The Thel family was a long line of Pantoran military professionals. Their ancestors once served as admirals and generals when the old Republic still had its armed forces, or so the family records said. The young Thiena, the only child of her parents (but among many cousins), knew both her mom and dad were officers in Pantora's
Planet Security Forces (PSF), and so were her grandparents, and a bunch of generations before that. She grew up in a comfortable upper middle class household. There wasn't too much pressure on her, and her was successful in her studies. Her parents never forced her to sign up for the PSF, but Thiena did it anyway because that's what her family did, and the Defense Academy also offered a nice scholarship (meaning she could spend her savings on alcohol).
Things quickly became bored at the academy. Infantry officer training was the same for the last 970 years. There's been no major war in the galaxy and the students had long figured out how to pass the same old tests. So Thiena, being a young woman full of energy, decided to spice up her extracurricular activities by helping classmates import, well, spice. A little bit of drug was typical for college students across the galaxy, but this was 22 BBY, and as one 900-year-old frog said: "Begun, the Clone War has". Unfortunately for Thiena and her buddies, their spice came from
Ventooine, a world allied with the Separatist Alliance. To make matters worse, their ringleader was paying with copies of Pantoran tactics manuals.
It didn't take long for the Defense Academy to find out. The older students were promptly court-martialed (many were executed later), while Thiena was allowed to seek counsel from her reputable family before her trial. Well, Thiena certainly wasn't going to just get a scolding and possibly the blaster muzzles of a firing squad later. Oh no, she couldn't care less if her family reputation was ruined. She took everything she could stuff in her bags and booked it off-planet on the first hyperdrive-equipped ship. Several jumps later, she found herself on Ventooine.
Alone in the northern reaches of the Outer Rim, the then 20-year-old Thiena Thel was suddenly very much scared and directionless. Gone was the bravado of her youth; what has she done? She had only traveled off Pantora a few times in her life, and none of them was to the Outer Rim. Here she was in a dirty spaceport with a bunch of really weird aliens. Ouch! One of them just bumped into her! Anyway, she had only a small batch of credits and- Wait, where did her credits go? That kriffing bantha fodder must've picked it out of her bag.
There's only one place out here she knew, or she thought she knew. Thiena was nothing if not resourceful, and surely enough, she found the spice dealers she had dealt with. They were a crown corporation owned by the
Satabs, the planet's monarchy. For all they cared, the cadets at Pantora were just one of many thousand clients they dealt with. Thiena asked them for a job, claiming that she had provided, and would continue to provide, intel on her planet. She was rebuffed; credit was what the Satabs was after. So Thiena came back three days later with 1000 credits chips, robbed from clueless spice tourists with a fake blaster. The Satabs were impressed this time, so they gave Thiena her first paying job.
That job turned out to be "accountant's assistant", which was a glorified way to say caf fetcher. She spent three months learning all the ways to make caf, and developed somewhat of an addiction to it. Then she got bored. There was a war out there in the wider galaxy. A soldier was what she went to college to become, so why was she fetching drinks for a nobody? Thank the stars a CIS military recruiter came to this backwater planet that week. The mighty Confederacy Army needed creative organic minds behind their battle droid hordes. Thiena came to the recruiter wearing her academy ring, which she claimed was rewarded for graduating at the top of her class and participating in 300+ simulated raids (it was just a souvenir in reality). And what did she know, another interview aced!
Commissioned as a lieutenant, Thiena's first battle was
Berchest, where her droid contingent was wiped out by the local militia. Her superiors were disappointed with her first performance, seeing her overconfidence and lack of practical experience as unsuitable for field operations. She was sent back behind the desk to manage signals and logistics. Instead of admitting defeat, Thiena took this chance to further her skills in rear echelon duties.
Toward the end of 20 BBY, the CIS was in retreat. Another chance to fight came up when organic combatants were needed to compensate for massive droid losses. Thiena was reassigned to lead a platoon of volunteers. They shipped off to Ringo Vinda and was instrumental in relieving Admiral Trench's task force. Although the battle groundside was ultimately a loss, Thiena's platoon succeeded in evacuating key military assets. It was also in Ringo Vinda where Thiena saw the Force in action. Wielded by Jedi masters Tiplee and Tiplar, it was a dazzling sight to behold. Seeing super battle droids melted like Alderaanian cheese struck fear in Thiena like never before.
