Name: ??? (Real name unknown; was given the name Austin Gray by the Galactic Empire)
Call sign: Commander Darkhawk / Sith Adept Darkhawk
Age: 26
Height: 6'2
Weight: 165
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Green
Reason for joining the Empire: Austin was taken from his parents at a young age my members of Emperor Palpatine's Secret Circle.
Place of Birth: Unknown, but definitely one of the Core Worlds, probably in the Sesswenna Sector.

History:

Gray was born during a time of great upheaval in the galaxy. The Empire was just coming into being as Chancellor Palpatine used his new powers to twist the Republic into an all-powerful military machine that would go on to control much of the known galaxy. Austin's parents were both Jedi Padawans who met during training on Coruscant. Both had great potential in the Jedi Order, but their masters were killed during the Clone Wars. Before new masters could be assigned, they fled Coruscant to one of the nearby Core Worlds where they remained hidden for a few years and gave birth to two children: one daughter and one son.

Five years after his birth, right around the time of the Battle of Derra IV, some of Palpatine's sinister agents discovered Gray's parents on his home world. The leader of these Dark Adepts was then-Sith Praetor Havoc Bnasis, one of the Emperor's Hands. He and three other Dark Jedi managed to kill Gray's parents and abduct him and his older sister. During the abduction Gray attempted to fight back against Havoc and was consequently knocked unconscious. That act of defiance would cause Havoc to take special interest in the young boy's life.

The two children were taken back to Coruscant where they were inadvertently trained in the Dark Jedi ways underneath Headmaster and Sith Apprentice Jenn Lakoras. However, Gray resisted certain aspects of the training, which in turn led to periods of intense beatings and Force-torture. Eventually he was deemed a fail out of the academy, only reaching the rank of Acolyte. His fate remained undecided, though, and Havoc was able to persuade the emperor to allow the boy to join the Navy Academy.

There, Gray took a turn more to the Empire's liking, advancing quickly through the training. He became the first sixteen-year old to graduate from the academy and was his class valedictorian. He was subsequently placed in Gamma Squadron under the command of the battle-acclaimed Admiral Harkov.

Things went well for Gray who quickly moved up through the ranks to become a flight leader and earn a promotion from Flight Cadet to Flight Officer. He was soon transferred to the Imperial Star Destroyer Gray Wolf in the Outer Rim under Vice Admiral Thrawn because of rebel activity in that part of the galaxy.

It was during this time that Gray first encountered Darth Vader, the Emperor's second-in-command. Lord Vader had heard much about Gray from Havoc, who had recently become a Sith Apprentice. Vader took it upon himself to begin Gray's training anew, even though he had been banned from the academy two years earlier.

However, with the Dark Lord of the Sith as his master, Gray was much more receptive to the Dark Side's calling. By training alongside the young pilot in the simulators and flying several combat missions with him, Vader was able to make a strong impression upon the boy. In only a few months, Gray's piloting skills flourished and Vader personally advanced him to the Dark rank of Journeyman. The Dark Lord was called back to Coruscant by the emperor, where he proceeded to report his dealings with young Gray.

Palpatine, wary of Vader taking on an apprentice with as much potential as Gray, ordered Vader not to train the boy any farther. He was, however, interested in the young pilot's progress and order Havoc Bnasis to watch over him. As Gray proved himself again and again under Thrawn's command, the emperor began to send secret messages to Gray through Bnasis, often contradicting the pilot's given mission orders.

Eventually, now squadron commander of Gamma Squadron and a second lieutenant, Gray was transferred back to Admiral Harkov's command. Little did Gray realize that Harkov had become a traitor, allying himself with the Rebellion. Palpatine and Vader did know about Harkov's change in alliances, though, and wanted to make sure they had an agent inside the traitor's structure when everything began to fall into place.

During a routine training exercise, Harkov Gray's two wingmen to dispose of him for being a traitor. Their squadron commander was easily able to finish them off, but that left him alone in his TIE Interceptor against whatever Harkov and his Victory Star Destroyer could throw at him. Within seconds Gray found himself face to face with a squadron of TIE Advanced.

