Elara Dorne

Elara was born on Dromund Kaas to a highly prestigious Imperial family, whose members served in the Imperial Military for many generations as part of the familiy tradition. Born and raised during the Great Galactic War, Elara followed her father Vasil Dorne in enlisting in the military in medical specialization in 3648 BBY; her brother Aleksei joined in the technical specialization on the same day. Both siblings were proud to serve in the military, and over her two years of service in the Cold War against the Galactic Republic Elara earned more commendations than most typically earned in ten. Serving under Commander Thorus, she witnessed the man commit numerous war crimes which included executing hundreds of civilian non-combatants and ordering full-scale bombings of unarmed populations in circumvention of direct orders from the Imperial High Command. Elara became disillusioned with the Empire, whose soldiers routinely violated their own regulations and goals without cause and any notions of discipline and honor were discarded the moment a Sith asked it. Refusing to participate in atrocities her comrades in arms committed, Elara raised her concerns to her superiors, but the only thing questioned was her resolve to the cause. Strongly suspecting that she would be forced to prove her loyalty by carrying out orders directly against her consciense, Elara made a decision to defect to the Republic in 3646 BBY. Noting numerous inefficiencies in her unit's assigned routes, she slipped away during a night patrol and surrendered to the first Republic unit she came across, declaring her intention to defect.

Given her extensive training and knowledge of the Imperial military protocols and culture, Elara Dorne was allowed to join the Republic Military as personnel number 22-795 under Service Code 37-R, becoming the sergeant of the Search and Rescue Squad 204. In the next three years she earned several commendations for rescuing wounded soldiers under fire in enemy territory, including two Medals of Valor. However, as part of the condition that allowed her to serve in the military, regulation 449 required her to make regular reports on her activities to the Personnel Division of the Army of the Galactic Republic. Her handler in the Personnel Division was Captain Kalor, who remained convinced that Elara was purposely withholding information. Dorne was not only a "person of concern" for the Personnel Division, but in the Republic as well, as her Kaasi accent was a clear giveaway of her origins as soon as she spoke. Even people who didn't treat her as a potential spy viewed her as a resource to learn more about Imperial military procedures, personnel, and culture. However, Elara viewed this inconvenience as a small price to pay for clear conscience and never regretted her decision to defect, the Republic becoming her home in just a few short years.

Elara and her squad were eventually posted on Taris under Colonel Gaff, who worked with the Taris Resettlement Initiative. During her tour on Taris, Elara's unit was temporarily commanded by a civilian security officer named Ridu. During a Republic senator's visit, Ridu didn't want to portray Taris as a dangerous planet and understaffed his security detail, resulting in the senator being killed by rakghouls. Rather than take responsibility for his actions, Ridu pinned the blame on Dorne.

In 3643 BBY Elara Dorne was present when Havoc Squad, consisting of Aric Jorgan and his commanding lieutenant, arrived to ask for Gaff's assistance with their mission. Republic Special Forces Division General Elin Garza ordered Gaff assist Havoc in any way possible, but since he was not to know the details of their mission, Gaff was more than willing to dismiss it as unimportant. Upon meeting with Havoc Squad, Colonel Gaff blatantly disregarded Garza's orders, partly due to the fact that their mission was top secret, claiming that nothing unusual happened under his watch. Elara spoke up to the lieutenant directly, revealing that three patrol teams have gone missing without explanation and when Gaff attempted to silence her for speaking out of turn, cited regulation Code 73-B that made Garza's orders a priority. Gaff dismissed Dorne's claims, insisting that the missing squads have fallen prey to wildlife and colonel excused himself, after which Elara apologized for Gaff's behavior and stated that it was not the first time he defied direct orders.

Elara suggested that Havoc should investigate the patrols' last known coordinates and search for signs of unusual activity. Havoc lieutenant determined that the patrols were ambushed by local scavengers and traced them back to their Fallenspire Stronghold. It turned out that some of the missing soldiers were being help captive there, and Elara led Search and Rescue Squad 204 to tend to Ensign Tane and other captured soldiers, while Havoc Squad went after Needles, the man to whom the scavengers were planning to deliver their captives. Havoc Squad reached an Imperial outpost where Needles was last seen, but found only Imperial commander Thorus, who was willing to reveal Needles' location in exchange for being allowed to go free. Elara called Havoc on holo, warning the lieutenant not to broker any deals with the man, and explaining that she personally served under Thorus and witnessed his war crimes. The lieutenant threatened Thorus, who revealed Needles' location and explained that he wass experimenting with turning men into rakghouls. Though Elara asked lieutenant to execute Thorus on the spot, Havoc commander honored their agreement, letting the commander go. After killing Needles and destroying his research, Havoc Squad returned to Olaris reclamation base, where Elara informed them that Garza wanted an update about their mission's status. Garza noted Dorne's exceptional service record and suggested recruiting her into Havoc Squad. The lieutenant made her a formal invitation, which Elara gladly accepted, seeing it as the greatest honor of her career. She immediately filed a personnel transfer form to Gaff and went to join Havoc on their BT-7 Thunderclap.

