Bhindi Drayson

Bhindi Drayson was a Human female and daughter of New Republic Admiral Hiram Drayson and Joi Eicroth. She served with Wraith Squadron as a tactics expert during the Yuuzhan Vong war, and was with the Wraiths on Borleias after the Fall of Coruscant. As part of the defense of Borleias, Drayson participated in several efforts to keep the Yuuzhan Vong at bay.

Her stay on Borleias was cut short when she and several other Wraiths were assigned to an infiltration mission to the fallen galactic capital of Coruscant, along with three Jedi. In the original mission plan, Drayson was to remain on Coruscant until the New Republic returned to take the world; her skills would be put to use aiding survivors and transmitting intelligence to the New Republic. However, after seeing the situation on the ground, Wraith Leader Garik Loran decided that leaving Drayson behind would be pointless. Following the completion of their mission with the Jedi defeating the renegade Dark Jedi Irek Ismaren, Drayson instead returned with the rest of party to Borleias, except for Wraith biologist Baljos Arnjak, who decided to remain on Coruscant. Drayson would later serve as part of the briefing team in preparation for the final stages of the Yuuzhan Vong War.

Biography
Bhindi Drayson was the daughter of Hiram Drayson and Joi Eicroth, though her parents' marriage did not last. She eventually entered a career in New Republic Intelligence. During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Drayson was part of the NRI unit Wraith Squadron, specializing in tactics and analysis of Yuuzhan Vong tactics. In 27 ABY, after the galactic capital of Coruscant fell to the Yuuzhan Vong invaders, Drayson and the rest of their Wraiths made their way to the newly secured garrison on the planet Borleias, which was commanded by New Republic General Wedge Antilles. While on Borleias serving in its defense, part of the Wraiths' duties included analyzing a recording for scientist Danni Quee, which later helped expose a civilian named Tam Elgrin as a Yuuzhan Vong agent.

When Jedi Master Luke Skywalker assembled an expedition to infiltrate Coruscant, Drayson was assigned to it, along with several other members of the Wraiths. The initial plan for the intelligence-gathering part of the mission was for Drayson to remain behind on Coruscant after the rest of the group&mdash;which also included Quee and the Jedi Mara Jade Skywalker and Tahiri Veila&mdash;departed. After she was left behind, Drayson's objective was to help organize resistance movements among the Coruscanti survivors to combat the Yuuzhan Vong, as well as continue to pass on information to the New Republic to assist in the eventual recapture of the capital. One type of equipment that Drayson brought on the mission was a series of surveillance droids disguised as fungi to unobtrusively wander Coruscant while collecting and transmitting data. Drayson claimed that such information would be vital for future military engagements on Coruscant.

The Wraiths, three Jedi, and Quee were transported to Coruscant by former general Lando Calrissian in the freighter Record Time. Once in orbit, they were jettisoned from the ship, and descended in pods disguised as debris and the remnants of Yuuzhan Vong coralskippers. The expedition landed safely on Coruscant without being detected by the Yuuzhan Vong.

Some time after landing, the expedition was exploring the ruined cityscape when they came across a party of Yuuzhan Vong warriors near a walkway connecting two buildings. Due to the fake vonduun crab armor that the group was wearing, they were mistaken for Yuuzhan Vong warriors by the other party. However, after the other warriors demanded they yield the right-of-way, an insult that no true warrior would tolerate, a firefight ensued. Drayson remained in the rear, firing her blaster in support of the Jedi, who bore the brunt of the skirmish. After fellow Wraith Kell Tainer destroyed the walkway with a bomb, the rest of the warriors were slain by the Jedi, and the expedition left the area, thankful that they had escaped unharmed and with their disguises intact.

Shortly thereafter, the Jedi sensed several people approaching, and a group of armed Coruscanti survivors rushed them. However, Drayson did not wait for the survivors to declare their intentions, and instead ran, urging the others to follow her, which they did. After they eluded the survivors, Drayson explained that maintaining the secret of their disguises was part of the reason why she had encouraged flight, but she also wanted to avoid being mistaken for Yuuzhan Vong and caught in a trap by the survivors. The others understood her reasons, and thereafter, she accompanied Luke Skywalker, Mara Skywalker, and Wraith Leader Garik Loran&mdash;now dressed in civilian clothes&mdash;back to where they had ran from to make contact with the survivors.

Returning, the four met a group of people called the Walkway Collective and their leader, Tenga Javik. Drayson learned that the air on Coruscant had been somewhat altered by the Yuuzhan Vong, and also learned that the survivors had heard rumors of some kind of monstrosity they referred to as "Lord Nyax." Skywalker asked for one of the survivors to guide them to where Nyax was supposed to be, but they were unwilling to do so. Drayson, Loran, and the two Skywalkers returned to other members of the expedition so the mission could proceed.

Over the next several days, small members of the group made scouting trips searching for a hideout from which they could operate. Eventually, Tahiri Veila discovered a devourer tank, which Luke Skywalker determined led to a hidden compartment, and after using the Force to protect him from the organism in the devourer tank, he opened the compartment. The resulting passageway led to a concealed research facility, and once the expedition entered, they found signs of a struggle&mdash;lightsaber damage and at least one dead Human body. However, the space was abandoned and relatively secure, and Drayson recommended that they use the lab as their base of operations, presuming that the Jedi would deal with Nyax. She then worked on operating and extracting information from the computers in the lab.

Several hours later, Drayson produced results by reassembling one of the destroyed medical droids and obtaining information from the computers. She then revealed the fact that the installation was originally an air purification complex, but had been later modified to serve as a hideout and experimental station for a Human male who underwent significant cybernetic modifications. According to the medical droid and Drayson's results, the Human later broke free and destroyed anything in his path. With that information and the lightsaber burn marks, Skywalker concluded that this "Lord Nyax" was the cyborg Human who'd escaped the facility, which did not comfort him.

Over the next few days, Drayson continued searching the laboratory and other nearby facilities for information, while the Jedi continued searching for Lord Nyax. On one occasion, Nyax and Luke Skywalker saw each other from a distance, and Skywalker, Drayson, and Loran quickly left the building they were exploring after the encounter. Just after they left, a group of frenzied survivors ransacked the building they had vacated. Later, Drayson and Wraith member Baljos Arnjak were able to obtain more information on Nyax, and they revealed that his real name was Irek Ismaren, whose mother, an Emperor's Hand named Roganda Ismaren, had had him cybernetically altered to make him into a killing machine. She and Arnjak also told them that Ismaren had most of his humanity and higher-order thinking burned from him by a lightsaber wound to the head, and would therefore not respond to negotiation.

The Jedi soon found Nyax's trail and began tracking and chasing him down, while Kell Tainer was able to successfully locate a spaceworthy transport, Ugly Truth. Skywalker called the mission completed, and ordered Drayson, Quee, and the other Wraiths to board the transport and pick up the Jedi once Nyax was defeated. While Drayson had originally been scheduled to stay on Coruscant, Skywalker determined that the situation did not merit her remaining, as the altered worldscape and strategic scenario would not allow Coruscant to be retaken any time soon. However, Arnjak opted to remain behind instead, to continue his studies of the altered ecosystem and pass on information to the New Republic.

The Jedi were ultimately able to defeat Nyax, and met up with the Wraiths, before Loran and Skywalker flew Ugly Truth back to Borleias. There, they rejoined the defense of the besieged garrison, which was ultimately abandoned by the New Republic after significant damage was inflicted to the Yuuzhan Vong attackers.

Drayson continued to remain active in intelligence work through the later stages of the war, following the New Republic's reorganization into the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. After the rescue of a Jenet prisoner named Thorsh from a Yuuzhan Vong camp, Drayson was present at a debriefing on the planet Contruum, where Thorsh provided them with information. The data that was passed to the Galactic Alliance on Contruum later allowed them to intercept a Yuuzhan Vong convoy carrying prisoners and rescue them.



Personality and traits
Bhindi Drayson was described as a severe-looking woman. While her nature was mostly as stern as others considered her features, she was not without a sense of humor, and enjoyed tricking Jedi Master Luke Skywalker into thinking that the orbital insertion pods employed by the Wraiths were hazardous and unreliable. She also tolerated being referred to as "Circuity Girl" by Baljos Arnjak, as nicknames based on one's role in the unit were popular in the Wraiths. Due to her position in Wraith Squadron, Drayson was well versed in a number of fields, including Yuuzhan Vong tactics, computers, and robotics. Before journeying to Coruscant, she was also versed in skills necessary to survive and organize resistance cells on a world occupied by the Yuuzhan Vong. Drayson was cautious, and often preferred to select a more prudent course of action in hostile territory. This trait was demonstrated during the mission to Coruscant when she advised the group not to rush into making contact with survivors, in order to maintain their disguises and avoid any possible traps that the survivors might have lured them into while thinking the New Republic agents were Yuuzhan Vong.

Behind the scenes
Bhindi Drayson first appeared in Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream by author Aaron Allston, and also in its sequel, Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand, as a commando in Wraith Squadron. She later had a brief appearance in the final novel of the New Jedi Order series, The Unifying Force, by James Luceno, and was mentioned in the 2008 reference book The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

Appearances

 * Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
 * Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand
 * The Unifying Force

Notes and references
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Bhindi Drayson