Thale

‘’’Mith'ale'nuruodo’’’, better known by her core name ‘’’Thale’’’, was a female Chiss who left Chiss space at an early age, eventually joining the Rebel Alliance and becoming a member of Arrow Squadron.

Early life
Thale was born on the first day of 17 BBY on Csilla. As a precocious youngling, she excelled in classes and went through school at an accelerated rate, eventually finishing secondary school a year and a half early. At that point Thale joined the Defense Fleet where she hoped to hone her skill as a pilot. Though she was a distant relative of Thrawn, she strove to make a name for herself.

Yashuvhu


During a border dispute in 0 ABY, Thale’s Clawcraft starfighter was damaged, forcing her to crash land on Yashuvhu. Yashhuvhu is a planet near Chiss territory that is populated by Force-sensitive humans. Yashuvhi normally do not take kindly to Chiss, but they could feel her strong connection to the Force, a trait she did not know she possessed, and decided to help repair her ship. After learning of her new-found talent, Thale decided to stay and train to use the Force under Valara Saar’s teaching.

Pi
It was on Yashuvhu that Thale was introduced to droid technologies. During the repair of her ship, it was determined that her Chiss hyperspace beacon system had been completely destroyed, though the hyperdrive itself was still intact. The Yashuvhu had no way of replacing the system, so they decided to fit a surplus navigation computer left by the crew of Pathfinder III. A port installed in the cockpit enabled connectivity between the computer and a small droid.

Thale then built her own miniature droid out of old circuit boards and scrap components, designating it MP-I (Mini Pilot One), or Pi, for short. Pi’s default programming gave it a masculine personality, so Thale referred to it as a he. His primary duty on board was to calculate basic hyperspace jumps and run diagnostic checks, though he was small enough to clip to Thale’s belt when she was outside of her fighter. Pi’s size was comparable to an M-TD.

A Visitor
One day, a decrepit Gymsnor-2 light freighter descended from the sky and landed near the settlement. The lone occupant emerged and explained that his name was Thantaroz, a Jedi who, after Order 66, hid his true identity and had been living for the last two decades as a smuggler at Ord Mantell. While Thantaroz had focused on keeping a low profile, he also kept his ears open for any news of other Jedi that may have escaped Order 66. Overhearing two spacers discuss the Unknown Regions in a cantina, he learned of a planet near Chiss space that was supposedly home to human force-sensitives. Though it wasn’t easy, Thantaroz eventually located an old datafile that listed Yashuvhu’s coordinates and a safe way to get there.

Thantaroz spent two months on Yashuvhu, teaching and learning. A year had now passed since Thale had arrived, and her basic training was nearing completion. Thantaroz had heard of the Rebellion’s unlikely victory against the Death Star months ago, and asked Thale to return with him to Ord Mantell; he was sure they’d find a contact that could lead them to the Alliance from there. Since Thale’s fighter now had a navigation computer, she entered Thantaroz’s data into Pi, who calculated their course. They both said their goodbyes to the Yashuvhi and departed.

Ord Mantell
Thantaroz and Thale arrived safely at Ord Mantell and landed at his residence on the outskirts of Worlport. It was New Year’s Eve, so the two went down to the cantina to celebrate a safe trip and the start of 2 ABY. Led by the Force, Thantaroz happened to meet Dak Oolron that night, leader of Arrow Squadron. The squadron was in need of another pilot after losing one in its most recent battle. Thale agreed to join the group, taking the callsign Arrow Three, while Thantaroz signed on as Quartermaster and Advisor for the squadron, considering his background as a Jedi.

Jedi Training
Thale served with the squadron for many years, becoming a valued teammate and friend. After the signing of the Pellaeon–Gavrisom Treaty she decided to retire from the squadron and join Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum to train and further her knowledge of the Force. It was then that she took on the name Istahire Starkiller, meaning seeker of Knowledge, in place of her Chiss birth name. As the materials weren’t available to build a lightsaber on Yashuvhu, she was finally able to built one with an orange blade on Yavin 4. Thale was among the Jedi to survive the Yuuzhan Vong War and helped reestablish the Praxeum on Ossus.

Personality and Traits
Thale was known to be rather quiet, preferring meditation or reading an old-fashioned book while drinking a cup of Csillan tea when outside of the cockpit. She took pride in brewing the tea herself using an old family recipe. Thale did not talk much about herself or her past before coming to the Alliance, but once she opened up to people she was decidedly friendly.

It should be noted that Thale did not like conflict within a group and always did her best to maintain a peaceful atmosphere. This came in handy, considering the lively conversations stirred up by Adatin and Sam. Since she was raised in the Chiss Ascendancy she was always uncomfortable with the idea of preemptive strikes, but tried to push aside my personal feelings and do what is best for the squadron.

Weapons & Vehicles Used
From her early days with the Chiss Defense Fleet to her later days with the New Republic, Thale flew a Nssis-class Clawcraft. As she liked to keep things simple, it had few modifications, save the navigation computer and terminal to plug Pi into, which were added at Yashuvhu. She also decided that an all-black paint scheme was boring, opting instead for a field of cerulean blue with orange arrows on each "claw,” which became the inspiration for the Arrow Squadron logo.