Shara Bey

"You ever think that this is never going to end?''" "Ah, Shara, you can't think that way. Otherwise we're just fighting'' for the sake of the fight, right?"

- Shara Bey and L'ulo

Shara Bey was a human female starfighter pilot who served as a lieutenant in the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War. She was married to Kes Dameron, a Rebel soldier with whom she had a son, Poe Dameron. Bey and Dameron both fought against the Galactic Empire during the Battle of Endor, in which Bey flew with Green Squadron in the assault against the Death Star II.

After the Empire's defeat during the Battle of Endor, Bey flew as a pilot in an assault on an Imperial outpost and went on to fly in a number of raids against Imperial targets as the Rebellion pushed to liberate the galaxy from Imperial rule. She was assigned as the pilot for Princess Leia Organa and traveled with the Rebel leader to Naboo, where Organa convinced the planet's leadership to join in the establishment of the New Republic. While there, the Empire began an assault on the planet. Bey, Organa, and Queen Sosha Soruna flew starfighters into orbit in order to knock out the satellites that were disrupting the weather on Naboo. Their operation was successful and they survived against Imperial forces, due in large part to the arrival of Rebel forces.

Battle of Endor
"Green Four, want you tight on my wing.''" "''Green Leader, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

- Arvel Crynyd and Shara Bey

Lieutenant Shara Bey was a starfighter pilot who served in the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War. She served alongside her husband, Kes Dameron, a soldier in the war against the Galactic Empire. Together they had a son, Poe Dameron, who lived with Bey's father while Bey and Dameron fought in the war.

Bey and Dameron both served during the Battle of Endor, in which the Rebel Alliance launched an all-out assault against the Death Star and the Emperor, Darth Sidious, himself. Bey flew as a member of Green Squadron in the assault on the Death Star, while Dameron fought with General Han Solo and the Pathfinders to destroy the Death Star's shield generator on the Forest Moon of Endor. When the Pathfinders successfully destroyed the shield generator, Bey and her fellow pilots defended the Millennium Falcon, piloted by General Lando Calrissian, as it entered the Death Star's super structure for the final attack. Once the Death Star's core was destroyed, setting off a fatal chain reaction inside the station, vessels began to depart from the Death Star. Bey followed an Imperial shuttle and attempted to destroy it, but she soon discovered it was piloted by Commander Luke Skywalker, who had been aboard the Death Star in a confrontation with the now-fallen Emperor.

The battle's end saw the destruction of the Death Star and the deaths of Darth Sidious and his chief enforcer, Darth Vader. Bey returned to Home One, the Rebel command ship, and reunited with those fellow pilots who survived. She received permission from Lieutenant L'ulo, acting head of Green Squadron after Green Leader, Arvel Crynyd, was killed during the battle, to join her fellow Rebels on Endor, where they were celebrating their victory in the home of the native Ewoks who helped the Pathfinders destroy the shield generator. Upon her arrival, she searched Bright Tree Village for her husband, hoping to find that he had survived the attack. Bey encountered Generals Solo and Calrissian, asking Solo where she could find the Pathfinders and receiving a compliment on her flying from Calrissian. She soon found Dameron, alive and well, and the two went for a walk in the village to talk about their future.

The next morning, after spending the night together, Dameron was called away by General Solo, who told the Pathfinders that there were Imperial hold outs in an outpost on the far side of Endor. Unwilling to leave Imperials for the Ewoks to contend with alone, Solo and General Crix Madine agreed that the Pathfinders would launch an assault to destroy the outpost and drive the remaining Imperials, whose core forces were in chaos following the Emperor's death, off of the Forest Moon. Bey volunteered to pilot the Pathfinders to the outpost. The group soon set off for the far side of the moon. Once they arrived, Bey brought the Pathfinders' shuttle in at a steep approach vector in order to hide their approach. The vessel opened fire on the outpost, quickly taking out many of its defenses. As the Pathfinders deployed, Dameron told Bey that he wanted to find a planet to settle on and build a house. He and the other Pathfinders entered the outpost while Bey remained behind, waiting for some time until they finally returned&mdash;bringing with them intelligence regarding the Empire's post-Endor plans.

The war continues
"I suggest Lieutenant Bey act as flight leader. She has the most experience of any of us.''" "''I think that's a very wise suggestion, Princess Leia."

- Leia Organa and Queen Sosha Soruna

Leaving Endor also meant leaving behind Dameron, as Bey and her husband had separate assignments; Dameron remained with the Pathfinders, while Bey flew a number of combat operations against the Empire, including during the Beltire Liberation. Seventeen days after the Battle of Endor, Bey flew in a battle in Cawa City on the planet Sterdic IV. She and her fellow pilots destroyed a number of TIE fighters, as well as an All Terrain Armored Transport, and ultimately liberated Cawa City from the Empire. After the battle, L'ulo encouraged Bey to take a lighter assignment next, as she had been working non-stop since Endor.

Three days later, Bey had returned to the Rebel fleet, where she was assigned to be the personal pilot of Princess Leia Organa on the princess' mission to the planet Naboo. Together, they flew to Naboo without an escort; despite the princess' critical value to the Rebellion, there were fears that a large group of ships headed to Naboo, the Emperor's homeworld, would attract Imperial attention. While en route, Bey talked to Organa as the latter wrote letters to Rebels who were killed during the Battle of Endor, including Private Able Nereno, a nurse aboard a medical frigate. Organa explained that she wrote each one personally, rather than relying on a protocol droid, as her parents had taught her the value of a personal touch.

The duo arrived in Theed, the capital city of Naboo, and Bey was surprised that Naboo still seemed like a peaceful world considering it was the Emperor's homeworld. Organa said that the greatest weapon the Emperor possessed was terror, and for Naboo it was the knowledge that he could have destroyed Naboo at any time. They were soon greeted by Governor Donta Gesset, who escorted them to Theed Royal Palace to meet with Queen Sosha Soruna. Once there, Organa requested that Naboo join the Rebel Alliance in the formation of the New Republic and the restoration of the Galactic Senate. The queen agreed to join just as the Empire began to lay siege to Naboo. In doing so, the Empire launched Operation: Cinder, a posthumous order from the Emperor to destroy the planet's environment and render it inhospitable. To do so, the Empire launched satellites in order designed to disrupt the environment. Major storms erupted across the entire planet, including in Theed.

In the midst of fires, flooding, and widespread destruction across the planet, Bey deduced that the weather anomalies had to be an Imperial attack generated by satellites, meaning that starfighters would need to be scrambled to destroy them. Although the Emperor demilitarized Naboo, some starfighters remained hidden, though there were no combat-ready pilots to fly them. The queen escorted the group to an old hangar, used many years earlier during the Battle of Naboo, where Bey, Organa, and the queen herself all volunteered to fly into orbit and attack the satellites. Bey was placed in command due to her combat experiences, and they took off into the storm and engaged Imperial forces in orbit. Bey began destroying the satellites while the princess and the queen engaged approaching TIE fighters, and Bey's fighter was damaged during combat. Believing that she was about to die, Bey asked Organa not to write her condolence letter, as she did not want to add to the princess' burdens. Before she could be killed, however, the two other pilots managed to destroy the TIE fighter that pursued her. The three of them remained outgunned but were saved by the timely arrival of General Calrissian and the Rebel Alliance, which had learned about Operation: Cinder from intelligence gathered by Dameron and the rest of the Pathfinders. The attack on Naboo came to an end, and Bey and Organa returned to the Rebel fleet. Once there, Bey reunited with Dameron, who had returned with the Pathfinders.

One last mission
"You going to tell me why I'm dressed up as an ISB officer?''" "''You're actually dressed up as a specific ISB officer. A woman, named Commander Alecia Beck. You're going to get us into the base on Vetine."

- Shara Bey and Luke Skywalker

Over the next three months, the Rebel Alliance continued to battle back against Operation: Cinder on numerous worlds. The months of continued fighting after Endor made Bey dispirited about the prospects of the war ever coming to an end, and her ever being able to live a normal life with her family. Dameron put in his formal request to be relieved from duty within the Rebellion, and though Bey did not request an end to her duties, Lieutenant L'ulo put in the request for her. She objected to his gesture, but he told her that she had earned to live a life with her family outside of the Galactic Civil War.

Before retiring, however, Shara Bey took part in one last mission with none other than Luke Skywalker, hero of the Alliance and last of the Jedi Knights. In order to help Skywalker infiltrate an Imperial base on Vetine, Bey dressed up as Commander Alecia Beck of the Imperial Security Bureau. In the Vetine base, the Emperor had stored what remained of the Force-sensitive tree that grew at the heart of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Pretending that Skywalker was her bodyguard, the fake Commander Beck bluffed her way into the station's laboratories, where the remains of the tree were kept. The commanding officer in charge of the base, however, had realized from the very beginning that Shara Bey was not who she claimed to be, due to her lack of a cybernetic left eye. Once in the labs, a number of Imperial soldiers pointed their guns and Bey and Skywalker, who nonetheless managed to turn the tables in their favor, mostly in part due to Skywalker's use of the Force. After departing Vetine, Skywalker revealed that his droid R2-D2 had overheard her conversation with L'ulo. Bey confessed that she was torn between supporting the Alliance or embracing the future with her family. Skywalker counseled that living for the future is worth while. He then admitted that he was unaware that there'd be two trees at the facility and thus, he passed entrusted one to her care. Bey ultimately decided to take Skywalker's advice, as she planted the tree outside her new home on Yavin 4 before reuniting with her husband.

Death
In the years that followed, Shara would rarely discuss the war with her son. When Poe was only nine years old, Shara Bey passed away.

Personality and traits
Shara Bey was a human female with black hair, brown Eyes, and fair skin. She was a dedicated member of the Rebel Alliance, putting in long hours and participating in numerous conflicts against the Empire, even as the warfare weakened her belief that the Galactic Civil War would ever come to an end. Like her husband, she hoped to one day end the fighting and have a normal life with Dameron and their son, Poe, away from the war.

Behind the scenes
Shara Bey was created for the Marvel comic book mini-series Star Wars: Shattered Empire, written by Greg Rucka.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Shattered Empire
 * Before the Awakening