Once onboard Havoc Squad's BT-7 Thunderclap, Elara stowed her personal items and medical equipment and immediately began reviewing and memorizing all intelligent reports on Havoc's current assignment, which was hunting down Havoc's previous roster who had defected to the Empire under its former leader Harron Tavus. When it was time to make her scheduled report to Captain Kalor, Elara asked her new CO to be present during the call, as her new activities with Havoc Squad now included classified information. Kalor did not take kindly to being locked out of the loop on Elara's missions, but let the matter go for the time being. The new Havoc Squad pursued the traitors, rescuing Vanto Bazren who came to regret his defection from Colonel Gorik on Tatooine and destroying Bex Kolos' prototype walker Project B with him still inside on Alderaan. Eventually, Havoc confronted and defeated Tavus himself on his flagship, the Justice.

Elara then received a holomesage with Imperial signal codes, which turned out to be a call for help from her brother Aleksei. He and his squad were caught tampering with a Hutt operation on Nar Shaddaa and were disavowed by the Empire before their Hutt allies. Elara asked her CO for permission to help her brother and help him go over to the Republic side. Her leave was granted and her mission was a complete success, with Aleksei formally defecting to the Republic. Elara thanked her CO for allowing her to help Aleksei and started compiling notes to help guide him through defection process. However, this incident caused Kalor to suspect Elara of hiding additional useful information, which allowed him to continue questioning her under Security Regulation 15. Kalor sought to reopen inquiry about Elara's status by using Ridu's testimony about the Senator's death on Taris. Learning of this in advance, Elara returned to Taris and confronted Ridu with overwhelming evidence, which convinced the man of his mistake, leading him to recant the testimony. Even though Kalor now had nothing on Elara, he became even more suspicious of her and attempted to use a legal loophole to reopen the inquiry without any new evidence. Seeing a preemptive strike as her only option to escape an investigation, Elara gathered complete records of her every interaction with Kalor over the years and traveled to Coruscant. There, she used Service Code 1 to require an immediate hearing with the Personnel Division, presenting her evidence of expenditures and man hours wasted by Kalor on his investigation, which totaled to thousands of credits. Any suspicions regarding Elara were dropped and her status as a "person of concern" was revoked, granting her full citizenship and legal status within the Galactic Republic.

After the hunt for Tavus and defectors was over, Havoc Squad was assigned to neutralize the new Imperial superweapon called the Gauntlet. To fill the gaps in its roster, the Squad recruited technical specialist Yuun and an explosive expert Tanno Vik, before infiltrating and destroying the weapon during the Battle of the Gauntlet. When Galactic War renewed in 3642 BBY, Havoc Squad was assigned to apprehend Imperial General and military strategist Arkos Rakton. After rescuing the Dagger Wing from Belsavis prison and freeing the Eighty-first Infantry from their assignment on Voss, Havoc Squad joined the Republic forces in the ongoing Battle of Corellia. There, Havoc Squad led the offensive to reclaim the Bastion from the Empire alongside the Safecrackers and the Fifty-third Armored Platoon. Breaching the Bastion's defenses, Havoc Squad cornered General Rakton inside and successfully apprehended him, dealing a serious blow to the Imperial offensive. For capturing Rakton, Elara and other Havoc squad members each received a Gold Crescent.

Elara Dorne remained a member of Havoc Squad for over five years, until in 3636 BBY the galaxy was invaded by the Eternal Empire of Zakuul. Early on in the Eternal Empire conquest Havoc's CO went missing and the Squad went to search for their officer. However, this interfered with their active duties and the Squad was officially reprimanded, which gave Supreme Chancellor Leontyne Saresh an excuse to remove an ex-Imperial from Republic's most elite unit. The squad fell apart as Tanno Vik returned to the life of crime, Yuun ventured into the Unknown Regions to continue the search for the Major and M1-4X was assigned to the Republic Press Corps. Jorgan was promoted to Major and given command of the Havoc Squad, while Elara's career was saved by the Supreme Commander Jace Malcom, who stepped in and assigned her to his personal staff. Malcom promoted Dorne to Captain and gave her assignments that allowed her to continue the search for her former CO, though Elara eventually had to stop looking and move on with her life.

