Braya Yasra

Basic Information
Name: Braya Yasra

Species: Anaxsi (Human)

Gender: Female

Homeplanet: Anaxes

Born: 17.3 BTC

Allegiances: Galactic Republic, Azure Imperium

Affiliations: House of Yasra, Cliffside Alumni, Republic Navy, Havoc Squad

Occupation: Lieutenant, Republic Navy Marine Corps. [Class: Trooper]

Languages: Basic (Native), Huttese (advanced), Bocce (advanced), Shyriiwook comprehension (intermediate)

Height: 187cm [6’ 1”]

Weight: 79kg [172lbs]

Physical Appearance
General: A young woman, slightly taller than the human standard with broad shoulders and a fair complexion. Her athleticism and appearance are the result of years of strict training and discipline.

Close up: Straight, dirty blonde hair of shoulder length and an oval face with svelte features. She has hazel-green eyes and light brown eyebrows. Braya normally wears her hair down but occasionally opts for a ponytail*.

Distinguishing features: Sectoral Heterochromia Iridum in left eye; thin brown vertical sector in the top half of the eye, immediately above the iris. Detached earlobes, pierced (basic studs, except for dress occasions). One 6cm scar diagonally across her left scapula.

Two service tattoos, both on the right-hand inner forearm;


 * One symbol, resembling a dark blue equilateral triangle with a purple outline
 * Another symbol; a white-filled circle, centred in a crimson red square, bordered by small (almost unintelligible) black lettering

Movement: Relaxed; confident. She moves swiftly but deliberately. Her gait is slightly larger because of her height, but she walks slower to correct this.

Psychology
General: Formal; dutiful; confident. After her education under the watchful and often strict gaze of her mentors, and a further decade of military service, Braya appears motivated and professional. As a result, she spends most of her time focusing on her assignments rather than socialising with her comrades. She tends to associate with close friends and can be slow to warm to strangers.

Despite her reserved attitude, she is remarkably trusting, and expects people to honour their word in return. Braya rarely engages in small talk, except among those she considers her close friends. She has a good sense of humour, but often uses it to subtly chide people she disapproves of, or those who annoy her.

Additional: A keen fan of podracing, dueling and major HoloSports, though she finds Pazaak and other gambling games boring.

Philosophy: Braya is strongly dedicated to the ideals upon which the Republic was founded. She respects personal and collective freedom and opposes tyranny, be it from the Sith or the criminal underworld. The stories told to Braya by her father as a child gave her an appreciation for many different worlds and cultures, and she tries her best to integrate herself with the community, wherever it may be.

Her personal experiences have given rise to a sense of animosity towards the Jedi, and although she trusts their intentions, she disapproves of their methods, most notably the taking of younglings and the severing of familial ties.

Habits: Former spice user, bites tongue when anxious.

Origins
Hailing from the Core world of Anaxes, Braya Yasra was heir to a great naval tradition. Her father was a native Anaxsi, who served as a navigator on a cargo freighter during the Great Galactic War, whilst her mother was a former diplomat from Naboo. Born into relative wealth and comfort, Braya was, by birthright, part of the Anaxsi nobility, which was primarily located in the Sirpar hills, which surrounded the capital city of Pols Anaxes. The Yasra family had a distinguished military history on Anaxes, with seven consecutive generations having served in the Republic Navy.

As the senior navigator on a Republic supply transport, Raynar Yasra had travelled from one spiral arm of the Galaxy to the other, and he delighted in telling his children of his adventures. Years before the start of the war, Raynar met his wife-to-be, Sabé Joranaa, when she was on a consular mission to Axum. Sabé was a compassionate diplomat and gentle-spirited and when she retired early to raise their children, the couple settled in the majestic hills, returning to the Yasra family estate.

Braya was the younger of the two newborns; her brother, Onaar, being some four years older. Only faint memories of him remain, as in 16 BTC Onaar was discovered by Knights of the Jedi Order, his connection to the force strong and clear. After much discussion, Onaar was hesitantly relinquished by parents, knowing full well that they would probably never see their child again.

From an early age, Braya showed an interest in the wider galaxy; her father’s illustrious tales of exotic, far away worlds that he had visited fascinated the youngling. Her favourite was the towering creatures from Kashyyyk, the Wookies, fiercesome, yet humble in their ways. How a language could be composed entirely of growls, grunts and roars didn’t escape the child’s lucid imagination.

