Corla Metonae/Legends

Corla Metonae was the Chief Petty Officer on the CR90 corvette Tantive IV. In service to the royal house of her homeworld of Alderaan, Metonae, a member of the House of Antilles, served aboard the Tantive IV under her uncle, Captain Raymus Antilles, during the early years of the Galactic Empire. In her original role as bosun and petty officer, she was placed in charge of the corvette's escape pods.

During a routine test of the pods, the Tantive IV came under attack from pirates from the Karthakk system. As a result, the ship was forced to flee and abandon its launched pods, one of which contained the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO. Following the incident, Metonae was reassigned to Project: Another Chance, which concerned Alderaan's disarmament following the Clone Wars. Despite interference from the Empire, the project was a success, and Metonae was reassigned back to the Tantive IV. She perished in 0 BBY when the craft was boarded and destroyed by the forces of Lord Darth Vader.

Early service
Corla Metonae, a member of the House of Antilles, was raised on Alderaan during the waning years of the Galactic Republic. She served aboard the consular ship Tantive IV, a CR70 corvette under the command of her uncle, Captain Raymus Antilles. Metonae took on the role of bosun and petty officer, which placed her in charge of the ship's deck crew and craft, such as the escape pods. Following the Declaration of a New Order and the formation of the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY, she oversaw a test launch of the Tantive IV pods.

While the pods were jettisoned, the ship was attacked by pirates from the Karthakk system, forcing the Tantive IV to depart the area hurriedly. Following the retreat, the ship's crew discovered that two of the Tantive IV droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, had been aboard the launched pods and were now stranded. Metonae was held responsible for the loss of the valuable automatons, and she was reassigned to Project: Another Chance. Meanwhile, Viceroy Bail Organa made the recovery of the droids a top priority for the crew of the Tantive IV.

Project: Another Chance
Metonae's reassignment, contrary to appearances, was not disciplinary. Her organizational skills were needed by Project: Another Chance, a flagship initiative to disarm Alderaan following the bloody and chaotic Clone Wars. The disarmament was voluntary, not enforced by the Empire at all, and Metonae was given a leadership role in organizing the project. A single war frigate, the Another Chance, was converted into an automated armory ship, in which all of Alderaan's weaponry would be stored indefinitely. The craft, escorted by three automated escort ships, would make perpetual hyperspace jumps until recalled home by the Alderaanian Council of Elders.

She directly oversaw the launch of the Another Chance and its three escorts, although covert agents from the Galactic Empire attempted to sabotage the operation. An Imperial taskforce intended to intercept and take the Another Chance, with its contents, and put them to use in the service of the Empire, forcing Metonae to act quickly. She deployed a set of decoy craft carrying transponder signals that matched those of the Another Chance and its escort, which lured the Imperials away from their true targets.

Return to the Tantive IV
Suitably impressed with Project: Another Chance, Organa reassigned Metonae back to the Tantive IV, where she was given the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer. The droids R2-D2 and C-3PO had been recovered by Antilles and given instructions to never enter an escape pod again. Metonae oversaw the expansive Vanguard c20 refit of the Tantive IV, which upgraded the ship's weapons, armor, and sensor capacity, effectively making it a CR90 corvette.

Metonae and the crew of the Tantive IV would continue to serve Organa and his daughter, Princess Leia Organa, over the years. In the service of the princess, the Tantive IV began to do the work of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, an illegal rebellion movement against Emperor Palpatine's New Order. In 0 BBY, the ship traveled to Toprawa, where it retrieved plans for the Empire's new battlestation, the Death Star.

The Tantive IV actions attracted the attention of the Sith Lord Darth Vader, a powerful Imperial warrior who had been monitoring the Princess's actions. At Toprawa, while receiving the plans, the Tantive IV was hailed by Commander Nahdonnis Praji of the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Devastator, Vader's ship, and ordered to heave to. Captain Antilles refused to comply, resulting in a chase that took the consular ship to the Tatoo system. There, the Princess hoped to give the plans to the former Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, the Devastator captured and boarded the Tantive IV. Vader, in a mad hunt for the plans, had the ship destroyed. Metonae, who was still on board, perished during the Tantive IV destruction.

Personality and traits
Corla Metonae was a talented organizer, picked to oversee projects such as the Another Chance initiative and the refit of the Tantive IV. Though she was held responsible for the loss of R2-D2 and C-3PO, she was not truly disciplined, and was instead given control over a far more major enterprise than that of a single consular ship. She was able to avert disaster, and thwarted Imperial agents attempting to hamstring Project: Another Chance by commissioning decoys.

Behind the scenes
"And, of course, Randy Stradley knows where he can find me for an eventual Rogue Leader-esque miniseries to bookend that Droids Omnibus collection that's sure to come out in a few years."

- Billy Buehler

Corla Metonae was originally known as the "Alderaanian Bosun," and was a character created for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, although she does not appear in the final cut of the film. The character was given a name and a back story by Billy Buehler, writing as "The2ndQuest," through the StarWars.com Hyperspace feature, "What's The Story?."

The entry built upon a brief explanation made by Ryder Windham in Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide relevant to the adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO prior to the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. At the end of Revenge of the Sith, the droids are shown to be serving aboard the Tantive IV, in the service of Captain Raymus Antilles, and at the start of A New Hope, they are in the same situation. This clashes with the Star Wars: Droids television series, the accompanying comic series from Star Comics and the Dark Horse Comics series of the same name, which all featured the pair of droids in miscellaneous adventures prior to A New Hope but after Revenge of the Sith.

Windham's book had mentioned that the droids had been lost by the Alderaanians due to a mistake, and so Buehler chose to elaborate on that by making Metonae the guilty party, thereby helping to resolve the discrepancy. In addition to that, Buehler connected Metonae's story to that of the Another Chance, which initially featured in the West End Games adventure supplement, Graveyard of Alderaan, published in 1991. One connection, to "Master Devwi's" Databank entry on the XJ-2 airspeeder concerning Bail Organa's alias of "Org Banelli," was cut in the editorial process. Further references were made to the Star Wars: Starfighter series. The character was later mentioned in the article Refresher Reading, published in Star Wars Insider 90.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith