Anora Fair was a journalist of human female descent. Her career began not long after the Galactic Empire came to power. She maintained a close bond with Hask Taff, a Zygerrian who worked as a filmmaker. In 18 BBY, the pair collaborated to reveal the Antar Atrocity, a brutal Imperial action that resulted in the indiscriminate killing of many civilians on Antar 4, including those loyalists to the Republic. Their persistent reporting and critical stance against the Empire resulted in them being targeted by the Imperial Security Bureau.
Berch Teller, previously an officer in Republic Intelligence, helped Anora and Hask find refuge. Subsequently, they became members of Teller's rebel cell, whose primary goal was to seek retribution against Moff Wilhuff Tarkin for his orchestration of the Antar Atrocity. Following the theft of Tarkin's personal vessel, the Carrion Spike, the insurgents initiated a brief insurgency against the Empire. After the Battle near the Gulf of Tatooine, the Empire apprehended Anora and most of Teller's followers, subjecting them to interrogation before their execution.
During the Clone Wars and the Imperial Era, Anora Fair was a journalist based in the Core Worlds. Known for her sharp criticisms of the Galactic Empire, she was recognized for her incisive interviews with Imperial figures and her editorials that condemned Imperial policies and Emperor Palpatine. Fair extensively covered the Imperial atrocities during the Antar Atrocity in 18 BBY. Her reports were enhanced by holographic reconstructions of arrests and executions, which were produced and directed by her Zygerrian associate, Hask Taff. Berch Teller, a disillusioned Republic Intelligence officer, served as their main source due to his outrage over the indiscriminate slaughter of Gotal and Koorivar loyalists he had trained during the Antar Atrocity.
The Imperial Security Bureau marked Anora and Hask for assassination because of their reporting on the Antar Atrocity. However, they managed to escape into hiding with Teller's assistance, who then established a rebel cell dedicated to resisting the Empire. Teller's rebel cell was composed of survivors and witnesses of the Antar Atrocity who harbored a deep hatred for Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, the architect of the event. The Imperial Vice Admiral Dodd Rancit, a rival of Tarkin and the Director of the Naval Intelligence Agency, secretly aided Teller's cell. Rancit leveraged his high-level intelligence and underworld connections to provide the dissidents with Clone Wars-era weaponry, starships, communication devices, and intelligence.
In 14 BBY, following the failed attack on Sentinel Base, Anora, along with Hask, Teller, the Gotal pilot Salikk, the Koorivar operations specialist Cala, and the Mon Calamari engineer Dr. Artoz, participated in a mission to steal Moff Tarkin's stealth corvette, Carrion Spike. Teller planned to use the stolen vessel to launch attacks on Imperial targets throughout the galaxy. Anora and Task were assigned to create holovids of these attacks to inspire rebellion, which would be broadcast on the HoloNet, echoing the Separatist Shadowfeed broadcasts from the Clone Wars.
Rancit aided the insurgents by setting up a communications cache on the planet Murkhana. While Tarkin and Darth Vader were on the planet investigating, the insurgents stormed and commandeered the Carrion Spike. Despite diverting Sergeant Crest and most of the guards, the insurgents still had to fight and kill the ship's captain, comms officer, and two stormtroopers. During the conflict, Anora accidentally bumped into Hask, causing her friend to fire her blaster and damage the airlock.
After the theft, the insurgents fled into space. While traveling through the Murkhana system, Anora inquired of Artoz about the controls for the toilets. She and Hask then argued about who was responsible for the damaged airlock until Teller intervened. When Anora asked if all of the Emperor's Moffs had advanced starships, Teller clarified that Tarkin was the only Moff known to have such a privilege. Hask confirmed Teller's account that Tarkin had been designing ships for his homeworld of Eriadu's Outland Regions Security Force when he was nineteen years old.
Anora also questioned Teller about the name of Tarkin's ship, the Carrion Spike, but Teller admitted he did not know the reason. When Hask referred to Darth Vader by his birth name, Anora dismissed Vader as a machine and a terrorist. She also told Teller that he took a real risk by having Vader and Tarkin walk right into a "sliding door ambush." Teller said they had to make the scenario ring true and that the Imperials getting themselves blown up would not have affected their plans in any way.
The rebels were soon pursued by the Parsec Predator, the personal starship of the Sugi crime lord Faazah. Hask and Anora quickly realized that Tarkin and Lord Vader were pursuing them, having taken control of the Parsec Predator. Under Teller's guidance, the rebels made a hyperspace jump to the Fial system. However, Vader was able to track them down using meditation sphere aboard the Carrion Spike. The rebels then made a second jump to the Galidraan system.
Teller's insurgents then raided the Imperial station in the Galidraan system. Using the Carrion Spike's cloaking systems, the insurgents attacked the station, inflicting considerable damage and casualties. Since the corvette was cloaked, the defending V-wing and ARC-170 starfighters were unable to hit the Carrion Spike. Tarkin and Vader soon resurfaced aboard the Parsec Predator and managed to inflict some damage on the rogue corvette before being disabled.
Despite their successful raid, the Carrion Spike sustained damage. When Anora reported that the airlock controls for the escape pods were fried, Teller responded that they would not need the escape pods. Before fleeing into hyperspace, the rebels ejected Vader's meditation chamber and destroyed Galidraan's hyperspace buoy. The insurgents then traveled to Lucazec where they raided the TaggeCo mining facilities on that planet. Anora and Hask also produced holovids that were broadcast on the Imperial HoloNet. These holovids drew the attention of the Emperor and his Imperial Ruling Council.
With the Carrion Spike needing to refuel, the insurgents traveled to the planet Phindar in the Mandalore sector. Their source Teller had confirmed that the Imperials had deployed ships to Gromas in the Perkell sector, the other source of the special fuel cells that the Carrion Spike needed. Anora and her comrades watched as Teller donned an Imperial's officer uniform so that he could impersonate Commander Abel LaSal in order to purchase fuel cells from an orbital tanker above Phindar. Teller also praised Anora's work on the Lucazec holovid.
When Hask confronted Teller about indiscriminately targeting civilians in their attacks, Teller questioned Hask's devotion to their cause. Anora managed to calm the situation by saying that Hask was sometimes forgetful. After Teller's rant, she quipped that he was like a holodrama actor. Teller responded that if the Emperor had his way, artists would the first targeted for eradication. Before the trade, Teller also asked Anora about how he looked in a red wig.
Despite Teller's precautions, the Phindian administrator was suspicious about "Commander LaSal" and alerted Tarkin and Lord Vader. Before the Carrion Spike had finished refueling, Tarkin and Lord Vader arrived with the Imperial escort carrier Goliath and the V-wing Yellow Squadron. While waiting for the hyperdrive to load, the Carrion Spike ran circles around the tanker to make it harder for the Imperials to target their ship. During a brief dogfight, the Carrion Spike also managed to shoot down several of Vader's V-wings. Before jumping into hyperspace, the insurgents also blew up the Phindar tanker with a concealed explosive in an attempt to take out Vader and the Emperor.
Anora sustained some injuries to her forehead, necessitating the clipping away of some of her curls to accommodate two squares of bacta patch. When Teller remarked that close calls made captivating holovids, Anora pointed out that the Empire had suspended HoloNet service to most of the Mandalore sector. She doubted that their transmission reached more than six systems. Teller reassured her that they only need to reach one for the holovid to spread to other sectors. Anora and the others listened as Teller recounted Tarkin's ruthless rise to power on Eriadu and their struggle against the Emperor's plan to winnow the galaxy into submission. When Hask observed that Tarkin also indiscriminately targeted the people, Hask reminded her friend that they were the "good guys."
Anora was present Cala found a paralight tracker inside one of the new fuel cells from the Phindar tanker. She suggested calling quits but Teller countered they had not done near enough to defeat the Empire. Teller decided to mislead the Imperials by transmitting coordinates and sending a decoy ship in their place. Knotts aided the insurgents by hiring a crew to travel on the freighter Reticent to the Obroa-skai system.
Acting on this disinformation, Tarkin and Lord Vader deployed substantial forces including three Imperial interdictor vessels to intercept the Carrion Spike. However, one of the interdictors, an Immobilizer 418 cruiser, malfunctioned, causing a massive hyperspace accident that claimed 1,100 lives. Despite the diversion, Tarkin and Vader managed to interrogate the crew of the Reticent and learned about Knott's involvement. Tarkin subsequently discovered information on the HoloNet incriminating Teller and his followers including Anora. Tarkin realized that the insurgents were seeking revenge for the Antar Atrocity.
While resting in the Carrion Spike's cockpit, Anora and Teller discussed their plans after their next raid on the Imperial facility in the Nouane system. She also thanked Teller for giving Cala the privilege of destroying the paralight tracker. When Anora asked when they would leave, Teller replied they would leave in a couple of hours. Anora then asked Teller if he trusted his mysterious source, Vice-Admiral Rancit. Teller conceded that he only trusted Rancit to a point but was convinced of his usefulness.
When Anora confronted Teller about the fate of their decoys at Obroa-skai, he replied that they knew the risks. Anora confided that she did not envisage living the life of a revolutionary. Teller disagreed and pointed out that she was fighting the good fight with words when he found her. Anora responded that writing was different from firing laser cannons at other beings or letting others take the fall for them. When Teller pointed out that she had been enthusiastic to join, Anora admitted that she was motivated by fame and fortune. However, she acknowledged that she had underestimated the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order and the Emperor.
Anora added that she underestimated the Emperor's reach, power, and barbarity. When Teller reassured her that she was not the only one to underestimate the Emperor, Anora confided that she felt bad for dragging Hask into this adventure. Teller indicated he was allright with dropping her off but added that Hask was most likely to say no. Anora admitted Teller was right and asked about their chances of winning. He responded by pointing out they were winning.
Under Rancit's guidance, Teller's insurgents attacked the Imperial facility in the Nouane system. Despite exiting hyperspace at the edge of the system to avoid Imperial capital ships, the Carrion Spike was repelled by the strong Imperial defenses. Though the rebels were able to escape, the Carrion Spike sustained considerable damage to its armaments, shields, hyperdrive motivator, stealth systems, and sublight drives.
Following their escape, Anora criticized Teller for trusting his mysterious ally to hold up his end of the bargain. Teller countered that he trusted his source to a point but not entirely. Though Teller was convinced that Rancit had deployed reinforcements to hide his collusion with the rebels, Anora pointed out that they had been betrayed. Teller conceded but reassured her that Rancit's betrayal would not matter.
Though Rancit had given them safe passage to attack the Imperial Academy on Carida, the rebels realized that Rancit was trying to betray them. They decided to evacuate the Carrion Spike but sent the ship on auto-pilot mode. As expected, Rancit had planned to destroy the Carrion Spike and her rebel crew. However, Lord Vader had discovered his treason and stopped the Vice-Admiral from destroying the ship and evidence of his collusion with the insurgents. Vader then executed Rancit by forcing him to enter an escape pod and issue the order to destroy it.
After evacuating the Carrion Spike, Anora and her comrades rejoined the rest of Teller's cell aboard Berch Teller's warship, a modified Providence-class carrier in a star system near the Gulf of Tatooine. With much of the Imperial fleet dispersed across the galaxy in response to the Carrion Spike's raids, the insurgents planned to ambush an Imperial convoy ferrying supplies for the secret Death Star project on Geonosis. Anora and Hask were tasked with producing a "galactic-class holovid" of the ambush.
For the battle, Teller marshaled his rebel cell's modified Providence carrier, a Nebulon-B frigate, numerous droid fighters, and several Z-95 Headhunter and Tikiar starfighters. When the convoy emerged from hyperspace, the insurgents jammed their HoloNet and communications transmitters. Though the convoy's escort gunboats and frigates formed a defensive circle around the cargo ships and transports, the insurgents' lasers managed to chip away at the perimeters, allowing droid fighters to dart through the openings and harry the larger vessels.
However, the tide of the battle turned with the arrival of Moff Tarkin aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Executrix. Tarkin deployed V-wings to counter the rebel starfighters. After destroying the Nebulon-B frigate, Tarkin unleashed the Executrix's firepower on the rebel's Providence carrier, crippling the ship. Since Anora and Hask had produced a holovid showing Teller escaping to fight another day, Anora and Salikk convinced a reluctant Teller to flee into hyperspace while they stayed behind as martyrs.
Anora along with Hask Taff, Knotts, and Dr Artoz were among the rebels taken prisoner by Tarkin's stormtroopers, who boarded the wrecked Providence carrier. Tarkin greeted his captives, remarking that Anora had restyled her hair. When Tarkin taunted the captives for their defiant silence, Anora told the Moff that he would fall from his perch soon and that it would not be a soft landing. When Tarkin quipped about expecting an apology for the damage to his starship, Anora contorted her shackled hands into an obscene gesture. This prompted a stormtrooper to hit her with his blaster rifle. Tarkin mocked Anora for her "venomous mouth" before taunting his prisoners that the Empire would find ways of loosening their tongues.
Over the next three weeks, Anora and her rebel comrades and collaborators were interrogated by Tarkin, Lord Vader, and the Imperial Security Bureau. Though the ISB advocated public executions, the Emperor ordered that they be executed in private to deny the dissidents martyrdom.
Anora Fair was a fit and slender human woman with dark skin the color of tropical hardwood. She had naturally black curly hair but had it dyed to a mishmash of brown and blond. Anora was a close friend and colleague of Hask Taff though the two sometimes argued. As a journalist, Anora was familiar with key facts in Wilhuff Tarkin's biography including designing ships for Eriadu's Outland Regions Security Force. She also despised Darth Vader and refused to address him by his name, regarding him as a terrorist and machine.
Unlike Hask, Anora was more willing to embrace Teller's idea of targeting anyone who supported the Empire including civilian miners and refuel station personnel. When Teller chastised Hask for questioning their cause, Anora spoke up for her friend by suggesting that she was forgetful. While recognizing that they and their opponent Tarkin engaged in indiscriminate killings, Anora and Teller accepted the reasoning that their actions were justified because they were the "good guys."
Anora's motivation for joining Teller's rebellion was fame and fortune. Though she was a staunch critic of the Empire, she did not envisage living the life of a revolutionary. Anora also privately regretted drawing her friend Hask into the Rebellion. Despite her inner doubts, Hask shared Teller and his other followers' desire to oppose the Empire and Tarkin. Anora and her comrades' respect for their leader Teller led them to risk their lives by staying behind so that Teller could escape Imperial pursuit. Even in captivity, Anora remained defiant towards her Imperial captors and openly defied Tarkin.
Anora Fair first appeared in James Luceno's 2014 Canon novel Tarkin.