During the reign of the Galactic Empire, General Jylia Shale was a skilled strategist and tactician in the Imperial Army. Despite her strategic prowess, she was shunted to the side in the Imperial heirarchy due to her staunch opposition and criticism of the Death Stars. Following the Battle of Endor, she traveled to the planet Akiva on the Imperial Star Destroyer Ascent to attend an emergency summit called the Imperial Future Council to discuss the future of the Empire. Other delegates included Admiral Rae Sloane, the self-proclaimed Grand Moff Valco Pandion, the former Imperial Adviser Yupe Tashu, and the Imperial financier and slave trafficker Arsin Crassus. General Shale and her fellow delegates landed at the Satrap's Palace in the capital city Myrra where they were hosted by Satrap Isstra Dirus. She traveled in a Lambda-class shuttle and was accompanied by two of the Emperor's Royal Guard.
After landing, Shale and her fellow delegates were spotted by the Zabrak bounty hunter Jas Emari, who was working for the New Republic, the successor to the Rebel Alliance. Jas however was attacked by Sloane's shuttle and was captured by the Sullustan crime lord Surat Nuat. Shale attended a banquet where she suggested that the New Republic's propaganda was not completely false and that the Empire was lying to themselves. She also expressed concern about the safety of the emergency summit after learning that Sloane had captured the New Republic starfighter pilot Wedge Antilles.
When the Imperial Future Council learned that Imperial forces had shot down two New Republic A-wings, Shale disagreed with Grand Moff Pandion's plan to dispatch the Imperial Navy's last Super Star Destroyer Ravager to Akiva to reassert Imperial military power. Shale argued that the Empire was not ready to fight the rebellion and likened the Galactic Civil War to a game of chatta-ragul. Shale theorized that the New Republic Grand Admiral Ackbar would not send a military force to Akiva but would instead send a drone ship. In the light of the Imperial losses since Endor, Shale urged her comrades not to waste more Imperial resources and manpower. She and the majority of the delegates voted to move the Star Destroyers into hyperspace despite the protests of Crassus and Pandion.
As the meeting dragged on, Shale disagreed with Crassus' recommendation that they plunder the Imperial coffers in order to bribe the galactic populace. She feared that plundering the InterGalactic Banking Clan's coffers would plunge the galaxy into a recession. Shale was also skeptical of Crassus' idea that the Empire establish a truce with the New Republic. Shale argued that the New Republic was not in a mood for peace with the Empire and that they were more interested in trying Imperial leaders as war criminals. Shale also criticized the Emperor's Death Stars as a colossal waste of resources and slammed the Emperor for his arrogance. Shale's remarks unnerved the Imperial advisor Tashu.
Shale also disagreed with Pandion's view that the rebels were terrorist and criminals and argued that they were motivated by legitimate grievances towards the Empire including oppression, the enslavement of alien species, and the Death Stars. When Pandion responded that her remarks were worthy of death, Shale responded that the Empire had become executioners. Lacking a meaningful strategy, she suggested that the Imperials surrender to the New Republic. Shale and the others listened when Tashu recommended that the remnants of the Empire flee to the Unknown Regions and find the source of the dark side.
Later, Shale and Pandion argued about marshaling Imperial ships above Akiva. She advised against deploying Imperial ships there in order to avoid losing more ships to the New Republic. When Pandion attacked her for cowardice, she pointed out that Pandion had abandoned his men on a communications station on Malastare when the battle was turning against the Empire. Admiral Sloane then intervened and reminded the delegates that the purpose of their meeting was to discuss the future of the Empire rather than squabble.
After the New Republic pilot Norra Wexley and her motley rebel stand stirred up a popular uprising in Myrra, Shale and the other Imperials made preparations to flee the planet. Since their shuttles had been destroyed by Norra, Sloane decided to commandeer Crassus' pleasure craft Golden Harp for the Imperial Future Council. Shale and her fellow Imperials were joined by Norra and her associates Jas Emari and the former Imperial Security Bureau officer Sinjir Rath Velus, who had been captured while trying to breach the palace. Their flight back to the Imperial command ships coincided with a New Republic naval attack on Akiva.
During the flight, Shale was in the passenger compartment when an altercation broke out between Sinjir, Pandion, and Emari. The rebel captives were freed by Norra's son Temmin Wexley, who had managed to sneak aboard the yacht. Due to damage sustained to the Golden Harp, the yacht crashed-landed in the hangar of the Star Destroyer Vigilance. Shale along with Tashu were knocked unconscious during the crash while Crassus was killed. Temmin, Sinjir, and Emari took the Imperials into custody while Norra pursued Sloane, who had escaped in an Imperial shuttle with Pandion. New Republic forces subsequently liberated Akiva.
Since Jylia Shale cooperated with the New Republic authorities, she was given a comfortable apartment with a food prep station and a proper bathroom. In 5 ABY, Jylia hosted two of her former captors, Sinjir and Norra's son Temmin; who had come to solicit information on Imperial captives. Jylia denied knowing any information about Imperial fugitives but Sinjir sensed that she was lying. When Shale asked whether he missed the "warm embrace" of the Empire, Sinjir responded that he missed the person he had been before joining the Empire. While Shale was unable to help, she suggested that Sinjir and Temmin visit her fellow captive Tashu, who was housed in less comfortable circumstances.
During the chaos of the attack on Chandrila, Jylia was assassinated by the rogue New Republic Senate Guardsman Windom Traducier under orders from Imperial Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax, who also freed Tashu from captivity.
Jylia Shale was a wizened human female with an austere bun on her head. As a general in the Imperial Army, she wore a crisp gray uniform. Shale was a pragmatic strategist and tactician who respected her New Republic adversaries, particularly Admiral Gial Ackbar, whom she referred to as a Grand Admiral. Shale recognized that the Empire was in a weakened position following the Battle of Endor and advised caution in its struggle against the ascendant New Republic. During the emergency summit on Akiva, Shale advocated that the Empire not squander its military forces on losing battles with the Rebellion. She was also a woman who had no issue with speaking her mind even if said remarks could be easily construed as treasonous, doing so in a blunt fashion that left no room for argument. Unlike the vast majority of her fellow Imperials who saw the rebels as terrorists and the Death Stars as great tools of war, Shale understood that their enemies were in fact motivated by legitimate grievances against the Empire, most notably its authoritarian doctrines and policies of enslavement, mistreatment and genocide, and the Death Stars as both ultimate symbols of this wrongness and a massive waste of resources and risk of losing multiple competent officers if they were ever destroyed. Shale's disillusionment with the Empire led her to collaborate with the New Republic once in captivity, understanding that the status quo in the galaxy had shifted to their side and also in hopes of bringing a swifter end to the conflict. However, this made her a target of the Imperial leader Gallius Rax, who ordered her assassination.
Jylia Shale first appeared as a supporting character in Chuck Wendig's 2015 novel Aftermath. Most of her lines were told from the point of views of the characters Rae Sloane and Sinjir Rath Velus. She also made a brief appearance in the novel's 2016 sequel Aftermath: Life Debt.
- Star Wars: Timelines
- Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire