Beck Ollet

Beck Ollet was a student from Lothal who attended the Junior Academy of Applied Sciences in Lothal's Capital City in the years leading up to the Battle of Yavin. He was a third-generation Lothalian, raised in the Westhills where his parents managed a jogan fruit orchard. After the Galactic Empire bought his family's land, Beck and his family relocated to the west side of Capital City. At the time, the Empire had begun a large-scale development project across the planet and were offering local farmers high credits to sell their orchards and farms. Ollet wasn't happy with this decision but agreed to it, understanding his family's financial reasons for selling their orchard.

After his family moved to Capital City, Beck enrolled at the Junior AppSci and became a fullback on the school's grav-ball team, the AppSci SaberCats, wearing the number 23. During the autumn season, he became friends with Zare Leonis and his girlfriend Merei Spanjaf, two recent migrants from the Core Worlds who also played on the grav-ball team. Unlike Zare, Beck didn't trust the Empire and wasn't interested in joining Lothal's Academy for Young Imperials, which he thought was too strict for him. After a Crop Management class, Zare met up with Zare and Merei at a study hull. During the meeting, Merei used her computer skills to find Beck's old farmstead, only to discover that the Imperial authorities had classified the area for an unspecified excavation project. Beck was upset because this land had traditionally been used for jogan fruit harvesting, but Merei thought there was an error on the Imperial Agriculture Ministry's database.

Following a game between the SaberCats and another team called the Green Dragons, Beck and his friends rode their jumpspeeders to his family's orchards in the Westhills. During the ride, Beck expressed his frustration with the Empire's plan to demolish a bridge where he used to fish regularly to make way for a larger freight bridge. When they arrived at Beck's old orchard, they encountered an armed guard and his pack of Neks. While the guard was initially hostile, he let Beck and his friends pass after Beck explained that this orchard used to be his home. Beck was even more dismayed to find that the Imperials were using harvester droids to harvest jogan fruit. These droids were doing a poor job and causing a lot of damage to the orchard. This visit only strengthened his negative feelings towards the Empire.

The following week, Beck didn't talk to Zare and focused only on practicing. During a home game against a rival team called the East City Brawlers, Beck lost his temper because of the visiting team's aggressive tactics and a biased referee who favored the Brawlers. In a fit of anger, Beck assaulted one of the Brawlkers and was ejected from the game. Beck's outburst caused the SaberCats to forfeit a goal, allowing the East City Bawlkers to place the ball at center grid. Beck argued with the referee, and Zare had to drag him off the pitch. When Zare warned him not to lose his temper, Beck protested that the game was rigged. Because of Beck's major misconduct foul, the Brawlers scored enough points to win the fifth game in the grav ball season.

Beck's behavior led Zare to seek a meeting with the school's athletic director Janus Fhurek. However, Fhurek dismissed Zare's concerns, claiming that passion was part of the sport. Instead of advising Zare on how to manage Beck's temper, the athletic director criticized the Aqualish player Hench Sina as a brute. This incident made Zare distrust Fhurek since Hench hadn't done anything wrong. Later that week, Zare advised Beck not to be provoked into fouls against the Thrashers, the SaberCats' next opponent. Zare's diplomatic but firm approach successfully addressed Beck's aggressive behavior. During the sixth grav ball game, the SaberCats defeated the Thrashers by a score of 44 to 18.

Outside of school, Beck Ollet began to associate with the growing underground resistance against the Galactic Empire on Lothal. After the grav-ball game, Beck took his two friends to visit his family's former orchards, which had been turned into an Imperial mine. They also found that several anti-Imperial insurgents had attached detonators to several Imperial seismic surveyor droids. Zare contacted the Imperial authorities using his comlink. When Imperial stormtroopers arrived, Beck told the authorities that the insurgents had fled north, when they had actually gone south. This incident made Beck's friend Zare suspect that he was somehow involved with the anti-Imperial resistance on Lothal. After the failed bombing incident, Zare was visited by Lieutenant Piers Roddance from the Security Ministry. Zare told the lieutenant everything but didn't mention Beck's act of misleading the stormtroopers.

Beck and his friends didn't discuss the orchard incident throughout the winter season. Whenever Zare or Merei questioned him, he would claim that he had to study for the final examinations. During a game against the South Capital City Volunteers, Beck's aggressive maneuvers and willingness to bend the rules annoyed Zare but earned him praise from the school's athletic director Fhurek, who said he was a fan of "smashmouth" grav-ball. Despite the AppSci SaberCats' final victory over the Mavericks in a subsequent game, Beck wasn't happy after he discovered that the Imperial authorities had turned his family's former orchards into a mine. Beck took Zare to the mine and expressed his distrust and aversion towards the Empire. This forced his friend to reconsider his views about the Empire's "altruistic" motives.

Beck and Zare's discontent with the Empire grew during the spring season when the two boys witnessed Imperial stormtroopers shooting a peaceful gathering of farmers in the Westhills. These farmers had gathered to confront an Imperial government official about the loss of their homes and farms in the orchard-lands. Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, the Imperials deployed stormtroopers and AT-DP walkers. When the farmers refused an order to disperse, Lieutenant Roddance ordered his troops to open fire on the gathering. The two boys escaped on Beck's unregistered jumpspeeder but were deeply traumatized by the incident. A contemporary HoloNet report claimed that the farmers had provoked the shooting by destroying mining equipment and attacking surveyors.

Beck also learned about the disappearance of Zare's sister Dhara Leonis, who allegedly ran away during an Imperial training exercise. However, Zare suspected that the Empire was hiding the truth about his sister's disappearance. Beck was also present when Zare physically assaulted the athletic director Fhurek, who made the careless remark that treason ran in Zare's family. Beck and three other AppSci students had to restrain Zare and drag him away. Beck later consoled Zare, saying that the unpopular athletic director had to wear a cold pack over his eye. In late spring, Beck presumably graduated from the Junior Academy of Applied Sciences along with his friends Zare and Merei.

During the summer holidays, Beck Ollet disappeared and didn't respond to messages sent by his friend Zare to his comlink and datapad. Beck's parents told Zare that their son was spending the holidays riding jumpspeeders around Lothal with his cousins before starting work as a harvest supervisor. However, Zare suspected that this was just a cover story and that Beck was involved in illegal activities. Knowing that the Imperials were monitoring HoloNet, Beck had one of his former classmates, the Rodian Frid Kelio, contact Beck. Two days later, Beck visited Zare outside the Leonis family's apartment complex. During a brief conversation, the two talked about Zare's missing sister Leonis and discussed their hatred of the Empire. Beck also hinted that he was involved in an anti-Imperial resistance group.

A few days later, Beck confirmed to Zare that he had joined an underground resistance group during a visit to an Imperial mining camp built over his family's former orchards. Later, Beck and two other insurgents attacked the mine and managed to damage several Imperial mining droids with their detonators. However, they had to flee on their landspeeder when an Imperial Troop Transport arrived and chased them. During the chase, Beck exchanged fire with the Imperial pursuers. Leonis protected his friend from capture by throwing a detonator under the Troop Transport, delaying its pursuit and allowing Beck and his associates to escape into hiding. The following day, Zare and Merei received a message from Beck to meet him at his old school's grav-ball grid. During their meeting, Beck revealed that the Imperials had traced his landspeeder. During their meeting, Beck and Merei both encouraged Zare to infiltrate the Imperial Academy so that he could fight against the Empire from within and find his missing sister.

Later, Beck and two other rebel associates were arrested during an Imperial raid on a shop that served as their base. One of the stormtroopers who participated in the raid was Ames Bunkle, a friend of Zare's sister Dhara. The last time Zare saw Beck, his friend was being taken away in an Imperial transport. This incident reinforced Zare's desire to infiltrate the Academy and bring down the Empire from within.

