Mirta Gev

"I'm just trying to get by in a tough galaxy."

- Mirta Gev

Mirta Gev was a female Mandalorian bounty hunter around the time of the Second Galactic Civil War. Born on Mandalore as the daughter of a bounty hunter, Ailyn Vel, she embarked on a quest first undertaken by her mother, which was to find and kill her grandfather, the legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett, who had abandoned Ailyn Vel at a young age. When Gev finally tracked Fett down in 40 ABY, she ended up entering into a partnership with the dying bounty hunter to find a cure for his illness. Gev assisted Fett in finding a bounty hunter named Skirata, who had medical data needed to treat Fett.

She continued to work with Fett after that endeavor, including a mission to find Gev's grandmother and Fett's wife, Sintas Vel, who had been frozen in carbonite since 1 ABY. Gev would later take care of Vel while she recovered from her time in carbon freeze. Once Vel was well enough to be on her own, Gev fought on the front lines of the Mandalorian involvement in the Second Galactic Civil War, including fighting in the Second Battle of Fondor and the First Battle of Roche. It was after Roche that she was captured by the Galactic Alliance Chief of State, Sith Lord Darth Caedus, and interrogated. Following her interrogation, the Moffs of the Imperial Remnant released a nanovirus into the atmosphere of her home planet of Mandalore, preventing her from returning home.

Early life
"Mama was all I had and I don't like it that way."

- Mirta Gev

Mirta Gev was born on the planet Mandalore, the daughter of bounty hunter Ailyn Vel and a Mandalorian warrior named Makin Marec. While Marec and Vel's relationship did not last, Gev stayed close to both of her parents, spending two summers with her father as a youth on the planet Null, where Marec taught Gev everything he could related to combat and bounty hunting. Soon afterwards, Marec was killed when his ship suffered a hull breach leaving Vel to raise Gev alone. This was compounded by Vel's search for her father, the famous bounty hunter Boba Fett. Fett had deserted Vel and her mother Sintas when Ailyn was still a child, causing hardship for them and fostering a desire for revenge in his daughter.

Once Gev grew up, she got into her mother and grandfather's business as a bounty hunter, at one point encountering former ARC clone trooper Skirata during an ill-fated mission. Skirata and Gev were both after the same target, and eventually met, with Skirata claiming he had fought in the Clone Wars. At one point prior to 40 ABY, Gev was married, but that relationship broke up for unknown reasons. Gev then assisted her mother in her search for Boba Fett, hoping to aid Vel in her revenge.

Finding Fett
In 40 ABY, Gev finally found Fett on the Outer Rim world of Taris, where he was staying for a meeting with his second-in-command, Goran Beviin. Vel's desire for revenge on Fett was inherited by Gev, and she attacked her grandfather upon sight of him, but relented when Fett fended her off. She then revealed her name to him, and informed him of their common bloodline. Intrigued, Fett wished to see his daughter Ailyn and apologize for leaving her, and Gev offered to tag along. First, though, Fett needed to find his one-time caretaker, the Kaminoan Taun We, since he was dying due to numerous tumors in his body, and believed that We had the solution to his ailments. The two left the planet Taris in Fett's starship, Slave I, in search of the elusive Kaminoan.

The pair first traveled to Roonadan in the Corporate Sector, where Gev was forced to remain in the cargo bay of the Slave I while Fett was out and about searching for Taun We. Fett returned to the starship empty-handed and changed course to Vohai, in the Outer Rim Parmel sector, where Fett believed We was. Whilst journeying from Roonadan to Vohai, Gev told Fett of her encounter with Skirata. Fett thought he could be healed by obtaining scientific data gathered by Ko Sai, a dead Kaminoan cloner who specialized in aging. Upon hearing Gev's story about Skirata, Fett realized that Skirata must have had the missing Ko Sai data. Once they reached Vohai, Gev was once again forced to remain in the ship, despite her attempts at coercion. Once Fett returned to the ship, having found We, Gev pointed them to Coruscant, where she believed that her mother was.

