Iden Versio

"We've been fighting our whole lives. It's taken us too long to realize that we were fighting for the wrong side. This war is far from over. We would like to help you, if you'll let us."

- Iden Versio, to Leia Organa

Iden Versio was a human female soldier who served in the military of the Galactic Empire. A TIE fighter pilot in the Imperial Starfighter Corps, Iden became Commander of Inferno Squad, an Imperial Special Forces commando unit assembled by her father, Admiral Garrick Versio, in response to the destruction of the Death Star. Along with Agents Gideon Hask, Del Meeko, and Seyn Marana, she infiltrated the Dreamers and successfully destroyed them, though Marana died in the mission. Inferno Squad would later go on to participate in and conduct special operations for the Empire in the Galactic Civil War, and, in 4 ABY, participated in the Battle of Endor, which saw the death of Emperor Palpatine and the destruction of the second Death Star, resulting in the fracturing of the Empire with the lack of a line of succession and broken chain of command.

In the immediate aftermath of the battle, the secret Contingency was activated, and Messenger droids carried the final posthumous orders of the Emperor to select Imperial officers, among them Admiral Versio: Operation: Cinder was to begin at once. However, when climate disruption arrays targeted the Versio homeworld of Vardos as part of Operation: Cinder, Iden and Meeko both went rogue, escaping aboard the Corvus and surrendering to the Rebel Alliance. Iden and Meeko both agreed to help the Rebellion combat Operation: Cinder at the Battle of Naboo, and ultimately decided to defect to the Rebellion and join the New Republic.

Retaining her rank of Commander of Inferno Squad, Iden fought against the Imperial remnants throughout the final year of the Galactic Civil War, making attempts to capture Hask and her father. Inferno fought at the Battle of Jakku, where Iden and Shriv answered several distress calls and fought against Hask, who was shot down by Iden. She later attempted to save her father aboard the Eviscerator, but her father declined her rescue attempt, choosing to go down with his ship, though made peace with Iden in his final moments. Iden fled in an escape pod, crash landing on Jakku and reuniting with Del and Shriv.

Iden and Del went on to marry and have a daughter in the New Republic Era. However, thirty years after the Battle of Jakku, Del went missing, and Iden went in search of him.

Early life
Iden Versio was born and raised on the planet Vardos during the era of the Galactic Empire. She was the daughter of Garrick Versio, an admiral in the Imperial Security Bureau; and Zeehay Versio, an artist who contributed to the design of propaganda posters. Following in her father's example, Iden trained to become a soldier of the Empire.

Battle of Yavin
Iden participated in the Battle of Yavin as a Senior Lieutenant, under the callsign TIE Sigma Three. When the Death Star exploded, she lost control of her TIE and crash-landed on Yavin 4.

Commander of Inferno Squad
In response to the destruction of the Death Star, Garrick assembled Inferno Squad; which consisted of Iden, Gideon Hask, Del Meeko, and Seyn Marana. Their first significant mission was to neutralize the Dreamers, a rebel group that had risen from the ashes of Saw Gerrera's Partisans. This mission was ultimately a success.

Escaping the Invincible Faith
After being captured by the Alliance to Restore the Republic, Versio escaped with the help of Del Meeko's ID10 seeker droid.

Battle of Endor
In 4 ABY, she participated in the Battle of Endor and witnessed the destruction of the second Death Star. Knowing they were defeated, the Inferno Squad looked to her for direction. Versio led her troops to avenge their Emperor, by hunting down the people responsible for his demise and the destruction of the second Death Star, namely, Luke Skywalker.

Returning to Vardos
After the Battle of Endor, Inferno Squad was briefed by Iden on their next mission, to extract an Imperial ally named Gleb from her homeworld Vardos. They were told this was an element of the Emperor's contingency plan Operation: Cinder, but were not given further details about the mission.

Upon arrival to Vardos, Iden learned Admiral Versio had deployed satellites above the planet to conjure an electrical storm as part of Operation: Cinder. Iden was furious, feeling the extermination of a people loyal to the Empire was immoral and unjustified. The Admiral ordered her to carry out the mission, clarifying that she was only to extract Gleb and nobody else. When Inferno Squad reached the Archive, where Gleb was waiting, an explosion caused by the electrical storm broke off some debris from the inside of the palace, crushing some citizens. Unable to stand the situation any longer, Iden and Meeko disobeyed Admiral Versio's orders and offered to evacuate some of the citizens via their ship, the Corvus. Gideon Hask, however, was adamant that they follow the original plan. Unbeknownst to Iden and Meeko, Hask had been given orders to kill them if they defected. When Hask drew his weapon to fire, Iden quickly disabled him by shooting him in the leg. Now traitors to the Empire, Iden and Meeko fought their way through Vardos to make it to the Corvus and escape. Along the way, they stole an Imperial AT-AT and used it to clear a path so they and some citizens could evacuate on the Corvus.

