Zeak Oppenhiemer

Zeak Oppenhiemer's publicly known career begins at the age of 23 when for unknown reasons, even to the overwhelming bulk of Imperial Navy, Zeak was transferred back to civilization from the outer rim and assigned to the Imperial class-II Star Destroyer Emperor Valak, an overly prestigious assignment given the lackluster, and unimpressive quality of his previous career. He had started as a promising cadet, only to continually loose ground until he barely managed to graduate. Once transferred back he exhibited the same qualities that had marked his early cadet career, volunteering for watch and extra duty shifts even while in port, as well as special classified assignments when the call went out. Imperial space traffic control and customs were among his primary duties. During this period he also spent the time to become a TIE qualified pilot, hoping to increase his usefulness to the Imperial Navy. His efforts paid off, and he was eventually promoted to the rank of Lieutenant.

As a Lieutenant he was called to fill in for an ill fighter pilot when the ISD Emperor Valak and her battle grouping were ordered to cover the withdraw of Imperial Citizens from the quickly falling Tatooine. Under the Command of the Rear Admiral Lexington Atticus, while he did not prove to be an Imperial ace, his service was adequate. The battle did leave him changed however as he watched the destruction of transports carrying civilians, mainly women and children, as they were cut apart and slaughtered by the Rebel forces. This was his first real introduction to the fact that the concept of gentlemanly war was a myth; it resolved him to the fact that exceptional measures while regrettable, would be required to establish Emperor Valak's perfection of Emperor Palpatine's New Order. Here he accepted the true nature of war, and commended himself to doing his part to end the war as soon as possible, while minimizing the unavoidable suffering of innocents as much as possible.

Not long after Tatooine, while taking a late watch, he noticed, and captured a group of Rebel spies trying to pass as swoop racers to fool Imperial Customs. Unconfirmable rumors abound that not only were they spies but very high ranking military officers, including a General. Soon after he was promoted for the second time in two months to Lieutenant Commander, and made the Executive Officer of the 'Emperor Valak'.

Soon after, while Admiral Atticus was attending to the late Admiral Daimien's funeral arrangements, and Captain Cimber was attending to important matters in the outer rim, Bespin fell to a Rebel fleet. A few days later the ISD Emperor Valak and a few sister ships were given orders to engage the Rebel fleet at Bespin. Taking the opportunity to test a new set of tactics he had dreamed up, he accepted the charge as CO of the battle group and set things in motion. His tactics proved a brilliant success, much better than even he had hoped. In the first few days, he concentrated on bomber runs, on the Rebel capital craft, with great success against the larger craft, but with only moderate results against the smaller more maneuverable craft. Then to consummate the battle, he moved his Capital fleet in on the third day and engaged the already battered Rebel fleet. His tactics were simple, and proved most effective doing obscene amounts of damage across the entire Rebel fleet, while the shields of all his capital ships continued to hold. Just as one of the VSD's under his command began to lose her shields, the Imperial Fleet regrouped, recovered their fighters, and mysteriously left. Far from being routed, the Imperial Fleet was about to win the day, and crush the Rebel fleet soundly; the Imperial losses contrary to many news reports were very light. For his performance Zeak was promoted to Commander, and when the Death Star III made its appearance he was there as its young Executive Officer.

Zeak continues to serve the Empire with a strong sense of duty not only to the Emperor but to the officers he serves with. He is even rumored to have made inquiries into land on a few Imperial worlds, possibly hinting that he thinks the war is approaching a close, and is planning for his life afterwards..