❝ and should that not be remembered, then another piece of alderaanian culture will die, and how many do we possibly have now to spare ? ❞ _______________________________ evaan verlaine written by vee. they/she. 20. est. for galacticshq.
― stardust from a fallen planet blinks in her eyes, which see only the skies & space, a political prodigy turned pilot with the needs of war. screams of ship metal & gunfire burst beyond her body, but her ears fill with silence, the memory of her home gone in an instance with a flash of green power, & a devotion to her people to not only avenge, but to ensure it is not repeated, a promise kept with yellow-striped wings & ship-greased fingertips, with the same stardust in her view.
HUNTER SCHAFER // have you met EVAAN VERLAINE yet? SHE/HER is a TWENTY FIVE year old NONBINARY TRANS FEMALE HUMAN. they’re originally from ALDERAAN and now show loyalty to THE REBELLION. they are best known for being an ACE PILOT & COMMANDER, and i hear they’re pretty LOYAL yet also TRADITIONAL at times; i hope they survive the galactic civil war.
the past ; born on the planet alderaan one year after the conclusion of the clone wars, evaan emerged into a bright & prosperous world free of galactic conflict. thus, her attentions turned to peacekeeping, & at a young age, was one of only a few alderaanian youths to be mentored by queen breha organa. through her time with the queen, she learned much about the culture and heritage of her homeworld and formed a life-long respect for both the queen - whose loss years later she would mourn as if losing a mother - & the house of organa. she became a committed royalist, believing in the alderaanian monarchy, and followed in the footsteps of bail & breha by joining the alliance to restore the republic, more commonly known as the rebellion, becoming a starfighter pilot.
initially serving as a gunner & pilot for larger fleet vessels, evaan was given her first y-wing after operation handoff, replacing gold three. with gold squadron, she fought in the battles of scarif & yavin, the latter of which she was only one of five pilots (solo, skywalker, chewbacca, & wedge antilles her peers) & the only y-wing that survived, even after facing iden versio.
immediately following the battle of yavin, as the rebellion prepared to evacuate their base & move for safer territory, evaan found herself partnering with princess leia organa on a search to find & unite the survivors of alderaan before the empire could finish executing them. this quest took them to naboo, sullust, and skaradosh, and reunited thousands of alderaanian survivors, as well as forming a a genuine friendship between verlaine & organa.
despite organa’s ask to run for queen of naboo - a now elected position among the survivors - & help establish & rule the new alderaanian home, evaan elected to stay with the rebellion, joining aleksander kallus’s crew as a gunner & mechanic from the years 0 to 3 aby, after which she served on their crew part-time while flying missions for the rebellion at organa’s request.
following the battle of hoth in 3 aby, she took a leave from kallus & kryze’s company to fly on a mission with the elite task force starlight squadron, led by shara bey and eventually including jedi knight luke skywalker. with starlight, evaan helped to reconnect rebel cells that had been split during the fleet from hoth, including the command ships of mon mothma & admiral ackbar, delivering new base coordinates & reuniting the alliance into a cohesive whole at sullust, where she had traveled a year prior with organa. this mission saw her promoted to the rank of major within the alliance.
verlaine once again flew under the callsign gold three during the battle of endor in 4 aby, flying under general lando calrissian’s command & helping to destroy the second death star. she also flew in the battle of jakku in 5 aby, after which she was promoted to commander & officially joined the new republic defense fleet, serving on chandrila, the newly minted capital of the new republic. during this time, she also flew the millennium falcon at organa’s behest, assisting with the wookie rebellion on kashyyyk.
the present ; since the war’s formal end, she has continued to serve in the new republic defense fleet, with several squadrons under her command. she has also begun her first forays back into political work, as queen breha organa taught her in her childhood, serving as a military advisor & managing the public image of leia organa.
anakin stiffened before forcing himself to relax. no one knew anakin was vader yet. he knew though that someday it would breka on the holonews and then he’d really be fucked no matter HOW remorseful he actively felt. for now though, he could occasionally answer to the name. glancing at his ship and its pockmarked side where it must have been slightly damaged from those assholes that attacked hapes. “well I won’t say no to extra paneling parts to replace those rustbuckets, I do have some credits but otherwise I may just need to scrap the whole ship.” especially since the longer he looked the more he wondered if the wiring and atmo-protectors might fail… “nothing happened!” well good job there anakin that sharpness sounded plenty normal he couldn’t help but think to himself before sighing and dropping the wrench to the docks floor. “just shipment drop failed when the planet came under attack unfortunately.”
the pilot waves a hand towards one of the droids , white and yellow astromech rolling across the floor towards where they stood - where the man across from evaan was making a very passionate attempt to defend his piloting. at his last words , however , she frowns. when the planet came under attack. had he been at hapes ?
“ well we can help with the paneling. ” she begins , running a gloved hand along one of the long carbon-scores that streaked across the damaged hull , a clear sign of the ship having seen combat. dropping into a crouch , she examines the underside , noting the plethora of loose wires and crumbling screws. this ship had been through hell , it seemed. “ and the rest of it, too. ”
standing back up , she shakes her head , smiling faintly. “ i wouldn’t hope on scrapping it for a newer model , if i were you. at least , anytime soon. ” inclining her head behind to the rest of the shipyard , she explained. “ it seems like half this planet’s trying to do that right now , for one reason or another. ”
Sabe had been moving through the Outer Rim for a little while, gathering data, any details or information she could bring to the New Rebellion on Onderon, or give to Padme for use as she saw fit, but thing s were getting more strained and after a little too close to call skirmish with what looked like spice runners, she figured it was time to get home. Luckily not many things could keep up with her starfighter. Maybe she could go to Naboo and hideaway for sometime at the family lakehouse. But she knew the work was important and she wanted to see what others knew about the small bag of kybercrystals she relieved one of the Pyke’s of too. So many questions.
The sudden loss of onboard systems for a moment and then not able to reach, well anything, was more than unnerving. She shouldn’t have been thinking about Naboo, she thought to herself as she dropped out of subspace. Luckily there were planetoid body’s and after some scary atmosphere hoping Sabe realized she was at Coruscant, and at least that was familiar. Plus things looked a mess as she got closer to the surface, and managed to find a hangar for the ship. She wanted out and looked around, wondering where to start first to figure out what the hell was happening.
when things had gone to hell , as they always did , evaan had immediately scrambled into action ( as she always did ). short - range comms seemed to be working - for short bursts at least - something the planetary defense fleet was taking full advantage of in coordinating a scrambled effort to calm the chaos. onderon received hundreds of ships each day , and with galactic crises occurring more and more frequently , that number was only increasing as representatives & delegations converged on the galactic capitol for peace talks , bartering , bills - whatever the hell the senate was trying to do to combat the new threats. ( leia had explained it , but evaan had barely listened. whoops. )
but the pilot what do what she could - and what that was was being here , on the ground , escorting ships into already - cramped landing spaces and hangars. watching the door of one she’d just assisted slide open , she strides with uniform-boots across the scuffed gray duracrete , waving what she hoped was a friendly hand.
“ welcome to onderon. ” evaan does her best to deliver it chipper , but she’d never been great at customer service or anything of the like , and she almost winces at it comes out , tone very clearly forced. “ are you alright ? ”
violence had been consistent across her life, no matter if her time had been spent with the empire or the rebellion. it had seemed for a moment that it had settled down, but… they had all been wrong about that. iden swallowed the swell of nausea that threatened her, focusing on the sound of evaan’s voice. “wild space and the unknown regions could have a whole plethora of shit that we’re not ready for.” the new republic’s defense fleet had been sized down, politics were still unsteady. they were perfectly vulnerable for attack. “doubtful, if they’ve got more of those cannons. the heat’ll tear them apart. the ships that got torn apart were higher end than most of our fighters.”
“ well , shit. ” the commander comments , frown furrowing her brow. “ has there been talk to corellia’s shipyards yet ? maybe some engineer there knows a temporary solution to our little lava problem that doesn’t involve just avoiding their blasts entirely. ” she looks back down at the schematics & sightings laid out before them , eyes flickering back and forth between pages & intel , rumors , even . they had a name , but barely anything beyond , just shaky & half-reliable firsthand accounts , many unreliable for stress & fear warping memory. evaan was glad iden had been in attendance at hapes , though - not that she had risked her life , but that the inferno squad commander would surely have analyzed all she could of them while facing the danger.
“Heh. You’re right.” Zeb knows better than to piss off any Mandalorian, generally speaking, but they’re particularly keen not to get on Adenn’s bad side. His easy smile drops as Evaan battles with the controls. “This isn’t good doesn’t sound good.” They hop over to the guns, shouting back over their shoulder. “Oh, it’ll be my pleasure.” He blasts a TIE crowding their airspace overhead and swivels to lay some suppressing fire down on another pack of approaching TIEs. “You’re clear! Go, go! Karabast, there’s more of the sleemos coming.”
