Orley Vanicus Admiral Orley Vanicus was considered a hero of the Great Sith War . A member of the Republic Navy and captain of the command ship " Reliance " over four thousand years before the Battle of Yavin , he was a simple man who didn ' t dabble in politics or bureaucracy and stuck with what he specialized at : commanding starships . During the Krath conflict , he commanded a mission to the Empress Teta system alongside Jedi Knights Ulic Qel - Droma and Nomi Sunrider , with the intention of protecting Koros Major from the Krath faction . Vanicus and his men were too late , though , and the mission was a failure ; they were tricked by the dark side illusions of Sith sorceress Aleema Keto , and suicide Krath Chaos fighters pummeled the " Reliance " and other ships , until Vanicus ordered a retreat . Later , during the Great Sith War , he was dispatched to the shipyards at Foerost with the intention of intercepting a pirate group that had been raiding the Republic for weeks . His forces were too late , arriving to find that the majority of the ships under construction at the facility had been stolen and the defensive fleet stationed there routed . He and his staff salvaged what they could , and through a security recording in one of the shipyard ' s control centers , Vanicus discovered that the pirates ' leader was Ulic Qel - Droma , who had left the Republic and joined the Sith . Acting on planted intelligence which Qel - Droma hoped would lure the Republic away from their capital of Coruscant , Vanicus sent the majority of the Republic Navy to Kemplex IX , believing that Qel - Droma ' s forces were gathered there . Qel - Droma and his Mandalorian allies subsequently launched an attack on the defenseless Coruscant , with Qel - Droma ' s fellow Dark Lord of the Sith Exar Kun slaying the Supreme Chancellor and Jedi Master Vodo - Siosk Baas . Later in the war , Vanicus led a joint Republic / Onderonian force in battle against Mandalore the Indomitable , driving them back to the wild jungle moon of Dxun , where most of the Mandalorians were killed by native predators . After the Sith War , Vanicus was considered something of a war hero , and continued to serve the Republic Navy for a time . Biography . A military man . Orley Vanicus , a Human male , was a member of the Vanicus family , known for its influential political dynasty during the early time of the Galactic Republic . As of four thousand years before the Battle of Yavin , he was an admiral in the Republic Navy , captain of the Republic command ship " Reliance " . During this period , admirals were informally known as " fleet captains , " and Vanicus was often referred to solely as " captain , " despite being of a higher rank . His early career occurred in a time of relative peace , where the Republic Navy — considered by many to be antiquated and pointless — had little to do bar basic peacekeeping activities , and had only a limited fleet . Krath conflict . In 3997 BBY , the Krath faction of the Empress Teta system launched a violent political coup against the Tetan government , with Krath leaders Satal and Aleema Keto installing themselves as the system ' s new leaders . They conquered all of the planets in the system bar the capital , Koros Major , which put up a stern resistance . Both the Republic and the Jedi Order were concerned by the actions of the Krath , and arranged for a joint Republic / Jedi peacekeeping fleet , led by Vanicus , to strike back at the Krath and stop the Ketos from taking Koros Major . In addition to a number of Jedi serving through the fleet , Jedi Knights Ulic Qel - Droma and Nomi Sunrider accompanied Vanicus on his flagship for the mission in an advisory capacity . Vanicus was itching for a fight , ready to do damage to the Krath . The fleet , consisting of numerous " Praetorian " - class frigates , escort destroyers , heavy cruisers , and myriad other vessels , exited hyperspace and arrived in the system shortly after Koros Major had fallen . Vanicus remarked to his two Jedi advisors that they had arrived too late to complete their mission , though Qel - Droma had him issue an order to cease fire regardless , hoping to test the Krath ' s resolve when faced with orders from the Galactic Republic . While they waited for a response , Vanicus had the Republic fleet surround the Krath command station . No response came , though ; instead , a number of behemoth , long - thought - extinct creatures known as space grazer s materialized , and began preying on Vanicus ' s vulnerable fleet . The Republic fleet was perplexed by the creatures ' sudden appearance , as space grazers were the stuff of legend ; Nomi Sunrider quickly discerned , though , that they were mere illusions created by Sith magic . Realizing that the numbers of the Krath forces were swollen with many such dark side illusions , Vanicus and the fleet stormed the Krath command station , dealing it significant damage . The Krath were quick to counterattack , launching hordes of CX - 133 Chaos fighter s at the " Reliance " . Vanicus began to make the order to fire at them in return , though was cut off by Nomi Sunrider , who believed it was another illusion . She used the Force to stop Aleema Keto , who was conjuring the illusions , but had miscalculated ; though the majority of the Chaos fighters were false , many were real , hidden among the illusory