S'Hral Glaso

Overview
S'Hral Glaso was a Weequay fighter pilot and member of Arrow Squadron during the Galactic Civil War and the earliest days of the New Republic. Assigned to the Arrows in 1 ABY, shortly before the Battle of Myyribod, Glaso was a brave warrior and talented pilot. Following the Battle of Endor, Glaso joined the reforming Arrow Squadron.

Early Life and Early Supporter
S'Hral Glaso was born on the Weequay homeworld of Sriluur, the only son of a poor copper miner. S'Hral and his family carved out a meager existence on the harsh, acrid, volcanic world. As a youth, he witnessed the impact the Clone Wars had on his world and its economy. Sriluur, as part of Hutt Space, was heavily dominated by smuggling enterprises run by Hutt overlords. His father's company plied their goods to whatever buyer in the commercial center of the planet, the city of Dnalvec.

While the Weequay maintained strong trade relations with the rest of Hutt Space, the Hutts never truly attempted to subjugate or conquer the planet, nor did they make efforts to enslave the Weequay. However, once the the Galactic Empire seized control of the planet, smuggling activities only increased on the newly established and expanded black market.

That black market drew the interest of a young S'Hral and he began working as hired muscle for local gangs. He quickly proved to be a capable pilot, his father having taught him rudimentary flight controls as a boy. It wasn't long before the teenage S'Hral was running freighters through the occupying Imperial blockade. Through his experiences off-world, he began to see the evils of the Empire and the truly sad state of his people. S'Hral grew to hate the Empire and everything it stood for. Using his smuggling skills, he decided to take action. As the years passed, S'Hral became more and more involved with the earliest parts of the Rebel Alliance known as the Fulcrum.

While not officially part of the rebellion just yet, S'Hral began adjusting his supply runs and working ever so slightly, as well very carefully, to bring minerals and raw materials to Rebel agents. It was a delicate task, to say the least. The majority of his contacts on Sriluur were corrupt Imperial officials who were making money off his runs. The Weequay also used his ability to travel through the Imperial lines to gather information which he then gave to other Fulcrum agents. He became an expert at forging documents and smuggling. Finally, he helped ferry fellow Weequay who wished to join the Alliance off their planet and to known rebel bases.

However, conditions on Sriluur were about to go from bad to worse.

Wars Comes to Sriluur
While the Empire had a small blockading presence to discourage illegal activity, their forces had been minimal and easily bribed to look the other way. However, Empire established a strong military presence on the planet, under the command of Governor Newen Streeg, first and foremost to put an end to smuggling and Rebel activity in the sector. S'Hral's activities and allegiances had not be revealed, but his actions were beginning to catch the attention of Imperial forces. The move was also seen as a hostile political gesture to the Hutts.

Two Star Destroyers, the Annihilator and the Ruthless were assigned to the area, but crime and smuggling continued to thrive. Governor Streeg, in an attempt to exert his authority, began a brutal crackdown on the local Weequay, including several severe attacks in and around Dnalvec. Around this time, some Weequay began coming to the same realization that S'Hral had some years prior: the Empire was evil. The Dnalvec Militia provided many recruits for the Alliance and various Hutt crime lords, who were also waging a private war against the Imperials.

Sensing a change in public opinion, Governor Streeg ordered a massive bombing attack on suspected insurgent positions in Dnalvec. During one of these attacks, S'Hral's mother and two sisters were killed by Imperial forces.

The Alliance
S'Hral took the death of his family members particularly hard. His aging father, who had also been wounded in the attack, encouraged him to leave Sriluur and take the fight elsewhere less more innocent Weequay perish. In 3 BBY, S'Hral left his homeworld and linked up with an active Rebel cell operating in Hutt Space. His natural talents as a pilot, navigator, and smuggler, proved immediately beneficial and it wasn't long before S'Hral and his cell were operating with direct orders from Alliance High Command. S'Hral was put in charge of a small detachment of five X-Wing fighters whose pilots were made up entirely of exiled Weequay. Known as "The Bloody Braids", in honor of the braid that all Weequay grow once they leave Sriluur for an extended period of time, he small detached fought to interrupt Imperial shipping and commerce.

Eventually, his actions earned the praise and attention of Admiral Raddus. S'Hral was recalled to the main Rebel Fleet. However, his transfer was interrupted by an Imperial attack on the Bloody Braids base of operations. The attack was small and insignificant, but the delay most likely saved the Weequay's life. He had had orders to transfer to Red Squadron. This unit was decimated at the Battle of Yavin with few survivors.

Once the Weequay did arrive at the fleet some weeks later, he was assigned to the newly formed Arrow Squadron under the command of Lieutenant Tolamael Benere.

Making A Statement
S'Hral arrived in the Betseeda System in 1 ABY and was assigned to the flight wing under Sorshara Bray, another veteran fighter pilot. He adjusted well to the transfer, but missed the Battle of Myyribod with the rest of his fighter wing. The Weequay pilot was a welcome addition and very quickly bonded with fellow pilots Yol Aak, Udas, Vid Paratool, and Cedric Rex. This group often spent their down time gambling and sharing stories of their past exploits. S'Hral even managed to acquire the rudimentary equipment to begin a small distillery in his personal quarters. This bootlegged alcohol, although officially frowned upon by Lieutenant Benere, was often shared at their gambling table.

S'Hral's first take of action with Arrow Squadron came during the troubling Siege of Tazion. With many of Arrow Squadron's fighters grounded due to a severe lack of fuel, Glaso and other members of the unit took to training with BRF soldiers and refreshing their weaponry skills. A crack shot with a blaster, small competitions often took place among the unit with S'Hral frequently coming out the winner.

The Weequay volunteered to be part of the dangerous mission to infiltrate the Star Destroyer Salient in a desperate attempt to break the Imperial siege. Posing as a prisoner captured by Imperial soldiers alongside other some non-human members of Arrow Squadron, the strike team was able to gain access to and disable or destroy several systems within the Star Destroyer. It turned out that the frequent small arms training that S'Hral and others had participated in came in very handy as the strike team was forced to engage Imperial stormtroopers on several occasions. S'Hral, along with several other members of the team, were wounded. Despite being wounded, S'Hral and Nez Rennoc, one of the BRF officers, covered the last stages of the retreat back to the shuttles. Unfortunately, the BRF commander, Hooper Croix, was killed in the attack, but the survivors were able to escape before fighters under the command of Lieutenant Benere forced both the Salient and the Venom to break off the siege.This victory was a major boost to the Alliance campaign in the system and proved to be a critical turning point.

First Kill
A short time later, S'Hral was part of a training exercise involving fighter pilots from the BRF that were forming their own planetary defense force. This group, which was being trained by both Kostan Stodl and Idolon Jdre was a hodgepodge of fighters and ships, but showed promise. When their long range scanners detected Imperial TIE fighters making for a vital mining structure in the frozen forests of the polar regions of Betseeda Prime.

Knowing the importance of these mines, the trainees and their Arrow Squadron instructors opted to engage the incoming TIE fighters. In the brief, but important engagement known as the Second Battle of Betseeda Prime, Glaso helped rout the incoming attack and shot down one of the TIE fighter squadron leaders. Despite having served with the unit for some time now, this was his first actual combat kill in aerial combat.

S'Hral proved to be a natural soldier becoming very close to former partisan Udas and fellow gambler Aak.

Jonquil Station
S'Hral flew at the final battle in the Betseeda System campaign, the Battle of Jonquil Station. During the fight, he was assigned to the flight wing under the command of Arrow Three - Vid Paratool - that was given the task of keeping incoming TIE fighters distracted while the other flight wings, under the command of Arrow Leader and Arrow Two would target the two Star Destroyers docked at the orbiting Jonquil Station. It would be a dangerous assignment, basically serving as bait for incoming fighters.