When the master shutdown code ended the droid army, Thiena Thel was on Taspir III. She had been promoted to captain after several harrowing battles in the Outer Rim Sieges, and was leading a company. The local system, Dynali, had overthrown a pro-Republic monarchy in favor of joining the Confederacy. Thiena's mission was to destroy pro-Republic militias, but Republic soon ceased to exist. The new Imperial Military swept in with overwhelming force; star destroyers and stormtroopers, but there was no Jedi.
Captain Thiena Thel would be saved by Colonel Stormcaller, a Kaleesh leading a band of Separatist-aligned raiders called the Scarlet Moons. They would learn of Order 66, Palpatine's rise to emperor and the collapse of CIS leadership. However, Stormcaller refused to surrender. He negotiated an alliance with the pirates of
Vextan asteroid belt and established a holdout there. For the nearly four years, Stormcaller continued raiding Imperial military installations. Eventually, their funds ran dry as the nearby Banking Clans pledged their allegiance to the Empire. Then,
Relgim Rescue & Security (RRS), a group of mercenary pilots, destroyed their asteroid hideout.
Stormcaller decided that the war was truly over now. Many of his subordinates had surrendered to the Imperials. The colonel himself would not. The Republic and the Empire made him the scapegoat of all Clone War atrocities in neighboring sectors. Thiena knew what it was like and agreed wholeheartedly; turning themselves in would only be rewarded with a swift death.
So the what remained of the Scarlet Moons in 15 BBY would pack it up and go home, or that's what they thought. For Thiena, she found herself not only remaining as a wanted "war criminal" on Pantora, but also being blamed as one of the greatest traitors of her people. Using dark channels of the Holonet, she made contact with her parents for the first time in seven years. Thiena poured her heart out over the chat, and her parents cried on the other side. They cursed the war, the shifting loyalties, the distance, and her parents promised they would welcome her back home and obtain a pardon from the authorities. And so Thiena returned to Pantora; her parents were waiting at the spaceport, frowning. Behind them were stormtroopers and ISB agents. They lied to her.
The Thel family placed service and duty above all else, her parents explained. If their daughter was truly repentant, then she would emerge from the trial absolved. It was a pile of nerf dung. How could she possibly be absolved when the Defense Academy was teaching how big bad Thiena Thel sold out her homeworld out for a sniff of spice? Pantora was not her home anymore, and her parents no longer her family. She had suspicions, as much as she hated to admit, that their reunion would come to this. It was why Thiena brought a concealed blaster with her, and how she shot her way out of her arrest.
Surprisingly, running away from home the second time was actually easier than the first. Having a plan helped, and so does having her own ship. She instinctively jumped back to that backwater hole known as Ventooine, except it was now ruled by a pro-Imperial tieress. Thiena couldn't risk staying here, so she made a random hyperspace jump. As soon as her ship returned to realspace, her holoscreen lit up with an incoming message. It was Colonel Stormcaller; he said he had communed with the spirit of General Grevious on Kalee, and received a vision to continue the fight. The only "vision" Thiena received was on a potent spice trip. But maybe the good Colonel was secretly one of them Force-sensitive types. Whatever the case, Stormcaller needed Thiena's help, and who was she to defy a colonel?
Many Scarlet Moons members were caught by Imperial authorities when they disbanded. Stormcaller, Thiena and other survivors took it upon themselves to bust their former comrades out of jail. They returned to the asteroid hideout at Vexta and spent months planning a prison raid. Finally, they attacked the prison on an island, on the planet Ord Thoden. The wardens were briefly overcame and former Scarlet Moon members escaped with their old Colonel. In the process, Thiena discovered that the prison was also a work camp, where prisoners were used as slave labor for mass glass production.
From 15 to 10 BBY, the Scarlet Moons was reformed as a group of mercenaries and pirates. Stormcaller took on contracts in minor conflicts across the Outer Rim. They initially operated in Hutt Space and avoided Imperial worlds. But they soon took to raiding, which meant the juiciest targets belonged to the Empire. It was during these raids that Thiena and the others encountered numerous other slave labor camps. Former POWs, dissidents and "sub-sentient aliens" toiled for the Imperial war machine. In was in 10 BBY when Stormcaller reached his epiphany. He claimed that those Imperial slavemasters were the foes Grevious' spirit instructed him to fight against.
Between 10 and 4 BBY, the Scarlet Moons was once again an insurgency. They liberated the oppressed, as Colonel Stormcaller envisioned. Many prisoners were freed from the Empire's horrific work camps, many weapon constructions were sabotaged and even those that supported the New Order were assassinated. The Scarlet Moons reached its pinacle in 4 BBY, when they destroyed the headquarters of
Dynamic Automata, a company known for it's fervent support of human high culture and its widespread use of an involuntary workforce. Metron Besk, Dynamic Automata's cruel president, was dead. Their slaves were freed a week later. Their holdings were absorbed by the Tenloss Syndicate. Most importantly, the Empire could no longer buy cheap circuits and transparisteel from Dynamic Automata.
This was the biggest victory anyone in Scarlet Moons could hope to achieve. There was not much they could do, so maybe it was retirement for good this time? Thiena and the rest of the group went their own ways quietly. For the now 37-year-old Pantoran, a vacation was long overdue. Armed with bags of credits stolen from Metron Besk's personal vault, Thiena Thel retreated to the easy life on Canto Bight. She lived in a fancy penthouse suite, rejuvenated her skin in the galaxy famous spas, started a few flings with other high rollers and gambled her nights away. Then her credits ran out, and Thiena Thel found herself scrubbing fathier stables for her next meal.
During 2 BBY, the Declaration of Rebellion was broadcasted across the galaxy. Colonel Stormcaller's face appeared on Thiena's datapad the next week; he was convening a meeting among ex-Scarlet Mooners on Vextan asteroid belt. This was a dire turn of events, Stormcaller said.
Getting off Canto Bight was a bit tricky. Thiena had to borrow a toy blaster from the stable kids and used it to secure a real blaster from a police officer. Then she had to do a lot of shooting and running around the spaceport before blasting off to space. She was hesitant to jump to Vexta; what if this was a trap? Sure, a galaxy-wide rebellion is big news, but why would Stormcaller suddenly surface again? And what did she know; her arrival at the asteroid belt was followed. RRS ambushed the Scarlet Moons' at their old asteroid base, as part of their new Imperial contract (having taken over Dynamic Automata Security Division's job). Both Thiena and Stormcaller escaped to Kalee, but half that came to the meeting didn't. Stormcaller's old second-in-command, a Quarren major by the name of Saka-e-Uba, died.
Kalee, Stormcaller's homeworld, was under Imperial occupation. But Stormcaller knew his way around, so he was able to sneak his followers down to a barren plain. It used to the site of great temples dedicated to Kaleesh ancestors, but they were bombarded flat by the Empire years ago. It was now a boneyard, where the Imperial Navy dumped their obsolete starships in. Recently, Kaleesh pilgrims had built a shrine in the center of it all, dedicated to Qymaen jai Sheelal.
"This is where you've been for the last two years?" Thiena asked.
"No." Stormcaller answered. He had traveled to the Core to see the enemy's homefront. It was every bit as decadent and disgusting as he'd imagined. In the underbelly of Coruscant, Stormcaller came in contact with a conspiracy group. They had evidence that Palpatine was the sole being controlling both sides of the Clone Wars. It all made sense to him now; Palpatine was using everyone else in the galaxy as pawns to further his own power. This so called "Alliance to Restore the Republic" must be his latest ploy. The Scarlet Moons must fight back, as it always had. The Rebel Alliance would be their new enemy.
Stormcaller requested Thiena to fulfill Saka-e-Uba's role as his executive officer. As she saw no better alternative (being wanted on Pantora and probably the Corporate Sector), Thiena accepted and was "promoted" to major. Their first task was refurbishing a
Dreadnaught-class cruiser the Empire discarded on Kalee (as an obsolete support vessel). While procuring replacement parts along the Outer Rim, Major Thiena Thel worked extensively with the Debt-Payer's Union, a group of anti-Human militants lead by ex-slaves the Scarlet Moons once liberated. When the cruiser was refitted (and christened as
Sweet Revenge), the Debt-Payer's Union had agreed to join Colonel Stormcaller.
