Idolon Jdre

Overview
Idolon "Ide" Jdre was a human male pilot from the temperate world of Chandrila. He held the rank of Lieutenant, but served as Deputy Commanding Officer of Arrow Squadron during the Galactic Civil War. Along with Tolamael Benere, Jdre was instrumental in founding the fighter squadron in O BBY. Charismatic, but level-headed, he often served as a counterbalance to the headstrong and brash Benere. He was also the love interest of fellow pilot Sorshara Bray. Benere and Jdre were best friends up until his death at the Battle of Jonquil Station in 2 ABY.

Early Life
Jdre was born to exceptionally wealthy parents who were highly influential with the local Imperial Government. Jdre grew up attending galas and events. While his parents rubbed elbows with the Imperial brass, Jdre chaffed at the lifestyle. While he was afforded every luxury imaginable, he was kept isolated in the world of the elite. His parents rarely expressed their affection for the boy and he proved only an average student in his studies. Several of the other boys his age began to tease and torment Jdre.

As a teenager, he began to show his frustration, running away or going missing for days on end. When his parents stopped worrying about his behavior, knowing that the young boy would always return after a few days, it infuriated him even further. He slowly began to form a plot that would severe the connection to his apathetic parents.

The Rebellion Comes to Chandrila
One day, while Jdre and his classmates, all the children of influential Imperials, were in class, Rebel sympathizers on Chandrila attacked their school, kidnapping the boys with the hopes of collecting a large ransom. While his former bullies were reduced to whimper blobs, Jdre saw his chance and told his capture of his desire to join the Rebellion.

When the parents of the students, include Jdres', paid the requested ransom to the Rebels, Idre refused to return to his life of luxury. Staying with his captors, he fled off world at only 18 years old.

Cutting His Teeth
Idre was initially given menial tasks to complete and served as a runner for Rebel High Command. Knowing his value as a propaganda tool, for nearly three years, he was kept away from the earliest fighting during the Galactic Civil War. As the Rebellion grew and more systems joined the cause, Jdre again desired more for himself. Approaching his superior officers, he volunteered for the fledgling Alliance Starfighter Corp.

Accepted into program, he proved a natural behind the controls. Whereas his marks as a student were average, his marks as a pilot were top notch. He entered into a healthy rival with fellow student Tolamael Benere. The two remain rivals, but also friends, pushing each other through the training program. Commissioned as pilots, Jdre and Benere began serving as escort patrol and flying routine missions while more veteran pilots engaged the Imperial Navy in small skirmishes.

This lack of action ruffled the headstrong Benere's feathers, but Jdre saw it as the natural course of things. Eventually, their time would come and they'd be thrown into action. While they did manage to engage the Imperials in a half dozen small engagements, earning their first kills as pilots, it wasn't the kind of action Benere had signed up for. The imprudent Corellian wanted to take the fight to the Empire while the rational Chandrilian saw each small victory as a smack in the face to both the Empire and his parents.

Forming Arrow Squad & Scarif
The actions of the two pilots, however, did not go unnoticed and Admiral Raddus placed Benere in charge of a newly formed squadron of pilots - Arrow Squadron - with Jdre as his Executive Officer. The two young pilots beamed at the opportunity. They brought a third friend, young Twi'lek pilot Vid Paratool. The remainder of the squadron was quickly assigned by Command. One of these new pilots was a brash, beautiful female pilot named Sorshara Bray. Jdre was immediately smitten with Bray.

Little did he know just how right those words would be as only months after graduating from the pilot program, the Rebellion fought its first major battle against the Empire at the Battle of Scarif The newly formed squadron was pressed into action. Jdre, in his first major battle performed well, downing four TIE fighters in the engagement.

Establishing a Foothold
The transfer to the Betseeda System caught Lieutenant Jdre off guard. He had enjoyed flying with the main Alliance Fleet, but understood High Command's new battle strategy. After doing his best to calm down his friend Tolamael, who was initially none too pleased the move, Jdre began overseeing the quartermaster duties and procuring what provisions he could for their mission.

It was Jdre's work that was instrumental in three pilots - Danic Polis, Craal "Al" Noarnn and Jev Talianos - being assigned to Arrow Squadron. A previously relation with Polis, a talented pilot with a flair for the dramatic, helped foster their early relationship.

The Arrows arrived in the system and immediately got to work. While Lieutenant Benere set about establishing diplomatic relations with the Betseeda Resistance Forces, Ide began to gather supplies. The Alliance had given them enough to establish a small base somewhere in the system, but back up parts for repairing their ships, weapons, and general creature comforts were in short supply. Ide began to barter and trade with local Betseedas under the ruse of building a trading outpost.

The rebel base, located on Betseeda Prime on a small island in the massive Shonzu Lake served as a perfect hidden base. Ide, with the help of Udas, Cedric Rex, and Sorshara Bray, as well as a handful of maintenance droids, began to construct landing pads and maintenance officers for their small corp of fighters. Jdre's organization mind and ability to accomplish critical tasks made him quintessential to the earliest days of the unit.

The First Battle of Betseeda Prime
After months of negotiations and planning with the BRF Commander, former Senator Madeline Gren, Arrow Squadron put a complex plan into motion. BRF ground forces, led both by Gren and Udas, launched a series of coordinated ambushes against Imperial Forces during one of Betseeda's largest holidays. They quickly overwhelmed the Imperial ground forces in the capital city of Tazion including those stationed at the Betseedan Parliament and government buildings. The Imperial commander in the Betseeda System, Admiral Jhutan Ensah, rallied his forces and fought back, believing this to be just another riot. The Betseedans had never offered any major resistance to the Empire and his forces had assumed that the local population was thoroughly suppressed. While Gren and Udas led BRF soldiers on the ground, Lieutenant Benere and Arrow Squad attacked from the air. Using his X-wings to fight off incoming fighters from Betseeda Prime's Imperial airbase, he dispatched his Y-wings to bomb Imperial ground forces. The bombing caused mass destruction among the remaining Imperial forces. Eventually, Admiral Ensah came to the realization that he had lost the upper hand. Rather than risking the destruction of the entire city of Tazion, he ordered Imperial forces off the planet to regroup. It was a stunning defeat for the Empire and boosted the moral of both the local population and Arrow Squadron.

During the fight, Jdre shot down a number of attacking TIE fighters earning the respect of those pilots who had never seen him in combat.

Continuing to Fight
Wanting to capitalize on their success, Arrow Squadron plotted their next move carefully. Imperial forces, now based at the long abandoned Jonquil Station had begun to actively hunt down Arrow Squad. The two Imperial Star Destroyers in the system, the Salient and the Venom, also began to put their crews through intensive training.

Udas was able to obtain communication channel codes for these training exercises from an Imperial defector in Tazion. With these roads, a plan was hatched. That plan would lead to the Battle of Faan Shaarada. The Imperials were planning war games, pitting the pilots of the two destroyers against one another in a simulated attack. Breaking his unit into two groups, with Ide commanding the group that would attack the Salient, Lieutenant Benere used the stolen communication codes to insert his fighters into the war games and launch a surprise attack. Members of Arrow Squadron also began reporting false orders and attacks on the comm frequency leading to even further panic among the Imperials.

The attack was quick and successful, causing massive amounts of damage to both Star Destroyers.

Over the next few months, Ide and his fellow pilots engaged in several small skirmishes with Imperial forces. He continued to improve their facilities and was even responsible for hosting a surprise birthday party for his good friend Tolamael.

The Arrow's luck ran out when they were ambushed at the Battle of Myyribod. Vid Paratool's flight group was responding to what they believed was a legitimate distress call. However, the Imperials had lured them into a trap and a chaotic running battle ensued. Ide's flight group was mobilized and nearby. He quickly ordered his fighters into the fray and helped cover the retreat of his comrades. Lieutenant Benere arrived moments later and the unit was able to jump to hyper space, fleeing as quickly as possible. The battle cost the lives of several pilots - including Vid who was feared dead. These losses were their first since the Battle of Scarif over a year prior.

Jdre was very upset over the loss of Vid, a close friend of his. He found comfort in Sorshara Bray, the two having fallen into a committed relationship. He buried himself in improving their hidden base and, with the help of some support Betseeda officials, was able to install automated attack turrets to defend their location.

Slogging it Out
The prolonged Siege of Tazion, a three month battle against a combined attack by Imperial ground and air forces, greatly tested the organizational abilities of Jdre. Supplies to the planet were cut off and the Arrows, after six weeks of the siege, made the difficult decision to cut flight time to only the most essential of duties. Fuel was at a premium and supplies from the government in Tazion had dwindled. The Alliance was in no position to help break the siege and the outlook was grim.

When BRF forces under Hooper Croix, their commander since the death of Gren, proposed a plan to infiltrate the Star Destroyer Salient, Ide endorsed the idea. Benere was skeptical, but was also running out of options. The Salient had been launching heavy bombardment attacks on the planet, especially Tazion. These attacks had killed hundreds of civilians. A strike team of Arrow pilots and BRF commandos managed to pilot a captured Imperial cargo ship to the Salient and, using another set of stolen Imperial codes, landed on the ship. Ide, Cedric Rex, Sorshara Bray posed as Imperials bringing a shipment of prisoners to the Salient for questioning. The "prisoners" were actually two dozen BRF commandos, and pilots Udas, S'Hral Glaso, & Tozin X'ala.

In a series of quick maneuvers, the strike team was able to disable the firing controls of the Star Destroyer and plant several bombs in the reactor core. Many of the commandos were lost in the raid, but as the Arrows escaped, the Salient was crippled and rendered ineffective.

In the final coordinated move of the plan, the remaining Arrows, under Lieutenant Benere, launched an attack against the Destroyer Venom. The Star Destroyers broke off their bombardment of Tazion and returned to their base above Jonquil.

Sometime after the battle, Sorshara and Ide decided to call off their romance. While Ide wanted to eventually settle down and raise a family, Bray was opposed to the idea. This disagreement caused a major rift in their relationship and, while they kept it as cordial as possible, an icy tension settled over their future interactions. Once again, Jdre buried himself in his work. He managed to secure a large shipment of weapons for the BRF and spent some time away from the Arrow's base working to improve and rebuild the defenses of Tazion. It was during this time in Tazion that he survived an assassination attempt by Imperial agents.

Ide flew with distinction, and in overall command of Arrow Squadron, at the Second Battle of Betseeda Prime where Captain Takei, now leading the Imperial forces, attacked the weakened planet of Betseeda Prime once again. Ide was proud to see the BRF fighter corp, which had been under the tutelage of Kostan Stodl, perform with distinction. Ide had long been a proponent of the Betseedans eventually assuming their own security operations and he had done everything in his power to obtain materials and supplies for Stodl's training excercises. He had even went so far as to provide the the fighter wing with desperately needed photon torpedoes.

Death
Commander Benere and Ide knew that the Imperial forces in the region were on their heels. The Second Battle of Betseeda Prime and the previous Siege of Tazion had caused massive amounts of damage to their ships and greatly weakened their fighting ability.

As such, it was determined that a final strike would be made against the Imperial base of Jonquil Station. The Arrows emerged from hyper space and began angling for an attack. To their surprise, the old abandoned Jonquil Station had been equipped with defense turrets and a heavy barrage of fire caused their plan to be altered.

Lieutenant Benere took one fighter group and attacked the Venom while Ide and his group attacked the Salient. Another group, under Vid Paratool, worked to fly cover for both groups and fight off the incoming TIE fighters. While Lieutenant Benere's group found early success against the Venom, hitting the massive cruiser with several blows, the Arrows were already taking casualties; Arrow Nine and Arrow Eleven had already been killed. With another successful attack run, the Venom was crippled and began to plummet towards the watery surface of Jonquil. Ide's attack runs were having less success, mostly due to the Salient being closer to Jonquil Station and, thus, within closer range of the anti-aircraft turrets installed by Imperial forces. Ide's trusty Astromech Droid - Dusty - was destroyed in a salvo fired by one of these turrets.

Seeing that his wing would have no way of getting through to the Salient with those turrets remaining in place, Ide made a desperate decision. Ordering his remaining fighters to press home the attack, he went toe-to-toe with the station's turrets, destroying enough of them to give his pilots some cover. In those critical seconds, several punishing blows were inflicted upon the Salient. These actions made Ide a prime target, which he had expected, and a group of TIE fighters managed to isolate him from his flight wing. He knew that Arrow pilots needed help, so he ordered his flight wing to focus on the others. Ide fought bravely, destroying a number of the TIE fighters before he was caught in a pincer move. Both TIE fighters poured their shots into his X-Wing and his ship broke apart, killing him instantly.

Moments later, when the Salient burst into thousands of explosions, the remaining TIE fighters lost their will to fight. Arrow Squadron picked off the straggles, but the battle was over. Four pilots had been killed in the engagement, a several blow, but the Betseeda System was liberated from the Imperial Navy.

Legacy and Personality
Ide was perhaps the most popular member of Arrow Squadron. While Lieutenant Benere was the overall commander, Ide often served as the glue that held the group together. Never one to take himself too seriously, he was a determined worker and made several lasting improvements to not only Arrow Squadron, but also the BRF and the defenses of the Betseeda Prime. Ide was quick with a joke and fast on his feet. He was dependable and, according to some in the unit, the best pilot Arrow Squadron had ever seen.

His death caused quite a bit of grief in the unit, especially among Tolamael, Sorshara, and Vid, his closest friends. Sorshara and Ide had been romantically involved for some time and had planned to wed whenever possible. His death was extremely traumatizing for Bray. Udas was promoted to Second in Command, but Ide' call sign of Arrow Two was permanently retired.

With the defeat of the Imperial forces in the sector and Betseeda Prime officially declaring its allegiance to the Rebellion, Colonel Nez Rennoc, the leader of the BRF named their base just outside of Tazion Jdre Base in the honor of the man and pilot that had done so much to free his people.