Halyn Lance

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The current leader of the RSPA, the Zabrak called Halyn Lance is an ex-smuggler and pirate. Well-known for his skills in both a fighter and his freighter, the Starwind, his life has been a far cry from the heroes of the Alliance.

Born on Iridonia under the name Halyn Sanshir, the Zabrak who would eventually become an Alliance general grew up in circumstances that can be best described as unremarkable. At the age of fifteen, enamored by the romance of the Holonet depictions of the criminal underworld, he signed up as a crewman on a smuggler freighter.

Eventually, Halyn Jessik--having renamed himself to distance himself from his family, and now far less principled than the young boy who grew up on Iridonia--founded a pirate ring, the Zynt'aia Order. The pirate group ran for some years, eventually growing strong enough to challenge Nym for control of Lok (although they were repulsed).

During this time, he first encountered Alliance agent Rac'el Jorr, whose freighter--a YKL-37r Nova Courier, the Starwind, had crashed on Rori. His subsequent hijacking of her personal ship was the basis for a long-lasting feud between the two.

Jessik's life took another twist when a Zynt'aia group stumbled into a battle between Alliance and Imperial forces. Trying to survive, he hastily struck a truce with the badly-outgunned Alliance fleet and helped fight their way out of the Imperial trap--only to find himself in Alliance custody.

Offered the choice of joining the Alliance and entering their protection, or certain death by returning to the underworld with an Imperial bounty on his head of over a million credits, he chose to live. After some months of starfighter training, he joined an Alliance X-wing squadron formed shortly after the battle of Yavin IV under the newly-adopted name of Halyn Lance.

The Alliance had other plans for him, however; they sent him on a diplomatic mission to Tatooine to a group of miners called the Nallerans. There, he met the first love of his life, a woman named A'Lerris Verata. He successfully negotiated contracts with the Nallerans, bringing fresh supplies into the Rebellion's starfighter manufacturing efforts, and managed to resolve a personal crisis between himself and his brother, Argus Sanshir, who had hunted him all over the galaxy after he had left Iridonia.

Halyn returned to the Alliance fleet, but circumstances dictated a quick rise to the rank of General during a brief, bloody war over the development of the A-wings using recovered Old Republic starfighters--namely, the Eta-2 Actis Interceptor. Dubbed the "Arms Race," the brief war saw the deaths of several good pilots and, on a personal note for Lance, A'Lerris.

In the aftermath of the Arms Race, Halyn slowly became involved with another woman--Twi'lek bounty hunter and Rebel pilot Abi Ocopaqui. Their relationship has been a troubled one with seperations caused by the war, with both of them often taking assignments that relegate them to remote sectors on solo missions. Abi blames Rac'el quite often for the assignments; Jorr has long since risen in the ranks to become an important officer in Intelligence, and often Halyn's orders come down with her signature on them.

The war became even more personal after an A-wing trial in the Karthakk system was disrupted by Imperial forces. The deaths of a squadron worth of pilots was bad enough, but Halyn found himself in the hands of the Empire and suffered severe interrogation on Talus--severe enough to leave him little more than a whimpering child on the floor of his cell. His rescue was spearheaded by A-wing pilot and friend Leaph Chausew, who quietly subverted orders by Rac'el Jorr to kill Halyn.

In the aftermath of Talus, Halyn took a leave of absence from the Alliance, abandoning his duties, to track down the Inquisitor who had tortured him on Talus. After shooting the Inquisitor's arm off, he brought the Imperial back to the Rebel cell on Rori--from which the Inquisitor later escaped, aided by an inept Rebel pilot. Halyn has since expressed regret for not killing the Inquisitor when he had the chance.

The stresses of the war, and the special assignments handed down to both Abi and Halyn, ended in an argument that prompted Ocopaqui's departure from the Vanguard. While she has since returned, at least in part, the two have not resumed their previous relationship.

In the meantime, Halyn created a new group of X-wing pilots--Grey Squadron--and has led the small group into combat on multiple occassions. Currently, he leads his personal squadron as well as the Vanguard as a whole.

More and more, Lance has become restless in his uncomfortable role as Alliance war hero; rumor says he may not last much longer.