Tekba

Captain Tekba was a Mon Calamari male who commanded the New Republic troopship Pelagia during the Galactic Civil War. In 10 ABY, while the Pelagia was en route to reinforce a New Republic siege of an Imperial shipyard on the Galactic Rim, it stopped to pick up an X-wing fighter flight group in the Ottega system. At that moment, a particle disintegrator warhead was fired at Tekba's starship from the Galaxy Gun, Emperor Palpatine's newest superweapon.

Although General Lando Calrissian warned Tekba of the missile, which was approaching the Pelagia through hyperspace, Tekba did not have enough time to retreat and instead attempted to intercept and destroy the warhead. However, the effort failed, and the missile destroyed the Pelagia, killing Tekba and a hundred thousand of the New Republic's best troops that it had been carrying aboard.

Biography

New Republic service

Tekba was a Mon Calamari^[2] male^[3] who served in the New Republic's naval forces during the later stages of the Galactic Civil War.^[2] By 10 ABY,^[1] Tekba had attained the rank of captain and was in command of the troopship Pelagia. During that time, the New Republic was caving in under the onslaught of the reborn Galactic Emperor Palpatine, who used his newest superweapon, the Galaxy Gun, to spread a reign of terror across the galaxy.^[2]

The Galaxy Gun was capable of firing particle disintegrator warheads that traveled through hyperspace and could destroy entire celestial bodies,^[2] as was the case with the moon Da Soocha V, where the New Republic had operated its Pinnacle Base,^[4] as well as two other targets.^[2]

Sometime after the destruction of Pinnacle Base, Tekba and the Pelagia were assigned to reinforce a New Republic siege of an Imperial shipyard that was taking place on the Galactic Rim. Loaded to its brink with a hundred thousand of the New Republic's finest ground troops and heavy armor, the Pelagia embarked on a journey toward the shipyard.^[2]

Doomsday weapon strikes again

On the way, however, the Pelagia made a stop^[2] somewhere along the Braxant Run hyperlane,^[5] in the Outer Rim's Weneen sector,^[6] to rendezvous with Green Group, a flight group^[2] of T-65 X-wing starfighters^[7] dispatched from the Ottega system. Learning of that rendezvous spot, Emperor Palpatine, stationed on his throneworld of Byss, fired the Galaxy Gun at the Pelagia. As the particle disintegrator warhead was traveling toward Tekba's ship,^[2] it was detected by New Republic long-range sensors.^[3]

While the X-wings of Green Group were still in the process of docking with the Pelagia, Tekba was contacted by General Lando Calrissian of the New Republic High Command. Calrissian warned Tekba of the approaching missile, informing the Mon Calamari of its destructive capabilities and surmising that the Pelagia only had ten minutes to escape. However, Tekba realized that because the Pelagia would require at least thirty minutes to reach lightspeed, it could not be brought to safety in time. As such, Tekba began preparing the ship's forces to take a stand against the warhead.^[2]

As the missile emerged from hyperspace, Tekba contacted the X-wings of Green Group that were still in space near the Pelagia, asking them to provide assistance.^[3] Tekba launched the Pelagia's own starfighter complement^[2] and sounded a full battle alarm,^[3] bringing all of the troopship's defense cannons to fire at the warhead. Yet even the combined firepower of the Pelagia and the X-wings was not enough to penetrate the warhead's deflector shields. Tekba was soon notified of the futility of their attack by Green Leader in charge of Green Group.^[2] As the missile approached the Pelagia, Tekba desperately attempted to perform evasive maneuvers, but it was to no avail.^[3] The warhead exploded on impact with the troopship, annihilating the Pelagia and killing Tekba as well as all those aboard.^[2]

Fallout

In the meantime, Emperor Palpatine, who was watching the attack through a live feed transmitted through subminiature probe drones that had followed the missile, was ecstatic at the destruction of the New Republic warship.^[2]

The Emperor demonstrated the event to the ruler of the Gama-Senn species, using the fear of the Galaxy Gun to bring the species under his rule. The news of the Pelagia's destruction and the loss of Tekba and all the troops aboard was another major blow to the New Republic, whose new base on the Space City of Nespis VIII soon became the next target of Palpatine's weapon.^[2]

Personality and traits

As the commanding officer of the Pelagia, a major New Republic troopship that was capable of ferrying over a hundred thousand troops, Captain Tekba was not particularly impressed with the ship, referring to the vessel as an "old hunk." Ordered by superiors to reinforce the siege of an Imperial shipyard, the Mon Calamari was intent on completing that mission and was later hesitant to abort docking procedures with the X-wings of Green Group, even after being informed of the incoming Galaxy Gun attack. When faced with the prospect of destruction by the Galaxy Gun, Tekba hastily attempted to organize a defense, giving frantic orders to the crew of the Pelagia, but was unable to stop Palpatine's superweapon. Tekba had black eyes and dark skin.^[2]

Equipment

Before the Pelagia was destroyed, Tekba wore a uniform jerkin, with a sidearm secured inside a holster at the belt.^[2]

Behind the scenes

Tekba first appeared in the Dark Horse comic book Empire's End 1, which was written by Tom Veitch, illustrated by Jim Baikie^[2] and released on October 24, 1995.^[8] Tekba later appeared in the audio drama adaptation of the comic book^[2] released on October 17 of the same year.^[9] The appearance presented a minor inconsistency, as Tekba was contacted by Chief of State Mon Mothma,^[3] instead of Lando Calrissian, who performed the task in the comic.^[2]

Empire's End 1 suggested that the destruction of the Pelagia took place in the Ottega system,^[2] in the Mid Rim. However, The Essential Atlas, published in 2009, placed the event on the Braxant Run in the Outer Rim Territories,^[5] in an area later identified as the Weneen sector.^[6][10]

Appearances

• Empire's End audio drama
• Empire's End 1 (First appearance)

Sources

• Ultimate Alien Anthology
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. II ("Pelagia")

Notes and references