Thetis Quelton

During the Galactic Empire's dominance, Thetis Quelton was the owner of Quelton Fabrication, an armor-producing company with a contract with the Empire, situated on the jungle planet of Gilvaanen within the Inner Rim region of the galaxy. Quelton held the Empire in contempt for its destruction of many worlds' histories and conceived a plan to oppose them. She invested significantly in developing a unique grommet designed for use in the atmospheric transduction nozzle of the helmets worn by Imperial stormtroopers. When implemented, the grommet would release spores, leading to a respiratory ailment known as bottleneck. Quelton's intention was to diminish Imperial recruitment by infecting the Stormtrooper Corps, thereby slowing their advancement in seizing control of the Outer Rim Territories.

To introduce the grommets into circulation, she secured a contract with the Empire; however, she was only able to obtain the contract for producing the armor plates used in the suits. The contract for the final internal work on the suits was awarded to Cladtech, a rival company located across town from Quelton Fabrication in Gilvaanen's capital. This meant that Quelton's factories were not responsible for placing the grommets she had designed in the suits. Shortly after securing the contract, Quelton terminated work breaks for her employees, who were predominantly Ithorians. While producing the grommets, Quelton engaged with several offworld dissidents, but they ultimately withdrew their support for her plan and ceased communication.

Sometime between the theft of the Imperial corvette known as the Carrion Spike and the Gorse Conflict, the Empire's rapid expansion surpassed the armor production capacity on Gilvaanen, with armor production increasing by only fifty percent in a year, failing to meet its quota. To address this issue, Sheev Palpatine, the Galactic Emperor, dispatched Wilhuff Tarkin, holding the title of Grand Moff, and Denetrius Vidian, an industrialist with the title of Count, to Gilvaanen to confer with armor producers such as Quelton. The Grand Moff communicated the nature of their visit to Quelton via message, but Vidian was the first to arrive at Quelton's factory and meet her, appearing at midnight and conveying the same explanation as Tarkin's communique. He then remained in the factory to assess the facility and its employees.

Upon Tarkin's arrival at the factory, Quelton was personally evaluating a rare suit of Pikaati armor by having three Ithorian workers fire blasters at her while she stood on top of an antique table wearing the outfit. Upon sighting Tarkin and his escort, Quelton halted the testing and removed the her helmet, greeting the Grand Moff and apologising for how sweaty she was after wearing the armor. The group then moved to Quelton's office, where the Ithorians aided her in removing the rest of the armor before she ordered the them to return to work. Tarkin also dismissed his men, and the pair then discussed her unusual methods of testing armor and a one of the ancient suits of armor in her collection. Tarkin then brought up the subject of his visit, but was surprised when Vidian entered the office and revealed how early he had arrived. Vidian then sent Quelton a list of seventeen practices in the facility that needed updating, which she viewed quickly on a datapad before Vidian guided her and Tarkin around the factory pointing out the improvements he had suggested. During the tour, Quelton hit one of her Ithorian workers with a baton.

Tarkin deemed the changes demanded by Vidian insufficient to resolve the production deficit. Quelton countered that her company was not responsible for the underproduction, instead attributing it to her rival company, Cladtech, which was responsible for the final interior work on Imperial armor. She alleged that their Ithorian leader, Mawdo Larrth, condoned unionist activities among his workers and permitted them to stage work slowdowns as protests. To substantiate her claim, she presented the two Imperials with the substantial stocks of armor plating produced by her factory that awaited completion by Cladtech. Subsequently, the two Imperials visited the Cladtech factory, where, based on Quelton's accusations, Tarkin had agents of the Imperial Security Bureau round up all truant workers. Upon returning to Quelton's factory, Tarkin was assigned the desk of the company' vice president, whom Quelton had fired.

One week into the Imperial's stay at her factory, Quelton approached Tarkin and warned him that she had received word of treasonous behavior from the factory floor. Based on the information she provided, Tarkin's men discovered an illegal meeting being held between the supervisors of Cladtech and Larrth, who were planning to stage another strike concerning the changes Tarkin had made since his arrival. Vidian killed Larrth and then informed the remaining Ithorians that if they did not meet their quotas, all the workers they supervised would be killed. Vidian then proposed that Cladtech be merged into Quelton Fabrications, giving Quelton control of both factories, and unbeknown to the Imperials, allowing her to place her grommets into circulation. She received the news while in Larrth's old office and was incredibly pleased, immediately issuing orders over comlink to her old factory and then promising to improve things in Cladtech's facilities. Vidian then returned to the original Quelton Fabricatios facility to help with the transitions taking place there, but Tarkin remained and asked to visit Quelton's personnel mansion for dinner and a viewing of some of her antique armor pieces. Quelton agreed and invited Tarkin to arrive in four hours, claiming she would have her droids cook something suitable for them.

Quelton greeted Tarkin herself upon his arrival, once again wearing a full suit of Pikaati armor. She gave the Grand Moff a full tour of her home, during which Tarkin informed her that Vidian would be joining them. Quelton was at first surprised, but admitted she had many questions for the industrialist, especially concerning his armor. Tarkin then accused her of being sympathetic to her workers as Larrth had been, claiming the harshness she had shown during his week long visit had been an act. Vidian then arrived, having discovered the grommets Quelton had produced he explained how they worked to Tarkin. This prompted Quelton to admit her true plans to the pair, but before she could be arrested by ISB agents, she activated a mechanism within her Pikaati suit that sent her into a seizure and then killed her.

Following Quelton's death, Vidian and Tarkin advised the Emperor to institutionalize armor production on Gilvaanen and bring it under the control of the Imperial Department of Military Research. Vidian's advisor Everi Chalis was placed in charge of the transition, but Vidian and Tarkin made a deal that the Grand Moff would have oversight of the operation in future and in exchange the industrialist would receive control in a number of other areas.

Quelton was an eccentric individual who had a great love of history and enjoyed collecting historical artifacts including many exotic suits of armor. She hated the Empire for the damage it had done to historical structures, records or cultures on many worlds including her homeworld, and created a hugely expensive plot to try and hinder them, despite knowing it would likely end in her death. She was kind and sympathetic enough to Ithorian workers that there was no dissent amongst them toward her, although during Vidian and Tarkin's visit to her factory she acted more brusquely and violently toward them in order to try and appear more loyal and efficient to the Empire. Ultimately she chose to end her own life rather than be capture by he Empire.

At the time of the Imperials' visit to Gilvaanen, Quelton as in her late sixties and had wrinkled skin and brown hair. Despite hating the Empire, Quelton at least claimed to be highly interested in the armor that Vidian wore, complementing it several times and hoping to ask him questions about it when she learned he was visiting her mansion. She was able to fool both Tarkin and Vidian into believing she was loyal to the Empire for the majority of her trip and appeared greatly invigorated by the challenge of keeping up with the Empire's demands, which Tarkin and Vidian promised would continually increase.

Thetis Quelton first appeared in the short story "Bottleneck," which was written by John Jackson Miller and published in the The Rise of the Empire compilation of stories released in 2015.