Firmus Nantz

Admiral Firmus Nantz was a Human male naval officer serving with the New Republic Fleet during the Galactic Civil War. In 4 ABY, following the Battle of Endor, Admiral Gial Ackbar, Supreme Commander of the Alliance Fleet, reorganized his command into four separate fleets to better prosecute the war against the Galactic Empire and the various warlord states that had arisen with the collapse of Imperial command authority in the wake of Emperor Palpatine's death. Nantz helped to mastermind the conquest of the Core, and was given command of the First Fleet tasked with operations in the galaxy's Western Reaches. Nantz staged his campaign from the planet Saijo, in the Saijo sector of the Outer Rim Territories. From there, Nantz took the First to Abraxas in the Yushan sector where the fleet engaged the Eiattu pirates.

The pirates were a group of Imperial TIE/IN interceptors who were raiding New Republic shipping in the region. Over the course of a month, the pirates attacked and captured six convoys, including one bound for Bhuna Sound. When a conventional military response proved to be ineffective, Nantz enlisted the help of Alliance hero General Lando Calrissian. Citing the General's unconventional background, he hoped that Calrissian would be able to succeed where others had failed and gave him carte blanche to assemble a team. Calrissian's unit, known as Lando's Commandos, successfully tracked the pirates to their base on Radix in the Abraxas system. There, Calrissian employed guile, misdirection, and a cloaked stealth fighter to neutralize the pirate threat and expose one of his team, Captain Kine, as a traitor who had supplied the pirates with information regarding the New Republic convoys. Nantz debriefed Calrissian, commending him on a good job, although the General was saddened over the loss of several personnel during the mission and was glad the mission was over. Nantz offered him the chance to perform other missions, and Calrissian decided to flip a coin to decide his next move.

The victory at Abraxas was a show of force that was planned to keep two of the new Imperial warlords—Moff Utoxx Prentioch and Superior General Sander Delvardus—bottled up in their own territories. The tactic succeeded; Prentioch remained in the Bomis Koori system, while Delvardus guarded the borders of his fiefdom, the Eriadu Authority. A successful strike by the First at Glova in the Tarabba sector—assisted by ground forces commanded by General Tyr Taskeen—forced Delvardus' military into retreat from the system. The capture of Glova cut Delvardus off from potential reinforcements from Imperial forces stationed further down the Rimma Trade Route in the Elrood sector and Minos Cluster. Nantz fought and won a skirmish against Moff Prentioch's forces at Kriselist in the Wornal sector, then bypassed the rest of Prentioch's territory to engage Delvardus's forces at Moorja in the Inner Rim. During the battle, a fleet of New Republic EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigates, supported by Y-wing bombers, destroyed the Thalassa, a Praetor Mark II-class battlecruiser. Nantz then moved in force to the Hevvrol sector in the Mid Rim, executing a campaign against several targets in the region. A battle group, with starfighter operations overseen by Commander Adar Tallon, struck Bannistar Station, capturing the Imperial installation following a heavy bombardment. An assault on the planet Glom Tho followed, where New Republic forces decisively defeated an Imperial flotilla while General Taskeen's forces seized key foundries. New Republic troops made extensive use of Neuro-Saav Sure-Sight weapons during the engagement. Glom Tho was the decisive battle in the Hevvrol Sector Campaign, and the victory blunted the expansion dreams of another warlord, Moff Par Lankin, who ruled the Lambda sector.

In 5 ABY, Nantz's forces won a relatively simple victory at Yag'Dhul over Delvardus's forces, ending the warlord's Coreward expansion, which was followed by the capture of Thyferra in the Jaso sector. Nantz's forces subsequently linked up with the rebellious worlds of Cilpar, Mrlsst, and Bestine in the Colonies. Entering Herglic Space, Nantz opened communications with the native Herglics, who had declared their independence in the post-Endor period. While Nantz was positioned in the Inner Rim, Delvardus attempted to retake Sullust only to be defeated by elements of the First under the command of a Sullustan captain, Sien Sovv. Nantz dispatched a task force along the Rimma Trade Route to support Sovv and the Sullustans. Delvardus then lost a series of battles along his border at Sanrafsix, Kabal, Clak'dor, and Sluis Van, which caused him to abandon his holdings and retreat to the Deep Core. The following year, Nantz moved against Prentioch's territory, which resulted in the capture of Prentioch during a siege at Bomis Koori. With the Western Reaches firmly under New Republic control, Nantz began to plan the conquest of the Southern Core. After extensive fighting undertaken by Ackbar's Third Fleet, Nantz's forces—along with those under the command of Admirals Willham Burke and Chel Dorat—were in a position to advance into the Core. Eventually, the New Republic successfully liberated Coruscant, the galactic capital.