Luckily, Palpatine had foreseen all of this, and Bnasis was standing by with reinforcements. He jumped in on Harkov's position in his modified Nebulon-B frigate to mount a rescue mission for Gray. While outgunned ship-to-ship, Bnasis had evened the odds by bringing along the 181st squadron - the Empire's elite squadron. They took care of the TIE Avengers while Gray fled to the frigate. The young pilot and his rescuers made it away quickly, leaving Harkov fuming.

Gray was then assigned to Two Flight Leader of Delta Squadron underneath the command of now-Admiral Thrawn. Combining Gray's piloting skills and Thrawn's tactical genius, Palpatine and Bnasis were able to easily hunt down Harkov and capture his forces. Darth Vader made a personal visit to Harkov, learning several valuable bits of information about Rebel activity before disposing of the traitor.

Admiral Thrawn gave Gray the nickname "Darkhawk", and the two became close friends. For his actions in the pursuit of Harkov, Gray was promoted to squadron commander of Delta Squadron and made a first lieutenant. Bnasis remained on board the Gray Wolf as well, continuing to train Darkhawk in the ways of the Dark Side, as well as relaying specific mission directives from the emperor.

Suspecting another of their leaders of traitorous activity, Palpatine and Vader had Delta Squadron transferred to Admiral Zaarin's flagship. For a while, nothing appeared amiss as Zaarin continued his work on the new TIE Defender and eliminated several Rebel fleets in varying parts of the Outer Rim.

Eventually though, Zaarin showed his true nature, and his entire fleet defected from the Empire. Darkhawk, Bnasis, and several loyal officers, were able to escape to the Unknown Regions in some of Zaarin's TIE Defenders. They met up with Darth Vader on board the Imperial Star Destroyer Mark II Garret and then proceeded to team up with Admiral Thrawn and the Gray Wolf.

Admiral Zaarin, the second-brightest military leader behind Thrawn in the entire Navy, proved more of a challenge to get rid of than Harkov had. Zaarin had taken most of the knowledge of how to build TIE Defenders along with him and after capturing several factories; he began to destroy all of the Empire's TIE Defender and Avenger manufacturing capabilities through guerilla warfare.

This left the Empire with very few advanced star fighters outside of the TIE Defenders Darkhawk and Bnasis had managed to steal from Zaarin. So Admiral Thrawn began to develop a counter to the TIE Defender - the missile boat. But before this new fighter's production could begin, an unexpected turn of events required Darkhawk and Lord Vader himself to leave the fleet on a mission to Coruscant.

The rogue Admiral Zaarin had finally grown bold enough to attempt a cou'de'tat for control of the Empire. A small force of gunboats and corvettes ambushed the emperor's personal yacht while it was leaving Coruscant on a mission to an unknown location. Darth Vader quickly assembled the best pilots under Thrawn's command and twelve TIE Defenders made a beeline for Imperial Center. They were slowed along the way by an Interdictor cruiser, but still made it to the emperor's location in time to prevent his capture. The Sith Lord, Darkhawk, and the others were able to stall Zaarin's forces long enough for two Imperial Star Destroyers to come to the rescue, sending the admiral's forces fleeing back to the Outer Rim.

After the rescue, Darkhawk and the surviving pilots were awarded the Empire's highest medal of recognition by Palpatine himself. Afterwards, Lord Vader introduced Gray to the emperor for the first, and last, time. There all of the details of the second Death Star were revealed to the young man and he was given special orders by Palpatine to keep any eye out for traitors among Thrawn's forces.

Darkhawk remained on Coruscant for the next two months, training with Darth Vader in the Sith Lord's isolated fortress. All of Gray's progress was kept hidden from Palpatine, as Vader had been strictly forbidden to train the young warrior any farther. However, Darkhawk rose to the level of Dark Jedi Knight and constructed his first lightsaber. The elegant Jedi weapon was nearly a carbon copy of Vader's except it had an orange blade instead of a red one.

Havoc Bnasis, at the same time, continued to rise in prestige and power among the Emperor's Secret Circle. Palpatine advanced the Dark Jedi to Sith Apprentice and named him the Emperor's Reach, the highest level in the circle. That placed Bnasis directly behind Darth Vader in Palpatine's trust. During the same time Darkhawk was training with Lord Vader, Bnasis was becoming stronger and stronger in the Dark Side of the Force under Palpatine's guidance.

