Travis Darsten: A Brief History

  • 23 years BSW4, born in the Tri'Lest Star System, in the starport city of Cauldron. Father is presumed to be Lucius Darsten, a smuggler; it was and is not known who his mother was, only that she went by the name Mary.

  • 21 years BSW4, Travis is abandoned by his mother on the steps of the Cauldron Orphanage at the age of two. Mother disappears.

  • 7 years BSW4, Travis ran away from the orphanage, and sought refuge in the nearby starport. There, he signed on, as a cabin boy, to the bulk freighter Pig's Eye, captained by Johan Bultar. Travis began to use the alias Travis Devin at this time.

  • 6 years BSW4, Tev Derlin joins the crew of the pirate Corvette Rose's Thorn, captained by Marquetta the Rose, as a gunner's mate. He has several adventures with this ship and its crew over the next two years, and is rumored to have become romantically involved with the captain.

  • 4 years BSW4, an Imperial Star Destroyer happens upon the Rose's Thorn while it was conducting a raid on a convoy. The ship is destroyed, presumably with all hands on board. Travis was able to climb into a lifepod and eject as the ship began to break up, and was able to use the surrounding debris for cover. When his pod was finally recovered by the Imperials, he was able to convince them that he was a crew-member of the bulk freighter Fool's Luck, which had been destroyed during the pirate vessel's raid. As many other lifepods had been recovered from that ship, and his identity as a pirate was not known, and because the freighter was transporting over a hundred colonists to the Outer Rim, he was set free at the next starport on Tatooine. Here he quickly signed on to a tramp freighter, the Altarian Mud Sloth, captained by Morsh Gultak, on which he served for a year as co-pilot and gunner. His alias at this time was Travis Straden.

  • 3 years BSW4, Jabba the Hutt's enforcers destroy the Altarian Mud Sloth after her captain refused to pay Jabba a protection fee. Luckily, the ship was still in port at Mos Eisley, and the crew was not injured. Travis bought the ship's registry papers from the original captain, and took his leave of the crew. Immediately thereafter, Travis Darsten signed on to the Nova-Shadow, a smuggler's light freighter, captained by a Twi'lek named Mulga'tala. Travis served as the ship's co-pilot, and was able to befriend the ship's engineer, Ghrikk, an Iotran with an unbelievable proficiency in starship repair and design. Ghrikk had helped build the Nova-Shadow, and was Mulga'tala's business partner.

  • 2 years BSW4, the Nova-Shadow is presumed destroyed by an Imperial patrol in the Kessel system while trying to escape with a full cargo bay (100 metric tons) of spice, two convicts, and an undisclosed amount of Imperial currency. It is unknown whose money it was, but is presumed to be a payoff from Jabba the Hutt to Kessel's warden. The ship was not destroyed, however, and was able to limp its way to an unknown destination. The booty was divided, and the two convicts were able to pay the ship's captain a good sum of money for their escape. The ship was no longer space worthy, and was destroyed by the crew. Mulga'tala retired from the smuggling business and disappeared; Travis and Ghrikk disappear with their new found wealth.

  • 2-1 years BSW4, Ghrikk and Travis design and build the light freighter Phoenix, using the money they had made with Mulga'tala to purchase most of the materials they needed. It is unknown where they developed and built the ship. Once built, the two begin to make their own name in smuggling. Using the former Altarian Mud Sloth's transponder frequencies and registry papers, the Phoenix becomes quietly famous in the Outer Rim Territories.

  • 1 year ASW4, Travis picks up Wison Gilean as a gunner while on Tatooine. The ship continues to be upgraded with each successful mission. The Phoenix and crew become slightly notorious in some smuggling (and Imperial/bounty hunter) circles.

  • 3 years ASW4, the crew of the Phoenix has a run-in with a crimelord named Velehk Darleth, who is also an Imperial informant, and manage to acquire something he wanted very badly. The Phoenix escaped him at Dravian Station, and Darleth began to pursue them. The Empire and Darleth put out bounties on the ship and crew.

  • 3-4 years ASW4, the Phoenix and crew begin running guns for the Rebellion. Both ship and crew gain commissions in the Rebel Alliance while on layover at Hoth Base after a gun-run. Assist in Hoth Base's evacuation. Shortly afterward, they begin conducting insurgency operations in and around the Byblos area. Steal two prototype starfighters from Kuat Shipyards, create a Pirate/Privateer alliance with the Rebellion, and build a base in the Larknon Star System.

  • 4 years ASW4, the Black Lion Squadron, a squadron comprised of Starfury class starfighters and based in the Larknon System, participates in the attack on the second Death Star in orbit around Endor. The squadron, under the command of Major Travis Darsten (XO Lt. Wilson Gilean), is assigned to fleet defense during the action, and suffer four fighter losses. The squadron accounts for at least two Capital Ship kills.

  • Current (1 month after Endor), the Phoenix is sent into the Servais Sector to retrieve a missing Intel spy ship, the Double Trouble, and to gather more information on the sector. As a secondary objective, they are assigned to assess the sector's Imperial military capacity, as well as to determine what happened to the Rebel Cell Network in the sector. As always, they are also to cause as much trouble as is possible.

By Thomas Hill