Vice-Admiral Raif Slaxton is a Human male and Commanding Officer of Taldryan's Battlegroup Vanguard. An experienced and reserved individual, Vice-Admiral Slaxton is the captain of the CSD Justice, the House's largest and most heavily armed ship.
Biography
Early Life and Career
Raif Slaxton was born to an aristocratic family from Dubrillion. His father was a Senator in the Old Republic and became an adamant supporter of Chancellor Palpatine as he rose to prominence. During the reign of the Emperor, the family gained naturalization on the glittering world of the Imperial Center. Here, Slaxton was given every opportunity to attend high class schools and centers of education and Human High culture.
Though pampered by his loving mother and raised sternly yet lovingly by his father, the young slaxton sought more from the Galaxy, and applied to join the Imperial Academy at the age of seventeen, only three years after the demise of the Republic. With the endorsement of his father, the young man set a course that would affect the rest of his life.
Imperial Career
Slaxton's First Command
Raif graduated two years later from the Imperial Academy on Raithal, a prestigious Naval Education Center, with honors and a Lieutenant's Commission. Specializing in Fleet Operations, the young officer was on a fast track to success. Assigned as the Executive Officer of a Gunship, his first experience in combat became his first in command of a ship. During a routine patrol of an Outer-Rim system, a pirate force attacked the lone ship, and in a freak accident, the Captain was killed. This left the nearly 20 year old man in charge of a vessel. After defeating the pirates using a nimble defense balanced with a healthy offense.
His actions were recognized, and he was promoted soon after to Commander, and given command of his very own Lancer Frigate. For the next few years, Raif would use his talents to win engagement after engagement, and promotion after promotion. By the time of the Battle of Yavin, Slaxton was a Commandant, and at the helm of a Victory I Star Destroyer. The defeat of the Empire struck him like a dagger, and emboldened the Man to fight the rebellion with his entire being.
Fall of the Empire
Raif Slaxton spent the next few years hunting down and eradicating Rebellion forces and outposts, but was dismayed nonetheless by the increasingly frequent reports of defeat at the hands of Alliance fleet units and ground forces. By the time of the Battle of Endor, the Commandant now commanded a small task force of several Victory II Star Destroyers, and an Imperial Escort Carrier. This force was supposed to have been present at the defeat of the Rebellion, but was held up in escorting a supply convoy to its destination, and missed the destruction of the Death Star instead.
Slaxton's Victory Fleet
Seeing no future in the Empire without the Emperor, Slaxton gave his forces to a Rogue Grand Admiral named Ronin, the head of the Emperor's Hammer Fleet.
Emperor's Hammer
The former Commandant, now Fleet Commander of the Emperor's Hammer Fleet, served for several years as a prominent leader and capable commander. He was assigned to the fleet that served as the Dark Brotherhood's base of operations and only tactical force. In his time serving with the Brotherhood, he came to understand the power wielded by the Dark Jedi, and became good friends with then Consul of Clan Taldryan, Kir Katarn. This friendship capitulated when the Brotherhood of Dark Jedi fled imperial space, seeking refuge from the oppressive hand of Grand Admiral Ronin and his ineffectual command structure.
Slaxton, seeing an opportunity to strike back at the forces that had always held the Empire back, as he saw it, and possibly see the destruction of the emerging New Republic as well, Slaxton followed Clan Taldryan to their new home in the Kr'Tal system, and began to help then High Admiral Venix Soyak establish a capable and stable naval command structure for the newly independent clan.
Vice-Admiral In the Service of Taldryan
the CSD Justice
Because of his immense experience, and tremendous record victory in battle, the former Imperial officer was elevated to the rank of Vice-Admiral, and effectively the non-force sensitive Second-in-Command of all naval assets within the Taldryan Naval Service. His work helped bring the house's assets together in a manner that would secure their place at the top of the Brotherhood's rankings. Having survived various Great Jedi Wars, Vendettas, Rites of Supremacy, and feuds of varying sizes, Slaxton's experience has helped bring the fleet out on top nearly every time. It is said of the Officer that in his time as a naval officer, he has only gained a total of three loses in battle.
It was this record that landed the Vice-Admiral the most sought after command in all of the Houses. With Operation Tempest reaching fruition, Taldryan won the right to posses the new Cotelin-class Star Dreadnought, the Justice. Now, as the head of the largest ship in the fleet, Slaxton has put his best foot forward, and will continue to to do so for many years.
Traits and Personality
Raif Slaxton was an adamant supporter of the New Order in the time of the Empire. Having been raised by an Imperial Senator in an affluent family, he was afforded every amenity and opportunity wealth and privilege could gain him.