Greyson Uebles
| Greyson Uebles | |
 | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Race | Human |
| Homeworld | Coruscant |
| Mother | Unknown |
| Father | Unknown |
| Siblings | Amon Uebles (brother) |
| Physical Description | |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | 1.86 meters |
| Coloring | Fair skin |
| Hair Color | Light Brown |
| Eye Color | Brown |
| Political Information | |
| Affiliation | Galactic Empire |
| Positions | Emperor of the Galaxy |
| Prior Affiliation | Imperial Core Dark Empire |
| Awards | Detailed below |
Count Greyson Uebles, also known as Darth Cypher, was the ninth Emperor of the Galaxy (Year 4 Day 133 — Year 5 Day 158). Although his one-year reign was marred with numerous defections by Imperial officers who were still loyal to the deposed Emperor Charon, Uebles presided over possibly the greatest victory in Imperial history at the Battle of Beta in which King Eldrik Kuraine of the Falleen Federation was assassinated by Sith Lords and the Falleen battle station Libra was destroyed by the Imperial Navy. Occurring between Year 4 Day 338 and Year 5 Day 8, the engagement was one of the largest invasions in the recorded annals of warfare with a number of famous military leaders involved in the fray.
Modern interpretations of Uebles' legacy as emperor of the galaxy remain mixed. Rebel historians depict him as a pitiless tyrant and mass murderer who ordered the wanton genocide of Falleen civilians during the Battle of Beta. In contrast, Charonist historians applaud Uebles' victory at Beta, but nevertheless view him as a usurper and an accomplice of Dark Jedi Master Vodo Bonias in his protracted power-struggle against Emperor Charon. Even so, Uebles' supporters regard him as a capable and necessary leader who oversaw a successful transitional period for the Empire.
Contents
Biography
Early Life
Count Greyson Uebles was born as the youngest scion of an aristocratic family on Coruscant. His elderly father held an honorary seat in the Galactic Senate after retiring from duty in the Old Republic Navy. His father was disgusted by the rampant corruption within the Republic and became an outspoken allegiant of Hiram Drayson's iron-fisted New Order. His two sons, Amon and Greyson, enlisted in the famed Coruscant Naval Academy in order to follow the military tradition of their forebears.
Greyson's older brother Amon graduated with highest distinction and was eventually assigned to a Super Star Destroyer where he later perished in battle against the Rebel Alliance. His father never recovered from Amon's death and he passed away several weeks later from grief. Count Uebles forever remembered who caused the death of his brother and his father; thus, his hatred for the Rebel Alliance became a life-long obsession.
Greyson graduated at the top of his class and, when a supply shortage delayed his assignment to the Starfighter Corps, he voluntarily served several months as a lowly stormtrooper in an infantry unit. He served with distinction and then embarked upon his career as a naval officer. His first fleet assignment was in a reinforcement task force that secured vital trade routes in the Outer Rim Territories during a major rebel offensive. He gained brief notoriety for killing a cowardly Imperial officer in a vibro-blade duel. The cowardly officer had purportedly fled during a battle and thus precipitated the death of a hapless wingman. Shocked by the duel, Greyson's superiors were uncertain if they should promote Uebles or court-martial him.
Ultimately, his tolerant superiors decided to give him one last chance and allowed him to request another assignment. Immediately thereafter, Uebles transferred to the 2nd Imperial Sector Fleet (2ISF). As a young officer, Uebles was not a cruel man, but he did not shy away from the use of violence. His dedication and discipline made him appear cold and aloof to his peers. He seemingly cared only for the brave subordinates under his command and followed a strict code of honor.
Distinguished Career
During the disorderly tenure of Emperor Spytek, Uebles served in the 2nd Imperial Fleet of the Imperial Navy and, on Year 0 Day 85, he was assigned to a TIE Interceptor squadron in the 214th Escort Company (nicknamed "Apollo Company"). Only two months later, Uebles became a Flight Corporal and Executive Officer (XO) of the latter company inside the 21st Sector Fleet under command of Captain Gunther von Esling. By this time, on Year 0 Day 122, the ineffectual Spytek had been finally overturned as leader and his well-liked successor, Grand Admiral Piett, began reorganizing the government into an unparalleled superpower.
