Natasi Daala

"Why is it every time a competent woman is rewarded, others assume it's only because she's having sex with a man?"

- Natasi Daala

Natasi Daala was an enlisted soldier in the Imperial military, who, despite her origins, would go on to become one of the most famous Imperial warlords of all time. Thanks largely to the influence and aid of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, Daala was promoted to admiral after her talent was discovered.

Daala, who was 26 standard years old at the time of the Battle of Yavin, was most famous for her command of security at the Maw Installation and the unification of the warlord factions into the eventual Imperial Remnant, she rose to eventually become one of the most hated and feared figures within the New Republic, at one point holding the post of Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet and exercising total and absolute control and power over the remnants of the Empire.

Claiming to be victim of the Empire's policy towards females herself, she issued a decree to allow all women and aliens to serve in the Imperial military, thus somewhat weakening the concept of Human High Culture within the Imperial Remnant.

Early career
"They always say that Daala tore up the strategy books."

- Admiral Cha Niathal



Daala had a peaceful upbringing. While young, she fell in love with Liegeus Vorn, although the details of the affair are muddy. Presumably, following the end of the relationship, she enrolled in the Academy of Carida.

While she was a talented student and officer at the Imperial Academy, she was continually passed over for promotion due to her gender, though accounts by Imperial military officers said that she argued too much when she was passed over for promotions. To take out her frustrations toward the male-dominated military, she made herself a false computer identity. Under this alias, Daala was able to defeat many high-level officers, including some of her own instructors, in simulated battles. Many of her tactics were based upon ideas formed by Jan Dodonna. Her tactics were studied and implemented throughout the entire Imperial military. Despite graduating from the Academy, she ended up a non-commissioned officer in the Imperial Army.

She soon gained the attention of Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. He investigated Daala's hidden exploits at the Academy, hiring two black-market slicers who worked for several months to find the identity of the hidden strategist. He was pleasantly surprised to discover not only her identity, but that she was female. At the time, Daala held the rank of corporal and had first been a computer clerk, then a member of the kitchen staff preparing food for Star Destroyers. When the Carida staff discovered her identity, they planned to reassign her to a meteorological station at the planet's southern pole. However, Tarkin took her on as his protégé, using his influence to bypass the normal military hierarchy and promote her. Daala eventually received the rank of admiral, (though, in later years, her badge would come to represent the rank of Grand Moff)

Many quietly complained that Daala was sleeping her way to the top. When one of those remarks made its way back to Tarkin, he searched out the officer who had made it. He had the officer sealed inside an environmental suit and ejected him into the space over a planet as punishment. Tarkin had the suit's radio left on so that others could hear the man over the course of 24 hours as his orbit decayed. The officer's orbit decayed to the point where he finally entered the planet's atmosphere and burned up on reentry. However, the allegations were in fact accurate, as Daala did have an affair with Tarkin once she transferred under his command.

At the same time as she was carrying on her affair with Tarkin, Daala was also engaged in a romance with the holo faker Liegeus Vorn.

Maw Installation
Tarkin, now a Grand Moff, entrusted Daala with overseeing and protecting the Maw Installation, the birthplace of the Death Stars, World Devastators, and the Sun Crusher. This facility was hidden away even from the rest of the Empire, and no less than four Imperial-class Star Destroyers were stationed there (Basilisk, Gorgon, Hydra, and Manticore). After having her promoted to admiral, Tarkin ordered Daala never to abandon her post or break communication silence unless he returned, as she had no authority outside Tarkin's command. However, in 0 ABY, Daala paid a visit to the nearly completed Death Star at the request of Tarkin. During the brief visit, she aided Tarkin in investigating the destruction of the Star Destroyer, Undauntable, but was unable to identify the saboteurs. On a second visit, her ship was attacked by a squadron of X-wings en route to the station. An explosion caused a piece of shrapnel to become lodged in her skull, which was removed in the Death Star's medcenter with the only likely long term damage being some memory loss. As soon as she recovered, Tarkin had Daala transferred back to the Maw and had the logs altered to make it appear she had never been on the station. Following Tarkin's death, Daala stayed isolated in the Maw with no news of the Galaxy outside and no one in the Empire aware of her existence.



In 11 ABY, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Kyp Durron escaped from Kessel and accidentally discovered the Maw Installation. Since they were in an Imperial shuttle, Daala's crew assumed they were an emissary sent by Tarkin, who had not communicated with them in over a decade. However, when they provided an incorrect code, Daala captured and imprisoned them. Soon Daala interrogated Han Solo, who reluctantly informed her of the events of the Galactic Civil War. Daala learned for the first time about the destruction of the Death Stars and the deaths of Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader, and Grand Moff Tarkin. She also learned that the Empire had fragmented into numerous squabbling warlords. With no true high command in place, and with Tarkin dead, Daala decided that her orders were obsolete and decided to leave the Maw to wage her own personal guerilla war against the Rebels. Having drilled her troops ceaselessly over the past decade, Daala knew that her forces were ready and fit for such a war, and prepared to leave the Maw. However, her plans were set back when her prisoners, aided by Maw researcher Qwi Xux, escaped with the Sun Crusher.

Though she made a valiant attempt to suppress the Sun Crusher with sheer numbers, the near-indestructible Sun Crusher was too durible and Daala was unable to damage it. In order to escape Daala, Han Solo piloted the Sun Crusher towards the Hydra, which had moved to cut off the Sun Crusher's escape, and plowed straight through its command bridge. The Sun Crusher then entered hyperspace, as the Hydra plummeted into a black hole. Enraged by the loss of one of her Star Destroyers, Daala pursued the diminutive superweapon out of the Maw, and ran into Moruth Doole's small mercenary fleet. Doole's fleet panicked and fired on Daala's ships. Daala soundly defeated them with minor losses, yet the pain of the Hydra's loss still lingered with her.

Nevertheless, Daala continued on, undaunted, and began raiding New Republic shipping. Daala intercepted a Corellian corvette on its way to a "peaceful" colony on Dantooine. Daala determined that the colony was probably a "Rebel" base, destroyed the corvette and proceeded on to Dantooine. After quickly summarizing the defenses of the colony, Daala sent six AT-ATs to deal with the colony, which was quickly and totally decimated. Emboldened, Daala decided to attack Mon Calamari, after determining that its shipyards were of some importance to the New Republic. Using one of Tarkin's old strategies, Daala sent two Star Destroyers (the Gorgon and the Basilisk) in to fire on the surface of the planet, while another (the Manticore) sat in the darkness of Mon Calamari's moon. In this way, Daala thought, she could divert forces away from the shipyards and give the Manticore a clear run at them. Although she was initially successful, a former Mon Calamari admiral in the New Republic fleet, Ackbar, had been Tarkin's personal slave, and recognized Daala's tactic immediately. Using a partially unfinished Mon Cal crusier, Ackbar sent a ship on a collision with the Manticore. And so a second ship from Daala's ever-dwindling fleet was destroyed. Enraged, Daala ordered a full-on assualt on the planet's surface decimating several floating cities. Daala then fled before reinforcements could arrive.

Following her defeat at Mon Calamari, Daala retreated to the Cauldron Nebula. She had planned to go down fighting, striking a fatal blow against the New Republic by evacuating one of her two remaining Star Destroyers of personnel and equipment, and sending it crashing down onto the surface of Coruscant. This last desperate plan was again met with defeat when Kyp Durron, piloting the Sun Crusher, delayed Daala's operation by attacking her ship. Daala realized it was just a destraction, and that Kyp had already ignited the stars in the nebula with the Sun Crusher, and ordered all ships to immeditaly jump into hypersapce. Only the Gorgon escaped, the Basilisk was incinerated by the explosion. Weary of her continuous failed efforts, Daala realized that her selfish and petty desire to do harm to the "Rebels" had caused the death of thousands she had been entrused to lead and protect. So she decided to return with the Gorgon to the Maw Installation, vowing to return to Tarkin's assigned mission, and defend it to the death.

What she found there, however, was total chaos. The New Republic had already moved to seize Maw Installation, while Tol Sivron and the remaining scientists had sabotaged the facility and absconded with the prototype Death Star. Both Daala and Sivron decided to attack the occupied facility, though Sivron was unable to fire the Death Star's laser, and struggled to get it back online. Daala's crew noticed that the facility had an unstable reactor core and fired on it. As the facility exploded with tremendous force, Daala made a hasty jump into hyperspace and narrowly escaped the Maw, dejectedly setting a course for the splintered Empire in the Deep Core.

The reunification of the Empire
"I didn't want to rule. I had no intention of becoming a political leader. &hellip;but you have given me no choice. I cannot leave the Empire in the hands of fools like you."

- Admiral Daala to other Imperial warlords at Tsoss Beacon



The remnants of the Imperial command dismantled Gorgon and distributed her surviving crew among the various commanders. Daala chose not to join with anyone, instead serving as a roaming ambassador amongst the warlords in an attempt to unify them. During her meeting with "Supreme Warlord" Harrsk, High Admiral Teradoc attacked Harrsk's orbiting fleet of 12 Star Destroyers. Teradoc's fleet of red Victory-class Star Destroyers attacked Harrsk's flagship, the Shockwave, and destroyed it. Daala's long time second-in-command, Commander Kratas was onboard the Shockwave inspecting its bridge at the time of its destruction. His death caused Daala great emotional pain and made Daala resolve to stop the senseless, inter-warlord feuding that had taken his life at all costs.

