Agias Rikton

Agias Rikton was a male individual from Corulag who served as an engineer aboard a Gozanti-class cruiser in the Imperial Navy. After the Battle of Endor, the cruiser's crew was caught by the Rebel Alliance, and Rikton escaped aboard an escape pod. He worked for "the Harch" aboard the Whitedrift Exchange space station, but managed to come into contact with a member of the Galactic Empire who convinced him to use a bomb to target Traitor's Remorse, a shantytown for Imperial defectors. Major Soran Keize of the 204th Imperial Fighter Wing, who was working for the Harch under the alias Devon Lhent, learned of Rikton's plans and attempted to talk him out of it. Rikton returned the components he had stolen for the bomb and left the Whitedrift Exchange, claiming he was returning to Corulag.

Rikton worked as a mechanic on the Yadeez freighter for the 204th Imperial Fighter Wing during the second Operation: Cinder. During operations in the Chadawa system Rikton was specially selected as part of Yrica Quell's team to travel to the Netalych system to determine the programming of the Emperor's Messenger Droid. While holding Quell prisoner on Netalych, the Imperials were attacked by Chass na Chadic and Kairos of the New Republic's Alphabet Squadron. During the fight, Quell escaped from the Imperials and stole Rikton's blaster after a confrontation on the street's of Netalych. Keize presumed Rikton was killed or lost.

Biography

Career gone awry

Agias Rikton grew up on the^[1] Core Worlds planet^[3] Corulag during the reign of the Galactic Empire. He did not get along with his parents, who unlike him hated the Empire, but was close with his grandfather, who told him about how he had served alongside the clone troopers before he passed away. By the time of the Galactic Civil War between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance, he left his homeworld to join the Empire, his parents resultantly disowning him. Rikton swore an oath of loyalty to the Empire and became an engineer in the Imperial Navy, being assigned to an Imperial Gozanti-class cruiser^[1] around 2 ABY.^[4] He served aboard the vessel for eighteen months and began studying to become an Imperial officer during that time.^[1]

However, in 4 ABY,^[5] the Alliance made a decisive victory against the Empire in the Battle of Endor, which included the death of Emperor Palpatine. As a result, the Empire's military became fractured as territory began rapidly falling to the Alliance, which reorganized itself into the New Republic. Rikton's Gozanti-class cruiser was soon confronted by the enemy, with his vessel's captain choosing to fight the enemy. Seeing half of his fellow crew die in the resulting conflict, Rikton fled the cruiser in an escape pod.^[1]

Without a commanding officer to report to, Rikton wandered for some time until he found work as a mechanic on the Lormar-class space station Whitedrift Exchange, a mobile trade station as part of a crew led by "the Harch." There, he lived in a habitat capsule on D-deck which was smaller than an escape pod. In that time, Rikton, feeling bound to his oath to the Empire, and tried to contact Imperial allies. He eventually made contact other Imperial loyalists, who convinced him to start building a bomb to attack the shantytown Traitor's Remorse, where Imperial defectors were held and interviewed by the New Republic.^[1]

Repair jobs

In his job, Rikton worked alongside a fellow mechanic who went by Devon Lhent. Unbeknownst to Rikton, Lhent was Soran Keize, an Imperial ace and a major in the Empire's 204th Imperial Fighter Wing who had deserted his unit following its part in the Empire's genocidal Operation: Cinder campaign, believing that the Empire had already lost the war. At one point, Rikton had a repair job with a customer where he purchased parts for repairs from the Eightmarket using the Harch's bulk discount. Although the Harch had asked for a receipt, he deliberately ignored her request in order to subtly acquire parts for his bomb.^[1]

Rikton then made the repairs, his job lasting all day, and reported back to the Harch, who was displeased that they did not bring a receipt. He stutteringly protested, only to be stopped by Keize, who resolved the situation with the Harch himself by pointing out the purchase was recorded. After, "Devon" told Rikton to not handle purchases without getting a receipt again. Rikton acknowledged before his colleague advised him to get some rest. The next day, the pair were assigned to repair a century-old cargo hauler that had lost it's plasma transverter.^[1]

Rikton and Keize's job lasted all day, during which the two of them talked about Rikton's upbringing and his relationship with his parents and grandfather, Rikton being reluctant to reveal he had been with the Empire. They also talked about their future plans, with Rikton evading mentioning any plans he had. While the pair worked, Rikton slipped away a power pack they had taken out. When they had finished and scrubbed the floor, "Devon" asked about handling power pack properly, Rikton claiming he had already done so. Keize, though, noticed Rikton's lie and grew suspicious of what his colleague was up to.^[1]

Secrets revealed

In the following weeks, Rikton continued to do jobs while secretly taking parts to continue building his bomb. At one point, he purchased a naikon matrix with the Harch's bulk discount without asking her for reimbursement. In the meantime, Keize kept a closer look at their inventory of equipment, junk parts and returned items, noticing four inconsistencies as a result of Rikton's indirect stealing. "Devon" began asking his colleague questions about when he planned to travel off station, what family he was still in contact with, and what parts he could handle. Keize then asked the Harch for the logs of Rikton's shipboard comm, deducing that his colleague had been convinced to build a bomb.^[1]

"Devon" went to Rikton's habitat capsule the next morning and took him away for a chat, buying his colleague breakfast. While the pair sat at a catwalk, Keize told his friend about a job in the junker systems salvaging two Star Destroyers, mentioning Rikton's Imperial career. Rikton was shaken that "Devon" knew he was ex-Imperial, but his friend reassured him and offered to reach out to the junkers. However, he revealed that he had different plans and revealed his past as a shipboard engineer and how he had escaped his vessel mid-battle. Keize then asked about any contact he had with other Imperials, further inquiring whether the contacts were the reason Rikton was building a bomb.^[1]

Rikton implicitly confirmed Keize's deductions, and "Devon" pressed the mechanic to reveal the target was the Traitor's Remorse. Piecing the rest of Rikton's plan together, Keize continued to chat with his colleague, revealing his own career in the Empire while Rikton talked more about his. The ex-major told his friend that there was no shame in finding a life after the Empire. Rikton still felt bound to his oath to the Empire, but Keize believed that the Empire was already lost. They spoke all day and then the next few days until Rikton departed the Whitedrift Exchange, leaving behind the parts for a bomb along with a note claiming that he had gone to Corulag.^[1]

Return to the Empire

Keize found Rikton's note in his locker with the bomb parts and informed the Harch of the mechanic's departure as well as his intent to leave as well. The Harch helped Keize find work on the Outer Rim planet Vernid, two New Republic Intelligence agents soon caught up with the ex-major. Keize murdered the agents and concluded that his past would only keep catching up on him, choosing to return to the 204th Imperial Fighter Wing instead.^[1] Meanwhile, Rikton had started a new job but eventually lost it due the the New Republic having rules against working with anyone who employed ex-Imperials. Left unemployed, the mechanic wandered until he ran into Keize around 5 ABY,^[6] his old colleague now being a colonel in charge of the 204th.^[2]

Keize gave Rikton a place in the 204th as an engineer aboard their newest flagship, the bulk freighter Yadeez. A junior engineer in Keize's unit, he went on to work a lot with the TIE pilot Yrica Quell while she worked with the engineering crew.^[2] Like Keize, Quell had also deserted the 204th^[1] for some time and had returned eventually after the 204th had come under Keize's leadership, becoming his aide.^[7] Outside of the knowledge of the rest of the 204th, though, Quell had in fact worked with the New Republic against the fighter wing in her absence.^[2]

In that year, the 204th wiped out the civilization on Dybbron III, Kortatka, and Fedovoi End, three planets that had not remained loyal to the Imperial government, as part of a second Operation: Cinder. Not long after the attack on Fedovoi End, Rikton disassembled faulty proton torpedos with Quell in the Yadeez's hangar, asking his comrade whether she knew what the 204th's next target was. The junior mechanic speculated that the target was Fikzwaa, the homeworld of a diminutive species that had overthrown the Empire. Quell advised Rikton against following rumors. The pair then talked about Quell's relationship with Keize as his aide and how the colonel had helped Rikton during what he considered a rough spot of his life. After, he asked Quell if she would fly as a pilot again, his colleague unsure about the possibility.^[2]

Behind the scenes

Agias Rikton first appeared in the 2019 novel Alphabet Squadron, the first volume of Alexander Freed's Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron trilogy, where he was identified only by his last name.^[1] Rikton's first name was identified in the final volume of Freed's trilogy, the 2021 novel Victory's Price: An Alphabet Squadron Novel.^[2]

Appearances

• Alphabet Squadron (and audiobook) (First appearance)
• Shadow Fall: An Alphabet Squadron Novel (and audiobook) (Mentioned only)
• Victory's Price: An Alphabet Squadron Novel (and audiobook) (First identified as Agias)

Notes and references