Braya yearned for a taste of her father’s travellings. He would bring back mementos, souvenirs and other trinkets, whilst Sabé began teaching the child the languages she so craved to understand. Onaar’s absence had a lasting effect on the family, and Braya would always enquire about her estranged elder brother; what he looked like, how his voice sounded, what games he liked the most. The memories were bittersweet.

Growing Up
A few years past. Under private tuition, Braya, now the only child of the Yasra household, began learning of her place in the Galaxy, and the terrible war that had gripped it. It explained her father’s absences; the freighters he guided supplied food, medicine and equipment to Republic worlds. In addition to history, she was tutored in mathematics, languages and the sciences. It was a privileged education, but her parents, naturally, only wanted the best for their child.

In particular, she wanted to know about vehicles and starships; they frequented her father’s stories, and the ability to travel to the worlds seemingly so distant and alien seemed magical. Looking toward the capital settlement, it was not surprising to see many starships coming and going; cargo freighters, personnel shuttles, patrol cruisers, troop transports, fighter escorts...

Anaxes had been a fortress world for centuries, and the Republic fleet stationed a large mass of its forces within the Azure sector. The Anaxsi nobility were famed for producing some of the greatest soldiers and officers in the Republic Navy. Alongside the House of Yasra were the Houses of Holt, Yularen, Wermise, Banjeer and Ozzel, among others, all of which owned princely estates in the Sirpar hills.

In addition to spectacular views of the spaceport and elaborate courtyards of Pols Anaxes, the Sirpar hills were a lush and pristine location; beautiful foliage covered the hillside, speeders and other repulsorlift vehicles were banned, except for underground transport tunnels that wound and coursed beneath the capital. Primarily, the nobility travelled by Keffi, or Keffi-drawn carriages. Braya herself had her own pet Keffi, and preferred it to the traditional carriages that were more often seen.

Inquisitve Youth
At the age of six, Braya was met with an unexpected surprise when her mother announced that there would be a new addition to the family, and she would have a baby brother. Nine months later, and Jerrik Yasra was born. Jerrik was joyus and playful, and although he and sister shared many quarrels typical of siblings, it brought a new warmth into the family that had not been felt since Onaar left with the Jedi.

Braya, more occupied with the destiny of Onaar than the origins of Jerrik, asked her parents where her elder brother had gone; what was he doing? Had he met the Wookies from Kashyyyk and travelled to the world of Duros? In truth, they had no idea, and they told this honestly to their daughter. Although considered well learned, Raynar and Sabé knew little of the Jedi ways; the Jedi were seen by many as mysterious figures, but they showed tremendous compassion, foresight and bravery.

Coming of age, Braya’s tuition ended and she decided to follow in her father’s footsteps and join the Anaxes Citadel. She hoped that a career in space would fulfil her long held dreams of exploring far away worlds and re-living the tales of her childhood, and, at the tender age of fourteen, was admitted to the academy.

A Time Of Need
Eventually, Raynar would be called away on longer trips; the war with the Sith Empire was fairing very badly for the Republic, and supplies in the core worlds were running low. Without critical resources, border strongholds began folding the Empire, as waves of darkness surged inwards from the outer rim.

In response to the escalating crisis, emergency supplies were imported from key locations in the outer rim territories still loyal to the Republic. A large convoy was commissioned to ferry the billions of containers into the core, each one brimming with supplies that could well turn the tide of the war.

Raynar Yasra was the chief navigator aboard the Reliant, a medium-sized freighter that was assigned to pick up an huge order of weapons from the planet Bonadan, along with tens of thousands of other ships. Saying goodbye to his family once more, he set off, guiding his fellow crew through small Sith blockades and along the Hydian Way hyperlane towards Bonadan, at the trailing end of one of the spiral arms of the Galaxy.

Loaded with enough weaponry and supplied to hold the Sith Empire at bay, the Reliant rendezvoused with tens of thousands of freighters, some on missions to Bonadan, others to nearby systems, and began the long journey back to the core.

Their voyage was abruptly cut short however, when a huge Mandalorian fleet blockaded the Hydian Way hyperspace route, isolating countless ships and crews and starving the Republic of supplies.

A Second Son
As the crisis continued, riots broke out in the capital world of Coruscant, and civil unrest mounted throughout the Republic. Back home Anaxes, reports of starvation began to make daily news and the fleets struggled to maintain their patrols and defensive perimeters. With nothing to stop the Empire penetrating into the heart of the Republic, waves of panic surged through every household. Talk in the Senate veered sharply towards a unilateral surrender to the Sith; the war seemed lost.