With the re-organization that occurred after the abandonment of the Galactic Quadrant system by the Imperial Navy, Uebles served as an officer inside the 5th Imperial fleet under then silver-haired Commander Ma'karr Quaxo. His comradeship would Quaxo proved vital in his rise through the Imperial ranks and would later determine his loyalties in the impending power struggle between Grand Admiral Gorn Veynom of the Imperial Navy and Grand Moff Trey Connel, the Army Chief of Staff. Uebles' exceptional initiative quickly enabled him to become a Lieutenant Commander and XO of the 5th Fleet as the following testimony of Commander Quaxo unquestionably confirms:
- "My Executive Officer (XO), Lieutenant Uebles, is the best man I have under my command. He will be an incomparable Fleet CO, if I may say so, though I prefer that he still serve under me of course. He is always proposing new projects and making them a reality. His dedication is exemplary. His activity is unsurpassed. When I request something, I know he will provide some ideas or, in the worst case, at least return a message back in a few hours. I can't speak more highly of him."
- — Commander Ma'karr Quaxo circa Year 0
At the same time Uebles became a staff member of Naval Headquarters (NHQ) by creating and leading the Naval Ships Department (NSD) as its first director. As a distinguished member of NHQ, he often fraternized with a tight-knit cadre of senior naval officers fiercely loyal to Grand Admiral Gorn Veynom. This particular cadre included Admiral Adric Simms, Commodore Jennifer Dreighton, and Admiral Gunther von Esling. On Year 1 Day 138, Uebles added the position of Deputy Director of the Imperial Naval Intelligence Service (INIS) to his functions as a member of NHQ. On Year 1 Day 179, he became Commanding Officer (CO) of the 12th Imperial Fleet and was elevated to the rank of Commander soon after.
Following the mournful retirement of Emperor Piett, Army Chief of Staff Trey Connel seized the throne on Year 1 Day 212, and Uebles transferred to the newly formed Imperial Intelligence where he admirably performed his duties as the first Deputy Director. However, on Year 1 Day 305, Grand Admiral Veynom could no longer tolerate Connel's rule and disappeared aboard his personal Lambda-class shuttle Overlord into farthest reaches of the Unknown Regions. Displeased by Connel's ascension and dismayed by Veynom's departure, the growing unrest among Veynom's former supporters quickly spilled over at this time and, with the onset of another civil war, Uebles defected to a burgeoning separatist movement known as the Imperial Core.
Dark Empire
As a bantam separatist movement headquartered on the temperate planet of Bastion, the Imperial Core predominantly consisted of former high-ranking officers and cashiered servicemen who emphatically rejected the contemporaneous authority of Emperor Connel. After duly refusing to obey him, they had mutinied and formed a formidable network bent on Connel's downfall. Regarded as traitorous malcontents by Connel's regime, the Core disseminated propaganda leaflets and transmitted GNS broadcasts that asserted the departed Grand Admiral Gorn Veynom was the true heir to the Empire and that Connel had dishonorably seized the Imperial throne after violating a well-known succession covenant agreed upon during Emperor Piett's preceding era. The lingering debate over the rightful successor of the beloved Piett thus overshadowed Connel's reign.
During the intervening time within the Core's ranks, Uebles proved to be an industrious serviceman and held the noteworthy posts of Navy Commanding Officer, Praetorian Guard Commanding Officer and, eventually, deputy to Lady Protector Dreighton. The Core existed from Year 1 Day 307 until Year 3 Day 94 when the organization and Vodo Bonias' Sith Order merged to become "the Dark Empire" led by Bonias. After this merger, Uebles became Bonias' Minister of Defense and continued in his efforts to undermine galactic support for Connel's regime. Uebles soon became the public face of the Dark Empire and its undaunted campaign against Connel.
Meanwhile, leadership changes were simultaneously occurring within the official Galactic Empire itself as various rulers came and went. Both Connel and his successor Mccarthur eventually abdicated. Circa Year 3 Day 290, an abrupt reconciliation transpired between Bonias' Dark Empire and the Galactic Empire now governed by J. Charon who was a former naval officer and a former confidant of Trey Connel. The two rival governments were formally consolidated into a single dominion. The news of this sudden consolidation surprised the galaxy. Count Greyson Uebles was appointed by Charon to function as his new Executor, the second most powerful billet in the unified government. Most Dark Empire officers were likewise integrated into Charon's Galactic Empire at assorted rungs of power.
As time passed, the fragile union between the bickering personnel of the Galactic Empire and the Dark Empire proved calamitous. Baseless accusations and internecine struggles were pervasive among its various branches. The pejorative classifications of "Charonist" and "Vodoist" were popularly used within the fractious Empire to label those servicemen who professed loyalty to Charon and those who supported Bonias. The consequences of this irreconcilable schism would plague the Empire for years to come. Most neutral observers were firmly convinced the flames of disunity would soon blaze higher due to some minor spark and they feared another devastating civil war would occur.
