Joph Seastriker

Joph Seastriker was a male pilot from Gatalenta who served the New Republic as a lieutenant twenty four years after the Battle of Endor. He frequently worked with Leia Organa, Greer Sonnel, and Ransolm Casterfo in the dangerous mission of bringing down a major paramilitary group known as the Amaxine warriors and the cartel of the crime lord Rinnrivin Di. Joph later joined the Resistance as an X-wing pilot, along with Temmin Wexley, Greer Sonnel and others.

Childhood
Joph Seastriker was born and raised on the planet of Gatalenta during the era of the New Republic. Gatalenta was a warm, tranquil world that was famed for its tea, meditative retreats and erudite poetry. Despite his peaceful upbringing, Joph longed for excitement and adventure. As a child, Joph was known to be a restless and impatient child who longed to join the New Republic military so that he could fly the best starfighters and travel around the galaxy. Twenty years after the Battle of Endor, Joph with the approval of his two mothers left Gatalenta and enrolled in the academy. Following graduation, Joph became an X-wing starfighter pilot and was assigned to the precision air team. He held the rank of lieutenant and was stationed at the New Republic senatorial complex on Hosnian Prime.

Mission to Bastatha
Twenty four years after the events on Endor, Joph was given his first assignment which was to serve as a military escort to senators Leia Organa and Ransolm Casterfo, who had embarked on a senatorial mission to the planet Bastatha as part of an investigation into the Nikto crime lord Rinnrivin Di's cartel. Prior to the mission, Joph met Leia's assistant and pilot Greer Sonnel and took a quick liking to the young woman. Joph was surprised to learn that Greer was both a pilot and political staffer who had won the Junior Sabers competition a few years ago. Joph then introduced himself to senator Organa, her protocol droid C-3PO, her junior staffer Korr Sella, and senator Casterfo himself; whom Joph found to be unusually well-dressed.

For the mission, Joph flew his X-wing while Leia and her team traveled in her personal starship Mirrorbright. Upon landing on Bastatha, Joph accompanied Leia and her team to a dinner function at a local casino hosted by the Nikto magistrates Xun and Tosta. During the function, Joph joined Leia in playing card games with the other guests. He and Korr later witnessed an argument between Leia and Casterfo about the Rebellion. Leia and Casterfo came from two rival political factions, the Populists and the Centrists, who disagreed on the level of government intervention in the New Republic.

Joph later related the incident to his friend Greer and mentioned that Leia had called Casterfo a spoiled brat. Leia then informed Joph and Greer about a briefing to discuss an upcoming private conference with several Bastathan business leaders. However, this business delegation turned out to be a group of gangsters sent by Rinnrivin to kidnap Leia. Rinnrivin tried to bribe Leia into easing restrictions on illegal spice. Casterfo managed to rescue Leia and the two escaped Rinnrivin's headquarters. Against New Republic military protocol, Joph flew his X-wing into an underground cavern and encountered the two senators, who had commandeered a hoversled.

While grateful to Joph, Leia reprimanded the young lieutenant for breaking standard safety protocols by not summoning help and flying his X-wing into tight spaces. She are assured him that he was not on report but warned him to follow the regulations. While unrepentant, Seastriker promised to comply with senator Organa's orders in the future. Joph's actions won him the admiration of his fellow pilot Greer. After examining the data in Rinnrivin's raided headquarters, Leia and Casterfo realized that Rinnrivin was siphoning most of the profits from Bastatha's casinos into shadow corporations in the Outer Rim Territories.

Mission to Pamarthe
After returning to Hosnian Prime, Joph and his fellow pilots including Temmin Wexley watched the second stage of the Five Sabers, a prestigious starship competition that was taking place on Theron. The Five Sabers was being managed by Han Solo, the wife of senator Organa and a veteran of the Rebellion. Before the game could commence, Joph and his fellow pilots were visited by Greer and senator Organa. Senator Organa had a special assignment for Joph and Greer as part of her investigation into Rinnrivin's cartel. Since Greer was a native of Pamarthe, senator Organa assigned Greer and Joph to investigate whether Rinnrivin was hiring pilots from that planet.

Together, Joph and Greer traveled to Pamarthe, which was an ocean planet where most of the population lived on islands that were linked by many old bridges of wood, stone, and rope. Joph found crossing a rope bridge a daunting experience. For their mission, Joph had to pretend to be a native Pamarthen. While crossing the bridge, Joph exchanged conversation with Greer and admitted his fear of heights. When Greer pointed out that he wanted excitement, Joph responded that his idea of excitement did not involve throwing up.

After an arduous walk, the two reached a cantina that was frequent by pilots and spacers. To prove that he was a "real" Pamarthen, Joph drank a local beverage called Port in a Storm. Joph managed to finish the drink to the cheers of the other patrons. After chatting about the Five Sabers, Greer asked a local pilot for information about work in the space around Pamarthe. The pilot informed them that there was a lot of traffic around the nearby planet Daxam IV, which was dominated by a paramilitary group called the Amaxine warriors. The pilot also informed them that the Amaxines jealously controlled the shipping around that world.

Following their visit to the cantina, Joph insisted that he could have finished the entire drink. Greer then suggested that he try to finish an entire bottle of Port in a Storm. As they were walking back to their ship through the rope bridge, Joph asked Greer why senator Organa had talked about the mission in the hangar instead of the senatorial office. Greer explained that the senatorial oath prevented senators from using the Senate offices for the purposes of espionage. At that point, Joph realized that Leia had dispatched them on a secret spying mission that had not been authorized by the Galactic Senate.

Enter the Amaxines
Upon returning to Hosnian Prime, Joph and Greer rendezvoused with senator Organa aboard the Mirrorbright and discussed their findings on the Amaxine warriors. Greer reported that the Amaxines were overseeing shipping in and out of Daxam IV and suggested that they were linked to Rinnrivin's cartel. From Leia, Joph and Greer learned that the Amaxines had been the name of a warrior people that had departed the galaxy at the dawn of the Old Republic. Joph remarked that the Amaxines must have spent an eternity wandering around in the void. While no records of the Amaxines existed, Greer used a computer projector to identify incidences of Amaxine activities across the galaxy.

Based on the information, the three deduced that the Amaxine warriors were operating in Centrist-aligned worlds. They also agreed to organize a visit to Daxam IV as part of the next stage of their investigation into Rinnrivin's cartel, which had grown to include the Amaxines as well. Since Daxam IV was a Centrist world, Leia felt that it was better for her Centrist friend Casterfo to investigate the Amaxine presence there.

Later, the Senatorial conference building was damaged during a bomb attack known as the Napkin Bombing. Leia managed to evacuate the Senate, saving many lives. The Napkin Bombing was the first security incident since the end of the Galactic Civil War. Leia and her companions including Joph came to believed that the bombing was linked to their investigation into Rinnrivin. After footage of an alleged Twi'lek bomber emerged, Leia made arrangements to travel to the planet Ryloth with Joph and several other staffers including C-3PO and Korr Sella. Meanwhile, Greer traveled with Casterfo to Daxam IV to investigate the Amaxines.

Mission to Ryloth
On Ryloth, Joph and his team were hosted by Emissary Yendor, the planet's ambassador who had first brought Rinnrivin's cartel to the Galactic Senate's attention. He and his team visited the Ryloth archives where they found that all of the material was written on paper, tanned hides, wooden tablets and rolls. When Joph moaned about the lack of holograms and computers, Leia explained that Ryloth had little resources due to the depredations of the Niktos and Hutts and that the native Twi'leks had to use anything available to preserve their history.

After Korr uncovered information about the recent origins of Rinnrivin's cartel, Joph speculated that Rinnrivin had risen to power due to the collapse of another cartel. Due to the lack of material, the trip to Ryloth proved inconclusive. Later, Leia attended a private dinner with Yendor and left Joph and the others to mind the Mirrorbright. That evening, they were contacted by Casterfo who shared information that Greer had obtained about the Amaxines. Casterfo also theorized that Rinnrivin was using Ryloth as a relay station and asked Joph and his companions to investigate whether the crime lord was operating spy satellites above the planet.

Despite Leia's absence, Joph agreed to help Casterfo and managed to convince a reluctant C-3PO to slice into the satellites above Ryloth. After some effort, C-3PO managed to tap into Rinnrivin's spy satellites and discovered that the crime lord was hiding on the watery Expansion Region world of Sibensko. While Leia was annoyed that Joph and the other crew had acted without consulting her, she was mollified to learn that they had tracked down the Nikto crime lord's location.

After leaving Ryloth, Joph prepared to set a course for Hosnian Prime. However, Leia delayed her return in order to find Rinnrivin. After Joph ran a scan on the spy satellites and discovered that Rinnrivin was visiting Harloff Minor, an upmarket planet near the former galactic capital of Coruscant. Under Leia's orders, Joph set a course for Harloff Minor where she arranged a secret meeting with Rinnrivin. During the meeting, Leia learned that Rinnrivin was not behind the Napkin Bombing. She also managed to plant a tracking device on a holocube which she returned to Rinnrivin.

While approaching Hosnian Prime, Joph and Korr listened to news reports of the Centrists and Populists blaming each other for the Napkin Bombing. He was also present when Ransolm sent a brief transmission informing that their investigation had taken a "dramatic leap forward." Joph and Korr also admitted they were despondent about the recent news reports. When Korr asked Leia whether the New Republic could collapse, Leia commented that a schism was possible if the two factions continued fighting. However, she hoped that things would work themselves out.

Preparing for another mission
After returning to Hosnian Prime, Senator Organa sent Joph and Korr on another undercover mission to Chrome Citadel, a seedy space station that was known as a criminal hub. There, they saw relics of the Old Empire, the Rebel Alliance and the New Republic on sale. The two eventually approached a cantina that was known to advertise illegal work. There, the two accepted a job to transport material from Daxam IV to Sibensko.

Later, Joph met with Leia, Casterfo, and Greer to plan their secret mission to Sibensko. During the meeting, the four drank and toasted Port in a Storm to senator Leia. Leia also made arrangements to obtain an Ubese bounty hunter's mask for Joph, false IDs, hair tint, and smuggler's clothing. Joph expressed skepticism at Casterfo's theory that Rinnrivin and Arliz Hadrassian were being aided by a source in the Senate. However, Leia backed up Casterfo's theory; which was later proven to be right. Lady Carise Sindian, a prominent Centrist senator, was actually an undercover agent of the First Order, a remnant of the Old Empire, that was using Rinnrivin's cartel and the Amaxines to procure funds for its rearmament program. When night fell, Joph excused himself to watch the fireworks display on Equinox Day, a local holiday.

The following day, Joph went to service his X-wing starfighter at the Senate hangar bay. While repairing his X-wing, Seastrike chatted with another pilot named Ledaney, who was also repairing his X-wing, about Port in the Storm. Another pilot named Zari Bangel entered the conversation and chatted with Joph about his recent work with Leia's senatorial staff. Ledaney and Bangel expressed some light-hearted envy at Joph's work as a military escort for Senator Organa, which allowed to travel across the galaxy. Ledaney and Bangel regarded Joph's present duties as superior to flying in air shows. Keeping his missions a secret, Joph remarked that he liked performing in airshows. While conversing with the pilots, he made a list of personnel who would be sympathetic to Leia.

Joph expressed some measure of shock following the public disclosure of Leia's true parentage as the daughter of Darth Vader. While he was wary of Leia, his friend Greer defended the embattled senator. After reflecting on Leia's parentage and her marriage to Han Solo, he decided to remain loyal to Leia. When Leia arrived, he and Greer confirmed that they were prepared to continue their involvement in her investigation into Rinnrivin's criminal activities and the Amaxine warriors. The two then complied with Leia's orders to make the Mirrorbright ready for departure.

After Leia obtained leave from the Senate, Joph joined Greer and Leia in discussing the details of their mission to Sibensko. When Leia insisted on bring C-3PO, Joph disagreed and suggested that the droid looked "too nice for pilots as broke as they were supposed to be." After Greer suggested that he could serve as Leia's "minder", Joph agreed and suggested grubbing the protocol droid with dust and a few dings to conceal his identity. During the meeting, Joph informed Leia that he had obtained a new data packet from the Ryloth satellites which suggested that Rinnrivin was planning to visit Sibensko. They agreed that their mission's success was paramount on not being discovered by Rinnrivin.

When Greer succumbed to a Bloodburn attack, Joph caught the pilot before she could fall to the ground. He then called for a medic despite Greer's objections. Doctor Harter Kalonia arrived to administer a shot of hadeira serum treatment. Due to the incident, Joph learned that Greer suffered from Bloodburn, a rare disease triggered by stress and space travel. The only way to minimize its effects was to exercise and avoid stress. Joph then expressed his love for Greer, which she reciprocated. Per Gatalenta culture, Joph began crying which was was regarded as proof of a caring heart.

Mission to Sibensko
Joph and his companions traveled to Sibensko in a cheap junker they had purchased. Their destination was an underwater city that lay beneath the ocean. The undercover investigators landed their junker on a raised landing platform that was protected by a force field. Leia then informed Joph that she had placed a tracker on Rinnrivin during their last meeting. Upon disembarking, Joph and Greer were greeted by an Amaxine warrior named Padric, who asked them for their work codes. For the mission, Leia pretended to be an indentured servant while C-3PO pretended to be her minder.

After ascertaining Joph and Greer's credentials, Padric informed that that they would commence loading the shipment from Daxam IV onto their junker. He also instructed them to rendezvous with their contacts at the destination point and to help transfer the cargo to them. Joph and Greer quickly learned that their cargo was a shipment of thermal detonators and that their destination was Hosnian Prime. While Joph and Greer supervised the loading, Leia and C-3PO infiltrated the underwater city and managed to access banking records which proved that the Amaxines were funding Rinnrivin's cartel. They also discovered that the Amaxines operated a base on the planet.

When Leia contacted Joph via comlink, Joph told her that Greer was finalizing the shipment. Leia told him about the information that she and C-3PO had uncovered about the Amaxines and Rinnrivin's cartel. She also sent Threepio back to Joph and Greer with the data. Leia told them that she would remain behind in order to spy on the Amaxines. When Joph disagreed and suggested that he and Greer come along, Leia told him that she would be able to handle the work alone. Leia then reiterated her instructions to Joph to get C-3PO and the data safely offworld to the Galactic Senate. Joph and C-3PO reluctantly complied with Leia's orders.