After a secret mission to Tatooine, Gray returned to Thrawn's fleet. Production of the missile boat had finally been completed; not only that, but another of Thrawn's projects, a cloaking shield, was nearly under wraps. With now Commander Darkhawk back to take command of the newly christened Tau Squadron of missile boats, Thrawn put his plan to get rid of Zaarin into action. Over the next few weeks, the recently promoted Grand Admiral began a plan to lure Zaarin into a trap.

Using their missile boats to take Zaarin's TIE Defenders and Avengers out of commission, Tau Squadron began to slowly turn the tide against the traitor. Eventually, just as Palpatine had done with the Bothans, Thrawn let information purposely slip about his new cloaking device. Zaarin, desperate to regain the upper hand in the conflict, decided to make an attempt to steal the new technology.

The bait was there and the trap was set, but Thrawn did not have an overwhelming force compared to Zaarin's fleet. When the traitorous admiral showed up with three Star Destroyers and several supporting ships, he was met with only the Gray Wolf and a few frigates. Zaarin had not expected resistance, but it did not appear to be anything to worry about.

However, Zaarin had never personally gone up against Grand Admiral Thrawn in an all-out battle. Thrawn, having studied Zaarin inside and out for months, was able to quickly gain the upper hand in the battle. Zaarin, having been allowed to capture the cloaking shield (aboard a Corellian corvette) decided to make his getaway. Tau Squadron decided to put a halt to that idea.

The squadron of heavily armed missile boats quickly swarmed in on Zaarin's Star Destroyer, crippling its hyperdrive. Zaarin, determined to get away, took as many officers as he could and fled into the captured corvette. They blasted out of the destroyer's primary hangar and began a run for hyperspace.

But that was just what Thrawn had wanted all along. Zaarin activated the cloaking shield to help him sneak out of the battle, but he was unaware that the corvette could not enter hyperspace while cloaked. The rogue admiral made the jump for his base - the last thing he would ever do. The cloaked warship was torn into shreds as it tried to enter hyperspace, and Thrawn's months of planning had finally paid off.

The Grand Admiral's victory was short-lived, though. His fleet learned later that same day that the Rebel fleet had somehow managed to destroy the Executor, capture several Imperial warships, and destroy the second Death Star. But that was not the worst of it by far. The Rebel Luke Skywalker had managed to kill Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader before the Death Star was destroyed and then sneak away unnoticed. It was the darkest day in the Empire's existence.

Darkhawk was stunned by the news. Only a few weeks earlier, he had had a chance to aid in Skywalker's assassination. He and one of the Emperor's Hands, Mara Jade, had been sent to Tatooine to make sure that Jabba the Hutt executed the young Jedi when he attempted to rescue Captain Han Solo. Bnasis himself had given them the orders, direct from the emperor.

Unknown to Bnasis, Jade, or even Palpatine, though, Darth Vader had pulled Gray aside and given him new orders. The young pilot had developed a close bond with the Dark Lord of the Sith, and his loyalties now lay more in Vader and Thrawn than in the Emperor. Vader revealed to his apprentice that he was once a young Jedi Knight named Anakin Skywalker; that is, Luke Skywalker was his son. Vader went on to inform Darkhawk how the Emperor had at first wanted the dark lord to turn his son, but was now bent on young Skywalker's death. Darth persuaded Darkhawk to stop the execution at all costs, unless he would have to kill Jade to stop it. Gray, convinced that Vader would be able to turn his son when they next met, agreed to help the Son of Skywalker survive anyway possible.

So it was the Gray made sure that the dancer Carniss, a.k.a. Mara Jade, was not allowed to travel out to the Salacc's pit to witness Solo and Skywalker's deaths. It took every bit of skill he had to convince Jabba not to let her go and yet at the same time keep her convinced that he was doing everything possible to get her on board that skiff. Much to the emperor's dismay, Skywalker lived, and both Gray and Jade were chastised for their failure. That was when Palpatine had ordered Darkhawk back to the Outer Rim.

Slowly, Darkhawk began to fear for his life. Sooner or later, someone would figure out that he had directly betrayed Palpatine in allowing Luke to live that day on Tatooine. Gray's actions indirectly led to the emperor's death; not only that, he had lost Lord Vader as well. The decorated commander nearly confided everything in Grand Admiral Thrawn, but decided against it at the last moment. Taking his personal TIE Avenger, he traveled to Coruscant to find Havoc Bnasis.

On Imperial Center, a war was raging over who would take control of the Empire now. Eventually Ysanne Isard would win out, but when Darkhawk arrived the entire planet was in chaos. When the pilot finally made his way back to the Dark Academy in Imperial Palace, he found his old school completely deserted. None of the Dark Jedi were to be found on Coruscant.

Of course, all of them (except Mara Jade, who had disappeared, obviously afraid she would be blamed for Palpatine's death after her failure to kill Skywalker) had traveled to Byss under Bnasis's leadership, for he is aware that Palpatine is not truly dead. There they are slowly beginning rebuilding the Empire, creating a new capital. However, the "resurrected" emperor is another story in itself.

Havoc Bnasis knew even more than that, though. As Vader was turning back to the light, preparing to turn on his old master there above Endor's moon, the Sith Apprentice had a vision. He saw Gray on Tatooine, in heated discussion with some of Jabba's henchmen. It became clear the Dark Jedi was attempting to keep Skywalker alive, not aid in his death. Bnasis inferred that the traitorous Lord Vader had ordered his prot�g� to keep his young son alive so that they could kill the emperor.

When he arrived on Byss with the rest of the Secret Circle, the Sith relayed his insights to the "resurrected" Palpatine. The "young" emperor then ordered his new apprentice and second-in-command to finish Darkhawk off. Apparently the young man's stubbornness earlier in life had been a foreshadowing that he would cause trouble later down the line. What a pity that such a talented pilot like that had to go to waste.

After failing to find the Dark Jedi, Darkhawk had decided not to return to Grand Admiral Thrawn's fleet, which had now gone back into the Unknown Regions. Gray took a new squadron commander position on one of Vader's old ship, the Imperial Star Destroyer Garrett.

The young man's destiny, however, was unavoidable. Five years later, during a tour of duty in the Sesswenna System, the Vice Admiral encountered his former instructor and friend Havoc Bnasis on Averam. Havoc had been delving deep into Sith history and lore under Palpatine's instruction and had constructed a lightstaff (a double-sided lightsaber) with two blood-red blades.

A fierce battle ensued, pitting the Dark Jedi Knight against the Sith Apprentice. Having been trained by Darth Vader personally, a master of one-blade combat, Darkhawk was able to hold out against Bnasis's two-bladed weapon again and again. But, finally, the stronger of the two Dark Jedi tired of the combat and resorted to his Force powers to finish Gray. Havoc sent Force lightning coursing into the pilot's body until Darkhawk lost consciousness.

Rather than kill him, though, Bnasis had chosen another fate for the young man he had known and traveled with so long. The Sith erected a Force block on the younger warrior, completely separating him from the Force. Darkhawk should never be able to feel or touch the Force again. Bnasis then proceeded to wipe out huge portions of the pilot's memory. Finally, the Sith took Gray's lightsaber and dumped the young man off at a local inn.

When Darkhawk finally awoke, amnesia hounded him. The loss of the Force nearly drove him mad, yet he had no idea what it was that was affecting him. He could only remember bits and pieces of his twenty-odd years of life, and nothing before the time he joined the Imperial Academy. He had no recollection of ever being in the Emperor's Secret Circle or of ever meeting Vader, Palpatine, or even Bnasis.

Bnasis had left the young man with an altered insignia and identification, and some credits. After spending weeks holed up in the inn, racked with sickness because of his lost touch with the Force, Darkhawk finally made his way off of Averam. However, Bnasis had planted false memories in the man's mind as well. As far as Darkhawk knew, he had served onboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Thunderflare for the entirety of the war, and it had been destroyed at the Battle of Endor. Not knowing where to go, and suffering from severe amnesia, the young man decided to get on the first transport he could find leaving Averam.

That ship was making its way to the Vectra System, to the planet Abrae, home of the Vast Empire Navy. There, Gray met up with one of his friends from the Academy, Riel Fury. Fury had recently joined the VEN and was able to persuade his old friend to join as well. The memory wipe had severely diminished the young man's piloting skill, but he was still more-than-adequate enough to graduate from the Vast Empire's Navy Academy. He was placed into Kaph Squadron as Riel's wingmate, flying TIE Bombers.