Before they were able to venture to Coruscant and Ailyn Vel, Fett was presented with urgent business in the Corellian sector, and forced to reroute there, taking Gev with him. Fett, Gev, and a group of Mandalorian commandos assembled by Goran Beviin met in the Zerria bar on Drall two days later. While the rest of the Mandalorians were hostile towards a stranger such as Gev, once Fett mentioned her Mandalorian heritage, they immediately thawed and welcomed her into the group. It was here that Gev met her future husband, Mandalorian warrior Ghes Orade, for the first time. Soon afterwards, they were contacted by rising Corellian politician Dur Gejjen. Gejjen was scheming to eliminate a political rival, Corellian Chief of State Thrackan Sal-Solo, and needed a contract killer. He offered Fett the job, and Fett accepted, bringing Gev along with him. The plan was carried out, with Fett and Gev accompanied by ex-smuggler Han Solo, and Sal-Solo was assassinated, Gev dealing the killing blow. Gev and Fett escaped the scene of the crime soon afterwards, and returned to Gejjen, who rewarded them with one million credits. After the assassination, Gev asked Solo for any information on Ailyn Vel's location. Han Solo then contacted his wife Leia Organa Solo for more information on Vel, who informed them that Vel was killed under interrogation by Leia's son Colonel Jacen Solo of the Galactic Alliance Guard, robbing Gev of her mother. Vel was shocked and enraged upon hearing the news, and thereafter lusted for revenge on Jacen Solo. Vel's body was returned to Fett and Gev, and Gev decided to bring her mother's corpse back to Mandalore. Before they could return to Mandalore, however, the pair traveled to Geonosis, to return the body of Fett's father, Jango Fett, to Mandalore to be buried.

Search for Skirata
With a heavy heart, Mirta Gev and Boba Fett returned to Mandalore with Jango Fett's body in tow. The two buried Jango next to Ailyn Vel, his granddaughter. Gev and Fett stayed on Mandalore for some time, with Gev staying in the home of a Mandalorian warrior named Novoc Vevut, one of the Mandalorians who had attended the meeting on Drall. While staying with Vevut, she grew enamored with Vevut's adopted son, Ghes Orade. Afterwards, the two attended a meeting of the Mandalorian clans, held in a hall donated to the people of Mandalore by MandalMotors, the prevalent arms company in the Mandalore sector. The Mandalorians were anxious to fight in the ever-escalating conflict between the dominant galactic government, the Galactic Alliance and a breakaway group of systems, the Confederation. Under Mandalore Boba Fett's reign, the economy had been thrown into dire straits, with a flow of credits needed to import food. The meeting ended with the Fett deciding not to back either side in the war, and calling two million Mandalorians to return to Mandalore to strengthen their homeworld after the devastating Yuuzhan Vong War where an invading extragalactic species bombarded the planet's surface, killing one-third of the planet's population. After the meeting adjourned, Gev departed with Fett to search for their missing clone, Skirata.

Since Skirata was working as a bounty hunter, Fett came up with a plan to locate him. Gev would pose as a client looking to hire a bounty hunter, and would enlist the services of Skirata. The grandfather and granddaughter pair traveled in the Slave I to Bador, in the Core Worlds Kuat system. Once they landed on Bador, the two entered a local establishment known as the Paradise Cantina. The barkeeper and employees of the cantina, however, were hostile to the two, after the last Mandalorian to enter the cantina, Skirata, killed a local crime boss named Cherit. The hostility from the bartender led to an all out brawl, with the Mandalorians winning. After the fight, the bartender told Gev and Fett that Cherit's successor, Fraig, may know of Skirata's whereabouts, and that Fraig could be found at the Tekshar Falls Casino.

Upon the two reaching the Tekshar Falls Casino, Gev conned Fraig's bodyguard into letting Fett and her see him, by claiming that Fett was the "President of Mandalore". Once the two gained admission to Fraig's private suite and attempted to question him, Fraig was resistant. Gev and Fett were forced to intimidate the location of Skirata out of Fraig by attaching him to a fibercord and throwing him off a balcony. Faced with death, Fraig divulged that Skirata had a grudge against a Twi'lek clan named Himar. Gev and Fett were forced to fight their way out of the building after Fraig's "interrogation" against an onrush of bodyguards, but were victorious and escaped the casino. Once the two returned to the Slave I, prepared to continue their investigation, Gev was attacked by a large Strill, named Mird. After the Strill had been neutralized, Skirata, its owner, appeared to them, ending their long search.

Sintas Vel
"Just look for the carbonite slab."

- Mirta Gev

After the search for Skirata ended, Gev returned to Mandalore and continued to stay with Vevut and her new love, Orade. At this point, she had begun to consider marrying Orade, egged on by his adoptive father, Vevut, who promised her a blaster that "could take the head off a dozen Trandoshans with one shot" should she marry Orade. Meanwhile, Fett finally used the Ko Sai data provided to him by Skirata to beat his illness. Gev attended his medical procedure with Orade, and was introduced to Venku Skirata, also known as Kad'ika, a Mandalorian political leader and son of clone trooper Darman and Jedi Knight Etain Tur-Mukan. In a meeting with Venku Skirata and his friend Gotab in a Keldabe tapcafe, Gotab revealed the location of Sintas Vel by using Kiffar abilities to read a Heart of Fire pendant, a jewel that had been given to Sintas Vel by Fett while they were still married and had fallen into Gev's possession. Vel was on Phaeda after an unsuccessful fight with a crime lord named Rezodar. Fett, in an attempt to finally get closure with his ex-wife after more than fifty years, commissioned Gev to bring him more information on Vel's situation.

After some research, Gev discovered that Rezodar, a gangster, had died in 2 ABY, and had left a vast estate. Since the Phaedan government could not claim his possessions, they had been in storage for thirty-eight years, and the Phaedan state lawyer was more than happy than to give away some of Rezodar's possessions. However, by investigating further, Gev found out that Vel's body, in a carbonite slab, was among these objects, possibly meaning that Vel yet lived. Gev and Fett traveled to Phaeda together in the Slave I, with their objective being to bring her back to Mandalore and thaw her from her carbonite slumber, and to help her rehabilitate along the way. Once on Phaeda, they went to the planet's Registry of Testaments and Legacies, where Vel had been stored, and retrieved her body. They then returned to Mandalore, where Vel was unfrozen. Over the next few months, Gev helped care for her grandmother as she dealt with memory loss and dementia caused by her years in carbonite. While Vel was under her granddaughter's care, Gev also gave her the Heart of Fire. Around this time, a Jedi Knight named Jaina Solo came to Mandalore to be trained by Fett for an eventual duel with her brother, Jacen, who was now Sith Lord Darth Caedus. Despite her animosity towards Jedi, Gev and Solo would become good friends.

Second Battle of Fondor
Once Vel was well enough to be left on her own, Gev served on the crew of a Tra'kad with several other Mandalorians and Solo during the Second Battle of Fondor. The Mandalorians then received word that long time Imperial Remnant leader Gilad Pellaeon had been murdered and his flagship, the Bloodfin, had been taken. Consequently, the Mandalorians were ordered to board and retrieve the ship. Fighting alongside Admiral Natasi Daala and her Maw Irregular Fleet, Gev and the Mandalorians boarded the Bloodfin.

After the death of Pellaeon, the crew of the Bloodfin mutinied, leaving Darth Caedus' apprentice, Tahiri Veila, trapped on the ship. While Gev, Solo and the Mandalorians were engaged in boarding the Bloodfin, they encountered Veila. Gev snuck up on and attacked Veila, injuring her, before Darth Caedus, who had returned to rescue his apprentice, broke up the fight by Force-choking Gev. Gev lay injured on the deck of the ship until Boba Fett, who accompanied the assault team, rescued her and brought her to safety. Gev would recover from her injuries, and the Mandalorians succeeded in taking the Bloodfin. Once Gev returned to Mandalore, she and Ghes Orade were married.

Interrogation
"How many Jedi accompanied your team? Go&hellip;get&hellip;borked."

- Darth Caedus interrogating Mirta Gev

In 41 ABY, Gev fought along with Fett and Solo in the First Battle of Roche, once again serving in a Tra'kad. This time it was a battle to protect the Verpine from the Imperial Remnant, who sought to gain control of the species' technology. As business partners with the insectoid species, the Mandalorians could not afford to lose access to the Verpine's technology, and rushed to the species' aid. During the battle, Gev's husband Ghes Orade was shot down and injured. Orade survived, and Gev later led an assault team, intending to kill important Imperial personnel.

Gev, along with Jaina Solo and a strike team of Mandalorian warriors, infiltrated the Imperial base on the Roche asteroid of Nickel One, with the objective of eliminating the ruling Moff Council in one swift stroke. Solo eventually split with them to chase after Darth Caedus, who was inside the Nickel One base. Gev and the Mandalorians managed to reach the meeting room of the Council, but were surprised by a large amount of Imperial Elite Guardsmen. The assault quickly turned disastrous for the Mandalorians, with almost all of the warriors killed in the fighting. Soon, Darth Caedus appeared, killing several more of the Mandalorians. When Gev tried to attack Caedus, she was slammed on her head by the Sith Lord, rupturing her spinal cord and paralyzing her temporarily. The fight was not without loss on the other side, however, with Caedus losing his arm, cut off by Jaina Solo. After the skirmish, Boba Fett, who thought that his granddaughter had been killed, became enraged at Jaina Solo and Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. Fett lambasted them for Gev's death, meaning that the aloof Fett truly did care for his granddaughter.

Gev, still lying wounded, was taken as a prisoner of war by Darth Caedus and his apprentice, Tahiri Veila, and interrogated on Caedus's flagship, the Anakin Solo. Gev was still paralyzed, and Caedus promised treatment if Gev divulged who and how many Jedi accompanied the Mandalorian strike team. Specifically, Caedus wanted to know who cut off his arm in the battle. When Gev finally revealed that Jaina Solo, Caedus' sister, was the lone Jedi, Caedus thought she was lying, as he believed that he had fought both Solo and Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker. Dissatisfied, he threatened to disfigure Gev and release a nanovirus that would kill both her and her grandfather Boba Fett. To protect her family, Gev lied and said that Skywalker had been with the team. However, Caedus still sensed she was lying about something, and took a sample of her blood, which he used to construct the nanovirus. Despite this, Caedus kept his promise to heal Gev. The nanovirus was then produced by Imperial scientists, and air-dispersed over Mandalore, making it impossible for Gev or Fett to ever set foot there again.

Gev was eventually freed when the Anakin Solo was infiltrated by Jaina Solo, who was planning to kill Caedus. Solo visited Gev in the room where she was being held captive, and gave Gev a blaster. Gev freed herself from her shackles with the weapon, and escaped. Solo would go on to defeat Darth Caedus in a lightsaber duel, ending both the threat of the Sith Lord and the Second Galactic Civil War.

Personality and traits
Mirta Gev possessed a great loyalty to her late mother, who inspired Gev to go on her hunt of Boba Fett. However, once Gev finally met Fett, she was initially hostile, but eventually became friends with her grandfather, bonding over the care of Sintas Vel. Gev did not want to hate her grandfather, who was cold and forbidding, and tried to find ways to love him, even though it was tough for her. She was curious about her grandmother whom she had never met, and undertook great research to try and ascertain her location. Once she found Sintas Vel, she was caring enough to take care of her grandmother for some time, taking time away from the normal duties of a Mandalorian woman.

Gev was also a capable warrior and a good cook, possessing the two qualities most prevalent in Mandalorian women. She was, as a bounty hunter, good at tracking people down, as demonstrated when she caught up to both Boba Fett and Sintas Vel. She had a passion for weapons, and was also good at healing, taking care of both Sintas Vel and Boba Fett after his surgery. When she was in the custody of Darth Caedus and under interrogation, she refused to speak, but eventually gave up when her grandfather was threatened. When she was later interred in the prison deck of the Anakin Solo, she indicated to Jaina Solo that she rather would have been shot and killed to put her out of her misery than undergo interrogation.

Gev, like many Mandalorians, was suspicious of and disliked Jedi. However, she managed to form a friendship with Jedi Knight Jaina Solo, who gained Gev's respect while Solo underwent training from Boba Fett to kill Darth Caedus. Gev, like Solo, wanted to kill Darth Caedus, but for her own reason&mdash;retaliation for his killing of Gev's mother, Ailyn Vel. Gev attacked the Sith Lord viciously both times they encountered each other in the battles of Roche and Fondor, and even refused to aid Caedus when he promised medical treatment after she was injured in the Second Battle of Roche.

Behind the scenes
Mirta Gev was first created by author Karen Traviss for her novel Bloodlines, the second book of the Legacy of the Force series. She then appeared in Traviss' next two novels, Sacrifice and Revelation, before appearing in Troy Denning's Invincible.

The only canonical picture of Mirta Gev is of her wedding to Ghes Orade. The picture first appeared in an art gallery by Tom Hodges for Star Wars Insider, but the two Mandalorians were not identified. Its later inclusion in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia established the two as being Gev and Orade.

Appearances

 * Bloodlines
 * Sacrifice
 * Revelation
 * Invincible

Notes and references
Mirta Gev Mirta Gev