As tensions mounted and nerves frayed, the Charon-affiliated General Matrel Byden of the dreaded Imperial Security Bureau (ISB) arrested the Vodo-affiliated Vice Admiral Jennifer Dreighton for a protocol violation. The impromptu detention of Dreighton outraged Vodo, Uebles, and other personnel who had served in the Dark Empire. Shortly thereafter, a secretive cabal of Imperial figures — led by Charon's implacable antagonist Vodo Bonias — launched an immediate putsch and deposed Charon as the eighth emperor on Year 4 Day 133. However, as many Imperial servicemen were unwilling to countenance Bonias as their new sovereign due to his highly vilified role in the putsch against Charon, the affable Greyson Uebles was instead chosen by Bonias to perform the duties of ninth emperor on Day 134.
Ninth Emperor
During the preceding months, Uebles' amiable personality had saved him from the grisly fate of other more outspoken or abrasive Imperial officers during the bloody purges and counter-purges between the Vodoist and Charonist cliques. His Charonist enemies did not view him as a serious threat, but a natural pawn of more dominant personalities. For this reason, some historians assert Uebles' malleable disposition led to his being declared Emperor by the Vodoist cabal after Charon's deposal.
Upon his ascension to the Imperial throne, Greyson Uebles revealed to the galaxy in a GNS broadcast that he was a Sith Lord surreptitiously trained by his master, Vodo Bonias. As such, on Year 4 Day 134, Uebles appointed Vodo Bonias as his Dark Lord of the Sith. Despite his touted mastery of the Dark Side, Uebles was unable to stem a growing tide of defections of Charonist officers to rival governments, most famously of Moff Vir Calder and his Imperial-class Star Destroyer Shadowstone. Circa Year 4, King Eldrik Kuraine of the Falleen Federation conspired with Calder and others to steal the modified Imperial Class Star Destroyer Shadowstone from the Imperial Navy. In order to gain access to the vessel, Kuraine bribed Calder to facilitate its theft and, using a contingent of battle droids, a raiding party absconded with the ship.
The news of this brazen heist angered the Imperial High Command. In response, the High Command assembled on Coruscant for a top-secret meeting. During the ensuing debate, Uebles was advised by his master Vodo Bonias to undertake a full retaliation against both Kuraine and the Falleen people. Bonias suggested an audacious and direct invasion against Falleen's stronghold in the Beta system. Despite his reservations, Uebles reluctantly agreed to Bonias' plan.
Prior to the invasion, Bonias was contacted by Prince Tholin Dur'aak, a disgruntled Fallen noble, who offered to betray Kuraine. Thus, before the actual battle occurred, King Kuraine and his consort Kalina were slain by masked Sith assassins — Adric Simms, Thraken Solo, and Rurouni Locus — while aboard the Shadowstone's bridge due to Dur'aak's treachery.[1] With Kuraine dead, the Empire moved to secure the Beta system. Attacking in separate waves, the Super Star Destroyer Sovereign, nine Imperial Star Destroyers, and a variety of escort ships exited hyperspace to match their strength against the defense forces of the Falleen Federation and, its ally, Supreme Commander Ava'taar Vird'rnnaa's Rebel Alliance. Ultimately, Lord Admiral Bisz Aldaris of the Falleen Navy could not stem the tide of invading Imperial vessels and undertook a strategic withdrawal.[1] Now in uncontested control of the system, the Imperial forces emerged victorious and with minimal losses. The Falleen Federation-controlled space station Libra was obliterated, and the populations of Ul Yanin and Ulrike were exterminated by the Imperial Army commanded by Brigadier General Durand Somerville.[2]
Legacy
After exercising authority as sovereign for approximately one year, Uebles abdicated the Imperial throne and, as forewarned by Charon, Bonias assumed power. By this time, many Imperial officers and enlisted personnel had resigned in protest. Others had defected and sought political asylum with various governments unfriendly towards the Empire. The bloody power struggle between Charon and Vodo was a severe blow to Imperial morale. These events would shape galactic politics for years to come.
Nevertheless, Uebles' legacy is a mixed one. While the Empire bled experienced officers chafing under his rule after Charon's overthrow, the victory at Beta resulted in perhaps the strongest surge of pro-Imperial sentiment in the Empire's history, as well as crippling its enemy the Falleen Federation for several years.
Awards
- ARIT
- Fleet CO
- Naval Intelligence Achievement Award
See also
References
| Ruler of the Galactic Empire | ||
| Preceded By: J. Charon |
Greyson Uebles Year 4 Day 133 — Year 5 Day 158 |
Succeeded By: Vodo Bonias |