In 3630 BBY, the Eternal Empire was overthrown by the Eternal Alliance, which absorbed Zakuul's military strength along with the Eternal Fleet, presenting itself as a new power on the galactic scale. When the Republic received an anonymous intel regarding an immensely powerful superweapon on a recently rediscovered world of Iokath, Supreme Commander Malcom led the Republic forces to secure the weapon, as did both the Sith Empire and the Alliance's Eternal Fleet. Malcom sent Elara as an ambassador to the Alliance Commander, with the orders to sabotage the meeting and escape should the Alliance turn against the Republic. Taken captive by Lana Beniko who treated Elara as an assassin despite her protests, Elara presented herself to the Alliance Commander along with Imperial Major Malavai Quinn and arranged a holocall with Commander Malcom, who asked the Commander to side with the Republic against the Imperial forces led by Sith Empress Darth Acina.

Elara Dorne was a kind and compassionate person with strong moral convictions and ideals. She joined the Imperial army out of family tradition, but saw the service in the military primarily as a way of helping others, taking a medical specialization and becoming a highly talented field medic. She continued to assist wounded soldiers under fire while leading Search and Rescue Squad 204 and remained a medic in the Havoc Squad. In both the Imperial and Republic military service, her operational record was flawless, earning her numerous awards and commendations. Despite being raised in the Sith Empire from birth, Elara valued personal rights and upholding the law, becoming one of the relatively few Imperial-born to defect to the Republic out of sense of consciousness rather than desperation. Initially believing the Imperial propaganda about Republic and the Jedi, she quickly noted the Empire's hypocrisy after her reports of war crimes failed to affect any change. Despite her fondness of her family, Elara made a choice to defect knowing she would never see any of them again, and was overjoyed when she was reunited with her brother Aleksei years later. While facing prejudice and suspicion from many in the Republic, Elara never once regretted her choice to defect, feeling that she was given a great honor to serve in Republic's most elite military unit. Elara noted that she would one day be a great mother to her future children because of the hardships she faced in life.

Elara's most noticeable trait was her strict adherence to rules and protocol. She was able to memorize and quickly recall any number of codes, clauses and regulations in either Imperial or Republic military law and did not hesitate to invoke them when the situation required it, causing constant irritation to her superiors and subordinates alike. Republic soldiers' view of Elara was fairly unpopular, regarding her as a cold, asocial killjoy. Despite this, Elara was constantly able to use her knowledge of rules and regulations to her advantage, defusing hostile situations, gaining necessary assistance on the missions and even furthering her career. Though valuing all life and preferring peaceful resolutions whenever necessary, Elara also possessed a strict sense of justice, calling for execution of commander Thorus for his war crimes.

Elara Dorne appears in Star Wars: The Old Republic as a companion character for Trooper class, voiced by Moira Quirk. During her introductory mission on Taris she has distinctly green eyes, but after she joins the player's crew as a companion, her character model consistently has blue eyes in every subsequent appearance. Male Troopers can initiate a romance and subsequently offer to marry Elara, in which case she will file Form 3578-K, allowing them to pursue a formal relationship despite being a CO and a subordinate.

At the beginning of Act 2 of the class story, player is promoted to the rank of Captain and has to pick either Aric Jorgan or Elara Dorne as their executive officer. If Elara is selected, she will be promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and will briefly lead Havoc Squad after the player disappears during the Knights of the Fallen Empire. During the assault on the Gauntlet, player has to pick either Jorgan, Dorne or M1-4X to stay behind and guard the escape route, while assigning the other two on a dangerous mission to the ship's bridge. If Elara is assigned to the bridge, she will be seriously injured at the end and will remain recuperating onboard the player's ship until the player completes the class mission on Belsavis, while if she remains behind, Jorgan is injured instead.

Elara's fate changes greatly depending on player's choice to side with either Empire or Republic on Iokath, neither of which is a Dark or Light side option. If the player sides with the Republic, Elara is ordered to stay with Lana Beniko to defend the Fleet Spire against the Empire. If the player is a Trooper, the two will later have a reunion, during which male Troopers can resume their romance or break up with Elara. However, if player previously made Dark Side choices such as allowing Kaliyo Djannis to kill Zakuulan civilians in a bomb attack, or executing Jorgan following the raid on the Hyperwave relay station, Elara will become disgusted with her former CO and refuse to join the Alliance or resume the romance, stating that the man she knew died six years ago. For every other class, Elara simply joins the Alliance as a companion after Iokath without any additional dialogue past her introductory scene. If Elara remained in the Alliance with a Trooper class player then after the Meridian Complex assault, she will want to discuss training others in emergency medicine for future battles against the Sith Empire. This does not apply to other classes.

If the player sides with the Empire however, Elara's role is different. She detonates the charges planted on some Alliance vehicles and uses a flash grenade to escape, later reporting to Malcom about her assessment of the Alliance Commander's psychological profile. When Malcom comes to Iokath, Elara informs him about the progress on a backdoor into a superweapon, noting that the data they received contains gaps. Malcom later assumes an Iokathi Throne and activates the superweapon, awakening the Six Gods, but Elara notices that the Throne rejects his input. An energy surge kills Malcom in front of his son Theron Shan, while Elara escapes in the confusion.

• Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia