Squeak and Brain can cause a distraction. We can fire into their back ranks, draw a few away, and buy Third Squad more time for you to relieve them!
—Reeka Chorizzo, to her platoon of fellow recruits during basic training
Reeka Chorizzo, service number 6802-2904IJ, also known as "Squeak", was a female Rodian from Rodia and one of two children. After scoring high on her homeworld's required military exams, she was recruited by the Republic Marines. Reeka underwent basic training at the Marine Corps Recruit Training Depot on Corulag under the infamous Gand drill instructor Tuffass, during which she became a good friend of Marine-cum-Jedi Knight Laera Reyolé. During her combat career she fought in both the Mandalorian Wars, during which she was badly wounded, and the Jedi Civil War that followed, participating in the data raid which led to the capture of Darth Revan. In between the wars, she attended Officer Candidate School, earning the rank of junior lieutenant.
During her long career with the Corps, both as an enlistee and later as an officer, Reeka served as a scout, a combat leader, and eventually a noted military journalist and biographer. During her later career she worked for the holozine Jarhead!, at the same time writing and publishing several works aimed at cataloging the lives of noted persons who served in the Marine Corps. These included her mentor Tuffass, her friend Reyolé, and former Commandant of the Marines Oluth Par'fey. During this time she also worked with the Veterans of Galactic Wars, marrying a civilian working with the organization and later becoming its President. Eventually she achieved the rank of Rear Admiral, heading up the Corps' Public Relations Bureau until her retirement.
Biography[]
Early life and enlistment[]
A Marine's armor, like the person inside, is not meant to be squeaky.
—Tagline from Squeak!
A female Rodian born on Rodia, Reeka was one of two children in her family. Her mother was a single parent from a divorce who worked two jobs in order to provide for her family. Reeka helped out in any way that she could, and when she had come of age, she had taken Rodia's required military exams. Her high scores drew the attention of the Republic's military recruiters and she enlisted in the Marines[1] with the service number of 6802-2904IJ, As a recruit attending the Marine Corps Recruit Training Depot at Corulag, Reeka was a member of the same training platoon as Laera Reyolé. Both endured the trials of boot camp under the supervision of the infamous Tuffass, an aggressive Gand drill instructor who had bestowed the nickname of Squeak onto her in response to the terrified noise that Reeka had made upon being addressed by the DI.
Though they had not interacted much during the first two-thirds of basic training, Reeka and Laera became friends in the wake of the platoon's first field exercise in which the recruits had been divided up into training squads. The object being to learn to work as sub-units within a larger formation, they were put under the command of fellow recruit Miranda Cenchu. The two worked well together as the exercise played out, the result of which saw Cenchu replaced by Reyolé as squad leader. During the exercise that followed, Reyolé became a simulated casualty; Reeka was able to come through and lead the squad and platoon to simulated victory, doing so in a manner that impressed the gunnery sergeant. Later that day Tuffass called her to his office, where he informed Reeka that she had earned her name back.
Service in combat[]
It is difficult to believe that such worlds can coexist in such proximity as Onderon and Dxun. One, with its grand city of Iziz, is a beacon of civilization, while the other harbors only brutality and death amidst its deceptively beautiful greenery.
—Excerpt from Squeak! regarding the retaking of Dxun
After graduating from boot camp Reeka trained to become a reconnaissance scout, taking the first few advanced courses alongside Reyolé. She earned good scores and qualified for the IRST course, which taught expert-level techniques in infiltration and sabotage. After a succession of field assignments with frontier garrisons, including a tour at the outpost on Onderon, she reenlisted and served in the Mandalorian Wars with the 8th Marine Battalion. Her performance and leadership in a number of battles, including the retaking of Iridonia and the Battle of Randon led to her promotion to the rank of Master Sergeant in 3,961 BBY. In the aftermath of the liberation of Onderon and the death of her friend Reyolé, Reeka was invited to a memorial service for the Republic's war dead at the behest of Jedi Master Vima Sunrider. The ceremony culminated in the Rodian reading the official citation for Reyolé's posthumously-awarded Cross of Glory.
