During the First Stratos Contention, Queen Rin Sakaros authorized the Chiss Centurion Vos'elk'eetash to raise for herself a battle unit of Garjo warriors.
History[]
Formation[]
After the Battle of Renthiv, the Garjo had recognized Selkee as a zedvyoyen, a peerless warrior deserving of respect and service. Over the following year and a half, officers and NCOs from the Royal Army of the Golden Empire endeavored to adapt Garjo warriors to Royal battle tactics and discipline.
The impending Battle of Cheff gave Rin an opportunity to test the program. She sent Selkee back to Renthiv with orders to raise a company of a hundred Garjo, with officers and NCOs. Selkee ordered a melee tournament be held, with the best warriors who could speak Minnisiat earning a position at her side in battle. Thousands competed for the honor over a long day of brutal and sometimes fatal battle, but by the end Selkee had weaned the contenders down to a company.
The Garjo fought beside Selkee at Cheff, using both their size and strength and their newly acquired tactical training to repulse the Lugubraa invasion. When Breek Zagrev attacked the Lugubraa camp in the middle of the night to decimate the remaining forces and put them to flight, Selkee and her battle guard led the first charge into the thick of battle and mopped up many fleeing Lugubraa. They also protected Selkee when she used the Force to rip down a tree, smash dozens of Lugubraa with it, then hurl it upward to pierce a Lugubraa transport through.
First Stratos Contention[]
Rin Sakaros: “Can you not control them?”
Vos'elk'eetash: “I can.”
Rin Sakaros: “ Then do so. This is a test for them as well as you.”
―Rin expands Selkee's battle guard
In the wake of Breek's victory at Cheff, Rin installed Selkee as a Legate and charged her to pursue the Lugubraa whence they came and stamp out any threats to the Empire. In addition to her battle group, headed by the Chiss Star Destroyer Starhammer, Selkee was also permitted to enhance her Garjo unit to a full regiment of a thousand beings. Though she initially balked at the idea of keeping so many Garjo in line, she took the idea as a challenge and returned to Renthiv, holding another competition to fill her ranks.
During the Empire's battles in the Stratos Distribution, the Garjo fought beside Selkee every time she made planetfall, as well as aiding her sibling Centurions Rajj-Yo, Aearbo Manitani, and Hataphri Rahn Kazot. They developed a professional rivalry with the 4th and 17th Massassi Cohorts, which were also under Selkee's command and filled with Massassi warriors used to being the greatest fighters in the Army. The Garjo sometimes grew restive between battles, especially because most ships were not made to accommodate beings of their size. Selkee eventually had a Harakhlon-class carrier stripped of its fighter complement and transferred her Garjo aboard.
After the Battle of the Scouring Star, with the Lugubraa fleets in tatters, Selkee returned to the Empire. Rather than try to integrate her Garjo into the regular Army or dismiss them from service back to Renthiv, Selkee had the idea to instead leave them as a colony on the newly founded Ord Vos. Ordering them to hold the Empire's border against threats and await her return, she arranged for their families to be brought from Renthiv, thus establishing the first Garjo colony.
Service[]
Though referred to as the "battle guard", the Garjo did not regularly serve as bodyguards for Selkee in a traditional sense, although its members were often close to her in combat. Instead, Selkee used the Garjo as a tactical reserve and a heavy infantry unit, sending her soldiers where battle was thickest to obliterate enemy resistance.
The battle guard wore armor adapted from the standard-issue armor of the Royal Army, but insisted on carrying their halberd rifles rather than more commonly used heavy blaster rifles. They also customized their armor with two red eyes in honor of Selkee, and adopted blue and red as the colors of their unit.
As a special unit, the battle guard operated outside the normal chain of command, reporting directly to Selkee. To her commanders, Selkee compared this with the elite, special-use status of the 11th Massassi Cohort; privately, she was not sure her Garjo would obey anyone else. The Garjo themselves considered it an enormous honor to be the zedvyoyen's handpicked battle companions, although Selkee had to put a stop to friction between the first company, who considered themselves her first choice, and the rest of the full regiment, whom the first members openly regarded as second best.