- "... They just came from out of nowhere, these faceless men in black battle armor. They swooped down in the middle of Kubaz colony in their dark gunships and transports, taking in as many refugees as they can while gunning down any Yevethans who stood in their way... and none of us ever heard any of them utter a single word."
- ― Unnamed Yevethan Purge survivor, to a member of the Stormtrooper Corps (the eyewitness account was later redacted)
Umbra, LLC or more commonly known as Umbra was a limited-liability private military company which was active during the New Republic era. Consisting of various former Special Forces personnel from the Imperial Remnant - including a number of "reformed" criminals - it was financed and managed by Commander Noa Vasch-Kallea Malreaux, a wealthy nobleman and former Imperial Remnant officer.
Umbra contractors favored jobs ensuring the personal security of VIPs and training/equipping clients' private armies or Home Defense corps, as well as other assignments which were generally considered as too "high risk" or complicated by conventional military organizations.
History[]
The company had its origins within an obscure Imperial military cybernetics research program known as Project I46Z or "Imperial Trooper Improvement Initiative, 46-Zerek", which was initiated by the Imperial Department of Military Research (IDMR) shortly after the Battle of Yavin as a parallel alternative program to General Rom Mohc's existing "Dark Trooper Project".
The program's primary goal was to explore and evaluate the effectiveness of various cybernetic enhancements on selected test subjects among the Stormtrooper Corps, which included members from elite units such as the Scout troopers, the Storm Commandos and the Strategic Insertion Battalion (SIB). Its secondary goal, however, was to determine the operational threshold limits of said cybernetic enhancements on the average human body, and also to test experimental consciousness-transfer methods onto droid bodies in order to further develop then-current Human Replica Droid (HRD) research. Borg implant manufacturers such as Neuro-Saav and BioTech industries were also involved in the aforementioned secret project, albeit only on a limited/need-to-know basis.
To that end, a hidden Imperial garrison and research facility code-named IMRF-09S523 was constructed in utmost secrecy by the IDMR on the sparsely inhabited Outer Rim planet Xuaquarres, which was located in grid S-7 of the Ash Worlds sector. Several other clandestine bio-research projects were performed in IMRF-09S523 as well, thus necessitating the use of several banks of Spaarti cloning cylinders. The facility was also equipped with its own composite task force - the Revenant fleet (Special Anti-Piracy Task Force 11) - which was formed from a corps of cybernetically-enhanced elite troopers who managed to survive the program's brutal experiments.
After the disastrous Imperial defeat at Endor, the subsequent dissolution of the Galactic Empire and the deaths of most of the Imperial officers and collaborators who commissioned Project I46Z, the entire program - having never officially "existed" on Imperial records to begin with - was abandoned and eventually forgotten. It was in 9 ABY that Commander Malreaux, the Revenant fleet's commanding officer, gathered the remnants of the program and integrated them into a new private military organization which he named "Umbra".
Umbra adopted a stylized Malreaux rose as its corporate insignia, which came to be known and feared throughout the galaxy as the "Bleeding Star of Umbra".
Organization and Philosophy[]
- "Be swift. Be silent. Be deadly. And most of all, be invisible... leave no trace of your existence behind you. You were never there."
- ― Excerpt from Umbra's Tactical Ops training holo
"Special Anti-Piracy Task Force 11" was designed from its onset to be a low-profile, rapid-strike black ops unit targeting pirates and Rebel Alliance operations in the Outer Rim, the Unknown Regions and Wild Space, thus, none of the fleet's heavily-modified ships (except for a couple of its support vessels) were any larger than Imperial II-class Star Destroyers. Likewise, their accompanying TIE/IN Interceptors were upgraded with additional solar panel flaps, anti-sensor coating, deflector shields and hyperdrive capabilities, allowing them to specialize in quick, surgical strikes reminiscent of Rebel "hit-and-run" squadron tactics against the Empire. After being incorporated into Umbra, they used these same tactics in their operations - to devastating effect.