She arrived back to her unit just in time to take part in the siege of Dxun, a protracted engagement with the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders that saw much of her unit killed or badly wounded. Though the strain of near-constant fighting and lack of adequate rest wore down on her, Reeka was able to maintain her composure and help in holding her company together. As the Republic's ground forces assaulted the last stronghold, she sustained a severe wound to the abdomen from a Mandalorian slugthrower, necessitating an immediate evacuation offworld. As a result of recovering from this wound, she missed the last battles, including the final confrontation at Malachor V. During her recuperation, she was invited to attend Officer Candidate School on Coruscant, graduating in 3,959 BBY with the rank of junior lieutenant.
Reeka was posted to the 19th Marine Battalion in time to serve as a platoon leader in a succession of combat assignments during the Jedi Civil War, which included numerous brushes with the forces of Darth Revan and Darth Malak's Sith Empire. In 3,956 BBY as a senior lieutenant, she served as the commander of Dorn Company during the successful data raid on the Sith-occupied Outer Rim world of Sernpidal prior to the Republic's effort to capture the Sith Lord Revan. She survived the war and, after her promotion to lieutenant commander, authored a two-volume memoir of her career and combat service, entitled Squeak!. In the work's introduction Reeka asserted the notion that writing about her experiences, as trying as they had been, served as a form of therapy for herself.
Later career and retirement[]
Oftentimes I find myself scratching at my spines in wonderment at the way recruits and new Marines seem to idolize her. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't at all jealous.
—Reeka, on her friend Laera
After the publication of her autobiography, Reeka wrote two more books as well as continuing to contribute to the Corps' official holozine, Jarhead!. The first was an unauthorized biography of Laera Reyolé, which was intended to debunk a number of myths that had begun to surround Reyolé's disappearance in the closing moments of the battle at Ord Mantell. After learning of Reyolé's fate, Reeka did her best to ensure that everyone knew who the woman had really been, which inadvertently started a mentality that Laera, or "Brain" as she was known in the popular myths and stories, was a superhuman-type figure. Realizing how her friend had become a galactic legend, Reeka penned the book Goodnight Brain, Wherever You Are... in an attempt to reveal the true Laera Reyolé.
The second book, penned some time later, was a biography of her former mentor, Tuffass, which contained first-hand accounts of the Gand's career. Reeka's reasoning for interviewing the old sergeant was not only due to the fact that he was one of the first Gands to encounter the Republic, but also to get Tuffass's opinion of the state of the Corps in the wake of the recent spate of wars. These literary efforts attracted the attention of the Commandant of the Marines, who offered the Rodian officer—having been recently promoted to full commander—a transfer to the Marine Corps' Public Relations Bureau. From there, Reeka would eventually earn the stars of a Rear Admiral, leading the bureau for the rest of her career. She published her last volume of work, a biography of former Commandant Oluth Par'fey, shortly after her retirement.
Ever the dedicated journalist, throughout her life she continued to provide commentary on the state of galactic affairs as they related to the military. She was a longtime member of the Veterans of Galactic Wars, an organization of military veterans and civilians dedicated to offering help and support to serving and former members of the Republic armed forces. As a veteran of two wars, she worked to broaden the scope of what support services the VGW had previously offered in order to help more soldiers in need. Largely as a result of these reforms, she was eventually elected President. After the conclusion of the Dark Wars, she married a Rodian civilian who worked for the VGW as an accountant, and the couple adopted and raised a number of war orphans.
Legacy[]
Reeka Chorizzo's many articles for Jarhead!, as well as those published to other news outlets and her biographies, comprised a significant and influential contribution to military journalism throughout the galaxy. Though the holozine where she first made her literary presence felt had been in existence for centuries prior to her birth, after her death the publication declared her as its Honorary President along with its founder, Temuera Mortikai.
As further recognition of her life's achievements, in 3,916 BBY the Reeka Chorizzo Prize for Military Journalism was created by a partnership between the VGW and the Republic Military. This prize was awarded annually to a journalist or reporter, either a military servicebeing or a civilian, who most exemplified the needs of the galactic community in covering momentous events from a military perspective. The prize itself was awarded as a medal and a ten thousand credit endowment, which was to be used in further pursuit of information regarding the galactic armed forces.