Defection to the rebellion
"We've been fighting our whole lives. It's taken us too long to realize that we were fighting for the wrong side....We would like to help you if you'll let us."

- Iden Versio to Leia Organa on her and Meeko's defection

Saving Naboo
"Welcome to the New Republic."

- Leia Organa to Iden Versio and Del Meeko

After they escaped Vardos, Meeko and Iden contacted the Rebellion and surrendered. Shriv, a rebel officer, and Lando Calrissian talked with the now defected Inferno Squad, about either living a new life, or joining the fight against the Empire. Meeko and Iden joined the fight against the Empire's contingency plan on Naboo.

Iden and a fleet of other Rebel pilots engaged in the fight against a Star Destroyer and the weather satellites above the planet. Iden was successful in destroying the satellites, but she knew about an Imperial protocol that called for a jump to a safe location, and in this case that was Theed.

Iden met with General Leia Organa, where she was instructed to repair the power relays that would activate a sonic charge, deactivating all electronics in the surrounding area. The Rebels won Theed over. After the battle, Iden, Meeko, and Leia formally met, to which Organa chastised them for all they had done to the Alliance. Iden apologized, and owned up to the facts that what she did was inexcusable, but she wanted to fight for what was right. Leia accepted her offer and welcomed Iden to the New Republic.

Rescuing Han Solo
Six Months later, Iden received a call from Organa, asking her to find the missing General Han Solo, on Takodana. Iden arrived and helped him take on some Imperial forces. They regroup at the Corvus, where Iden spoke with Organa again, discussing the Imperial forces on Bespin and Sullust, and giving Iden the hope that her father could possibly be captured, and stopped. Organa agreed that this would be a huge advantage for the New Republic.

Chinook Station
Iden and Meeko later traveled to Chinook Station on Bespin looking for Hask. Hask was overseeing a refuel operation on Admiral Versio's fleet. Iden and Meeko believed Hask could help them track down the Admiral. The two land at the station, and went undercover as stormtroopers. They travelled across the station, and up the tower, but to their dismay, Hask had already evacuated. They commandeered a Cloud car, and proceeded to blow up the fueling stations that the Star Destroyers were stationed at.

Sullust
Iden and Meeko regrouped with the crew of the Corvus, where she briefed Shriv, who later accompanied Calrissian, on an infiltration mission to an abandoned weapons depot on Sullust, where they were to steal weapons cache. Although the weapons were not recovered, Calrissian destroyed the factory to prevent the weapons from falling into Imperial hands. Iden picked up the two from an AT-ST that was close to being swallowed up by lava.

Battle of Jakku
"This battle could be the end of the war. Let's get in, and we do what we can to help."

- Iden Versio to Inferno Squad

Right after the destruction of the facility, Iden was informed by Admiral Gial Ackbar that all Republic ships were to go to Jakku, where the rest of the Imperial Navy was waiting.

During the battle, Iden helped out the Republic by taking out some TIE bombers, and other such ships. Near the end of the Battle, the Corvus was disabled by some TIE fighters from Garrick's ship, as he was going to destroy it. Iden took out the fighters that were headed towards the Corvus. Iden's burning passion for her father led her to board the ship, and save him. While doing so, she crashed her X-Wing on the hull of the destroyer, and almost died. She climbed up through the gaping holes in the ship, and headed up towards the bridge where she met her father. Garrick recognized this as a rescue mission, but could not accept it, as he knew his daughter was much stronger than he was. Iden saw the weakness in the Empire, and didn't let it consume her. Iden came to terms with the fact that her father was not leaving his post, and jettisoned an escape pod just as the destroyer was obliterated.

Meeko found Iden's downed pod, and helped her up. They then shared a kiss. Meeko told Iden that they had won the war, and it was all over. Shriv came by and insisted that they come see the final moments of the war, that they get to see the end of the Galactic Empire.

A new life
Following the end of the Galactic Civil War, Iden married Meeko and they had a daughter together. However, thirty years after the Battle of Jakku, Meeko went missing and Iden went in search of him.

Personality and traits
Versio saw Emperor Palpatine as a great leader, and was fiercely dedicated to the Empire, due to her father's Imperial background and her planet's pro-Imperial sentiments.

After her defection from the Empire, her beliefs shifted. She viewed the Empire as tyrants, for destroying her homeworld, and countless others. Iden took a liking to the rebels as the war continued, and eventually joined them.

Behind the scenes
Iden Versio first appeared in a teaser trailer for the upcoming 2017 video game Star Wars Battlefront II that was leaked on April 11, 2017. The character was officially revealed in the Star Wars Battlefront II panel at Celebration Orlando on April 15, 2017. She will be portrayed by Janina Gavankar. From a development standpoint, Versio is intended to be one of the "nobler heroes" of the Empire.

On December 13, 3 new campaign missions for Star Wars Battlefront II featuring Versio will be added, taking place during the rise of the First Order.

Appearances

 * Battlefront II: Inferno Squad
 * Star Wars Battlefront II