Due to their preference for stealth and speed, Umbra's contractors were rarely deployed in large battle groups (unless when they were specifically required to do so). They made up for their relatively low numbers by arming themselves to the teeth with plenty of suppressive firepower.
Not much was known about Umbra's organizational structure, but it was assumed that its members still maintained their original military-style hierarchy.
Equipment[]
- "Listen up: every single one of you di'kuts is carrying several starships' worth of implants, state-of-the-art armor, weapons and other gear... they're there to keep you all alive, so you'd better take good care of your kriffing equipment, or else I'll kick you all in the shebs! All right, that's it for the mission brief."
- ― Tredavi Kryze
A typical Umbra contractor wearing company-issued composite battle armor (Mk.2 version with the kama), with a modified Z-6 rotary blaster cannon in the background
Cybernetics[]
TBA.
Armor[]
TBA.
Weapons[]
TBA.
Vehicles[]
TBA.
Notable Members[]
Despite being a very large private military company which employed hundreds of thousands of contractors at any given time, Umbra's employee roster was regarded as classified information and was therefore not available to the general public. However, a few of its members still stood out in their own way:
- Commander Noa Vasch-Kallea Malreaux (LRC-24) - Force-sensitive Human male from Vjun; former Storm Commando officer and titular viscount of House Malreaux. Cdr. Malreaux was the commanding officer of Special Anti-Piracy Task Force 11's flagship/namesake, the Vindicator-class heavy cruiser "Revenant". He was also the founder and first Chairman of Umbra.
- Sergeant Colbern Lampard (TK-216) - Human male from Corulag; former Stormtrooper from the 501st Legion. Sgt. Lampard previously served with distinction on two of Darth Vader's flagships: the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer "Devastator" and the Executor-class Star Dreadnought "Executor" prior to the Battle of Endor. He was part of the boarding party which captured the Rebel CR90 diplomatic corvette "Tantive IV" belonging to House Organa.
- Tan Breneth Cartin (LS-529) - Human male from Belsavis; former Storm Commando. Cartin was one of the top five TIE/HU Hunter aces of all time. He was well-known within the Imperial military for having adamantly refused a promotion to the Officer Corps in no less than seven separate occasions, stating that he'd "rather fly real starfighters than be some stuck-up, glorified nerf-herder who processes holodata all day".
- Lieutenant Xiarr Aquila (TK-402) - Human male from Carida; former Scout trooper officer. A four-time champion of the Imperial Academy of Carida's annual marksmanship competitions, Lt. Aquila was Umbra's best sharpshooter.
- Sadon Chamra (MB-849) - Human male from Brentaal IV; former Storm Commando. During the Yevethan Purge in 16 ABY, Chamra (disguised as a civilian) single-handedly defended the city of Ten South on Polneye with an anti-aircraft laser cannon while a small flight of Polneyi TIE/IN Interceptors from the 10S Technical Institute scrambled against the Yevethans. Despite the fact that 92% of his body was severely damaged during the fighting, Umbra's medical staff managed to "save" him by transferring his still-functioning brain into a human replica droid (HRD) body. All recorded eyewitness accounts and official Imperial military reports regarding his actions in Polneye were subsequently redacted or expunged, as per Umbra's standard operating procedure.
- Lieutenant Tamont Kinall (LS-260) - Human male from Serenno; former Storm Commando officer. Lt. Kinall was a sociopathic genius and a master strategist who headed Umbra's tactical operations. He was handpicked for Project I46Z straight after graduating from the Anaxes War College.
- Doctor Zsu Far'ani - Niordi male from Niorde; former war refugee. Far'ani was one of several cyber-surgeons who had operated on the Niordi scouts and turned them into cybernetic living weapons against the Leech Legions before their facility was overrun by the enemy. Barely escaping with his life, he managed to eke out a living as a wandering "ripper doc" in various shadowports within the Unknown Regions before joining Umbra.
