Alya Aldrete

Lady Alya Aldrete, a Human female noblewoman from Alderaan, belonged to the wealthy Aldrete family. She lived during the initial years of the Imperial Period. As the heiress to her family's network of casinos, hotels, and passenger liners, Aldrete gained considerable recognition in galactic society because of her extreme indulgence in pleasure and her dissolute behavior. She became a celebrity icon, with the media widely reporting on her activities, covering her romantic relationships, vacation destinations, and clubbing experiences.

However, Aldrete's public image was a carefully crafted deception. She established a network of smugglers and pirates operating in the Core Worlds and Deep Core regions of the galaxy, stretching from Alderaan to Empress Teta. This network was involved in smuggling a variety of goods, including stolen artworks, spice, and other prohibited luxury items. She managed to keep her operation hidden from the Galactic Empire and utilized her network to map out reliable hyperlanes and acquire information. Her infiltration of the Deep Core surpassed even the renowned Bothan Spynet espionage organization. She also employed the elderly Twi'lek male Notru'denn as her personal assistant.

Around 17 BBY, Alya's grandfather commissioned the Gem of Alderaan, a new luxury, high-speed hovertrain for the Aldrete family's business. The socialite actively participated in the train's design, suggesting the inclusion of bars in every hovercar. The rear car was designated as Aldrete's personal hovercar, housing the nightclub called Decadence. The club's atmosphere reflected Aldrete's reputation for indulgence and vice, and she hired bouncers to restrict entry to those she deemed unimportant or unattractive. A personal office was also installed for Aldrete on the floor above the club.

An exclusive launch party marked the maiden voyage of the new train, a six-hour journey from the city of [Aldera](/article/aldera-legends]. Lady Aldrete attended as the guest of honor. At the end of a reception gala held at an Alderaan repulsor-station, Aldrete gave a slurred welcome speech, inviting attendees to board the train while sipping Alderaanian brandy. Her staff escorted her onto the Gem of Alderaan before the other guests, and she spent the initial part of the journey surrounded by hangers-on. A group of agents from the Alderaanian Resistance, a rebel group led by Alderaan's representative to the Imperial Senate, Bail Organa, infiltrated the train to seek an audience with Aldrete. Aware of Aldrete's extensive connections in the Deep Core, the rebels sought her assistance in securing passage to Prakith to rescue the captive Jedi Master Denia from the Imperial Inquisitor Valin Draco. Several hours into the journey, Notru'denn met with the operatives on Aldrete's behalf, and after learning the purpose of their mission, she agreed to meet with them in her office above the Decadence nightclub.

Before Aldrete and Organa's operatives could connect, the Gem of Alderaan was attacked by a group of Trandoshan mercenaries. The Trandoshans aimed to capture Bail Organa, mistakenly believing he was a guest on the hovertrain. Aldrete was captured by the attackers, bound, and gagged, and taken to the cockpit where she was held hostage by the Trandoshans' mercenary commander. The rebel agents fought off the Trandoshans and attempted to free the noblewoman. Using Aldrete as a Human shield, the mercenary commander dragged her to the roof of the train, attached a tow cable to her, and attempted to airlift her to a Citadel cruiser overhead. However, Organa's operatives defeated the Trandoshan and freed Aldrete. Caught in a strong wind, Aldrete almost fell off the roof but was saved by one of her rescuers just in time. Moments later, shortly before the out-of-control train crashed into a mountain, Aldrete and the agents were saved by the operatives' ally Sirona Okeefe, who landed on the roof of the train in the Baudo-class star yacht Banshee and flew them to safety.

Okeefe transported Aldrete and the agents to Bail Organa's private Alderaan retreat. Aldrete thanked the operatives for rescuing her and agreed to support their mission to free Master Denia. She offered security clearances for travel to the Deep Core, the latest astrogational data to reach Prakith, and a pirated transceiver to send encrypted communications over Imperial channels. Additionally, Aldrete provided the latest intelligence from her network on Valin Draco's movements, revealing that Draco's Star Courier starship had landed at the Citadel Inquisitorius on Prakith months ago and intercepted messages indicated he was holding Denia captive there. Aldrete then parted ways with her rescuers, promising to share any useful intelligence for their mission to Prakith and to contact them regarding the rigged transceiver.

Aldrete joined the Alderaanian rebels, supporting their campaign to stop the construction of a prototype Super Star Destroyer by the Empire. She secretly used her wealth to aid the rebel movement, providing forged credentials for the team that rescued her on the Gem of Alderaan to travel to Prakith and find Denia. Simultaneously, Aldrete summoned her Deep Core contacts to prepare for a raid against the Super Star Destroyer prototype construction site, in orbit of the Imperial throneworld Byss in the Beshqek system. Her smuggler armada gathered at a rendezvous point near a large gas cloud within the Deep Core Security Zone, and Aldrete's agents informed her that the Star Destroyer prototype was only weeks from completion.