During the attack, S'Hral's skills were tested as the Arrows were vastly outnumbered and outgunned, relying on surprise and planning to carry the day. To complicate matters, his astromech droid was destroyed by TIE fighter fire and several of his systems became unresponsive. However, S'Hral personally shot down four TIE fighters during the engagement, but the unit paid dearly for their victory. Several pilots - including Jdre, Rex, Otan Vebb and Kubala Ruwassa were killed in the attack. The death of Idolon Jdre was particularly traumatizing for S'Hral as he, like much of Arrow Squadron, viewed the man as a personal friend.

On To The Next One
Despite the victory, the campaign had been costly for Arrow Squadron. However, without much of an afterthought, the unit was assigned to the Chommell Sector to put down a series of bloody raids perpetrated by the pirate Ras Moltar and his Glaston Pirates. S'Hral was familiar with the pirates from his days as a smuggler, but was surprised to hear of their recent turn towards more barbaric acts. He had even met Moltar years before joining the Rebellion during a mission. He was impressed with the charismatic pirate, but thought nothing more of the encounter for many years.

The Arrows believed, almost to a pilot, that the campaign would be short and victories. S'Hral, however, knew how cunning and inventive pirates could be and advised his fellow pilots to expect anything. Paratool and S'Hral, who both had experience working with pirates, were ordered to conduct several long range sensor sweeps of suspected pirate locations, looking for anything that seemed suspicious. These sweeps were made to look like routine geological or mining scans and did not alert the pirates of their presence. His suspicions were well founded as the Arrows were quiet literally pulled into an impromptu battle with Ras and his forces.

While masking their signal as a corvette, believing the pirates would never attack a ship of that size, the Arrows were pulled from hyperspace by a gravity well that Ras had installed at the pirate base on the moon of Ruaha. In the battle that followed, the pirate fighters were able to fend off the Arrows long enough to evacuate their base and return to a secret location. S'Hral managed to down one of their fighters, a spirited little RZ-1T, but as he had theorized, the pirates proved elusive.

Following the Battle of Ruaha, the Arrows went into an intense intelligence gathering campaign in an attempt to location the secret pirate base. Eventually, it was determined that they would bait the pirates with an offer too good to refuse. Three Arrow Squadron members - S'Hral, Sorshara Bray, and Craal Noarnn would pilot a shuttle and send out a distress beacon. The trio would be posing as musicians, with false records and papers, under the employee of the wealthy Niima the Hutt. The plan was to allow themselves to be captured and then to transmit or figure out a way to escape and relay the location of the pirate stronghold.

The pirates had been killing most of their captives so the plan was risky at best. S'Hral would serve as the muscle should it be warranted. As predicted, however, the pirates took the bait. Once they were captured and Ras knew of their possible worth, he ordered them imprisoned at the pirate base known as Vagabond's Rest. S'Hral was beaten on several occasions while imprisoned, but luckily none of his former smuggler contacts or acquaintances seemed to be working with the Glaston Pirates. Had they been, he ran the risk of being identified and killed.

Eventually, while the trio of pilots attempted to get their location out to the other members of Arrow Squadron, they were approached by three members of the DeMeers family wishing to defect from the pirates and join the Alliance. Led by their father, Hollis DeMeers, he and his adult children, Saffron DeMeers and Nath DeMeers, plead their case to the prisoners. Saffron, who had been acting as a guard for the Glaston Pirates and overheard a conversation between Bray and Glaso about their mission. Rather than turning them in, she saw it as their possible escape.

Originally skeptical, but believing it to be their best option, S'Hral advised the DeMeers, Noarnn, and Bray escape. He, once again, volunteered to remain behind should their be additional information to discover and to make their escape seem more plausible. Bray hated the plan and, as mission commander, attempted to order him to come along. S'Hral explained that he was doing them a favor and could buy them time. Reluctantly, she agreed, but noted that he had a terrible habit of taking on the worst assignments.

Saffron was able to convince Ras and his aides that she was taking the prisoners to Niima and that contact had been made with the Hutt. She had earned his trust serving as one of his guards and he approved of her plan. With the appropriate clearances to leave, she knew she needed to act before Ras changed his mind. Under the cover of darkness, Bray, Noarnn, and the DeMeers left the night before their scheduled departure.

It was a good idea. Ras had reached out to contacts within Niima's organization and learned that she had no such musicians. She did, however, have a Weequay body guard that had went missing some time ago that matched S'Hral's description. Luckily for the pilot, it was a totally random fluke. Furious with the betrayal of the DeMeers and the escape of the prisoners, Ras contemplated killing the Weequay still in his custody. However, he realized that he needed soldiers and that this Weequay may prove useful if he ever went after the Hutts. Little did he know that he had the wrong man.

Deciding to keep the Weequay alive, for the time being, but still locked up, he met with S'Hral on several occasions to learn more about the DeMeers treachery. S'Hral played into his paranoia and his ego, but wisely implicated Bray and Noarnn stating that he was only a bodyguard and knew better than to cross someone as well known as Ras Moltar. This tactics kept him alive long enough for the Arrows to plan and execute their surprise attack.

During the Battle of Vagabond's Rest, Arrow Squadron hammered the pirate strong hold. Seeing this as his change, S'Hral overpowered his confused guard and looked for his way to escape. The battle was a success and S'Hral was rescued following the victory, but he learned later that the order to fire upon the fleeing transports had caused a serious rift in the unit and moral was low. S'Hral knew that he would have fired at the transports, knowing that a pirate band had to be completely destroyed to be eliminated, but he also was wise enough to know the emotions and attitudes of his fellow soldiers.

For his work on the mission, and his decision to remain behind enemy lines, he was personally commended by Lieutenant Benere and Alliance High Command.

The Hutt Campaign
A short time later, S'Hral was assigned to part of the Hutt Campaign to liberate the planet of Ullatak. Familiar with the Hutts and their dubious history of honoring deals, he was skeptical of the Alliance's agreement with the criminal lords. Nonetheless, he appreciated being part of the task force for no other reason than he was given the opportunity to interact with his people once again. Hundreds of Weequay soldiers were part of the Hutt ground forces and S'Hral spent many a night at their tables, sharing stories and enjoying his people once again.

He learned that uprisings on Sriluur had increased and that the Empire was having a difficult time keeping the peace. He was pleased to hear this news and the time spent with the Hutts was very much needed by the pilot.

S'Hral flew in the Battle of Ullatak and personally destroyed several ground turrets. The attack was confusing and disorganized and S'Hral was disgusted by the way Alliance High Command had handled both the intelligence gathering and strategic planning of the mission. Unfortunately, his good friend, Yol Aak, was killed in the attack and Vid Paratool went rogue, disobeying orders and completing his break from the unit. Immediately following the attack, Vid resigned his commission in the unit.

The Arrows were in a dark time as a group. However, the unit was reassigned to the main Rebel Fleet shortly thereafter and assigned to escort duty. It came as a relief, but it also was mundane and boring. S'Hral flew frequent escort missions while assigned to the fleet, but he felt as though he was losing his edge. He spent much of his downtime losing money at the gambling tables and seeking out the company of women.

While some members of the unit retired and left the service during this time, others were dispatched for further training or other assignments. During this time, S'Hral fought in one of the most important battles in the the entirety of the Galactic Civil War, the Battle of Endor. A depleted, but energized group of pilots including Benere, Tozin X'ala, Danic Polis and S'Hral fought with distinction at the battle. S'Hral was credited with five kills during the fight, trailing only Lieutenant Benere in kill counts.

Reformation
Following the Battle of Endor, Lieutenant Benere was given a new assignment within High Command. As a result, Arrow Squadron was reformed under the leadership of Udas. The Mon Cal was promoted to Lieutenant and given command of the squadron. S'Hral, happy to see Udas in command of the unit given their friendship, agreed to stay on with the unit and followed Arrow Squadron when it was assigned to the Tingel Arm in early 5 ABY. He had traveled to the Tingel Arm during his days as a smuggler and was familiar with the wild, dangerous reason of space.