Penley Barrin

Penley Barrin was born in 37 BBY on Anaxes, with the expectation that he would follow the family tradition of military service. However, unlike his father and grandfather, Barrin desired to serve in the navy as opposed to being an army soldier. This caused some friction between himself and his father, but Barrin was adamant about his career choice.
Barrin was taught the value and struggles of leadership through an unlikely source in his family: his maternal uncle and namesake, Penley Koast. Whereas his father and grandfather would repeat old, tired maxims without giving context or education, Koast showed the young Barrin how to be a leader while out on his farm. Barrin followed his uncle during summer visits, learning how to care for the livestock and produce.
In 20 BBY, Barrin was exposed to the chaos of war and given his first experience with the Jedi Order. While the Victory Fleet battled overhead with the Separatist Bulwark Fleet, there was also a limited groundside skirmish between the CIS and the Republic’s Clone Troopers. This battle occurred within Barrins’ home city, and he was nearly a civilian casualty as Separatist droids sought to bring down a building via artillery. But as the building was crashing down, with Barrin at ground zero, the debris halted in mid-air. Barrin looked to find a Jedi standing nearby, lightsaber active in one hand while the other was outstretched toward him. With a gesture, the Jedi sent the debris hurtling overhead and into the Separatist lines, overwhelming the droids with the impacts.
This action did not relieve Barrin. Such an awesome display of power disturbed him greatly, as he always believed that no one person should have more ability than they could be trusted with. Barrin grew to distrust the Jedi, wondering aloud if there were ways and means of restricting them for overusing or abusing their power.
With the establishment of the Galactic Empire, and the Jedi declared as traitors and attempt to usurp control from Palpatine by force, Barrin felt his distrust to be justified. He enrolled in the War Academy shortly after, learning about the new ships that would be rolling off the assembly lines by the time he would graduate.
In keeping with his personal philosophies, Barrin stayed within his perceived abilities. He was given gunnery commands aboard various ships, being moved and reassigned as he was needed. In 8 BBY, he was promoted to Captain and given his first command of a ship, the Victory-class Star Destroyed Cassowary. Satisfied with himself and his abilities, Barrin had the Cassowary go through its routine patrols, deviating when a request for help or mediation came through the sentry lines.
In 2 BBY, Barrin received word that Imperial Intelligence would be using the Cassowary as a mobile base for one of its top agents. Barrin accepted this as a matter of course; Intelligence has made this request of other ships over the years, and at least it was not the Imperial Security Bureau, which he had grown to detest. When he came to understand that the agent he was to be hosting was possibly a Dark Jedi, Barrin rationalized with himself. He could accept the existence of such a being, since they would be under high scrutiny from the Intelligence leadership, and the Emperor himself.