Heinrich Stalh

"Without evil there is no goodness."

- Heinrich Stalh.

Heinrich Stalh (19 BBY&mdash;), born Heinrich Rafäl Stalhlber, was the only son of Corellians, Jürgen and Miriam Stalhlber (both deceased). His birthday was what has hence become known as Empire Day, or the date on which the Empire was rose from the Galactic Republic. His parents, both loyal Imperialists, were thrilled with this and within months of his birth, both parents uprooted their home on Selene and moved to the Imperial homeworld of Coruscant. Miriam gained service in DiploServ, while Jürgen used his previous military training to gain a commission in the newly established Imperial Ground Forces (IGF).

When the boy was 13 he joined his mother back on her homeworld of Corellia while his father went on what Heinrich could only remember as 'racial cleansing exercises.' While on the planet he witnessed his first real encounters with non-humans - finding them most disgusting indeed. However more importantly, on this planet he witnessed through a holo-message a picture of a ghostly warrior, clad in the purest of white... an image of ominous power... an image of a Stormtrooper.

Once he returned to Coruscant the boy, now 15, begged and harassed his father incessantly, until one day, shortly after his 16th birthday Jürgen relented, and Heinrich boarded the shuttle for Carida.

The Training
Training was, at the very least, not what Heinrich expected. The multi-climate world of Carida exposed him to all of the conditions that could possibly be encountered when fighting for the Emperor and the Empire. Through various tests it was evident that Stalh was not the sort of soldier suited for mass deployment attacks. Rather it was discovered that he had a special ability in working alone or in small numbers. It was also discovered that Stalh, though not particularly adept in fighting in closer quarters, could and would prove to be a deadly shot in both distant and precision shooting. What surprised his instructors however was his academic ability, and investigation on the teenager showed that he spent what minimal free-time available to the trainees on studying art, music and philosophical books on rhetoric.

During this time however, Heinrich was struck down by a mysterious strain of a long-thought extinct virus. He repeatedly passed in and out of consciousness, his deliriousness bringing out rantings from the boy of horrid images and scenes. Finally after a month long coma, the fever broke, and Heinrich awoke - and suprisingly the temperamental youth had developed into a darkened and bitter young man. Gone were the philosophy texts, the music and the art - replaced by books depicting Imperial victories and strategies, tactical analysis of by-gone battles. It was a completely new person - it was, exactly what the Empire had wanted.

Upon graduation, the youth, whose name had now been shortened to Heinrich Stalh, was deployed to the garrison at Mantooine - and his first taste in action was not far off.

Imperial Service
Stalh's first taste of action was in an alien revolt against the Imperial presence in a small city on the far side of the planet. The aliens, calling themselves the 'Liberators' had gotten arms from an unknown off-world force and had taken the small patrol of the city by surprise killing them all, as well as capturing a small Imperial post. Eventually however, the sheer force of the Imperial might crushed the revolt and its leaders were rounded up. Of the ten members of the execution squad, nine ordered to be involved. One, Private Stalh, volunteered, in fect, he volunteered for every single execution that was carried out on that day. Encouraged by his show of Imperialism and his insatiable thirst for rebellious blood, Imperial Sector Command soon had the youth of 17 and a half transferred from his regular battalion to that of the extermination squad, Whirlwind.

The squad was what the name implied; a fast mobile squad of the Empire's most sadistic soldiers, moving from system to system destroying cells of resistance. Their methods left most shocked, no death was too excruciating to perform. They were, in one word, psychotic.

Two years later, the squad was ambushed in an attack and obliterated, save for Stalh and the Executive Officer of the unit, Lieutenant Maximillian Renville - although he was injured badly. The opportunity for advancement was there, and a single blaster shot later Max was dead and his killer was now Lieutenant Heinrich Stalh.

After the destruction of the Second Death Star and the death of Palpatine, the extermination squads were disbanded, their members being once again transferred back into the regular Stormtrooper units. After an unfortunate incident with a street rat and an unachieved objective, Stalh left the IGF, enlisting his services in the Bureau of Operations of Imperial Intelligence. Infiltration was the branch Stalh was selected for. Retraining, however, was needed.

Heinrich's retraining was vigorous; his brutal and vicious nature was concealed but not buried. His was re-educated in etiquette, and became fluent in several languages. It was during this time, however that the Rebels invaded Coruscant, and Stalh was forced to flee during his final language course - that being a secretive tongue of Bocce. During the attack, Stalh's parents were both killed, by Stalh thought, the Rebels.

Stalh continued to be employed by BofO, his accuracy with a blaster often used in delicate situations that more than once came to a calculated death of a dignitary or other undesirables. He successfully infiltrated numerous organisations, as was finally awarded by the Bureau the Legion of Shadows and the Legion of Intrigue.

At the age of 21, the man had now worked his way up to be Chief Intelligence Officer of the Bureau - his method of advancement both through skill and murder serving his needs effectively.His new found position of power suited Stalh, he could command people - and he liked it. Furthermore, he could access files that were previously restricted to him - files that some people forgot that he could access.

The Defection
It was during a stay on the Orbital Station Guardian in the O'paal system that Stalh stumbled over files that contained the real reasons for Stalh's parents's death. They were in fact executed on, 'reasonable suspicion of crimes against the Empire'. For some unknown reason the world turned blury for Stalh, he never realised that the Empire, his 'home', his 'world', had betrayed him. He was angry, he was mad, he was also losing his reasoning.

The Director of the Bureau, Tac Dixon, was sitting in the lounge at that time, and he was soon confronted by a maddened Stalh. In the resulting argument, Dixon declared that he was personally going to kill Stalh. Sensing that the Director was far from joking, Stalh fled the lounge arriving in the Hanger Bay moments later.

One of the Bureau's ships, the Dauntless, a Wanderer Mk II freighter was being primed in the Hanger bay when Stalh reached it. Using his access code he entered the ship, but was confronted by Sergeant Kaeilin O'Deonis. Rather than have the shuttle pilot ruin his chance for freedom, Stalh placed a blaster bolt into the head of O'Deonis without a second thought. After he swapped clothes with the corpse, he took off from the Guardian, spaced the body and hyperspaced out.

He had a head start of the insuing Imperial ships - he was sure of it, however, he did not expect Dixon to send the Imperial Strike Cruiser Vengeance. It was two minutes before his jump from an Imperial outpost to Caspian space that the ISC jumped in. Luckily, the freighter was out of reach before the tractor beam hit - and he was off to Caspar. Unfortunately, the ISC was also enroute to Caspar - with faster hyperdrive capabilities as well.

On that day however, it was the Dauntless' slower drive engines that saved him for when he reached Caspian space, the CDU fleet had already positioned itself to attack the Strike Cruiser that had violated their borders. CO of the ISC, Captain Russel however declared that since the defector could not be captured (since tractor requires the lowering of shields), that the ISC would destroy the freighter.

The battle was short. Multiple blasts from the ISC shattered the archaic freighter's shields in seconds, and repeated blasts left the Wanderer Mk II in dire straits. It was then though that the Caspian navy launched a counter attack, firing numerous torpedoes at the ISC, and rather than be destroyed the ISC fled back to Imperial space.

Thanks to the Caspian Democratic Union, Stalh was home free.

The New Republic
Entry into the New Republic was easier than anticipated. For Stalh, there was no question about what he should tell the NR his previous areas of expertise. To the NR, Stalh is known to be a shuttle pilot, that worked for the IGF, Navy and BofO. Even though they claim to be a fairer system of government, Stalh is quite certain that he would be executed for his previous crimes against 'humanity.' After interrogation, Stalh joined the Diplomatic Corp. It is, as he is known to say, "More violent and blood-thirsty then any other occupation in existance." More exactly, it was the path to power in the NR.

It has been almost a year since his defection now. At this time, Stalh's attention is dually-divided. He is gathering up support from the world of Athega to become Ambassador, as well as campaigning locally for the upcoming Inner Council elections.

It is unknown how long Stalh remained in the New Republic, though he eventually left to start life as an independent.