However, desperate to avenge his lost flagship, Harrsk wanted an immediate reprisal against Teradoc and pressed Daala into service on the threat of death. Daala reluctantly took control of the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Firestorm. Harrsk, in the Whirlwind, insisted that Daala lead the attack against Teradoc. When they arrived at Teradoc's stronghold (a fortress hidden among the asteroids in the ring of a large gas giant) they were immediatly set upon by Teradoc's Crimson Command. Daala, however, personally took command of her ship's weapon systems and fired a concentrated ion bolt at the Whirlwind, paralyzing it and preventing Harrsk from continuing his assualt against Teradoc. With a blaster aimed at a shocked and angry bridge crew, Daala pulled the Firstorm closer to the Whirlwind and activated the time-delayed self destruct system of the Firestorm. Daala told Harrsk that she would destroy her ship and his if he did not order a seccession of hostilities, wishing to force the two warlords to cooperate. As the countdown continued, Daala was contacted by the head of the Crimson Command, Vice Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, who desired to speak to Daala in person. Daala accepted and allowed Pellaeon onto her ship. Shortly after, Harrsk ordered a succession of hostilities when he realized Daala's threat to destroy both of their ships was no bluff.

The Firestorm, escorted by two of Pellaeon's red Star Destroyers, jumped to a secluded spot in space so that Dalla and Pellaeon could have an uninterrupted discussion. Like Daala, Pellaeon believed that the warlords were tearing the Empire apart, and he and Daala agreed to force the most powerful warlords to a negotiating table in order to discuss the future of the Empire and plan a combined attack against the New Republic. They finally were able to get the warlords to congregate at Tsoss Beacon in 12 ABY. After hours of petty squabbling and arguing, Daala decided to execute the warlords, sealing them in a room and poisoning the air, leaving herself as the effective head-of-state and commander-in-chief of what was left of the Galactic Empire. In this way, she has been attributed as the founder of the modern Imperial Remnant. Under the self appointed title of Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet, with Pellaeon as her second-in-command, Daala prepared a full-on assualt against the New Republic.

Following the warlords' deaths, Daala took command of their forces, consolidating fleets of Victory-class and Imperial-class Star Destroyers, Skipray Blastboats, and even a single Star Dreadnought, Knight Hammer taken from "Superior General" Delvardus. Additionally, Daala instituted societal reforms in the Imperial military, ending decades of oppression against women and nonhumans. Her fleet successfully raided a few systems before executing a poorly planned assault against the New Republic and Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin IV, which resulted in the destruction of Knight Hammer, several Victory-class Star Destroyers, and the damage of the forty-five Imperial-class Star Destroyers under Pellaeon's direct command. At the start of the battle, Daala's fleet landed a large number of ground troops on Yavin IV, but they were defeated by the Jedi there. In space, Ackbar arrived with a small fleet and engaged Daala's numerically superior fleet, though Ackbar would soon be reinforced by a much larger New Republic fleet. Defeated, Daala managed to overcome the Jedi Knight Callista Ming, and escaped from the dying wake of Knight Hammer after Callista sabotaged the behemoth vessel, only to relinquish command, promoting Pellaeon to the rank of Admiral and Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet, apparently resigning Imperial service for good.

Later life


She settled temporarily on Pedducis Chorios as an independent faction leader, leading a group of settlers (mostly retired or disillusioned Imperial military members) on the distant world&mdash;albeit settlers with a sizable military force, including capital ships. Daala would return to service, however, when she learned of Moff Getelles's plan to use the Death Seed plague to take over the Meridian Sector from R2-D2 and C-3PO, whom she found on Cybloc XII after receiving their distress call. Feeling nothing but contempt for Getelles's actions, Daala assisted New Republic forces in defeating a fleet under Admiral Larm at Nam Chorios. After the battle she was reunited with her old flame Liegeus Vorn and the two returned to Peduccis Chorios together.

Almost a year later, Daala resurfaced in the Deep Core looking to establish another fleet. With forces swelled by Imperials returning from imprisonment under the Yevetha, she united the squabbling factions under warlords including Foga Brill and Moff Tethys and prepared to strike once more at the New Republic. Though she did make an attack against the Republic a short time later, General Garm Bel Iblis defeated her soundly, causing her ship to make a blind hyperspace jump. Despite being presumed killed in battle, New Republic Intelligence consistently refused to remove her name from the list of potential threats, and she eventually returned to the larger galaxy in 40 ABY, commanding the Maw Irregular Fleet, at the behest of an aging Gilad Pellaeon. After Pellaeon was assassinated by the Dark Jedi Tahiri Veila on orders from Darth Caedus, Daala and the Maw Irregular Fleet would join forces with the Mandalorians and Admiral Niathal's splinter government while the rest of the Remnant rallied behind Caedus and his government, who they saw as a potential new Emperor or as a way to gain more territory. She later told Mandalore Boba Fett that she had a son and a granddaughter.