After his arrest, Beck was interrogated by the Imperial Security Bureau and later tried before a security tribunal. During interrogation, Beck was uncooperative and stuck to his story that he was a new recruit to a three-member resistance cell dedicated to bringing down the Empire. He cited the destruction of his family's fruit orchards in the Westhills and the shooting of protestors as his reasons for joining the rebel cell. However, Beck managed to hide his cadet friend Zare Leonis' role as the unknown jumpspeeder rider who had attacked the troops pursuing his landspeeder. Beck was tried and found guilty by a security tribunal, which enrolled him in an experimental re-education program called Project Unity.

As a participant in Project Unity, Beck was subjected to political indoctrination and given drugs. These drugs caused Beck to develop a glassy-eyed and blank facial expression. He and the other Project Unity participants also wore orange jumpsuits. During his imprisonment, Beck was transferred to the planet Arkanis, where he was housed at Area Null, a secure tower connected to the local Imperial Academy. Due to his brainwashing and drug treatment, Beck came to believe that the Empire was a force for good. He also justified the shooting of the farmers in the Westhills by claiming that they had been manipulated by the enemies of the Empire.

Later, Beck's former classmate Leonis, who was now an Imperial cadet, was transferred to the Arkanis Academy as a reward for his apparent loyalty to the Empire. However, this was a trap set by the Grand Inquisitor to expose his connection to the Spectres, a rebel cell that included Leonis' one-time classmate Dev Morgan. The Arkanis Academy was run by Commandant Brendol Hux, who ran a secret society known as the Commandant's Cadets, which aimed to create elite soldiers. To join the Commandant's Cadets, prospective recruits had to kill a fellow cadet and make it look like an accident. With the help of Lieutenant Chiron, who had been sent to investigate Commandant Hux, Leonis managed to infiltrate the Commandant's Cadets.

Before he could be formally inducted, Leonis had to wait outside the ceremonial room as a group of Project Unit participants exited. Beck was part of the group and pointed directly at Leonis. The "rehabilitated" Beck then exposed Zare's involvement in illegal activities on Lothal and his true reason for wanting to join the Imperial Academy. As a result, Zare was arrested and tried by Colonel Julyan on several charges, including fraudulent enlistment, disobeying lawful orders, dereliction of duty, destruction of Imperial property, and providing aid and comfort to the enemies of the Empire. Leonis pleaded guilty to all charges and was formally expelled from Imperial service. In addition, Colonel Julyan sentenced him to death.

While Zare was waiting on death row, Lieutenant Chiron arranged for Beck to talk with his former friend. Because of his respect for Leonis, Chiron wanted to save Leonis from execution by convincing him to enroll in Project Unity. During his meeting with Leonis, Beck tried to convince Leonis to accept Chiron's offer and claimed that Project Unity had helped him. However, Leonis refused to consider Project Unity because it involved drugging and brainwashing. Beck tried to ease Leonis' fears by claiming that the medications calmed him and made him more receptive to accepting other points of view.

Leonis then tried to reason with Beck by discussing how Imperial forces had opened fire on displaced farmers in the Westhills. While Beck could remember the earlier incident, he rationalized that the farmers had been manipulated by "greedy, secretive organizations" that wanted to return the galaxy to corruption and disorder. While conceding that murder was horrible, he argued that the Empire had to deny its enemies the use of their "tools" by any means necessary. When Leonis pointed out that the victims were Imperial citizens, Beck reiterated that the Empire had to do its duty and urged Leonis to join Project Unity. Unable to reach Beck, Zare ordered him to leave, prompting Beck to reply that Leonis didn't "want to be helped."

Before Zare's scheduled execution, Leonis told Lieutenant Chiron to arrange for Beck Ollet to bring his final meal: two jogan fruits with sprigs of blossom. The scent of the jogan fruit blossom helped to break Beck's mental conditioning and remind him of how the Empire had destroyed the orchards and killed people who disagreed with them. Zare was then able to reason with his friend and convinced him to help him rescue his sister Dhara. Freed from his Imperial brainwashing, Beck revealed that they were above the ceremonial room in Area Null, the secluded tower that housed Project Unity.

