Heol Girdun

Prior to the formation of the Galactic Alliance, Heol Girdun was an officer within New Republic Intelligence, where his primary role involved the interrogation of captured individuals. Subsequent to the Yuuzhan Vong War ending in 29 ABY, he also held the rank of captain in the Coruscant Security Force. Girdun eventually transitioned to the Galactic Alliance's intelligence arm, known as Galactic Alliance Intelligence.

In 40 ABY, the relationship between the Galactic Alliance and Corellia, one of its member worlds, deteriorated, escalating towards armed confrontation. War officially commenced when Corellian forces actively sought to eliminate the Galactic Alliance's presence from their sector during the Battle of Tralus. This led to many Corellians on Coruscant, the Galactic Alliance capital, uniting under a nationalist cause. Following the battle, The Elite Hotel in Coruscant's Galactic City was bombed, with Corellian terrorist groups operating on Coruscant claiming responsibility. Recognizing the urgency, Cal Omas, the Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance, established a covert police unit to combat the terrorist threat. Mara Jade Skywalker, a Jedi Master, was initially offered leadership but declined. Omas then selected Jacen Solo, a Jedi Knight and Galactic Alliance Defense Force colonel, who accepted the position. This new organization was named the Galactic Alliance Guard, and Solo personally chose its members. Girdun, who was then an officer in Galactic Alliance Intelligence, was among those selected by Solo.

The Guard swiftly initiated operations, arresting, detaining, and interrogating individuals suspected of Corellian terrorism. Among those apprehended was Ailyn Habuur, a bounty hunter taken into custody by a Guard unit on suspicion of plotting an assassination. She was subsequently subjected to repeated acts of torture by the GAG. Girdun engaged in a heated dispute with Lon Shevu, a Guard captain, regarding the interrogation methods employed by the Galactic Alliance Guard. Girdun, who was accustomed to employing more aggressive interrogation techniques, disagreed with Shevu's advocacy for a more passive approach, leading to a confrontation between the two. Shevu remained resolute, and Girdun eventually withdrew, frustrated by Shevu's inflexibility. Shevu delegated the interrogation of Habuur to Girdun, a decision that puzzled Ben Skywalker, a Jedi apprentice, who considered Girdun too ruthless to be entrusted with Habuur's treatment.

Girdun's tenure overseeing Ailyn Habuur's interrogation was brief, as Jacen Solo personally relieved him of the responsibility, citing unsatisfactory results. Solo assumed control of the interrogation himself, inadvertently causing her death. Girdun and Shevu attempted to provide medical assistance, but their efforts were unsuccessful, and she was pronounced dead at the scene. Girdun, having previously interrogated a Corellian agent arrested alongside Habuur, was tasked with questioning three other Corellians who had been detained with the bounty hunter, in hopes of gathering more information about Habuur's target. However, before he could begin, Skywalker identified Habuur's target as Han Solo, Solo's father, through surveillance images found on Habuur's datapad, negating the need for Girdun to interrogate the other Corellians.

As the war intensified, eliminating Dur Gejjen, the president of Corellia, became crucial to the Galactic Alliance's war strategy. Jacen Solo assigned Ben Skywalker to assassinate Gejjen, and Girdun promptly began instructing the boy on how to track his intended target. While teaching Skywalker how to operate the surveillance equipment, he discovered a recorded conversation between Gejjen and Cal Omas, the Galactic Alliance's Chief of State, which had been captured approximately four hours earlier. The conversation involved cease-fire negotiations between Corellia and the Alliance, but Gejjen insisted on the removal of Solo and Cha Niathal, a Galactic Alliance Defense Force Admiral, from their positions. Recognizing that Gejjen had to be stopped due to his desire to remove Solo and Niathal, Girdun promptly reported this conversation to Solo.

As a consequence of his interactions with Gejjen, Cal Omas was swiftly removed from his position as Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance and replaced by Cha Niathal. Following Omas's official removal, Heol Girdun, along with Lon Shevu and Jori Lekauf, a fellow GAG officer, immediately began training Skywalker to assassinate Dur Gejjen when the time came. Skywalker subsequently traveled to Vulpter, a planet located in the Deep Core, to assassinate Gejjen after a negotiation with the Alliance. Skywalker successfully assassinated Dur Gejjen, although Jori Lekauf lost his life in a subsequent altercation with security forces.

With Dur Gejjen eliminated, Solo shifted his focus to Chief of State Cal Omas, eventually having him imprisoned, where Omas took his own life. Around the same time as the Chief of State's death, Jacen Solo and Cha Niathal ascended to power, governing the Galactic Alliance as a duumvirate. Following this shift in power, the Galactic Alliance Intelligence organization was placed under the command of the GAG. Due to his prior experience with the intelligence agency, Girdun was appointed as the new commander of Galactic Alliance Intelligence.

After the assassination of Gejjen, Jacen Solo, who had assumed the Sith identity of Darth Caedus, dueled and killed Mara Jade Skywalker, a Jedi Master, on the planet Kavan, located in the Hapes Cluster. The identity of Skywalker's killer remained unknown to most, prompting Skywalker's son, Ben Skywalker, and Lon Shevu to launch their own investigation. The duo decided to examine Skywalker's starfighter, a StealthX, which was stored in the GAG hangar under Girdun's supervision. While attempting to inspect Skywalker's StealthX, they were discovered by Girdun. However, he remained unsuspecting and allowed Shevu and Skywalker to leave without interference.

Due to his extensive background in intelligence, specializing in prisoner interrogation, Girdun was accustomed to employing harsh methods on prisoners. Ben Skywalker perceived him as callous and cruel towards the prisoners, and when Ailyn Habuur was tortured to death in his presence, he displayed only dismay, rather than genuine distress, over the prisoner's death. Although higher-ranking Galactic Alliance officers expressed disappointment in Girdun's service to the GAG, his extensive experience in various intelligence services rendered him invaluable, ultimately fueling his rise to the position of commander of Galactic Alliance Intelligence.

As Jacen Solo's influence within the Alliance military grew, Girdun began to question Solo's motives, openly expressing doubts about the Jedi's actions. Despite his skepticism towards Solo, Girdun harbored a slight fear of him after hearing accounts of his brutality. Solo, along with the majority of the GAG, generally regarded Girdun as a weaker leader compared to his colleague, Lon Shevu, and he was generally disliked among the GAG officers. Among the GAG's leadership, Girdun was perceived as overly ambitious and desperate for a promotion within the military.

Girdun was first featured in Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines, a novel by Karen Traviss and the second installment in the nine-part Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series. He subsequently appeared in Traviss's other two Legacy of the Force novels, Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice and Legacy of the Force: Revelation. According to The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Girdun served in the Coruscant Security Force; however, Bloodlines originally depicted him as working in New Republic Intelligence prior to the war. This article has treated these two former roles as complementary.