Braya, still only nine years old, was frightened. Her mother, Sabé, became hysterical and believed that Raynar would be lost to the outer rim. Whilst she tried to be brave and hide her fears from her children, it was impossible for her to do so. Braya knew that she was being shielded from the truth, but in her naivety, did not understand the scale of peril the Galaxy was in.

It was amidst this climate of fear and uncertainty, that the Jedi would again emerge. The Force ran strong in the Yasra family, with Jarrik showing a powerful connection even at the age of three. With the Jedi desperate to bolster their ranks to protect the Galaxy, Jarrik was selected for training, much like his older brother was nearly a decade earlier.

This time however, Sabé would not let her child go easily. The war had taken it’s toll greatly; she had lost her husband and her firstborn, and now the Jedi seek to claim her thirdborn. With great resolve, she demanded the courts intervene to save what was left of her fragmented family. There was no response however; the courts were too busy trying to maintain order. The food riots alone caused the crime rate to soar.

Assured that Jarrik’s training could benefit the Republic in ways Sabé could foresee, the Jedi insisted on taking the boy, and with no other options and no one to turn to, she relented. Jarrik was gone.

Saddened by the loss of her younger brother, Braya cried, asking her mother why the Jedi had kidnapped him. The ten-year-old did could not remember when Onaar was taken; had the Jedi always been so ruthless? With two brothers gone and a father lost, the world seemed to crumble around Braya and her mother.

The Smuggler's Plan
On the other side of the Galaxy, the Reliant received word of a plot to break through the blockade. A group of intrepid smugglers, led by the Mirialan Hylo Visz, planned to set a trap for the mandalorians. Shortly after the formation of the blockade, the senate formerly requested the Jedi intervene, but they were quickly defeated by the forces of Mandalore. In order the trap to be a success, there would need to be a diversion to lure the mandalorian ships out of formation; live bait.

After a year of isolation in the outer rim, the crews of the freighters became weary, morale was running low, and any hope of returning to the core alive waned with each passing day. But the smuggler’s plan roused the curiosity of many crews; a chance to break free and return to their families. But it would not be without risk.

After much discussion between the crew, it was agreed that the Reliant would be part of the smuggler’s ruse. And when the time came, the freighters assumed formation and moved to within a parsec of the blockade. The mandalorians, intrigued by the sudden act of bravery, split their fleet up and sent ships to investigate.

Tension mounted on the Reliant. If the timing was even slightly off, the heavy turbolasers of the mandalorian battle cruisers would open fire, destroying hundreds of freighters almost instantaneously. Raynar Yasra was among those waiting, waiting for the signal that would spring the trap. Even if the plan was successful, much could still be lost; the deflector shields of the freighters had been designed to withstand nothing more than light skirmishes with poorly armed pirates.

As the battle cruisers drew closer, the freighters maintained their position. The behemoths inched closer, their broadsides bristling with weaponry. The glint of light reflecting off of the windows on the command decks caught the crews eyes; only mere moments remained before the mandalorians would be within firing range.

And then the signal came. Suddenly, multiple hyperspace vectors began being tracked by the freighter’s scanners. A myriad of ships, small and nimble, exited from hyperspace from all directions, surrounding the mandalorians completely. The smuggler’s ships engaged, and the battle for the Hydian Way had begun. During the battle, the smuggling contingent tactfully opened several holes in the mandalorian formation, allowing freighters to begin slipping through the blockade one by one. Maneuvering to avoid a flanking counter-attack by the mandalorians, Raynar guided the Reliant through the intense fighting, having personally assumed the helm during the battle. Despite the freighters daring moves and the bold cunning of Hylo Visz and her allies, the mandalorians outmatched and outgunned the would-be blockade breakers.

Just when the tide seemed to turn in favour of the mandalorians, the Republic fleet arrived, decisively engaging the battle cruisers. With Republic reinforcements, the mandalorians were eventually bested, and Hylo Visz and her band emerged victorious. The news, and the long coveted supplies, quickly spread throughout the Republic. For the first time in may years, the Republic had held its own and triumphed over the forces of darkness.

Returning to his homeworld, Raynar finally embraced Sabé and Braya once more, after a year of isolation. Although overjoyed to be back home, the celebrate was cut-short with the news that his son, Jarrik, had been taken by the Jedi whilst he was stranded in the outer rim. It was a difficult time for them all, exhausted, battered and ultimately divided, the House of Yasra struggled onward.