Darkhawk spent the next several weeks serving the Vast Empire, racking up large amounts of kills and making many new friends, despite his awkwardness from time to time. Fits of sickness still hounded the man, and his amnesia haunted him at all times.

Perhaps Darkhawk would have remained there, with the VEN fleet, save for one little thing - Bnasis had not done as thorough job as he thought. The Sith Apprentice was really an amateur at both Force-stripping and memory erasure, and the technique he had used on Darkhawk had not completely done its job. Slowly, bits and pieces of Gray's memory began to resurface, images and sights that sharply contrasted with the false memories that had been implanted in his mind.

Now a flight member in Aegis Squadron, Darkhawk decided to journey to Imperial Center to try to unravel the mystery of his own past. He stole a Lambda-class shuttle off of the Super Star Destroyer Atrus and made his way toward Coruscant. However, his friend Riel had snuck on board the shuttle as well to keep an eye on his friend. Fury convinced Darkhawk that they should try to rescue the VEN's Commander-in-Chief, who had been captured by the New Republic and was being held on Coruscant.

The two pilots, with the help of two of Riel's trusty droid companions, managed to sneak onto the Home One and rescue Commodore PJ. With their escape route compromised, the three Imperials were forced to travel down onto the planet until they could find a new way out of the system.

During a visit to the Imperial Palace, their Rebel-slandering comments brought them to the attention of a young security guard who Darkhawk had also known at the academy. She recognized the Imperial had had NRI forces swarm in on the three men. Gray, panicking, made a break away from the Rebels, leaving PJ and Riel in custody. Darkhawk was able to escape his pursuers by ducking into one of the palace's many secret tunnels, which he had recognized as a piece of his old memory resurged.

PJ and Riel were interrogated by Admiral Drayson, and after he couldn't learn anything from them, he decided that they were harmless. On their way out of the palace, they ran into Han Solo, who PJ knew from their childhood on Corellia. Fabricating a tale about being stranded on the planet, PJ got Solo to arrange his and Riel's safe passage off of the planet. Fury and PJ winded up leaving Coruscant under the escort of Rogue Squadron. They had a slight encounter with remnants of Warlord Zsinji's forces on their way back to the Vectra System, but were able to make it home safely.

Meanwhile, Darkhawk found himself in the Imperial Palace's secret tunnels. After hours of wandering, Gray made his way to the old Dark Jedi Academy. More and more of his true memory began to resurface in the familiar surroundings and after a time he came upon an old droid that he had known as a child. The robot began to inform Darkhawk how the Secret Circle had left Coruscant five years earlier for Byss, when suddenly it went still and "lifeless". Bnasis was using the droid to keep an eye on things back at Coruscant and was astounded to see Gray there. He quickly reprogrammed the droid from a distance and ordered it to have Darkhawk killed.

The droid, upon reactivation, quickly called up two Phase III Dark Troopers to kill the young man. Darkhawk managed to get away from his attackers by fleeing into the palace's interior turbo lift shafts, but during his escape Gray ran head first into a broken part of the shaft, right into a gaping chasm. He plummeted hundreds of meters downward, losing consciousness.

When he awoke, he was being pulled out of a bacta tank in one of the palace's medical wards. There he was greeted by Luke Skywalker, who had come to meet this strange man who had fallen through the roof of NRI's main intelligence room. Upon seeing the Jedi Knight, parts of Darkhawk's memories surged, and he began to question Skywalker as to his role in Palpatine and Vader's deaths. Slowly Darkhawk learned that Vader had turned back to the Light Side in the end, and that he had killed Palpatine, not Luke.

Skywalker then left Gray to go check out the tunnel system that the Imperial had shown to the Rebels. Darkhawk waited a while and then followed the Jedi into the turbo lift shafts. There he found Skywalker engaged in battle with the two Dark Troopers who had been chasing him earlier. Saving the Jedi's life for a second time, Gray snuck up on the two battle droids and finished them off with his heavy blaster rifle. At that exact moment, Bnasis decided to set the academy on a self-destruct timer. As the message was announced throughout the inner structure of the palace, Skywalker and Gray made a quick sprint back to the main part of the building before they were incinerated.