New Beginning
"My friends, it is my promise to you here today that sometime in the not-too-distant future, we will live in a galaxy where our space navies exist to better our societies, not defend them -- where we won't need Jedi to sort out our differences and meet out justice, because we will be living under a government that is just."

- Newly appointed Galactic Alliance Chief of State Natasi Daala at the peace ceremony doubling as the end of the Second Galactic Civil War and her inauguration.

Later on in the war, Daala and the Maw Irregular Fleet would take part in such crucial final battles of the war as the Battle of Roche and the Battle of Shedu Maad. After the completion of the latter, during which Sith Lord Darth Caedus was killed, Daala was nominated by Alliance Admiral Nek Bwua'tu for the postion of Galactic Alliance Chief of State, as he did not want it. In lieu of Cha Niathal, Daala was appointed as the only universally accepted choice; so long as she left the Imperial Moffs alone. In exchange for her letting bygones be bygones, the new Moff Council would be composed by an equal amount of females as males, something still unheard of 29 years after Emperor Palpatine's final death. The Solo family would remark that under Daala, things would be quite different.

Personality and traits
Daala was an aggressive commander who harbored much frustration at being so poorly treated in the Imperial command structure. She was remarkably charismatic, but due to her gender and suspect manner of promotion this was often ignored. She also could be ruthless, ordering the bombardment of colonies, the destruction of merchant vessels, the torture of prisoners, and the destruction of worlds with seemingly no remorse. Daala was often prone to great fury which she found difficult to constrain, but found that attacking a target during battle was the best way to release her anger. Daala felt that outbursts of one's anger were unprofessional, and restrained herself mostly to serve as an example to her crewmen.

Daala was also devoted to the cause of the Empire almost to the point of irrationalism&mdash;at least in the eyes of the post-Endor warlords&mdash;and to following orders, remaining at the Maw installation for years without any outside contact. She also was willing to go to great lengths to further that cause, including killing other Imperial leaders, wanting to sacrifice a Star Destroyer to destroy Coruscant, and sacrificing her own life for the Empire. Daala's will to serve the Empire could stem from her great respect for Grand Moff Tarkin. Often before making a decision or when contemplating failure, Daala would think of Tarkin, imagining his rage in the case of the latter.

Beneath the carefully calculated façade used to inspire loyalty in her crew, however, Daala did have a soft side, which she displayed very rarely to those she led or fought against, since, being a woman Daala strived to not show any weakness. She did occasionally reveal this side towards those she respected and trusted, such as her long time second-in-command and her former lover. Daala did display a high degree of emotion toward her own people. When the Hydra plunged into the Maw, Daala was overwhelmed with the thought of all the crewmen losing their lives, possibly because Daala had been charged with leading and training them, so that she felt that their deaths were her fault. Daala had several other such "motherly" reactions to death, when her long time second-in-command was killed during a inter-warlord skirmish. Daala blamed herself for getting him involved in the warlord feuding, and had to fight back the surge of emotion that resulted from his death.

These deaths also played to Daala's own vindictiveness, and Daala would go to great lengths to avenge her losses, personal and otherwise. For instance, when the Hydra crashed into the Maw, Daala obliterated a practically unarmed colony on Dantooine in order sate her appetite for vengeance. Despite her vindictiveness, Daala's compassion for those who served under her was what led her to believe that her constant string of failures put too many lives in jeapordy, to which she reacted by handing Gilad Pellaeon the reigns of the Empire.

Behind the scenes
Admiral Daala was created by Kevin J. Anderson for the Jedi Academy Trilogy. However, she wasn't given the first name of Natasi until Karen Traviss's novel, Revelation, fourteen years after Daala was introduced to the EU.

All of Daala's Star Destroyers (Basilisk, Gorgon, Hydra, and Manticore) are named after mythical beasts, perhaps implying that they are sister ships of the famous Chimaera.

Daala's first name of Natasi was first revealed as her name in the novel Revelation, the eighth out of nine from the Legacy of the Force series. Whether deliberately or coincidental, Daala's name of Natasi is a section of ReNATASIa, the name of her home solar system.

Appearances



 * Death Star
 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * Jedi Search
 * Dark Apprentice
 * Champions of the Force
 * Darksaber
 * Jedi Academy: Leviathan
 * Planet of Twilight
 * Before the Storm
 * Shield of Lies
 * The New Rebellion
 * Specter of the Past
 * Vision of the Future
 * Star Wars: Union
 * Dark Tide I: Onslaught
 * Dark Tide II: Ruin
 * Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse
 * Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
 * The Unifying Force
 * Revelation
 * Invincible
 * Millennium Falcon