Dasha Defano

Dasha Defano was a female Wroonian from the planet Wroona. An accomplished pilot, Defano served with a Wroonian privateer gang before leaving after a raid ended in the destruction of a civilian transport. She joined the Rebel Alliance shortly before the Battle of Endor, and flew T-65 X-wing starfighters. Defano continued to serve with the military when the Alliance became the New Republic, and was part of the task force charged with the liberation of the planet Kal'Shebbol, the sector capital of the Kathol sector.

Following the flight of the Moff Kentor Sarne, Imperial warlord of the sector, from the planet, Defano was transferred to the CR90 corvette FarStar. the FarStar had been assigned to track down the rogue Imperial and neutralize any threat he posed to the stability of the region. Defano served as part of the starfighter complement aboard thevessel for several months, participating in several missions, including the Battle of Kathol, which saw the eventual defeat of Moff Sarne and his forces.

Early career
Born on Wroona, the female Wroonian Dasha Defano began her piloting career as a privateer, operating with a band of fellow Wroonians who raided both Imperial and Rebel Alliance shipping. During her time with the privateers, Defano was forced to destroy a civilian transport that the group was attacking to stop it from sending out a distress signal. Sometime later, she discovered that one of her best friends from Wroona was aboard the transport at the time of its destruction, and that she herself was partly responsible for her death. Ashamed of herself, Defano left the privateers and rarely spoke of her time with them. Several months before the Battle of Endor, Defano joined the Rebel Alliance as a starfighter pilot, flying T-65 X-wing starfighters. She continued to serve with the Alliance once it made the transition to the New Republic, and was assigned to the task force sent to liberate the planet Kal'Shebbol in the Kathol sector in 8 ABY.

Service aboard the FarStar
Following the liberation of Kal'Shebbol, Defano was transferred to the starfighter complement aboard the modified CR90 corvette FarStar, serving as both a pilot, and as a gunner. The corvette had been assigned to track down Moff Kentor Sarne, the Imperial warlord who ruled the Kathol sector. Sarne had fled the planet with the majority of his forces after the fall of his sector capital, and the New Republic wanted to neutralize any threat he posed to the region. Defano participated fully in shipboard life during its months-long mission, and even entered a gunnery competition shortly after the ship left the planet Binaros in an effort to win an extended shore leave pass.

During her time on the FarStar, Defano developed a close friendship with the squadron leader, Lieutenant Ranna Gorjaye. The two women spent much of their off-duty time playing sabacc. However, as Gorjaye and the FarStar commanding officer, Captain Kaiya Adrimetrum, resolved their professional differences&mdash;Gorjaye did not believe that Adrimetrum, a former commando was qualified to lead the mission&mdash;and began to work closely together, Defano began to feel detached from her friend.

As a result, Defano started to get close to crewmate Thanis Gul-Rah, a former bounty hunter. It was not a romantic relationship, and Gul-Rah claimed he wanted someone to talk to since Scoryn, the FarStar First Officer following the defection of the previous executive officer, Gorak Khzam, was using her position to settle an old score between the two of them. Defano found Scoryn's actions distasteful, which was Gul-Rah's intention since he was trying to sow discord between Scoryn and the fighter pilots to give him an advantage in any confrontation they might have.

Several months after leaving Kal'Shebbol, the FarStar was traveling though the Kathol Rift, an expanse of volatile gases interspersed with severe lightstorms. After stopping at the planet Q'Maere within the Rift, the FarStar took aboard several former prisoners from the Q'Maere Research Facility. The facility had been Sarne's secret prison and re-education center, and many of the inmates had been unfairly imprisoned, tortured and abused. Days after leaving Q'Maere, the leader of the former prisoners, Lowen Chase, led a mutiny to take control of the ship. Defano remained loyal to Captain Adrimetrum, and assisted in the effort to reclaim the vessel from the mutineers, but her friend, Gul-Rah, was on the opposite side.

After passing through the Rift, Defano became increasingly aware that the FarStar was about to engage in a major battle against Sarne's forces. Although she was confident in her own abilities, she realized that if anything was to happen to Gorjaye, she would be next in line to command the corvette's fighter squadron. Her apprehension for the coming battle was not helped by Gul-Rah. Her trust in him had been shaken since the mutiny and his betrayal of Adrimetrum, but despite this his view of the command staff had began to rub off on Defano. The young pilot found herself not agreeing with Adrimetrum as much as she would have in the past due to his influence. In her capacity as a pilot, Defano fought in the Battle of Kathol, an engagement that saw the final defeat of Moff Kentor Sarne.

Personality and traits
Dasha Defano was a Wroonian with blue skin and hair. She was an extremely confident woman, and an excellent pilot. Not at all shy, she did not mind telling anyone just how good she was. However, due to her shame over the death of her best friend during her privateer days, she rarely boasted of her actions in their service, preferring to speak of her time flying for the New Republic.

Easy-going and friendly, Defano could often be found near the hangar bay of the FarStar, talking with the technicians and other pilots. Although she appeared to get on with all the members of the crew, she harbored a distrust of the Duros gunner Krudar. The distrust stemmed from the fact that a Duros had served aboard the privateer vessel she was on, and she held the belief that any Duros knew of her past. As a result, she avoided Krudar whenever possible. Defano also had a soft spot for the downtrodden, and, as a result, a friendship evolved between her and Thanis Gul-Rah. Although not a romantic relationship, the possibility that it could have turned into one was present.

Defano was a practical woman, and constantly carried a gear bag with her wherever she went, even stowing it in the compartment of any starfighter she piloted. The bag contained several personal and survival items including a hold-out blaster, medpac, ration pack, glowrod, emergency flare, a knife, and a holo-image of the friend who died on the transport she destroyed.

Behind the scenes
Dasha Defano was created for The DarkStryder Campaign for West End Games Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game as a member of the FarStar support crew. She was subsequently mentioned in all three accompanying supplements, The Kathol Outback, The Kathol Rift, and Endgame.

As a member of the FarStar starfighter complement, it can be assumed that Defano fought in all battles where the corvette deployed its fighter squadron. However, due to the nature of the RPG scenarios found in The DarkStryder Campaign, she is only explicitly mentioned to have participated in the Battle of Kathol.