Darkhawk stayed a day or two, talking with Skywalker about the war and their differing viewpoints on the Force. A large portion of Gray's memory had been restored, and Skywalker helped heal some of his Force-block, though the Jedi didn't really know what to do. Gray then decided to travel to Byss, to look for answers there, and left the planet with Luke's blessings, including an E-Wing star fighter.

Buying passage on board the Wild Karrde, Darkhawk began the journey to Byss. However, something warned him not to go, and he decided to stay on board the freighter until they arrived at a more alluring destination. While on board the starship, Darkhawk encountered Mara Jade again.

Because of his memory loss, Gray did not recognize the old Emperor's Hand. She did recognize Darkhawk, but was not completely sure if it was really him or not. Over his time onboard the ship the two became friends, flying in the simulators against one another regularly and participating in martial arts competitions.

Then, one night, the two had the same dream - of two small children, a girl and a boy, being abducted from their home by men in dark robes. Darkhawk had a second vision - one in which he had failed to keep Jade from not traveling to the Sarlacc's pit, an alternate past where she had made sure that Skywalker and his friends were killed.

Darkhawk awoke from the second dream to find Jade in his room with a blaster against his chest. She, too, had had a second vision, but hers revealed how Gray had betrayed Palpatine by following Vader's orders to rig their mission. She was out for revenge over her failure, and Gray was the closest target.

However, Darkhawk had realized the significance of the first dream. He was able to wrestle the gun away from Mara and suppress her long enough to explain the meaning of the dream to her. Two young children had been taken from their Jedi parents by the Empire and taken to Coruscant, to be bred into Dark Jedi, sinister agents for Palpatine's will. Those two children were Mara and Austin - they were brother and sister.

The story rang too true in Jade's ears to not be the truth. She decided to spare her brother's life and swore revenge fully on Luke Skywalker instead. Darkhawk decided it was time to leave Talon Karrde's ship and make his way back to the Vast Empire; he also wanted to avoid getting drawn into any kind of relationship with Mara because of his memory loss and what he had done to the Empire. They said their goodbyes, vowing to meet one another again someday.

Upon returning to Abrae, Darkhawk found the most of the VEN fleet away. Retired Admiral Say informed him that the fleet was currently engaged in a fierce battle over Lotaith. Darkhawk was welcomed back to the VEN after two months of absence, but it was decided that he would have to be interrogated before his recomission.

Vice Admiral Destroyer led the interrogation to ensure that Darkhawk was not a spy for the New Republic. However, the pilot was reluctant to disclose much about his past for fear of what they would do to him if they learned about his relationship with Lord Vader and how he had let Skywalker live. Over the past few weeks, Darkhawk had slightly begun to touch the Force once more, and he was able to resist the mind probes they used against him.

Enraged by his resistance, Destroyer and the other officers began to inflict more and more pain upon Gray. They nearly killed him before Vice Admiral Gui Sun Paan made a surprise appearance. He ordered the interrogation to end and for Darkhawk to be taken to the medical ward and then transferred to Paan's ship after receiving bacta treatment.

Lord Kadann, the Vast Empire's Head of High Council, also a Dark Jedi Master and leader of the Vast Empire Dark Jedi Order, had finally unraveled Darkhawk's past on his own and realized just who the pilot was. He had a good idea that Gray had been stripped of the Force and had his memory wiped, and had ordered Paan (a Dark Jedi Master himself) to locate Darkhawk and bring him to Lopen, for healing. Kadann wanted to have Gray restored to his former level and placed in the Dark Jedi Order.

After days of bacta healing and healing of another type by the Dark Jedi's Council, Darkhawk was finally fully recovered. His memory was back intact and his ties to the Force had been reestablished. Commander-in-Chief Paan promoted Gray to Lieutenant Commander and made him the Navy's training officer.

Within two months Darkhawk had earned a promotion to Commander and became ship captain of the Imperial Star Destroyer Devastator. He began training at the Dark Jedi Academy and rose quickly to the rank of Sith Adept; he is currently preparing to go on his Dark Jedi Knight Journey.

Of course, Darkhawk's future surely has not been decided yet. There are still millions of people who would gladly kill him if they knew the truth about his involvement in Palpatine's death. But for now, Lord Kadann and the rest of the Dark Council have decided to take the warrior in under their protection and attempt to bring him back to the Dark Side, to where he was under Darth Vader's training.