Bibliography[]
Over the years, Reeka had authored a series of articles for the Marines' holozine, Jarhead!, and eventually published several books. The books were biographical accounts of Marine service during both conflict and peacetime.
- Squeak!
- Goodnight Brain, Wherever You Are...
- Marine of the Mists
- Redoubt and Reformer: The Life and Service of Oluth Par'fey
Personality and traits[]
Lieutenant Commander Reeka Chorizzo: consummate officer and gentlebeing, a soldier and scholar both. Recommend immediate promotion and transfer to Public Relations.
—Performance review, c. 3,950 BBY
Reeka Chorizzo, when she had first joined the Republic Marines, had a degree of nervousness and would often respond to stress with a surprised squeak. During her platoon's initial inspection, when Gunnery Sergeant Tuffass inquired after her in his notoriously ungentle manner, Reeka responded with her vocal tic and was summarily named for it. This tic, however, had vanished over the course of her training, and Reeka emerged from boot camp as a confident Marine.
She was warm and friendly towards her comrades-in-arms when off-duty, and she admitted to being "something of a hugger." After Reeka had proved her worth to her drill instructor, she asked for permission to hug him, which Tuffass obliged. Both as an enlistee and later as an officer, Reeka proved herself a good leader and solid tactician, but she was only stern when she needed to be. However, as she grew older, she learned that her true talents lay in her writing ability; after having been badly wounded during the Mandalorian Wars and experiencing much combat, she considered this to be a form of personal therapy. She was a frequent contributor to Jarhead! and a number of her articles won journalism awards. Her professional writing career panned out even further, eventually including several noteworthy biographies that were also critically acclaimed.
Reeka became close to her former mentor, and would often visit with Tuffass after the Gand had retired from service. This friendship allowed her to achieve what no other interviewer was able to accomplish despite years of trying: obtaining the old sergeant's permission to write and publish his memoirs, Marine of the Mists. Of her biographies, the Rodian felt that they were a delightful obligation that she owed to posterity.
Talents and abilities[]
I've occasionally been accused of being an egg-headed jarhead, which is a contradiction I find more humorous than puzzling.
—Reeka, at a gathering of the VGW
As a Marine, Reeka proved to be talented at silent movement; this, combined with her excellent observational skills, made her a natural recon scout. Her experiences in boot camp under Tuffass and alongside Laera, along with her attendance in advanced Marine Corps training courses, helped her to hone these abilities greatly. She also possessed latent leadership skills, which Marine training brought out and developed, so that by the end of the Mandalorian Wars, she was asked to undergo officer training.
Reeka was an avid reader, and also possessed a strong command of Galactic Basic, as well as a talent for composition. During her early career, she read Jarhead! almost obsessively, which later inspired her to contribute to the holozine. Her early efforts were met with praise, and her superiors encouraged her to continue in her literary pursuits. A gifted communicator, she parlayed that skill into a successful side career as a military journalist and biographer; in addition, she was a noted lecturer, often giving off-the-cuff speeches during special occasions.
Behind the scenes[]
Reeka Chorizzo made her first appearance in Tales from the Corps, Vol. 1, the first anthology in the Tales from the Corps series by fan fiction author Sean "Goodwood" Nash, and was later brought in as a secondary character for the in-progress novel Bramblebriar Lane. Her surname is derived from chorizo, a type of sausage from the Iberian Peninsula, a name which was suggested by co-author Trak Nar. Though her name was suggested by Nar, her character and initial story was established by Nash.
Reeka's character was initially imagined by Nash as simply another Marine in Laera Reyolé's training platoon. However during writing, she developed into a significant figure in the development of Reyolé's backstory as established in the anthology in which she first appeared. Though Nash initially handed further literary developments over to co-author Nar in the wake of the collection's publication and success, he nevertheless brought the character back as a primary character for the novella Rapid Redeployment.
Appearances[]
- Tales from the Corps, Vol. 1 (First appearance)
- Rapid Redeployment
- Bramblebriar Lane
- Impact Events (Mentioned only)