Aldrete's fleet was joined by surviving vessels from an Alderaanian Resistance battle group that had been crippled by an Imperial attack months earlier. Aldrete designated a modified Corellian Gunship as her flagship and, with Bail Organa, devised her battle plan. Believing her armada was not strong enough to cripple both the Super Star Destroyer prototype and the defending Imperial fleet, she proposed that her smuggler captains draw out the prototype's ancillary fleet while Alderaan Resistance saboteurs boarded a Golan space platform protecting the prototype and used it to cripple the Star Destroyer. Organa also informed her that Master Denia had died during the rescue mission to Prakith.

Lady Aldrete selected the rebel operatives who saved her from the Trandoshan mercenaries to infiltrate the Golan platform. She invited them to dock their vessel with her flagship and briefed them on their assignment on the bridge. The rebel fleet departed for the Beshqek system, and Aldrete led her forces into battle, engaging the prototype's protective fleet. Her attack plan quickly went awry when the more complete Super Star Destroyer unexpectedly microjumped into the fight and opened fire on the smuggler forces. Overwhelmed by the prototype's firepower, Aldrete commanded her armada to assume a defensive formation.

As a final attempt to secure victory, Aldrete's tactical advisers suggested that a formation of starfighters fly into a gap in the Star Destroyer's fuselage and detonate the vessel's main reactor. Aldrete asked the team of operatives who saved her on Alderaan to command Blue Squadron, the unit chosen for this dangerous assignment. The starfighters successfully entered the Super Star Destroyer and destroyed the reactor, causing the massive prototype warship to explode. The smuggler fleet then withdrew into hyperspace. Aldrete and her forces' success in destroying the Star Destroyer was one of the first victories of a rebel group against the Galactic Empire.

Alya Aldrete presented herself as a spoiled, fun-loving, self-centered noblewoman who used her family's wealth to live a hedonistic and decadent lifestyle. When playing this role, she acted erratically and sought attention, aiming for significant media coverage. She gave public speeches while appearing intoxicated, adopting an informal manner, and espousing elitist views, demeaning those outside the wealthy elite as "riffraff." In reality, her celebrity facade was a cover for her criminal network. Aldrete reasoned that the Empire would not investigate a debauched celebrity whose movements were widely reported.

Resourceful and focused, Aldrete's true self was intelligent and serious. She adopted a professional tone when conducting business, contrasting with her irreverent public personality. Aldrete was grateful when Bail Organa's agents saved her from the Trandoshans on the Gem of Alderaan and committed to supporting their efforts to rescue Master Denia. She considered the agents her friends and felt sympathy for them after Denia's loss on Prakith.

The heiress opposed the Galactic Empire and believed her effort to destroy the Super Star Destroyer prototype was for the galaxy's benefit. By the time of the battle in the Beshqek system, she was tired and fearful, respecting the loyalty of those in her armada during the raid.

Aldrete had fair skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. During the Gem of Alderaan launch event, she wore a revealing dress of a style not typically worn by nobility.

Alya Aldrete was a character in Dawn of Defiance, a roleplaying campaign set in Star Wars Legends continuity, released on Wizards.com as a supplement to the Saga Edition of Wizards of the Coasts' Star Wars Roleplaying Game. She was first mentioned in Dawn of Defiance: Gamemaster Primer, a synopsis of the Dawn of Defiance campaign by Rodney Thompson, published on October 4, 2007, and first appeared in the eighth adventure of the campaign, The Gem of Alderaan by Gary M. Sarli, released on February 5 2009. Later that year, she also featured in the final instalment of the series, Jaws of the Sarlacc by Rodney Thompson. Alya shares her surname with Agrippa Aldrete and Celana Aldrete, though no family relationship has been confirmed.

In the Dawn of Defiance series, players roleplay as the Alderaanian Resistance agents who interact with Aldrete on Alderaan and during the battle to destroy the prototype Star Destroyer. In Gem of Alderaan, the encounter with Aldrete when rescuing her from her Trandoshan captors depends on the players' actions. The Trandoshan mercenary commander uses her as a Human shield and attempts to airlift her out unless stopped by the rebel operatives. Strong winds may also blow her off the roof of the hovertrain unless the player characters catch her.

In Jaws of the Sarlacc, if the player characters fail to use the tractor beam of the Golan platform to tear a gap in the Star Destroyer's superstructure, Aldrete sacrifices herself to create a hole for access to the vessel's interior. Aldrete sends a communication to thank the player characters and ask them to spread the word that the Empire can be defeated, then directs her Corellian Gunship to crash into the prototype, resulting in her death. If the players succeed in damaging the Super Star Destroyer with the platform's tractor beam, Aldrete does not sacrifice herself and requests that the player characters lead a starfighter squadron into the warship's interior. If Aldrete falls, Adrian Verana, not Aldrete, requests the player characters lead the mission; otherwise, it is Aldrete who engages their assistance.