An hour later, Joph and Greer had finished loading their cargo and had managed to reunite with C-3PO. While on board, the three debated the merits of leaving Leia behind. While Joph was unhappy about leaving Organa behind, Greer pointed out that the Senator was perfectly capable of looking after herself. C-3PO added that they had received orders from Leia to leave. Despite his discomfort, he accepted Greer's view that they needed to get C-3PO and the valuable data offworld. While departing the underwater city, C-3PO analyzed the computers' records of foot traffic in the underwater city and discovered that an entire Amaxine army was housed in the city.

Meanwhile, Leia managed to escape the Amaxines by fleeing up a landing platform. There, she was picked up by Han Solo, who had arrived on a modified racer. Joph and his companions were also relieved at Han's arrival. Han and Leia managed to shoot down two Amaxine starfighters that had been sent after them. One of the fighters, a B-wing crashed into the underwater city's munition depot; triggering an explosion that wiped out the city and the entire Amaxine army garrisoned there. This bombing neutralized both Rinnrivin's cartel and the Amaxine warriors as threats to the New Republic. However, Joph and his team failed to undercover the two organizations' links to several Centrist senators including Lady Carise and the First Order.

Joining the Resistance
Following the events on Sibensko, Joph and Greer rented a low-rent civilian hangar for their junker and the stolen detonators. While Joph had toyed with the idea of turning the detonators over to a commander or admiral in the New Republic Starfleet, he decided not to because their trip to Sibensko had not been a military mission but a senatorial one. After some discussions with Greer, the two decided that they could not let the detonators get into the hands of criminal elements. Instead, they decided to hide the detonators in a secure holding unit until they received new orders from Leia.

Meanwhile, Leia addressed the Senate about her investigation into Rinnrivin's cartel and the Amaxines. Leia was supported by her former friend Casterfo, who shared her views about the threat posed by the Amaxines. Despite Leia's warnings, most of the Senate discounted the Amaxines as a fringe element and refused to believe that other threats to the Republic existed. Disillusioned with the Senate's complacency and indecisiveness, Leia resigned as Senator. She then convened a secret meeting in the Senate hangar bay that was attended by several Rebel Alliance veterans and New Republic personnel. Joph was invited to the meeting and also managed to recruit two fellow New Republic pilots Temmin Wexley and Zari Bangel. During the meeting, Leia established a new paramilitary outfit called the Resistance to protect the New Republic without being constricted by the Republic's regulations.

Personality and traits
Joph Seastriker was a human male with blonde hair and blue eyes. He exceed the minimum height requirements in the New Republic Starfleet by 1 and 1/2 millimeters. As a child, Joph longed for excitement and adventure and chafed under the tranquility of his peaceful homeworld of Gatalenta. He was known to be a restless and impatient child who longed to join the New Republic military in order to fly the best starfighters. After enrolling in the Academy and joining the New Republic military, Joph looked back on his childhood on Gatalenta as living in a different timeline. He never regretted his decision to leave his homeworld, which he found too stifling and placid to his liking.

Joph took an instant liking to the pilot Greer Sonnel and the two gradually developed a romantic relationship in the course of their work for senator Organa. On one occasion, Joph undertook a dangerous maneuver by flying his X-wing into a cavern to find Leia, who had been kidnapped by gangsters. While his actions breached New Republic safety protocols, he never regretted it. His maneuver also won him the admiration of Greer, who complimented his bravery. Despite his love for flying, Joph had a fear of heights since he had never experienced high altitudes outside of his X-wing starfighter.

Joph also showed initiative when he helped Casterfo to hack into Rinnrivin's satellites, yielding information on the crime lord's movements. While Leia was annoyed that he had not consulted her, she was pleased with the information he had yielded. Joph and Greer were also experienced with undercover work which they carried out on at least three occasions. As a native of Gatalenta, Joph was taught that crying was a sign of a caring heart. He cried when he expressed his love for Greer, which she reciprocated. Joph eventually came to share Leia's views that the New Republic was incapable of protecting itself and was one of the founding members of the Resistance, a paramilitary outfit aimed at defending the Republic.

Skills and abilities
As a member of the New Republic Starfleet, Joph was a skilled X-wing starfighter pilot. Besides being an elite pilot, he also knew how to repair and maintain his starship.

Behind the scenes
Joph Seastriker first appeared in the 2016 novel Bloodline, written by Claudia Gray. He is one of the five main point-of-view characters in the novel. While writing the novel, Gray mentally pictured Seastriker as being portrayed by Josh Hutcherson.

Appearances

 * Bloodline