Lothas'iron'athren "Sirona"

Lothas'iron'athren was born on one of the more heavily fortified worlds in the Chiss Ascendancy, the frontier outpost Pesfavri, daughter of a local governor and her bodyguard--who later became her husband.  Sirona was raised strictly but fairly and was extremely well-educated, going to the top boarding school on her planet.  While there, she performed admirably but struggled in the biological sciences, which was a shame because she would have otherwise graduated near, if not at the top of her class.  Still, she did more than respectably and whenever she came home she was well-welcomed by her mother and father, occasionally left to take care of her twin brothers to help nurture her sense of responsibility and ability to take care of herself.  However, beyond this she had a fairly normal childhood for Chiss, though there was one event which altered her life.  At one point during her schooling her class received a twi'lek into their midst named Aathen, and almost immediately she found herself fascinated by this poor kid.  She'd never seen an alien before, and unlike the others of her school who had difficulties spending time around him for fear of his difference, she gladly sat with him and chatted away with him, keenly interested in both his kind and him as a person.  The two dated for a while, and though their romance fell through, she remained good friends with Aathen, often visiting him and his folks when she could.  Perhaps thanks to her infatuation with her alien friend, the very day she graduated she put herself on the career path to join the exploration, intrigued in what else she might find.  Soon afterwards she began going on trips with her mother and brothers into the coreward worlds, visiting some of the neutral worlds uninvolved with the civil war for safety's sake--and she found it to be some of the most exciting stuff of her life.  She almost decided to be a diplomat just to spend time with them, but her mother assured her that being a diplomat amongst their kind meant more dealing with the home sector, unless she made it into top percent of diplomats.  Still, she relished every trip out of home space and bathed in the alien cultures.

Her time in the officer academy was almost fervent, her sleep schedule was wrecked from frantically trying to keep up with the work load she was given and she found herself getting into all manner of extra-curricular activities.  Of particular note was the option to see about getting an early relationship with the major ruling families, of which she wound up choosing the one which her mother worked with, the Sabosen clan.  She actually has yet to make it in as a member of the family due to her resistance to leave her work, but she's on good terms with them and occasionally does what she can to help them with favors.  However, most of her time was spent just getting herself a good place in the Chiss Expansionary Fleet.  And a good spot she did, landing herself a solid position as the navigator on one of the brand new home-designed Vshra scout ships.  She couldn't have been happier; she was going to be pushing the borders of space, and perhaps she'd be one of the first to come across an alien race.  Ironically, those aboard her ship found the work dull, but she loved every system they entered, earning the nickname "Pup" amongst her superiors for her almost child-like enthusiasm.  Occasionally they had to fight pirates and other invaders, the first occasion of which she performed admirably in but afterwards was a little shaken.  She didn't care much for getting fired at, and while the simulations had done a lot to prepare her, it didn't compare to the knowledge that she could have died if they didn't do their job properly.  While they were few and far between, these combats hardened her over time and helped her outwardly become someone a little more like what the Chiss military needed.  Crewmates came and crewmates left, though thankfully none of them to death, and over time she began moving up the ranks of her ship.  Actually, she was offered a transfer off multiple times, comments like wanting a bigger ship or to know more people.  However, her trips back home and visiting with their outer colonies were enough for her.  She was enjoying the exploration far too much.

Two years into her service, they were examining a garden world which had gone previously unexplored, and at one point Sirona began hearing a peculiar thrumming in the back of her head.  At first she thought that it was her getting sick or that she needed her ears examined, but their medical expert assured her that there was nothing wrong.  They spent some time on the world, cataloging the flora and fauna, but throughout it all that thrumming kept niggling at her, teasing her almost.  Eventually both she and the rest of the crew had enough of it, and they decided to go investigating whatever this thing was, since that was kind of their job.  After a few hours of hunting and the sound growing louder and louder, they found it: a cave which had been carefully carved over time into a remarkably well-maintained home.  The place was dusty and forgotten, likely nobody had been there in decades at the very least, but everything was strangely intact; it was as if the local fauna had kept away out of reverence.  Tapestries and carefully carved furniture littered the entire place, as well some old technology which was recognized as Republic in origin, but nothing from recent memory.  And then she found the source of the humming, a single small elaborately decorated box stashed under a bed and a beautifully decorated but battered metal cylinder.  None of the crew knew what these objects were, but they took it all onto the ship so that it could be better examined.  That night, as Sirona tinkered with the noisy little cube, she began staring at it, concentrating on the details as she wracked her brain for an answer as to why this thing was pestering her so.  And then, as she noticed a crease, it began to shift and move, and it soon opened.  From its center grew a small but remarkably well-detailed hologram of a robed alien (a bothan specifically).  As soon as it woke up she called the rest of her crew in to see it, and sure enough it was there, glowing in the middle of the room, speaking in "Galactic Basic."  It introduced itself as the stored memory and personality of "Jedi Master Chiirel" and, after some translation issues they came to the conclusion that the old alien's mind had begun deteriorating, perhaps due to dementia, and he'd become badly lost and crash-landed onto the planet they'd found.  As a last-ditch effort to preserve what he remembered, he stored all he had into this holocron in the hopes that another would one day recover it and learn from him anew.