From 2 BBY until the new epoch two years later, Scarlet Moons battled the Rebel Alliance in the northern reaches of the Outer Rim. They still raided Imperial and corporate bases, but the Rebels were their primary target. Thiena and other veterans could say that this was the most enjoyable time, as they were stomping on even more poorly equipped foes. Thiena helped Colonel Stormcaller recruit new troops. These recruits were adventurers, criminals, escaped slaves, and predominately non-Human, as anti-Human sentiment became the norm among lower ranking personnel. Some had prior combat experiences, some didn't. Whatever the case, all were given a week of orientation and learned their trade on the battlefield. CIS veterans no longer made up the majority, and battle droids were non-existent. Imperial authorities reclassified Scarlet Moons from "Separatist holdout" to "pirates".
The destruction of the Death Star made Colonel Stormcaller think long and hard. He suspended operations for months to verify the news, and eventually concluded that the Rebel Alliance had genuinely dealt a crippling blow to the Empire. Did that mean they were fighting potential allies for the last two years? Thiena contacted the Alliance on her own, and met Rebel intelligence commander
Airen Cracken. The Alliance offered Scarlet Moons a place among their forces; Thiena declined, but agreed to stop attacking them. She made the deal without Stormcaller knowing, though she convinced the colonel to accept it. Few Scarlet Moons members wanted to restore the Republic, but as long as the Empire threatened everyone, they'd have to co-exist, for now.
For the better part of three years following the Battle of Yavin, the Scarlet Moons laid low. Their operations had condensed from twenty-plus sectors to just the northwestern half of the Relgim Run. Thiena, Stormcaller and other commanders reorganized the troops into two battalions. The Brimstone Battalion was the premier assault force headed by Stormcaller himself, while Thiena's Sunburst Battalion, mostly less-than-experienced recruits, was the reserve and rear guard.
In early 3 ABY, pirates known as the
Void Wings moved into Scarlet Moons' turfs. These pirates pillaged recklessly and with complete disregard for collateral damage. The Void Wings fought the Scarlet Moons on multiple occasions, and their (relatively) powerful fleet proved dangerous. In addition, the Void Wings attracted Imperial attention. If the brazen raids continued like that, Imperial forces wouldn't be just content staying on defense. And so Stormcaller had to put an end to the Void Wings. He challenged their leader, a big Weequay that goes by "Oni'antae", to single combat. Stormcaller won, but not purely due to his own prowess; Thiena had snuck in a disruption ray emitter, calibrated specifically for Weequays. As per pirate's honor, Stormcaller won the Void Wing's allegiance. Some pirates joined him and some left; their best ships belonged the Scarlet Moons regardless.
By 4 BBY, the Scarlet Moons had amassed five capital ships, dozens of smaller crafts, caches full of military-grade blasters, over 4000 personnel, and three batallions. What didn't exist was a full on fight. This would change after Battle of Endor. Nobody expected the Rebels to destroy a second death star, and certainly not killing Vader and the emperor. It was around the same time that Dynamic Automata reemerged, likely profiting off (their competitor) Tenloss Syndicate's troubles elsewhere. The political climate was chaotic; Imperial Navy admirals broadsided each other for command, moffs locked down their sectors and cut out Holonet access, while war profiteers began ransoming isolated worlds for "protection". Mostly importantly, the Declaration of New Republic was broadcasted one month after Endor. There was no denying anymore; the Empire's dying, and the New Republic is the future.
After 25 years at war, Major Thiena Thel and Colonel Stormcaller came to the inevitable conclusion: a republic was the victor. So what was point of carrying the vestiges of a cause lost twenty years ago? Thiena was forty-five years old, and she had learned to let go of dogma and old grudges. She also remembered the Alliance's offer after Yavin. Stormcaller agreed, so they contacted the Rebel's, or the New Republic's, high command. For the Scarlet Moons, this war would end in the same place as the last one; Dynali sector. Moff Tadh Shtoan, the former Republic admiral that "liberated" this sector, had retreated to Coruscant, and took three of his five star destroyers along. But the countless number of glass factories, responsible for creating transparisteel for export, still chugged on. If they strike now, Thiena explained, they could capture two industrial centers (Ord Thoden and Taspir III), in the New Republic's name. All Scarlet Moons needed were reinforcements and heavy weapons.
The Rebels agreed. They would rendezvous in Vextan asteroid belt.
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