At Zare's suggestion, the two friends agreed to take out the two stormtrooper sentries using grav-ball moves. Beck tricked the guards into entering by claiming that he was ready to leave Zare's cell. When the stormtroopers entered, Beck rammed himself into the first trooper's midsection while Leonis wrested the blaster from his hands. Leonis then shot down the second stormtrooper before shooting the stormtrooper who was struggling with Beck. Stealing the stormtroopers' blasters, the two friends made their way into the corridor and blasted the guards manning the detention block's control room. At Zare's instruction, Beck also shot out the cameras to delay Imperial reinforcements.

Before they could proceed with their plan to rescue Dhara, another starship arrived on the roof of Area Null. This starship was the Ghost and carried Beck's old friend Merei Spanjaf, her mother Jessa Spanjaf, and three rebels from the rebel cell known as the Spectres: Dev Morgan, Garazeb Orrelios, and Sabine Wren. Several stormtroopers arrived in the main elevator shaft, but Beck and Leonis eliminated them with their blasters. Shortly later, they were rejoined by Merei and her new rebel allies. Together, Beck and his rebel allies devised a plan to rescue Merei. While the Spectres and Jessa hacked into the main computer node to lock Imperial reinforcements out of the building, Beck, along with Leonis and Merei, went to rescue Dhara. Merei also handed Beck a thermal detonator.

After hacking into the computer console, Merei discovered that Dhara was housed in cell seventeen. While Beck watched the main elevator for Imperial reinforcements, Zare went to fetch his sister from her cell. Shortly later, they were attacked by stormtrooper reinforcements who had regained control of the control room. While exchanging fire with stormtroopers, Beck told his friends to make their way up the stairs to the roof while he took care of the stormtroopers. Before Zare or Merei could object, Beck took the thermal detonator that Sabine had handed him earlier and charged headlong at the stormtroopers. Beck was killed during the ensuing explosion, which buried the stormtroopers under a heap of stone chunks and metal debris. However, his selfless sacrifice gave his friends enough time to escape Area Null with Dhara. Leonis' last sight of his late friend was Beck's hand clutching a spring of jogan blossom.

Beck Ollet was a large youth with blond hair and pale skin. He had a short temper, which sometimes got him into trouble both on the grav ball grid and with the authorities. Beck's aggressive moves and willingness to ignore the playbook unnerved his best friend Zare Leonis but earned him praise from the school's athletic director [Janus Fhurek](/article/janus_fhurek], who liked aggressive sports. Despite his short temper, Beck was still able to form a good friendship with Zare and Merei Spanjaf, two recent immigrants. Beck disliked the Galactic Empire because it bought his family's jogan fruit orchards and turned them into a mine. This led him to join a nascent anti-Imperial resistance group on Lothal. Beck's short temper and strong dislike for the Empire ultimately got him into trouble when he was arrested after planting explosives on Imperial mining machinery.

In Imperial captivity, Beck showed courage and tenacity in his refusal to cooperate with the Imperial authorities. His respect and loyalty to Zare led him to hide Zare's involvement as the unknown jumpspeeder rider who had attacked the Imperial Troop Transport. As a result of being subjected to Project Unity, Beck was brainwashed and drugged into becoming an Imperial loyalist. This programming led him to rationalize the murder of the farmers in the Westhills by believing that they had been tricked into resisting the Empire by shadowy forces. His new sense of loyalty also led him to expose his former friend Leonis as a traitor and rebel sympathizer.

Beck was able to overcome his programming after Zare had him smell a jogan fruit blossom, which reminded him of how the Empire had destroyed his family's orchards and murdered people. After being freed from his mental indoctrination, Beck participated in a mission to rescue Leonis' sister Dhara. During their rescue attempt, Beck used techniques he had learned in grav-ball to help Leonis overpower the stormtrooper guards. Most importantly, Beck's devotion to his friends led him to sacrifice his own life so that they could escape their Imperial pursuers.

Beck Ollet was a grav-ball player who played fullback on the AppsCi SaberCats, the Junior AppSci's grav-ball team. He knew several maneuvers, including a handoff and center striker sneak. These skills proved useful both on the grav-ball grid and during an escape from Area Null.