“ yeah , i know ! ” worn hands grasp at the controls as the sound of zeb’s blaster fire rings out , and with a deft movement they’re in the air , zipping as fast as the little ship allows towards open space. not that there was any , skies crowded by ties & imperial starcraft. well , she’d survived worse odds. “ just keep shooting ! ” the commander orders , blue eyes flitting between specs & skies , redirecting power to engines rather than shields. force , it was moments like these that really reminded her the need for an astromech.
"Like hell I'm leaving you with this lot." Zeb kicked a persistent stormtrooper off their ship's ramp. "Karabast. Don't know if Kallus or Adenn would kill me first." She might not be as close as the Ghost crew, but they'd fought a kriffing war together. Evaan was as good as crew, as good as family. "You wanna pay me back, get us off this dirtball before they blast us off it."
" adenn. " she responds , scrambling up the ramp behind him , blaster firing red , one , two , down. " kallus likes you too much. " black boots make it to the top of the ramp , blond hair vanishing into the ship with one final blast , practiced hands reaching for worn controls before she'd even slid into the pilot's chair , ship's interface glowing & signals beginning to beep back at her. " oh, this isn't good. " muttered under breath as engines begin to fire. " zeb ! " evaan leans back , shouts down the hallway at the lasat. " guns , please ? "
Hera's lekku twitched in sympathy, turning to face Evaan. " I don't think you'll get in the way, Commander. " Chopper makes a comment that is along the lines of most organics get in the way. Don't lie to her. " Go check that the charts are updated, Chop. " they sigh, turning back, " Sorry about him. Some wires crossed I think. " the swear that comes from their droid makes their brows turn upwards. " That's Zeb's doing. " they mutter, " Listen, you can come along if you want. It's just a supply run. Not nearly your most exciting mission. " they tease, already moving to see in their seat.
" anything ' s more exiting than chandrila these days. " the pilot bemoans , joining hera in the copilot's chair , giving chopper a pat as she moves past. while she appreciated her position , part of her missed the front - lines , the action , the stars. she was far more used to flying in skies after the war , patrols & escorts in - atmosphere ; easy work , kind work. but after years of war , it had been harder to settle than she'd expected , to get back to the routine of the life she' d had before. " besides , with the best pilot in the rebellion with me , there's bound to be some excitement. or , " she glances at chopper , a glint in her eyes , " something go wrong. "
one war might have ended, but it was very apparent that another was just beginning. one that she wasn’t sure where or if she belonged in it. iden had learned how to swallow the doubt, how to keep it to herself so that she was the only one who had to be bothered by it. “so what, ninety, ninety-five percent of the ships were lost to those lava cannons?” that wasn’t promising. she knew how lucky she was the corvus survived, her only home. a beat passed, “fuck. so much for demilitarization.”
“ it’s a mess. ” the alderaanian admits , studying the holo projected in front of them , violence in whites & blues. “ intelligence doesn’t have the faintest idea of what these things are - no one does. ” with the empire , it had been different ; they’d known their enemy , some allies having served with them , flown their ships , commanded their fleets. but this force . . . they didn’t even know what their ships were. “ the republic fleet is mostly safe , ” she adds after a moment. “ we didn’t attend expecting a fight , so we didn’t have warships to lose. ” or to fight back. “ but who knows if x-wings & corvettes can even stand a chance against whatever the hell that weapon is. ”
evaan had grown up on holos of the clone wars ; bedtime stories of the heroes who had saved the republic ( only to not live beyond it's fall ) , classroom teachings on tactics & generals , those who had shaped the course of the fight , done what had been right & noble.
even so , she did not recognize anakin skywalker , even when he stood before her.
“ need a hand ? ” fixing ships had always come second to being among the stars , but in peace - time - or the semblance of it - it had come to serve as a point of comfort for the alderaanian. chandrila saw thousands of travelers visiting the world each rotation , which meant plenty of ships for her to fix when she wasn't swooping through the skies or attending yet - another political meeting at leia or breha's insistence.
“ no offense , but your ship looks like shit. ” sharp eyes peer at the damage , paying more mind to the vessel than the figure. “ what happened ? ”
STARTER for @fearlessskywalker with the jedi knight anakin skywalker.
