Dasha Defano

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 group, 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, 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 and flew T-65 X-wing starfighters. She continued to serve with the Alliance once it transitioned into the New Republic and was assigned to the task force sent to liberate the capital planet Kal'Shebbol in the Kathol sector in 8 ABY.

Following the liberation of Kal'Shebbol, Defano was transferred to the starfighter complement aboard the modified CR90 corvette FarStar, where she served as both a pilot and 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 the FarStars months-long mission and even entered a gunnery competition in an effort to win an extended shore leave pass shortly after the ship left the planet Binaros.

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

As a result, Defano befriended the Human and fellow 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 FarStars 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: he was trying to sow discord between Scoryn and the fighter pilots to give him an advantage in any confrontation that came about between the two of them.

Several months after leaving Kal'Shebbol, the FarStar traveled though the Kathol Rift, an expanse of volatile gases interspersed with severe lightstorms. After a stop at the planet Q'Maere within the Rift, the FarStar took aboard several former prisoners from the Q'Maere Research Facility. The installation had been Sarne's secret prison and reeducation 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. Despite their actions, the mutineers were not put off the ship—the FarStars crew requirements meant that every available hand was required to man the vessel. As such, the mutineers were allowed to remain aboard, albeit it with restrictions to their personal freedoms.

After they passed 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 that his view of the command staff had begun to rub off on Defano. The young pilot found herself not agreeing with Adrimetrum as much as she had 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.

Dasha Defano had blue skin and long, wavy blue 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 and preferred instead to speak of her time flying for the New Republic. A trained pilot, Defano could also drive repulsorlift vehicles, navigate through hyperspace, and operate the weapons and shields on starships. She was trained to use a blaster.

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. Her misgivings stemmed from the fact that a Duros had served aboard the same privateer vessel as she, and she held the belief that any Duros knew of her past. Accordingly, she avoided Krudar whenever possible. Defano also had a soft spot for the downtrodden, and, as a result, a friendship developed 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.

Dasha Defano was created for The DarkStryder Campaign, which was published in 1995 for West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, as a member of the FarStars crew. Her biography was featured in the "Support Crew" section of the publication, written by Peter M. Schweighofer. The illustration of Defano that accompanied the entry was drawn by Mike Vilardi. She was subsequently mentioned in all three accompanying supplements, The Kathol Outback, The Kathol Rift, and Endgame. She later received an entry in the The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, published in 2008.

As a member of the FarStars 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.

• The DarkStryder Campaign
• The Kathol Outback
• The Kathol Rift
• Endgame
• The DarkStryder Campaign, Deluxe
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia