Tobias Styze was a human male born on Odri Fals and conscripted into the Imperial Army as early as 3 BBY. While initially enlisted within the Stormtrooper Corps, his show of expertise rapidly got him transferred to the Storm commandos, operating under the command of admiral Victor Strang up until 0 ABY.
After a great show of skill during the battle of Yavin, complemented by a spotless career, Tobias was promoted to the rank of major and gained command of his own squad of storm commandos, dubbed Styze Company by 4 ABY; having grown in size exponentially. Between 0 and 4 ABY, Styze's unit operated in a variety of theaters, with a 90% success rate.
Styze led his unit during the battle of Endor. However, a fatal blunder by Imperial High Command resulted in defeat and a great number of casualties among Styze's forces, reducing his group to only six, including himself. Despite this, Styze managed to evacuate his forces, taking a number of regular forces with him before disappearing for the better part of a decade.
Styze resurfaced in 10 ABY during the second battle of Coruscant, leading a contingent of regular stormtroopers in addition to several heavy vehicles in service to the reborn emperor. Throughout Operation Shadow Hand, Styze was a constant and in great part responsible for the Imperial victory during the battle of Chazwa. Following the emperor's final death, Tobias disappeared again.
By the time of the Yuuzhan Vong War, Tobias had become rogue, having entitled himself the rank of commander and still officially operating Styze Company. In 28 ABY, Styze joined forces with Imperial admiral Elgar Finn and Galactic Alliance admiral Beya Ar'Lya during the liberation of Vianden.
Biography[]
Early life and stormtrooper service[]
Tobias Styze was born prior to 3 BBY on the Core planet of Odri Fals. He was the son of Republic general Enric Styze, who had disappeared sixteen years prior. He graduated Academy Fals as a stormtrooper and was assigned towards the other side of the galaxy to reinforce the severely reduced 666th Elite Legion.
Tobias' first deployment was during the recapture of the planet Bescane. Sixteen years prior, the Eighth Army had been defeated and pushed off Bescane in a war of attrition against the Confederacy of Independent Systems in the waning months of the war. As part of the reconquest of the Outer Rim however, the time had finally come to seize the outlying star systems.
Tobias showed excellent skill during the battle of Bescane, and despite CC-2937's reservations about non-Clone forces, Tobias proved promising. By 2 BBY, Tobias had gained the rank of sergeant, but was transferred out of the 666th and turned to the Officer's Candidate School for officer training.
Storm commandos[]
Later that year, Tobias graduated from the officer academy and rolled out as a second lieutenant, the lowest of attainable Imperial Army ranks. However, instead of returning to the 666th, he was enlisted with the storm commandos and assigned to Victor Strang.
Under Victor Strang, Tobias was deployed to the backwater, industrially-polluted planet of Baduur II, the alleged site of a Separatist base. Joined by five more storm commandos – which would later form the core of his unit – they were orbitally inserted through the use of drop pods.
Styze and his squad arrived just outside Tolpar, the capital city, and made their way covertly into the old industrial district, where the separatists were believed to be operating from.
While exploring the old industrial district, the storm commandos came to discover some of the old factories had been repurposed into B1-Series battle droid production. Observing the immediate threat, Styze and his squad retreated into the city, taking refuge in an abandoned building while devising a plan to deal with the new separatist threat, under command of former separatist admiral Saquehl Crest.
Using their newly-established headquarters, Tobias hosted a mission to sabotage the factory and prevent further droid production. The mission was completed with little difficulty using improvised bombs and was a resounding success, although the destruction of the factory challenged the Quarren admiral to deploy his fresh droids back to the surface, which had just arrived on the Resurgent.
With the sudden deployment of new forces, Styze's company had to improvise. Styze formulated his new plan, and used the factory's systems to discover and override the frequency used to broadcast orders to the droids and promptly disabling them. Despite this setback, Crest wasn't about to give up that easily. Styze's trick however convinced Crest that sending more droids would just be fueling the Empire, and he strayed from this plan.
Crest also came to realize his position had become compromised regardless of the results, and ordered for an orbital bombardment before leaving with the majority of the fleet. Before however the bombardment could even begin, Strang, commanding an Imperial fleet, entered the system and destroyed the orbiting vessel.
Later history[]
In 28 ABY, Styze and his forces were involved in the liberation of Vianden. Coordinating with admirals Elgar Finn and Beya Ar'Lya as well as three Bounty hunters, leading to a decisive allied victory.
Characteristics[]
Tobias Styze was a quiet man, rarely speaking on his own accord and often only giving minimal replies. As a result, during his later years of service, he was often referred to as the "monotone major".
Styze proved to be a highly capable strategic mind and tactician, often thinking of out-of-the-box solutions when defeat seemed imminent. Such an example was the battle of Chazwa, when he used a combination of primitive weaponry and modern technology to arouse confusion within New Republic ranks and forcing opposing commander Sander Glöze into a surrender.
While tactically viable, he was a physically flexible and agile man, as he demonstrated during his years of service as stormtrooper and more prominently storm commando.