Excited by their discovery, they brought it back to their home base... but soon discovered that, for reasons unknown, only Sirona was able to get the vexing box to cooperate.  However, near as they could tell, this "holocron" was a collection of Force techniques as well as the appropriate teachings of the Jedi, or at least what the old man could remember.  As for the cylinder, it appeared to be a lightsaber, but the construction techniques were fairly old and it was severely damaged including its crystal; apparently the old master had forgotten how to maintain it and it became damaged in combat.  They took the lightsaber in the hopes of recreating the technology, but in the meantime she was given the holocron in the hopes that she could figure out how it worked and recreate it herself... and perhaps for the Chiss Ascendancy to have its own personal jedi.  In the meantime she was encouraged to return to patrolling that sector on the Mahrii, hoping that she could find similar artifacts for them to examine.  Her life became frantic after that, constantly meditating and practicing with her pocket master whenever she wasn't assisting on the ship.  Her comrades did what they could to accommodate their peculiar crew member, but it was difficult for them to work their schedule around her.  She progressed steadily through the training, and in the meantime she honed her abilities on the planets they stopped at, helping them find creatures they might have otherwise missed.  Unfortunately, it seemed that her master was a unique occurrence in the region and no other stashes could be found.  However, eventually she progressed enough that, as they were returning home with some flora samples, she picked something up from a planet where one of their beacons were placed.  They promptly investigated and found an Sith Empire listening post dating back multiple millennia.  After this discovery she was promoted to the rank of Commander and given the Mahrii with free reign to hunt their borders for more archaeological finds such as that, and while she didn't manage to find any more Sith she did find signs of an entire space-faring civilization which had decayed over time.  Its not clear what became of them, as very little is left beyond ruins and the occasional body, but there was clearly something here.  However, the youngest ruin dates back many thousands of years, so it was declared a non-issue for current affairs, but archaeologists hoped to find some indication of whether or not the race was still around.

For some time she would be allowed to continue her search, assisting in exploring the areas within reach of the Chiss and occasionally popping in to report her progress in the Force.  In the meantime, the coreward galaxy seemed to be shattering--every time she came home she heard some new report of what was going on, some wild shift in the balance of power or some atrocity committed.  Even from their distant perch, the Ascendancy was becoming uncomfortable with the situation, uncertain as to whether the ripples of what was happening coreward would spread to them.  And then... something hit Sirona one night.  She wouldn't remember the dream, nor did she have any idea of how it reached all the way out to her, but she awoke screaming as a horrifying presence seemed to slash across her.  At first she thought it a one-time affair, but the next week the same thing happened, and this time she couldn't deny it, promptly alerting high command of the situation.  They agreed that things were degenerating enough in the core that whatever it was that was panicking their resident Force-sensitive needed investigating, but they also didn't want to lose her.  She began investigating ways to keep herself hidden, pressing the Master Chiirel holocron for ways to hide herself from harm.  If there was something Force-using out there, it was no doubt stronger than her and she needed to be able to hide from it.  Fortunately, Chiirel came from a time period where the Sith were at least a constant presence.  While the Chiss had no access to these so-called "stealth field generators," the master was able to teach her how to hide her visuals using the Force as well as hide her Force "signature" from others like her.  She chose to focus on her appearance first, as she wasn't even certain if what had alerted her was Sith or just something horrible happening, but without someone to tell her if she's succeeding she has no idea if she's able to hide her Force output (she's not).  This training was done entirely on-planet under the supervision of the military, and when she succeeded the effect was examined in the hopes of recreating this effect into "stealth field generators" of their very own.  In the meantime, the lightsaber they'd been given had been a disaster--they'd been unable to find crystals like the one within and their attempts at recreation were... less than perfect... lethally so.

With only her crew, a lightly armed scout ship, and a senile holocron for a master, she was to spearhead a small group of scouts to investigate the galactic situation and, if at all possible, find whatever was sending such horrid ripples through the Force.  The Chiss don't want to be dragged in, nor do they want to give people ammunition to assault them, but those who have far-reaching eyes know that if the situation gets bad enough that it might spread to them, then it would be best to know where the attacks will come from.


((April 25, 2015: Replaced Comprehend Languages with Tutamis and gave her a universal translator))