Zhavi Waverunner

Zhavi Waverunner was a ' '/' ' who served the ' as a ' until her ' at the age of ten, after which she became a ' and petty criminal. She was the daughter of Nomi and Yuri Waverunner- both long-serving members of the Republic army- and had a younger brother, Carth Waverunner, who worked for the .

Zhavi was the first member of the Waverunner family not to serve in the Republic military for over a century, although it was her father who insisted she be sent to the Jedi for training rather than her mother, who objected to the break in tradition, viewing the Jedi unfavourably due to losing her sister Sofia to their recruitment at an early age.

After departing the Jedi Order, Zhavi used her ' abilities and Jedi training to survive through pick-pocketing and theft, eventually joining one of ' many gangs until she'd earned enough credits to buy a dilapidated old ' vessel, using it to leave the ' capital and become a freelance spacer.

For the most part, Zhavi spent the next two decades doing odd jobs, making enough money to afford food, drink and the inevitable (and regular) repairs needed to keep her ship running, but little else. During this time, she developed a drinking problem, becoming dependant on alcohol due to the guilt she felt over her absence during the . This guilt only worsened as more and more Jedi died in the conflicts that took place in the years that followed.

Eventually, after the  conquered the known galaxy, Zhavi decided she couldn't continue to keep her head down. To this end, she joined a number of small resistance groups, eventually finding herself on ' as a member of the ' under the direction of . As one of many with underworld connections and a history of smuggling, Zhavi was put to work securing supplies, money, information and connections from the underworld, working alongside a former  agent, Loreli Patek.

Zhavi had met Loreli at the start of the war, when the ' had attacked a Hutt world and the ' had tried to steal her ship only to need saving from the . After saving her, Zhavi had dropped her off in neutral territory, and it was only because of this chance encounter that the pair ended up working as partners in the Alliance.

Eventually, the Eternal Empire was overthrown and the galaxy liberated. Shortly after the , Loreli followed her peers who were returning en masse to the Empire, not wanting to lose her position by remaining too long and missing the amnesty period. By this point, the unlikely team were both professional and romantic partners, making their parting a particularly sad moment for both. They vowed to see each other again, though neither knew how or when.

Zhavi, having no real reason to stay with the Alliance any longer, also left once Loreli was gone. However, it was only a matter of weeks before the two came into contact again, Loreli using her position in Sith Intelligence to justify an 'undercover' mission to locate surviving Jedi. Ostensibly, this would be done by manipulating Zhavi, although Loreli already knew that Zhavi had no idea where the Jedi were, and intended to use the cover as a way of continuing their relationship.

Unfortunately this happy limbo didn't last, and her continued failure to produce results brought down the wrath of her superior,  Scarlet Jhang. Zhavi had learned of the Jedi presence on  through a friend in the military, who's cousin (a Padawan living at the hidden colony) had reached out to him as she struggled to adapt to the Jedi way of life.

Loreli, knowing of this through Zhavi and under threat of death, revealed the location to her handler, creating a rift between the two lovers after , an act of destruction Zhavi personally witnessed. This rift culminated in a passionate duel in the shielded ' research biome on ' on the toxic world of .

Though Zhavi couldn't bring herself to kill Loreli, the two parted ways for what appeared to be the final time, and Zhavi returned to her isolated existence as a drunken spacer, landing on Coruscant to drown her sorrows. It was during this particular low point that Zhavi first tried , venturing deeper beneath the surface than usual to the more dangerous, crime-infested levels and stumbling upon a rave in an ancient warehouse, at which drugs of all kinds were all too readily available.

At the rave, Zhavi encountered the ' Yami Jagentire, a ' wanted by the Order. The pair sensed one another through the Force, which drew them together. Yami saw herself in Zhavi- another woman who'd been taken as a child to be trapped in a role she didn't want- while Zhavi's heartbreak left a void that the Twi'lek helped to fill, and after sharing her supply of Death Sticks with Zhavi she invited her out to trash the contents of a speeder storage yard belonging to a local gang.

After their victory the pair slept together, beginning an unhealthy relationship and the start of Zhavi's brief career as Yami's second-in-command, learning not long after that she was a gang leader herself. Out of loneliness, Zhavi helped Yami and her gang dominate the lower levels, wiping out the other gangs with brutal ease and with such speed that word reached the upper levels of the capital, even drawing the attention of a  Shadow.

Before said Shadow could investigate, however, Yami turned her gang's attention of subjugating the local population, using increasingly violent tactics to bully and blackmail the citizens and refugees who were unfortunate enough to have to live down in the lower levels. Zhavi confronted Yami to no avail, but eventually took direct action against her to protect the family of a man who'd fought back against the gangsters sent to intimidate him and won. Rather than let Yami and her men kill the family in retaliation, Zhavi killed a number of the gangsters, publicly undermining Yami.

Yami demanded that Zhavi kill them personally, or she'd kill Zhavi. Naturally, Zhavi refused, sparking a duel that ended with Yami suffering severe damage to her face before a fatal  brought the display to a proper conclusion. The gangsters attempted to kill Zhavi in the aftermath, but were slaughtered, leaving Zhavi to descend even further down where she resigned herself to burning through Yami's supply of Death Sticks until she died.

During this time, Zhavi experienced hallucinations induced by the Death Sticks, the last being a particularly vivid vision of , a figure she'd read about as a Padawan and been fond of ever since. The spectre of Shan encouraged Zhavi to lift herself out of her spiral and be stronger, warning that every day she turned her back on the galaxy, another innocent being died, or watched a loved one die.

Despite knowing it was the drugs, Zhavi was, nonetheless, motivated by the speech when she came around several hours later. She destroyed the remaining Death Sticks, ventured back up a few levels to carve a large chunk out of what was left of Yami's gang, then continued on to the surface. From there, she used the money she'd earned as a gang member to get her ship out of the impound hangar and leave Coruscant, determined to walk the path of a Jedi again, whether she was a part of the Order or not.