Captain Miara Larte was a human female, the younger sister of Kaeden Larte. After participating in the uprising on Raada in the early reign of the Galactic Empire, she became an A-wing pilot, then an X-wing pilot, and later joined the Alderaanian consular security, a branch of the Rebel Alliance military. She had a talent for making locks and explosives.
Biography[]
Miara and her family moved to the remote Outer Rim moon of Raada when she was very young. She was three years younger than her older sister, Kaeden. When Miara was eleven and Kaeden was fourteen, their parents were killed in a farming accident. Kaeden, although not yet a legal adult, became Miara's guardian. Vartan, the leader of the work crew Miara and Kaeden's parents had been on, hired Kaeden as a gesture of kindness so the girls had some income. By the time Miara was fourteen, in 18 BBY, she was also working on the crew, even though she was technically too young. Vartan gave her lighter hours, due to her age. That year, Miara and Kaeden befriended "Ashla," a Togruta woman close in age to Kaeden who had recently come to Raada and set herself up as a mechanic. Miara, on Kaeden's request, installed a lock with an explosive security feature on Ashla's door.[2]
Ahsoka Tano (pictured) met Miara and her sister under the alias "Ashla"
Unbeknownst to the sisters, Ashla was actually the former Jedi Padawan and Order 66 survivor Ahsoka Tano, who had come to the moon running from the Galactic Empire. Several weeks after Ashla's arrival, a Star Destroyer arrived at Raada with a garrison, as part of an Imperial plan to utilize the moon's farmland to grow a crop that leeched nutrients from the soil. Tano began covertly organizing a resistance, and Miara, due to her talent for bomb-making, was swiftly inducted. However, the farmer Hoban, another member of Vartan's work crew, chafing at what he saw as Ashla's excessive caution, secretly organized another resistance group under her nose, and included both of the Larte sisters.[2]
Tano had planned a quiet strike against the Imperial garrison, to sneak in and plant acid bombs that would destroy the legs of the garrison's walkers. Hoban, however, had secretly planned an attack on the garrison that same night, involving himself, Kaeden and many other insurgents, intending to use the sabotage mission to keep Ashla occupied elsewhere. Miara was with Tano, Kolvin and Hoban's twin sister Neera, planting the acid bombs. During her mission Miara handed Ashla one of the more powerful explosives she had built at Hoban's request, which she had accidentally packed in her bag. Tano did not question Miara about the bomb and focused instead on the mission at hand. she did not return the explosive to Miara however, instead using it to gain information of Hoban's plans from Vartan at Selda's cantina once they returned from the sabotage missing. After finding out the true extent of Hoban's plans she told everyone one in attendance exactly why that mission had been one she had been opposed to. Understandably, when Ashla ordered all the farmers at Selda's to go home while she tried to rescue the farmers in Hoban's crew, Miara and Neera were reluctant to leave their siblings to the doomed mission. Ahsoka agreed to let the two come along to direct as many people away from the conflict as possible. Neera would direct them to Miara who would then give them directions where to go next. Despite their best efforts many of the farmers died in the futile attack, including Hoban, and Tano exposed herself as a Force-user to insure the rest, including Kaeden, got to safety. The Larte sisters, Kolvin, the traumatized Neera, and the rest of the surviving farmers from Hoban's mission were forced to hide in the caves outside of town that Tano had been secretly preparing. Miara was shocked at Ahsoka's deception, but not as much as Kaeden, who, furious, made the mistake of returning to town; where she was arrested by Imperial forces outside Vartan's house, where she had gone to hide. Miara realized her sisters absence and told Tano who, with little to no hesitation, went to go rescue Kaeden, before having to leave Raada for everyone's safety, promising to return.[2]
For many weeks, Miara, Kaeden, Neera, Kolvin, and the other survivng farmers lived in the caves, passing their time with games of crokin. During this time, an Inquisitor, the Sixth Brother, came to Raada looking for Tano. He located the rebels' hideout, and demanded Kaeden surrender herself. Kaeden knew there was no point pretending she wasn't there and was prepared to go out to meet this Inquisitor. Miara protested and insisted the two of them shouldn't be separated again. However on Kaeden's silent request, Miara was stunned by Neera so she couldn't come along and so she'd stay safe. This action would unknowingly save her life. She awoke to find her sister missing and Neera, Kolvin, and all the others dead, slaughtered by the Inquisitor. When Tano returned to Raada shortly thereafter, she found Miara camping a few hours' walk out of town by herself, and Miara told her what had happened. Before rescuing Kaeden, Tano sent Miara to Selda and Vartan to inform them of the arrangements in place for the evacuation of the people of Raada, made with the help of Bail Organa. Despite Miara's protests, she wanted to join Tano and rescue her sister, she took the message to the two older men while Ahsoka fought the Sixth Brother and raided the Imperial compound to rescue all the prisoners held there, including Kaeden. Miara and Kaeden were reunited at Selda's before being evacuated on the Tantive IV, which was the last ship to leave. Durring the evacuation Miara was fascinated by the rebel pilots who arrived to provide cover fire to the evacuees; She instantly expressed interest in fighting for the rebellion and would seek out pilots to talk to when the evacuation was fully complete and the Raadians were safe.[2]
Miara was among those who attended the medal ceremony following the Battle of Yavin
Initially, Miara, Kaeden and the other Raadan refugees were settled in refugee camps on Alderaan. She received pilot training, and eventually became a rebel pilot, a process made easier by the heavy losses the rebellion sustained in those early, less-organized days. In 9 BBY, she was promoted to captain at a ceremony where Queen Breha Organa, Viceroy Bail, and Princess Leia were present. Shortly thereafter, she received her first mission from Fulcrum, who Miara instantly recognized as Tano from the symbol. Knowing she had to keep it a secret, she chose her words carefully when she told Kaeden about it. Miara eventually came to serve in the Alderaanian consular security, and regarded the planet as her second home. In 0 ABY, she and her crew were present at the Great Temple on Yavin 4 for the medal ceremony honoring the heroes of the Battle of Yavin.[3]
Personality and traits[]
Miara was a friendly young woman, but initially had some distrust for Ashla, sensing that she was hiding something. She was also somewhat naïve, despite her considerable talents for building explosives, and was traumatized after Neera and Kolvin's deaths.[2] Over the course of her years serving the rebellion, she gained considerable experience as a starfighter pilot, and adopted Alderaan as a second home. The Disaster left her in mourning, as it did her subordinates who were mostly born on Alderaan. She faced criticism from some native-born Alderaanians for this because she wasn't born there. However, Miara did not let this stop her from being a comforting figure to her crew, as she had already experienced the loss of her previous home, Raada. After spending so much of her life in starships, Miara enjoyed breathing real air whenever she had the chance.[3]
Miara had brown skin of a medium shade, like her sister. Also like Kaeden, she had curly hair, but unlike her sister she had no talent for braiding it, so she wore it loose.[2]
Behind the scenes[]
Miara Larte first appeared in the novel Ahsoka, written by E. K. Johnston, which was published in 2016.[2]
Appearances[]
- Ahsoka (and audiobook) (First appearance)
- "By Whatever Sun" — From a Certain Point of View (and audiobook)