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(Major Tiree Phantom in combat gear) Phantom's description and gear appeared in the March issue of the Journal. A Note from the Author:
Background: Tiree was born on the planet Hapes, of the Hapes Consortium thirty-four years ago. He was born a twin (not identical) along with his brother, Dakion. When Tiree and his brother were born, the planet Hapes was a prominently female dominant planet and males are generally regarded as inferior beings. Most males end up as concubines or manual laborers. Very few amount to much of anything. Tiree's parents had different ideas for him and his brother. Their parents were of Hapes' wealthiest society. They had some of the highest credit accounts and some even higher hopes for their oldest sons. Tiree's mother was the head physician for Queen Mother Ta'a Chume and her family while his father was the Queen Mother's personal bodyguard. Both were proud of their jobs and devoted all they could for the Royal family. Tiree's father, Corben, had served in the Hapan Intelligence Agency and was later personally responsible for the Queen Mother's safety, a position that many males would never even have a chance to get. Corben however, was the perfect man for the job. He was proud, knowledgeable, strong, and most of all, he was loyal. These were all traits the Queen looked for and she had found them in the Phantom family. The Phantom family has protected the Royal family and Hapes for close to 200 years. The two families have grown very close in the past 200 years and some of Corben's relatives are the Queen Mother's most trusted advisors. Corben taught his twin sons many important things. From the time Tiree was fourteen, he began educating him in all he knew. This was a necessity if Tiree was to continue the family tradition and become the protector of the throne. Corben was a master intelligence agent, bodyguard, and father. The two brothers loved their father with all their hearts. Most of all, they would always listen to their father, and they learned much because of this quality. Tiree and Dakion didn't see much of their mother. She was always busy healing someone, or taking care of someone else and didn't get to teach her sons as much as she would have liked to. However, she taught them respect and that was almost as significant as all the things their father taught him. Tiree wasn't bothered by not seeing his mother much. He understood she had a duty to perform and didn't hold that against her. The only reason his father could teach him so much, is that the Queen Mother allowed Tiree and his brother to accompany him whenever possible. She knew as well as Corben did that the oldest Phantom son is the rightful heir to guardian of the throne. When Tiree was eighteen, his father bravely took a blaster shot to the heart to save the Queen Mother's life. Although he died, he valiantly died a hero and the Queen Mother did not forget his family. She still gave Tiree's mother Corben's pay and more importantly, she gave Tiree and Dakion a place in the Hapes Consortium Military Intelligence Academy. This is the elite military school in the Hapan Cluster and very few males have ever been accepted. At the Academy, the rest of the student body rejected Tiree and Dakion because all of the other students were females. Hapan females regarded all males as inferior, stupid creatures who are good for manual labor and as concubines only. They felt that no man deserved to be allowed to serve in the Hapan Military. Tiree and Dakion proved them all wrong. They studied at the Academy for 5 long, harsh years. However, they both agreed it was time well spent. They were schooled in everything their father didn't get the chance to teach them. Although they were two of the best students at the Academy, Tiree was clearly the better of the two Phantom brothers. Dakion had sufficient skills, but just couldn't compete with his brother's aptitude for leadership and intelligence work. During their time at the Academy, Tiree and Dakion were trained in seven advanced specialized areas. These seven areas were: Pathfinding, Infiltrating, Wilderness Fighting, Urban Combat, Space Operations, Heavy Weapons operations, and Tech/Repair. Pathfinder training includes traversing on a variety of terrains, including a full two weeks of survival training, stealth drills, and repulsorlift operation. Infiltrators receive advanced melee and hand-to-hand combat training, marksmanship drills, and light artillery training. They also went through extremely advanced stealth training, involving training for a week in a sealed black hangar operating entirely on non-visual senses. Wilderness Fighter training was conducted for an extended period in a vast array of terrains, then concentrate on a particular type of terrain. Additional training in repulsorlift operations, artillery, heavy weapons, and vehicle weapons was instructed as well. Their Urban Combat studies included training in several urban terrain types, including city ruins, suburban areas, and covert-training operations training in densely populated areas. Much of this training can be simulated in specially constructed exercise facilities in remote areas, but at least several days of actual training in populated areas was required, since so many Urban Combat operations are performed in the heart of major cities. Heavy Weapons special training is conducted on New Republic free worlds for a few weeks with missile weapons, heavy blaster weapons and heavy artillery. This training includes some advanced maintenance techniques and occasionally some repair training. Once the students are finished with the ground weapons training, they are transferred to a ship for space weapons training with a SpaceOps class. Space Operations training involves ship boarding, armored space combat, and assault landings. These exercises are usually performed on stripped hulks, in deep space, or on remote planetoids (as such exercises tend to light up sensors across a system). Technician training included several weeks of learning a variety of quick and dirty repair techniques, patchwork modification, field medical practices, and a score of fun things to do with detonate. Afterward, Tiree and a few select others were selected to finish their classes in a special computer slicing course. Tiree benefited greatly from this class and is constantly using the knowledge he gained there in his present-day life. Tiree was always one step ahead of his brother at the Academy. Deep down inside this bothered Dakion, but he respected that he wasn't as talented as his brother and accepted the fact with dignity. Dakion never gave up and finished second in the graduating class. Second to only his brother. Tiree didn't have to work hard at the Academy because he was so skillful, but he did anyway. That made him all the more impressive. At the HCI Academy, Tiree spent most of his free time with a young female student by the name of Lara Dulisar. Tiree had known her family since childhood, but never known her personally before the Academy. Lara's mother was Tiree's head nurse and he herd his mother mention Lara a few times, but Tiree never thought much of her. He had also herd that she was incredibly lucky. However, when he first saw her he was thoroughly amazed at how lucky her husband would be. Her beauty was amazing. She was the most attractive woman Tiree had ever seen. Lara has light blond hair, soft blue eyes, and a cheerful outlook on life. More importantly though, she has an unparalleled affection for Tiree and tremendous respect for his abilities. They got to know one another better as the years at the Academy went by and they helped make each other the top students in the graduating class their final year. Lara finished second behind Tiree and one ahead of Dakion. The top ten students that graduate from the Academy are always granted a place in the Hapan Military. Tiree, Dakion, and Lara accepted their duties and delightedly joined. Since the three of them had worked well at the Academy, they were placed together in a small urban combat squad. They served there for close to two years, moving quickly along in the ranks. This was mainly due to Tiree's talents, but the others helped likewise. Tiree knew that he was the better intelligence agent of the group but he always kept their spirits up. He didn't want to make anyone feel that he was above them, even though he knew and his superiors knew that he was. This was surprising to Tiree, because almost all of his superiors were females. They all saw the potential he had to be one of the best and didn't try to hold him down. They all knew that he was probably better than they were and respected him for that. Growing sincerely attached to Lara and his brother with each passing mission, Tiree was gradually beginning to rely more and more on his friends and not so much on just himself. This took a considerable amount of pressure off his shoulders and allowed him to relax and enjoy his service of protecting Hapes. Doing this also allowed him to appreciate what he had right in front of him, in Lara Dulisar, an extremely attractive woman who was madly in love with him. After two years in their Urban Combat squad, the three were promoted to an Infiltrator squad. Infiltrator squads are the most feared branch of the Hapan Military. These stealthy troops are trained to slip through security to sow fear and conduct sabotage operations among the enemy. The trio was highly successful in their time with the Infiltrators. Their squad was the talk of the Hapan Military. They were so successful in fact; they caught the attention of the Queen Mother herself. She had been keeping an eye on Tiree ever since he entered the Academy and she knew that he would definitely if not live up to but surpass his father's accomplishments by far. The group was called in to assist in a significant deep cover operation that would span over an extensive eight-month period. After a great deal of hard work, their goal was accomplished and Tiree's squad was accredited for executing the entire mission. Tiree, Dakion, Lara, and the rest of their Infiltrator squad were then promoted to independent accommodations. Independent accommodations are given to an Intelligence group that performs their duties with exceptional skill and finesse for an extensive amount of time. Agents with independent accommodations are usually assigned loose mission parameters and are free to carry out their assignments as they best see fit. If no assignments are available that suit them, they can either take official leave or offer support to other taskforces. Their base of operations is the Hapes Nova-class battle cruiser Shadow Hunter. Tiree enjoyed participating an Intelligence taskforce of this nature and did very well under these circumstances. His squad was constantly recognized for their accomplishments. After only a few months working independently on board the Shadow, Tiree was promoted to Major and was given command of Shadow Hunter's entire taskforce company. Lara and Dakion were also promoted for their actions; they were both awarded the rank of Captain. Major Phantom's taskforce company consists of 140 Special Forces troops (trained in various types of combat), 10 Intelligence agents (they include Lara, Dakion and Tiree and are used for smaller covert operations), 2 Skipray Blastboats, 10 Miy'til fighters, one Corellian YT-4000 transport, 2 Scimitar assault bombers, and 5 Imperial Sentinel-class landing crafts. Tiree didn't get such a powerful taskforce company so easily though. Tiree has a special talent at slicing into computer networks. He has a great reputation of being one of the best non-official slicers in the Hapan Military. Whenever Tiree needs some new equipment, ships, or just needs some extra credits, he transfers a few credits out of a suspect's account and uses their own stolen credits against them. Even now, he is still looking for newer and better supplies to support and protect his troops (and himself) in battle. He not only commands his troops, but fights alongside them as well. Very rarely will you find Tiree on board the Shadow while an operation is taking place. His philosophy is that, "If a commander can't protect his troops, then no one can." He feels that if all the Hapan commanders would fight next to their subordinates, more battles would be won for the Queen.
Talks of marriage had arisen from time to time between Tiree and Lara, but neither had ever been away from work enough to seriously think about it. However, Tiree found time and at the 25th wedding anniversary party of Prince Isolder and his Princess Teneniel Djo, Tiree asked a favor of his friend, Isolder. The Prince agreed and during the party Isolder asked for a few moments of silence because Tiree had something to say. Isolder handed the microphone over to Tiree and he took Lara's hand, got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. She was absolutely shocked and quickly agreed to the proposal. The party continued on with yet another thing to celebrate about. Two months later, Major Tiree Phantom and Captain Lara Dulisar were wed in the beautiful Grand Audience Chamber of the royal ship, Star Home. Their wedding was stunning to say the least and everyone was glad to see them together at last. After they left Star Home and close to seven hundred friends and relatives, the two got on board one of the Queen's best luxury yacht and ventured off on a long honeymoon to many different planets that they both wanted to visit. Their first stop was the Corellian System. They intended to stop on Drall but instead decided on Corellia itself. Neither of them like seclusion very much and would much rather be in the thick of things. Posing as a newlywed couple from Bakura, Tiree and Lara ventured off into the land of tourism. They both enjoyed their relaxing time on the Golden Beaches, bartering on Treasure Ship Row, and fine dining at The Halcyon (named after famous Jedi Knight, Kiren Halcyon). However, after a week on Corellia, the Phantom's were ready for a new surrounding. They got back on their newly acquired luxury liner and headed for Bespin's Cloud City. When they reached Cloud City, they were greeted by a dashing man who went by the name Calrissian. Since they had purchased the Deluxe Luxury Honeymoon package, the most expensive The Bespin Grand Hotel, Resort, and Casino has to offer. The Bespin Grand Hotel, Resort, and Casino is home to some of the best repulsor ski hills in the galaxy. Taking full advantage of the mountainous surroundings, The Bespin Grand has the unique feature of being at the top of the highest mountain on Bespin. The Tibanna gas springs provide a gorgeous backdrop to the serene beauty of the crystal White Mountain, and the resort offers all the most luxurious features possible. The Casino is state of the art, with four lavish levels. No dice games are allowed, and the only high stakes tables are in sabacc, but there are lower stakes tables in most popular games. For a week, Tiree and Lara would repulsor ski in the mornings and gamble well into the diminutive hours of the night. When Tiree came back to their luxury sweet in debt two nights in a row, Lara got angry and decided to stay a little later at the Casino and see what she could do. Lara found a high-risk Sabacc table where she thought she could win and sad down with a repulsorlift executive from Bakura, a wealthy Coruscant merchant, and a member of the royal Kuat family. These three men were the richest people on Bespin at the time and Lara was set to relieve them of some credits.
In the five standard days left on their Bespin trip, Lara played Sabacc every night with the same three men. Although Tiree would have rather been back at the room with Lara, he was glad that she kept winning and wouldn't dare stop her. She simply could not lose. Her final winnings ended up as this: From the repulsorlift executive from Bakura, she won 2 Hyperfoil 2000 speeders (valued at eighty-five thousand credits apiece), a deluxe hoverboard (one hundred-seventy credits), two Bakuran hovercycles (fifteen thousand apiece), and a Professional light weight Bakuran 5000 racing speeder (one hundred-eighty thousand credits). From the Coruscant merchant, she won his luxury apartment on what used to be the Emperor's skyhook (four hundred thousand credits), an assortment of various pieces of jewelry (two thousand fifty credits), and a five hundred thousand credit IOU. Finally, from the member of the royal Kuat family, she won back the two hundred thousand credits Tiree had lost plus three hundred million more. After her winning spree at the Bespin Grand, Lara and Tiree decided that instead of finishing their honeymoon and going to Coruscant, they were going to head back to Hapes to deposit all the money they were carrying around. Even people from the sheltered Hapes Consortium know better than to wander around Coruscant with well over three million credits in their pockets.
The trip back to Hapes was as romantic as could be considering they were stuck on a ship. A luxury yacht no doubt, but nonetheless a ship. When they dropped off their new repulsorlift "toys" at their cramped apartment and deposited their winnings into their private accounts, they shed their false identities and headed back up to the Shadow Hunter. They reported back to active duty and officially began their normal lives as a married couple, operating off of a Nova-class battle cruiser. Major Tiree Phantom continues to serve the Hapes Consortium with his taskforce company on board the Shadow Hunter. Tiree and Lara are becoming more and more devoted to each other with every passing moment they spend together. He loves Lara dearly and would do anything for her. Tiree could not be any happier with his life.
Tiree's Astromech Droid Name: R9-P1 "Proto" or "R9"
Tiree's Ship Name: Phantom Specter
Modifications: Absorbent Starship Hull Paint, Sienar Ship Security System. The thermal detonator bombing tubes have been removed to add room for two passengers stationed behind the pilot's chair.
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