernetics, Bast became the target of much abuse and discrimination due to his extensive changes and was not so welcome any longer among the Empire's elite. Retaining his rank, the Grand Admiral alongside his colleagues Nial Declann, Miltin Takel, Afsheen Makati and Grunger were components of the Imperial Starfleet attack group stationed covertly behind the moon of Endor at Vader's directives, all part of an elaborate ruse concocted by Palpatine to ensnare the Rebellion and bring its unceremonious end about. From the bridge of one of the many Imperial-class Star Destroyers, Bast heeded the Executor's Admiral Firmus Piett's instructions down from Lord Vader and Emperor Palpatine to storm the rebel starships that had attempted to foolishly ambush the DS-2 Orbital Battle Station, the "Death Star II". As more and more Imperial vessels entered the fray, triumph was at hand for the Empire's enforcers, until the Executor was felled and came crashing down into the fully-operational battle station bellow. With no clear orders from the late Piett and no contact with either Palpatine or Vader, nigh all the officers scrambled all their knowledge to withstand the general confusion whereas the Rebellion mounted its brave attack; perceiving the point where one of the enemy flight groups was headed unlike his disoriented peers, Bast had several of his TIE-line fighters try to shoot them down. The Grand Admiral's efforts were feeble compared to the courage arrayed against the Empire: the reactor of the "Death Star II" was blown up by the same small flight group and both reigning Sith Lords had perished - the downfall of the New Order had come at last in spite of all its vain efforts of self-preservation. Though the Imperial Starfleet and Rebel Fleet briefly continued their clash, Bast understood that there was no hope of recovery for the Empire from this skirmish and commanded his crew to prepare to make a hyperspace jump to Anaxes, persuading other Star Destroyer captains as well to set the same course to evade the futility of opposing the victors.
Using the treasury he had accumulated and what little allies of value he still had, the Grand Admiral took advantage of the respite following the proclamation of the New Republic and conquered the Anaxes, Jaso, Carida and Bes Ber Bikade sectors. Considering himself capable of following on the footsteps of Palpatine and Vader before him, Bast claimed the title of Warlord of the Empire and announced his intentions suborn Grunger, his old opponent who too long had sidelined him. To maintain his independence of other power-hungry ex-Imperials, the Grand Admiral brokered a pact with the Pentastar Alignment, giving the council of Moffs, crude slavers, firm executives and corporate titans, whom he knew to be yet stronger than himself, all they required of their relationship while at the same time retaining much of his autonomy. With the assistance of that coalition, Bast was able to penetrate Grunger's defenses and move ever deeper into his territories, forcing the latter to try regain a footing by starting a concurrent conflict with the weaker Grand Admiral Danetta Pitta. Angered by his chief rival's pretention to the throne, he committed all of his available means to opening new fronts to besiege him, encircling his opponent and beating him over Mandalore; to humiliate Grunger further, Bast chose to strike at his convictions by having his best assassins harry the cultists of the Prophets of the Dark Side and even tried capturing Kadann, whose mystical blessing to Palpatine's seat many superstitious warlords sought. The Grand Admiral's adversary proved all too predictable as the events unfolded: desperate to escape his dire entrapment, Grunger directed his diminished flotilla in a reckless assault against Pitta above Corellia, a skirmish that cost the two both their lives as Bast watched satisfied. The Grand Admiral's sizable armada swallowed the leftovers of the battle, allowing him to tactically disperse his forces to all key locations without lessening the strength of each squadron of Star Destroyers, all of which was seen as the perfect investment on the Pentastar Alignment's part; though he purposefully neglected to answer the call to a meeting on Akiva, Bast was still approached by Grand Admiral Rae Sloane of the Third Fleet to join with her.
Bast's triumph was short-lived, however, as the New Republic answered the threat he posed with Bel Iblis who engaged him at Saleucami, where the Grand Admiral's Executor-class dreadnaught Annihilator confronted his ex-flagship the Veteran. The ensuing battle was hard and bloody for both parties, explosions everywhere, broken shards floating, turrets' fires flashing and vessels ramming each others' hulls. At long last, Bast's command ship was severely damaged, daunting him into fleeing into an escape pod in the hopes of living to fight another day.