Ten years later, Nantz was promoted to senior flag officer of the Combined Defense Forces of the New Republic. When the Yevethan Duskhan League—the government of a species of xenophobic aliens from the Koornacht Cluster in the Deep Core—purged all non-Yevetha from the worlds of the Koornacht Cluster in an act of mass genocide, the New Republic's newly-commissioned Fifth Fleet was dispatched to the region to defend New Republic interests in the area. As the crisis escalated, the Fifth was reinforced with task forces pulled from other fleet commands, and Ackbar was forced to replace the current commander, General Etahn A'baht, since the Defense Council had lost confidence in his command abilities. Nantz was considered for the role, although Ackbar vetoed his appointment, persuading Alliance hero Han Solo to accept a commodore's commission and command of the force. Solo never reached the Fifth, however; his shuttle, Tampion, was captured by Yevetha forces en route to the fleet. General A'baht retained command of the fleet, and mused in private with Commodore Farley Carson, of the Fourth Fleet's Task Force Apex, that the only reason that neither Ackbar nor Nantz had been sent to assume command of the force was for fear of either of them being taken hostage as well. Despite several setbacks to the campaign, the Yevethan threat was ended by New Republic forces at the Battle of N'zoth, which included the rescue of Solo from his captors.

Cadaverous and stooped, Firmus Nantz was light-skinned and sported a mane of gray hair that he kept tied back, bushy sideburns that reached down to his cheek, and black eyebrows. A superb tactician and battlefield commander who effectively commanded fleet elements in combat, Nantz won many significant victories during the New Republic's early years. Nantz was able to accept the reality that conventional military strategy was not the only way to win battles, and had no compunctions about employing unconventional tactics when the need arose. By 16 ABY, he was the most senior flag officer serving in the New Republic Defense Force hierarchy, second only to Admiral Gial Ackbar.

Noted for his brutal honesty, Nantz did not shy away from frank assessments of what he did or the way he achieved it. He believed that an admiral's job was to "industrialize murder at a distance," and told a delegation of neutral planetary leaders as much. His candid nature led the New Republic to keep Nantz away from politicians and civilians as they were afraid that the outspoken Admiral's views about his military operations would be regarded as offensive or insensitive. In conversation with General Lando Calrissian following the latter's successful resolution to the Eiattu pirate problem, Nantz noted that casualties were the price the military paid for success when Calrissian lamented on the loss of some of his personnel. He also advised to never interrupt the enemy while they were in the middle of committing a mistake.

Firmus Nantz was first referenced in Shield of Lies, the second book of The Black Fleet Crisis by Michael P. Kube-McDowell published in 1996, merely as "Admiral Nantz." Nantz was referred to again in the third book of the trilogy, Tyrant's Test, released later that same year. In 2012, The Essential Guide to Warfare by Jason Fry and Paul R. Urquhart gave Nantz a first name and expanded upon his history as commander of the New Republic's First Fleet.

Nantz's inclusion in The Essential Guide to Warfare was due to Jason Fry's liking of the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy. In endnotes written for The Essential Guide to Warfare, Fry likened his caustic personality to that of General William Tecumseh Sherman, who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Fry gave Nantz an expanded role in The Essential Guide to Warfare, involving him in several battles and attributing several quotes to him.

In a thread on the Jedi Council Forums on TheForce.Net, Fry mused that Nantz could be the previously unidentified commander featured in "Lando's Commandos: On Eagles' Wings," a short comic written by Ian Edginton and illustrated by Carlos Meglia that was published in Star Wars Tales 5 by Dark Horse Comics, since both Nantz and Calrissian were involved in battles at Abraxas, and noted that the commander even looked a little bit like how Fry had imagined Nantz. On June 26, 2012, Fry revealed that he emailed Lucasfilm Ltd.'s Continuity Database Administrator Leland Chee with his theory, and Chee agreed to retcon the commander to be Nantz. Fry then posted the confirmation of the retcon in the thread. The information was later included in Fry's Essential Guide to Warfare endnotes, posted on his tumblr site.

Nantz was later featured in the article 10 Great Military Leaders featured in 2013 Special Edition of Star Wars Insider, where ten characters were ranked on their military prowess. Nantz was listed at number five, behind Gial Ackbar, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, Grand Admiral Thrawn and Xim the Despot.

• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Essential Guide to Warfare
• "10 Great Military Leaders" — Star Wars Insider Special Edition 2013