- Jaro Obrin (TK-1323) - Human male from Onderon; former Zero-G Assault Stormtrooper. Jaro was the older half of the "Obrin Demolition Duo", and was infamous among his fellow Umbra contractors for stomping several Yuuzhan Vong warriors to death and ripping them apart with his bare hands during the Battle of Commenor in 27 ABY.
- Jafan Obrin (TK-1324) - Human male from Onderon; former Heavy Stormtrooper. Jafan was the younger half of the "Obrin Demolition Duo", and was strong enough to wield an LS-150 Heavy ACP Repeater in battle. Prior to his enlistment in the Stormtrooper Corps, he had trained as a junior sous chef at The Pinnacle in Coruscant's Senate District.
- Vadim Trost - Force-sensitive Sarkhai male from Dubrillion; former swoop gang member and shipjacker. Recruited by Umbra for his skills as a saboteur and outlaw tech, Trost was a self-confessed "speed junkie" who preferred to rush into action on a speeder bike. He also liked to brag that his family was directly descended from a historically significant Jedi Master and his former-Padawan-turned-wife, though no one had actually been able to confirm the veracity of such wild claims.
- Captain Lorn Felian (LRC-102) - Human male from Ord Mantell; former Stormtrooper and Strategic Insertion Battalion (SIB) officer. Capt. Felian was Umbra's foremost infiltration expert, and often worked undercover with T'anoa as a two-man cell for many Galactic Standard months at a time.
- Deanan T'anoa - Shi'ido male from Nar Shadaa; con artist, high-stakes gambler and former Zann Consortium enforcer. T'anoa used his species' excellent shape-shifting abilities as a deep-cover infiltrator/intel operative for Umbra. He often partnered with Capt. Felian and Lt. Sollfra on his assignments.
- Tredavi Kryze - Force-sensitive Human male from Mandalore; member of Clan Kryze and former Mandalorian Protector. Kryze was Umbra's de facto armorer and logistics specialist, who also doubled as a training officer. He never mentioned anything about his childhood or his family, though many people who were old enough to have lived through the Clone Wars were quick to note that he heavily resembled a certain Jedi General.
- Senior Captain Kordev Holt (LRC-57) - Human male from Anaxes; former Storm Commando officer. As a Captain of the Line, Sr.Capt. Holt was the commanding officer of the Immobilizer 418 cruiser "Silent Scream" as well as the overall second-in-command of Umbra.
Umbra contractor Mitari discards her EE-3 blaster carbine in favor of a vibro-shiv for close-quarters combat
- Aleskenn Barstam (MB-61) - Human male from Desevro; former Storm Commando. A juvenile delinquent in his youth, Barstam was a known pyromaniac who once torched a smuggler's hideout in Nal Hutta with his wrist-mounted flamethrower just because he "felt like doing it at that time".
- Lieutenant Jaseshan Sollfra - Human male from Coruscant; former Imperial Security Bureau (ISB) officer. Lt. Sollfra was a brilliant spymaster and was regarded by many as the "Eyes of Umbra". He was employed as the company's Director of Security.
- Doctor Elana Silth - Force-sensitive Arkanian Offshoot female from Arkania; former slave. Dr. Silth was a trained combat medic and sharpshooter who never had any second thoughts about charging straight into a gunfight. She was one of the Commander's concubines/personal bodyguards.
- Mitari - Torran (white) Twi'lek female from Ryloth; former slave-dancer turned assassin/slicer. Mitari was adept at manipulating all sorts of tech (especially droids) to her advantage. She was one of the Commander's concubines/personal bodyguards.
- Armant - A modified Uulshos justice droid programmed to serve as a companion and valet to Cdr. Malreaux.
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Behind the Scenes[]
Umbra is based on real-world private military companies such as Executive Options and Academi (formerly Blackwater, LLC). The company's name itself is a reference to an often-quoted Sith phrase: "In umbris potestas est", which means "In the shadows, there is power" in Latin.