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| - Though 'to the manner born,' I spent most of my early years in and out of the Alderaanian Correctional System, where it was that I first made inroads as a brawler and general badman. - Vito Zarl, quoted in an affadavit prepared for COMPNOR following his arrest on Tatooine in connection with revolutionary activities. Born into the minor nobility circa 25 BBY, Vito Zarl spent most of his early life on Alderaan, where his parents and extended family struggled to give him the education and refinement befitting a man of his rank and station. Even so, as stated above, Zarl spent a good deal of time engaging is various acts of truancy, eventually graduating to actual criminal enterprise by his late teens, at which point he was unceremoniously evicted from his home system and sent off to occupy a purchased seat at one of the more strict branches of the Imperial Academy. Soon afterward, he was apparently expelled, at which point he vanishes from Imperial records, only to re-appear on Tatooine, some years after the Battle of Endor. On Tatooine, Zarl spent several stints in the local lock-up for various acts of petty theft and assault and at least one suspected murder. There are also some records from the Anchorhead Chamber of Commerce which show he applied for an obtained license to run a small restaurant in the surrounding desert. It was here, apparently, that he met and colluded with members of a nativist cell of rebels, eager to throw of the contemporary Imperial yolk. Several acts of violence were perpetrated which drew the ire of the local Imperial command, and the intervention of COMPNOR's special branch, the ISB. According to Imperial records, Zarl was apparently arrested in connection with the disturbances, interrogated and enticed to confess, with promises of immunity, the names of those Tatooine locals responsible for the cell. After this incident, he again disappears from the records for a time, eventually resurfacing on Corellia, in the employ of OREO Enterprises. OREO, the brainchild of entrepreneur John Donovan, specialized in security contracting for the New Republic. Zarl, it seems, had signed on as mere muscle but had impressed Donovan so much as to quickly rise director of the firm's private security force. in this capacity, he commanded various squadrons of armed OREO soldiers, as well as a limited air- and space-force. Elh'z'raha. And then? Misha. - Margin note made by Zarl on an OREO Enterprises security report circa 8 ABY. At this point, OREO Human Resources files indicate Zarl became involved with another OREO employee, a Twi'lek known only as Elh'z'raha. The affair was violent and brief, and with its terminus Zarl became distraught and disappears, being listed in OREO's balance sheets as "suspended." Less than a year later, he would return to his old position, this time becoming involved with another OREO employee, listed as "Misha." Apparently, another tumultuous affair ensued, with Zarl disappearing for various lengths of time, the last coinciding with the birth registration of an "Illya Zarl" on Corellia. When next Zarl resurfaced, it was as an operative for the Griffon Alliance's Intelligence division. It was at this point that his career as a galactic figure truly began. Imperial records indicate that, during an early recognizance mission, Zarl was captured by a contingent of the ISB and personally interrogated by Vorn Paro, at which point he was, miraculously, engaged as Agent of the ISB's Bureau of Operations. In this capacity, he served as a mole in Griffon Intelligence, helping to orchestrate the capture of agents, as well gathering information on the operations of the Griffons prior to their assimilation into the larger New Republic. It was during this time that Zarl, apparently, had a hand in the Empire's locating and destroying Tyler McBride's clandestine trade outpost, Asteroid Kappa. Following soon upon the destruction of Asteroid Kappa, Zarl was promoted to Director of Griffon Intelligence, which marked the height of his influence within the Griffon Alliance. At the time, according to Griffon and New Republic records, there was some talk of Zarl serving as Senator for the Griffon Alliance within the New Republic, following the inevitable merging of the two factions. This was not to be, however, as Zarl's identity as a double agent was revealed to his immediate Griffon superiors through an apparent combination of disaster and design. Zarl was, according to various sources, interrogated by members of Griffon Intelligence's Military Oversight and then released, at which point he set off immediately for Imperial space. The "Zarl Affair," as it came to be known in some circles, sent shockwaves through the galactic intelligence communities. Griffon intelligence, quite obviously, was left in a shambles. Likewise, the Bothans of New Republic Intelligence, with whom Zarl had worked closely during his tenure as Director of Griffon Intelligence, were thoroughly embarrassed, going so far as to offer a bounty of one million credits for his capture. This, the largest sum ever offered for such a task, was further augmented by an additional million credits offered by the Griffon Alliance specifically for the delivery of Zarl's corpse.
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