Gara Petothel

Gara Petothel of Coruscant was the daughter of two Imperial Intelligence agents, both executed for treason. Though she originally desired to be a pilot, her intelligence-related skills caused her to be recommended to Imperial Intelligence. Her known aliases include Kirney Slane, Chyan Mezzine, and Lara Notsil.

The Empire
Her first intelligence assignment was as Kirney Slane, a Coruscanti student of economics. Later on, she would adopt the identity of Chyan Mezzine, a mission controller aboard the New Republic frigate Mother Sea. Gara would eventually come under the command of Admiral Apwar Trigit, a member of Warlord Zsinj's fleet. Under Trigit's orders, Gara planted false security designations that led to the demise of X-wing squadron Talon Squadron. She eventually made her to Trigit's Implacable, an Imperial II-class Star Destroyer, where she worked as a data analyst. During the aftermath of the fight at Ession, Gara prevented the deaths of many crew members during Trigit's attempt to self-destruct Implacable by giving warning which Trigit failed to do. She disguised herself as Trigit's unwilling mistress, Lara Notsil, so that when New Republic forces found her, she would be easily released.

New Republic
Lara was approached by two pilots, Garik Loran and Ton Phanan, to expose an officer's black market dealings. Colonel Atton Repness was using pilot training as a means to steal starfighters. Believing this to be a means to further her worth to future Imperial officers, she accepted. Flying beneath her skill level, she was soon transferred to Colonel's Repness's training squadron. Lara would send incriminating evidence to New Republic Intelligence while disguising her trail. Afterwards, Lara would show her true abilities as a pilot and was accepted into Wraith Squadron under the command of Wedge Antilles. Wraith Squadron was in the middle of operations against Warlord Zsinj at the time. After the death of Castin Donn, she served as the Wraith's replacement code slicer.

Lara's constant changing of identities came to haunt her. She began to accept the Wraiths and truly appreciate their inclusion of her as a "member of the family." However, Zsinj discovered her and sent a message using the real Lara Notsil's brother. During her visit to Aldivy, the home planet of the real Lara Notsil, she caused the death of the brother and one of Zsinj's agents in order to maintain her identity.

Later, Wraith Squadron pilot Myn Donos expressed his attraction to her. Lara, after initially attempting to dissuade him, found herself drawn to him. However, she was haunted by the fact that she had arranged the destruction of Talon Squadron, formerly Myn Donos's command. Eventually the two became romantically involved. However, Garik Loran noticed Coruscant upbringing in her actions and put in a request to New Republic Intelligence for further information.

Warlord Zsinj
During a mission at Kidriff 5, Loran found out about Lara's identity and attempted to keep her out of the fight. He told her that he knew she was Gara Petothel, forgetting that he was speaking over the squadron frequency. Myn Donos, already prone to post-traumatic stress disorder following the destruction of Talon Squadron, suffered a relapse and flew after her. Loran moved in between but Donos fired, hitting Loran's X-wing. He survived due to Donos's premature explosion of the torpedo. Lara, however, after realizing that as she could no longer assume the guise of Lara Notsil nor truly return to her true identity as Gara Petothel, decided that she would turn back to her old identity of Kirney Slane.

Kirney made her way to Zsinj and was given a position aboard the Super Star Destroyer Iron Fist. Along with her astromech droid Tonin, she began to sabotage the ship. After a New Republic ambush, Kirney was able to sabotage Iron Fist's hyperdrive and drop it out of hyperspace prematurely. She was able to send word to General Han Solo about Zsinj's location. During her escape, she freed some alien test subjects, including an Ewok named Kolot who could pilot starships. She sent them on a landing shuttle while she took her X-wing to join up with the Wraiths in pursuit of Zsinj's fake 181st Imperial Fighter Group. She saved Wedge Antilles's life, but her fighter was shot down. Faking her death, she sent a message to Myn Donos a few days later from Kirney Slane, telling him that she was starting a shuttle service on Corellia and was hoping that Myn would see her.

Behind the scenes
X-wing: Solo Command author Aaron Allston states on his website that, following the conclusion of the Zsinj campaign, Myn and "Kirney" most likely did get together on Corellia.

Appearances

 * X-wing: Wraith Squadron
 * X-wing: Iron Fist
 * X-wing: Solo Command