The planet was almost entirely covered by water, and its two main species had coped with survival in different ways. The Mon Calamari, who had adopted the name of their world and who were air breathers who built tremendous floating cities, while the Quarren were largely water breathers, and prefferd to live in the ocean depths. Ackbar was a peaceful man, content to lead the citizens of Mon Calamari's Coral City.

Over time, the Mon Calamari made contact with the Quarren, and the two species began a symbolic relationship. The Quarren mined the deep sea ores on the planet, whle the Calamari created the civilization's floating cities. Each city had multiple levels, extending both above and below water. The Quarren lived in the lower levels, and the Calamari lived above. While the Quarren swam to move around the planet, the Calamari used wavespeeders to get from city to city, and submersible devices to explore the oceans.

For millennia, the Mon Calamari and Quarren lived peaceful lives. The Calamari developed a highly evolved and civilized culture. Their art, music, literature, and science were all important to them; they eventually developed space travel to explore new worlds and make friends with the other civilizations, as they had done with the Quarren. Floating space platforms and spaceship facilities orbited the planet, mirroring life on the surface below.

The first time a Mon Calamari ship met an Imperial ship, the Calamari made overtures of peace and free trade, but the Imperials were mere interested in slaves and Mon Calamari technology. They began an invasion, and when the peaceful people protested, Emperor Palpatine ordered the destruction of three of their floting cities. The Emperor wanted to send a clear message across the galaxy as to the fate of all those who opposed his New Order, especially the "inferior" alien species. The plan backfired. The Mon Calamari began using their technology to create weaponry and battleships. They eventually drove the Empire away, but of great cost to their cities and leadership.

Ackbar had been one of the first Mon Calamari enslaved by the Empire. He was initially taken to be an interpreter and personal servant for a fleet officer on a flagship. Soon after, he was presented as a gift to Grand Moff Tarkin, who was in charge of Oversector Outer, which included almost all of the Outer Rim Temibries. Tarkin reported only to the Emperor.

Playing the role of a dutiful slave, Ackbar was able to learn about the Empire and its military, from basic command structures to its battle tactics. He studied secret military documents and listened to Tarkin's theories on war and his "rule by fear" doctrine. Ackbar also learned of a Rebellion against the Empire, for Tarkin was always muttering about his new superweapon that would allow him to crush the Rebellion.

As the Grand Moff was en route from the Governor's palace on Eriodu to the completed Death Star, his ship was attacked by Rebels. Following a firefight with Admiral Moff's Star Destroyer, the Rebels escaped with Tarkin's servant, Ackbar.

Pledging his aid to the Rebellion, Ackbar returned to Mon Calamari to help convince his people to support his rescuers. Even as his people began making and designing new weapons and assault ships for the Alliance, Ackbar was looking for even more ways to get involved.

With their salmon-coloured skin, webbed fingers, chin-tentacles, and bulbous eyes, Ackbar and his Calamari workers sometimes presented comical pictures, but their sincerity and drive convinced everyone that they represented the "spirit" of the Rebel Alliance.

The main Mon Calamari star cruisers were handcrafted by dedicated technicians and engineers. Most had originally been space liners that were converted into combat starships. Their cylindrical shapes were covered by pads, bulges, and bumps, all of them containing some essential element. The cruisers looked more organic than mechanical, allowing the Calamari to turn their weapons of war into works of art.

Made a commander in the Alliance, Ackbar wanted to create an answer to the Empire's deadly new Nebulon-B frigate, which maintained twenty-four laser batteries, heavy shielding, and two TIE fighter squadrons, which made it more than a match for traditionally lightly armed Rebel starfighters, Ackbar went to the Roche system to deal with a renowed species of brilliant ship designers, the insectoid Verpine. Code-named Shantipole, the project would lead to the developement of an oddly shaped, two-crewed B-wing starfighter.

Working with Ackbar and other Calamari, the peaceful Verpine were able to create several prototypes of the B-wing. Despite a betrayal by Slain Glek, Ackbar's Quarren lieutenant, the Empire was unable to capture the new ships. Several days after the B-wings were delivered, Ackbar was promoted to admiral by Alliance leader Mon Mothma.

Following the Battle of Yavin, the Bothans had joined the Alliance at about the same time as the Mon Calamari had. One of their leaders, Borsk Fey'lya was brought into the power structure of the emerging Alliance, but he didn't like the amphibious Mon Calamarians, and Fey'lya especially didn't like having to compete for power. For his part, though, the peaceful Ackbar did his best to ignore the Bothan, or to work with him when necessary.

Shortly before the Alliance moved to establish Echo Base on Hoth, a bulk freighter in which Ackbar and several of his top technicians were traveling was struck down by Imperials. The Mon Calamari launched escape pods before their ship was destroyed, and ended up stranded on the mist-covered world of Daluuj. Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia Organa, and their droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, set out on a rescue mission to save Ackbar and his fellow Calamari before the Imperials got to them. With the help of some giant, energy-eating water-worms, the Alliance heroes all escaped Daluuj in the Millennium Falcon.

Ackbar began recieving more and more responsibility from Mon Mothma. He became one of her top two advisors, and she made him the commander of the entire Rebel fleet. Although the promotion had been made entirely based on Ackbar's skills weight. The Empire had practiced racism, slavery, and genocide against non-human species; now the Alliance was not only embracing them, but allowing them positions of great power. The weight on Ackbar's shoulders was great.

When Bothan spies discovered the location of a second Death star, Ackbar and the other military tacticians developed the plans for a surprise attack on the battle station. General Han Solo would lead a strike team down to the forest moon of Endor to destroy the source of the Death Star's protective energy shields. Meanwhile, General Lando Calrissian would lead the squads of X-wing, Y-wing, A-wing, and B-wing starfighters, and Mon Calamarian battle cruisers against the battle station itself.

Ackbar's plan would have worked except that the Death Star was already operational, and Solo's team was unable to immediately incapacitate the shields. Several of the Rebel command ships and frigates were destroyed, while the Alliance fighter ships had to deal with the Imperial TIEs and Star Destroyers.

Ackbar ordered a withdrawal, but General Calrissian talked him into taking the battle closer and destroying the Star Destroyers. Both fervently hoped that Solo's team would succeed down on Endor. A bloody and destructive battle followed, but finally, the Alliance ships were victorious. Wedge Antilles and Lando Calrissian helped destroy the second Death Star, with Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader on board.

The Empire was severly crippled, but not dead. The day after destroying the second Death Star, Wedge Antilles captured an Imperial drone ship carrying a plea for assistance from Bakuran system. Admiral Ackbar and Mon Mothma agreed to dispense a strike team to go to the aid of Bakura, which was under attack by the reptilian Ssi-ruuk. Ackbar put Luke in command of a team of five Corellian gunships, Wedge Antilles's Rogue squadron of X-wings, and a corvette.

The Rebels were victorious at Bakura, and over the years they would aid other planets in need and make many successful attacks on the survivors of the Empire. Ackbar preffered to personally lead important assaults, but this was gradually overtaken by his need to plan defense procedures, and by his responsibilities to the New Republic. He was named commander-in-chief of all New Republic military operations, and he served on the Provisional Council and the ruling Inner Council of the New Republic, helping to forge the new galactic government. Fey'lya's rivalry with Ackbar continued unabated, and meetings of the Councils were often taken up by the debates between the two.

The Alliance established a number of new headquarters prior to setting on a permanent residence. These included bases on the moon of Endor and the forest planet of Arbra. For a short time, Mothma and Ackbar established a private strike team of the Alliance's most daring heroes, calling it the Senate Interplanetary Intelligence Network - SPIN. The team consisted of Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, R2-D2, and C-3PO. Ackbar and Mothma personally assigned them missions.

Ackbar himself aided Luke Skywalker on a mission to Mon Calamari, where they helped save the massive whaladons from rampant hunting and harvesting by Captain Dunwell. The SPIN strike force had a variety of adventures, eventually leading to the discovery-and destruction-of the Lost City of the Jedi. Mon Mothma eventually disbanded the special group as missions of more importance came into place.

Eventually the New Republic Council decided to move its headquarters to Coruscant's Imperial City, once the seat of Emperor Palatine. Mon Mothma and the others fell it the correct message to send to the galaxy; the Empire was dead and conquered, and the New Republic sat benevolently in its place, headquartered in the Imperial Palace.

While the provisional Council was trying to deal with its political issues and struggles, the war against the Empire was still skirmishing on the outer edges of the galaxy-and sometimes in the heart of it. Mothma, Ackbar, Fey'lya, and Leia Organa Solo formed a smaller group, called the Inner Coucil, that helped provide the immediate, day-to-day decisions needed by the New Republic.

One of the most pressing issues to face the Inner Council was the appearance of Grand Admiral Thrawn and his fleet. Mothma and Ackbar oversaw the battle at Sluis Van shipyards and the resulting battle for control over the Katana Dreadnaught fleet, then faced an attack on Causcant as Thrawn released invisible, "cloaked" asteroids into orbit, stopping Alliance ships from leaving the planet.

In the midst of these attacks, Ackbar was arrested and charged with treason. Thrawn had planted false evidence in Ackbar's credit accounts, and Fey'lya had implicated Ackbar for both the credit issues and for supposed military mismanagement at the Battle of Sluis Van. Ackbar was cleared through evidence gathered by a smuggler named Ghent, and he assumed his duties and helped lead the fleet to victory over Thrawn's forces in the battle at the Bilbringi Shipyards.

Soon after Thrawn's defeat, six Imperial Starfleet commanders joined with survivors of the Emperor's Ruling Circle to stage an assault on Coruscant. They succeeded in driving the New Republic away, and recaptured the planet. Later, the New Republic placed their headquarters on the Fifth Moon of Da Soocha in the Cyax system. There, Ackbar and the other Inner Council leaders dealt with the "resurrected" clone of the Emperor and his attacks on Mon Calamari, led by the ghastly World Devastators. Although the Rebels did manage to stop the devbastators, the death toll was high.

Soon after, Ackbar helped plan a New Republic attack on the Imperial centers on Byss. The attack was partially successful, but not before the Da Soocha Pinnacle Base was destroyed by the Emperor-clone's Galaxy Gun. The New Republic had abandoned the base shortly before the attack, and Ackbar and the other leaders relocated again, this time to the abandoned floating space city of Nespis VIII.

Within months the New Republic forces attacked the Imperial City on Coruscant yet again, and succeeded in driving the remnants of the Empire away. The New Republic Council returned the chambers of the Senate and resumed their attempts at restructuring and intergalactic government.

After the battles against the mad Jedi clone Joruus C'Baoth and equally mad clones of Emperor Palpatine, Leia and Han realized the danger to which their young, Force-powerful children would be exposed if they remained at any of the Rebel bases. If someone using the dark side of the force came near the children, the offspring could be warped permanently.

Admiral Ackbar and Luke scouted out a faraway world called Anoth, which could support life. A heavily guarded facility was constructed in which the woman known as Winter would teach the Solo children and take care of them. No one except Luke, Ackbar, and Winter knew Anoth's location.

Unknown to Ackbar, his chief starship mechanic, a Mon Calamari named Terpfen, was secretly a spy. Terpfen had been tortured by the Imperials, and organic circuitry had been placed into his brain, forcing him to spy for them. He reported to Caridian Imperial Ambassador Furgan.

Terpfen was told to sabatage Ackbar's own modified B-wing fighter. Ackbar took Leia to the windy planet of Vartex, where she planned to meet with the winged Vors. His B-wing malfunctioned and Ackbar crashed the ship into the towering, crystalline Cathedral of the Winds. The Vors' greatest artistic treasure was destroyed, and Ackbar held himself responsible.

Back on Coruscant, Ackbar faced the Council. Terpfen had found nothing wrong with the ship's system, so the blunder was blamed on Ackbar's piloting error. Ackbar resigned his commision, and left for a quiet retirement on Mon Calamari.

He made a quick stop on Anoth to see Winter, not realizing that Terpfen had tracked his ship to betray the planet's location to Furgan. Ackbar returned to Mon Calamari, and promtly disappeared, sequestering himself in a small dwelling in the seatree thickets under the water, where he had lived when he was younger. There he began using his technical knowledge to mesure the tetonic disturbances in Mon Calamari's crust.

A short time later, when Admiral Daala attacked the floating cities with her Star Destroyers, Ackbar was called upon to help protect his planet for the third time. His quick thinking and strong tactics saved the day. He used a partially constructed ship, the Startide, as a battering ram, driving the ship and spacedock into the Star Destroyer Manticore. Daala's two remaining ships withdrew as Rebel battleships responded to the attack on Mon Calamari. Despite the recognition of his heroism, Ackbar still chose to remain on his home planet, to help strengthen its defense.

Weeks later, everything changed. Terpfen had overridden his programming and confessed his hand in the sabotage of Ackbar's ship and betrayal of Anoth's location. Ackbar, Leia, and Terpfen arrived on Anoth in time to help Winter stop Furgan and his forces from kidnapping the infan Anakin Solo. Ackbar was also able to stop Terpfen before he could kill himself over his betrayals.

Ackbar returned to Coruscant and regained his rank. He also brought the Mon Calamari healer Clighal to help heat the dying Mon Mothma. A short time later, Admiral Ackbar asked Winter to accompany him to the planet Vortex for the reopening of the Cathedral of the Winds. She expressed her happiness that Ackbar had returned to the Alliance. Since the Solo childrenm had been returned to Coruscant, he in turn, expressed his own pleasure that Winter would no longer be exiled on Anoth.

Ackbar and the white-haired beauty would enjoy each others' company a lot over the coming years, both in their tasks for building the New Republic, and in private. With many more missions and successes in his future, Admiral Ackbar would go down in history as one of the greatest military leaders.