vessels . The suicide fighters rammed the " Reliance " and many other ships , causing immense casualties for the Republic . The canopy of Vanicus ' s flagship was breached , and the bridge was damaged , with Ulic Qel - Droma sustaining an injury in the attack . However , the " Reliance " was still intact , and Vanicus , believing that the entire operation had to be re - planned , ordered an immediate retreat . Ruse at Kemplex IX . In 3996 BBY , a number of months after the fleet ' s botched attempt to protect Koros Major , Admiral Vanicus was dispatched to the shipyards of the planet Foerost , located in the Deep Core . Foerost , one of the oldest and most successful starship construction facilities in the galaxy , had been the latest target in a series of raids perpetrated by what the Republic believed was a highly - organized group of pirates , though rumors abounded that a Jedi had a hand in the attacks . Because of Foerost ' s importance , Vanicus took the main Republic fleet there post haste , hoping to catch the marauders in the act , discern who they were , and put an end to them with the Republic ' s superior firepower . Once again , however , Vanicus found that he was too late . The fleet arrived to find the remnants of Foerost ' s defensive fleet , which had been soundly defeated by the raiders . The shipyards had been pillaged , with few intact ships remaining . Vanicus ' s fleet was thoroughly unprepared for the aftermath of such a rout , and the admiral discerned that whoever was behind the attacks had far stronger firepower than the Republic had been led to believe . Although his fleet was not well - suited to it , Vanicus had the forces under his command sift through the wreckage to salvage what they could , and to rescue any survivors . Meanwhile , Vanicus personally inspected the shipyards ' various control centers with his staff , hoping to find any survivors who had witnessed the attack and could identify the pirates . However , few escape pods had been jettisoned from the command center , with even fewer conscious survivors . Desperation setting in , Vanicus ordered his men to search through the station ' s logs and security records , though they reported back that most computer systems had been sabotaged by the attackers . Eventually , however , one man located an intact recording that had avoided the pirates ' purge . It was a hologram recording , depicting a young man speaking to a subordinate — Vanicus quickly recognized the speaker as Ulic Qel - Droma , whom he had fought alongside at the Battle of Koros ; the young Jedi had turned to the dark side and become a Sith , assembling an armada in cohesion with Aleema Keto and the Krath . Qel - Droma ordered his subordinate to take his fleet to the rendezvous point for an impending attack on Kemplex IX , a strategically - located space station that was completely undefended . Shocked by the news that the Republic ' s enemy was a Jedi , Vanicus ordered the bulk of the Republic Navy to travel immediately to Kemplex IX , to finally catch Qel - Droma and end his piracy . Vanicus immediately sent a message to Minister of Defense Netus on Coruscant , who relayed it to Jedi Master Vodo - Siosk Baas . Vanicus ' s fleet went straight to Kemplex IX , and was soon joined by additional Republic forces ; they laid in wait for the Sith attack , but it never came . It had been a feint ; Qel - Droma had purposely allowed Vanicus to uncover the recording in order to drive Republic forces away from Coruscant , where he launched his true attack . Vanquishing the Mandalorians . Vanicus ' s fleet left Kemplex IX but was too late to do anything for Coruscant ; Qel - Droma ' s Sith ally , Exar Kun , murdered Jedi Master Vodo - Siosk Baas and the Supreme Chancellor in the Senate Hall . However , in the subsequent weeks , the Republic managed to turn the tide on Kun and Qel - Droma in what was later known as the Great Sith War . Ulic Qel - Droma was defeated and stripped of the Force on Ossus , and he gave the Republic the co - ordinates of Kun ' s secret base on Yavin 4 . Meanwhile , Vanicus and the remainder of the Navy were sent to Onderon , where the Mandalorian Crusaders , Kun ' s allies , were in battle with the local Onderonian Beast Riders , led by Oron Kira . Vanicus and his forces arrived in - system to find Onderon overrun with Mandalorians , led by Mandalore the Indomitable , over the planet ' s capital city , Iziz . Vanicus issued the Mandalorians with an ultimatum , telling them that their leader , Qel - Droma , was defeated and that they had no hope of triumphing against the Republic ' s superior force . He ordered them to surrender immediately , though Mandalore the Indomitable refused , decreeing that the Mandalorians would fight to the death . Vanicus ' s and Oron Kira ' s forces slagged their enemies ' warships and began to drive them back , thinning their numbers " en masse " , but because of the Mandalorians ' advanced deflector shields , finishing them off without excessive firepower was nearly impossible . Vanicus authorized the use of extreme force against Mandalore ; before long , the enemy battleships were all destroyed and their Basilisk war droid s were decimated . Onderon ' s atmosphere periodically merged with that of its jungle moon , Dxun , and at the time of the battle the two worlds were linked this way . The remaining Mandalorians on war droids were able to exploit this , retreating toward the moon without having to enter space . Vanicus and the beast riders pursued them , picking off the Mandalorians one by one . Many of the Mandalorians ' mounts , including that of Mandalore the Indomitable , managed to put a sizable distance between them and the Republic / Onderonian force , and Vanicus reluctantly called off the Republic attack . He and his staff hoped that Dxun ' s fauna — considered among the most fierce in the galaxy — would finish off the surviving Mandalorians . This was the case , with many Crusaders , including Mandalore the Indomitable , perishing , but some survived , and the Mandalore tradition lived on . The Republic was successful against Kun on Yavin 4 , and the Dark Lord of the Sith was defeated . The Great Sith War was over . War hero . After the Great Sith War , Orley Vanicus was considered a war hero for his part in defeating the Krath , the Sith , and the Mandalorians . He continued to serve for a number of years after the conflict ' s end , watching as the Republic and its Navy underwent much reform . The Navy was reformed and became a stronger , less tradition - bound organization , while a number of Commercial Protectorate Acts were also passed , decreeing that the Navy be given more resources in exchange for protecting lucrative Republic trade routes . Vanicus was openly critical of the Acts , comparing the Republic ' s actions to illegal protection rackets . Some years after the Sith War , Vanicus ' s eye was caught by a young Corellian named Saul Karath , who was attempting to join the Navy but had neither the connections nor the years required to gain any sort of position . Vanicus allowed Karath join his crew as a cabin steward , and after an act of heroism , recommended him to another captain , leading to Karath ' s first commission ; his first in a career that spanned over three decades and earned him admiralty . Vanicus ' s concerns about the Commercial Protectorate Acts was not unfounded , and they proved the Navy ' s downfall in the early stages of the Mandalorian Wars . Saul Karath became an important Republic figure in that conflict , but ultimately turned his back on the Republic and sided with the Sith during the Jedi Civil War . Personality and traits . Vanicus was a man who relished battle and served the Republic loyally ; he didn ' t care for politics or money , and openly criticized aspects of how the Navy was run in the aftermath of the Sith War . He was a proud citizen of the Galactic Republic and had no criticisms of the Jedi , serving alongside them on occasion during his career . When he discovered Ulic Qel - Droma had been behind the raid on Foerost , he made no attempt to hide his shock from his crew , remarking that it was a dark day for the Republic . Vanicus was eager to help the Republic war effort during the Sith War , though this was sometimes taken advantage of — were it not for the advice of the Jedi , he would have committed his forces to attacking Aleema Keto ' s Force apparitions , and , later , Qel - Droma was able to trick him into going to Kemplex IX . Vanicus was decisive , and he did not delay before making an order ; after discovering Qel - Droma ' s planted evidence at Foerost , he immediately had most of the Republic Navy travel to intercept the Sith and Mandalorians at Kemplex IX . He was also a merciful man , allowing the Mandalorians the option of surrendering during the Battle of Onderon . He had great perseverance , refusing to give up in his efforts to find out who was leading the attacks on the Republic after Foerost , and meticulous : he had his men comb even inch of the space station searching for security records . In his later years , Vanicus became a famous veteran of the Sith War , and was often outspoken in his opinions on the changing Republic ; he was unhappy that commerce controlled the Republic , and made no attempt to hide his contempt for the Commercial Protectorate Acts . He also had an eye for young talent in this time , noticing Saul Karath , who eventually became a revered Republic admiral . Behind the scenes . Vanicus was created by Kevin J . Anderson and Tom Veitch for the " " comic series . He first appeared in the of the " " story arc , and later reappeared in the and of the " " arc . Vanicus is also featured in the . He received a short entry in Stephen J . Sansweet ' s " Star Wars Encyclopedia " in 1999 , but was not used again in canon for a number of years , until John Jackson Miller mentioned him in the " " , tying " Tales of the Jedi " into the " " comic series . He was again reused almost a year later in August 2008 in the " Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide " , which provided him with a first name , " Orley . " The " Campaign Guide " also introduced a retcon that " fleet captain , " Vanicus ' s stated rank in " Tales of the Jedi " , was an informal nickname for the rank of admiral , and that Vanicus had in fact been an admiral during the events of " Tales of the Jedi " . In 2009 , a Vanicus family was mentioned in the article " Tinker , Tailor , Soldier , Praji " , and Nathan O ' Keefe , the author of the article , claimed that he intended the family to be a reference to Orley Vanicus . He was later given an entry in " The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia " .