| abstract
| - To those who knew him, R’hask Sei’lar was the model of a gallant spacer captain, an outmoded type in an era of pragmatism and profiteering among his occupation. Sei’lar was born on Bothawui to a reasonably well-off merchant family, the Sei’lar clan. He had at least one brother. Growing up, his parents wished him to enter politics, but he decided not to. Something of a rebel, he invested a portion of his inheritance into a light freighter, the Hawk-bat, after spending six months on a freighter. Those six months ignited his wanderlust and he decided that he would rather roam the galaxy in a starship than endure the daily life on Bothawui. He hired an experienced spacer, a Corellian named Jorgesoll Knrr, to serve as his first mate and the two spent several years roaming the spacelanes, where they had numerous adventures. During this time, he earned a reputation for being chivalrous, even noble, but he outwardly scoffed at such notions, maintaining that he was tougher and smarter than all his competition. Outgoing and friendly, he could nevertheless be a perilous foe if crossed. He and Knrr became close friends—and had several close shaves, but they did fairly well for themselves. The Hawk-bat, though it had taken three years to pay off, had proven profitable. However, Sei’lar eventually came to realize that even with several droids onboard, the ship was under-crewed. In 20 BBY, he hired the son of an old acquaintance, Samtel Kraen, as an engineer after being assured that the son was both competent and unobligated to anyone else, having been recently released from a job working for the Republic. Sei’lar took the new engineer, Sarth Kraen, on numerous journeys across the galaxy, and while the need for still more crewmembers caused him to hire a pilot and cargo master, nobody remained in those positions for more than a few months at a time. Sarth, on the other hand, was both committed and inventive, adding numerous upgrades to the Hawk-bat, which Sei’lar was happy to finance. In 19 BBY, Sei’lar went on an extended business trip to the lower levels of Coruscant, trying to retrieve some money owed to him. Though he brought Jorge with him, he knew that the rather inexperienced Sarth would not be up to a journey into the rough under-city. Instead, he left Sarth at a hotel for about a week. At this time, Sei’lar didn’t have a pilot or a cargo master, but during the course of his trip, a spaceport worker named Cassi Trealus aided him in eluding some thugs and he learned she was university-educated and only working at the spaceport on the side. He offered her a job as cargo master, knowing that the thugs would take a dim view of her interference. She accepted and when he went to meet Sarth, the engineer introduced him to his alleged cousin, Micor Kraen, whom he claimed was a competent pilot. Putting his trust in the engineer, Sei’lar hired Micor as well, who learned to fly the Hawk-bat and quickly proved his worth. What he didn’t know was that Micor was actually Selusda Kraen, Sarth’s brother and a fugitive Jedi Knight, since the newly formed Empire had declared them enemies of the state. After a successful cargo run to Bespin, the Hawk-bat journeyed to Corellia, where they were attacked by pirates. Selu out-flew the pirates and Sei’lar saved his life by hauling him out from the bridge when it was hit and started decompressing. With the aid of the Hawk-bat’s hidden weaponry, the pirates were ultimately defeated and Selu even managed to avert official Corellian Security Investigation. The crew of the Hawk-bat stayed that way for nearly a year as Sei’lar took his ship on cargo runs around the galaxy. However, he and Jorge had developed anti-Imperial leanings after seeing some of the oppression that was starting to take place. Concealing this from the rest of the crew, Sei’lar and Jorge began smuggling arms to a fledgling resistance movement on Naboo, via a contact named Neeves. He and Jorge met up with Neeves on Commenor, who instructed them to deliver the arms to a Gungan named Skoors on New Holstice. That evening, after returning to the Hawk-bat, Sei’lar was informed that the Kraen residence, where Sarth and Selu had been visiting, had been attacked. He flew the Hawk-bat over there and learned that “Micor” had been injured while fending off a pair of kidnappers. Upon hearing that Sarth was the intended target, Sei’lar decided to leave the engineer on Commenor, where he would be safe with his family and friends and under the guard of local law enforcement. Cassi volunteered to stay with Sarth as well, and Sei’lar offered to take the wounded “Micor” to New Holstice for treatment at the famed medcenter there. Furthermore, Sei’lar called up one of his old friends, a Twi’lek named Bwilor who ran a private security company, to provide additional security for the Kraens. Although he was more than happy to be rid of the two Kraens and Cassi temporarily to complete his arms smuggling without having to worry about their interference, Sei’lar did care about his crew. He was also beginning to lose his wanderlust and planned on retiring from captaincy after the arms deal was finished. Seeing his infant niece, Asyr Sei’lar, gave him nostalgia and years of adventure had worn on him and he wished to settle back down on Bothawui and raise a family, leaving the Hawk-bat to Jorge. Departing Commenor, Sei’lar and Jorge ferried “Micor” to the medcenter and then went to meet with Skoors. While they were waiting, they began asking around to meet with the Car’das Syndicate, from whom they were hoping to obtain information on Imperial warship activity. After a few hours of searching, they were brought to meet with Jorj Car’das himself, who gave them the information they wanted for a small fee, but also asked them to keep an eye out for any Kiffar they spotted. The two spacers agreed and went on their way. That evening, they met with Skoors and transferred the cargo off the Hawk-bat, but as they were preparing to leave, Neeves appeared and told them at gunpoint that the Empire had placed an embargo on the world, preventing the Naboo from leaving. He explained that since Sei’lar and Jorge knew about their intentions, they would have to be detained until the embargo was over, for security reasons. Sei’lar and Jorge were less than pleased about this, but they had no choice. In fact, they spent the next few weeks in confinement at the Naboo hideout—a warehouse on New Holstice, until the Empire lifted the embargo. After Neeves released them, they started to depart the warehouse and Sei’lar learned that the Naboo resistance had been crushed by the Empire on Naboo. However, at that moment, a group of stormtroopers burst into the warehouse and Jorge and Sei’lar were forced to aid the heavily outnumbered Naboo. However, though they killed several stormtroopers, the spacers and remaining Naboo knew that their only hope of survival was flight. They ran for the back door, but Sei’lar was hit in the leg by an Imperial sniper. Jorge tried to run back for him, but heavy Imperial fire caused the first mate to save his own life, but leave the captain behind. Approached by a stormtrooper, Sei’lar was unrepentant, and while the trooper attempted to interrogate him, he drew a holdout blaster and shot his questioner twice, only to be shot by the trooper. Not a minute later, Selusda Kraen and another fugitive Jedi, burst into the warehouse and finished off the troopers. They then met back up with Jorge, bearing Sei’lar’s body, and Selu and Jorge buried the fallen captain in a garden on New Holstice. They eulogized him briefly and then departed, but his memory would live on with his crew. Eventually, Selu became the official captain of the Hawk-bat, as Sei’lar had left it to Jorge in his will, but the first mate declined the offer, giving up the spacer’s life as well. This series of events would lead to the formation of the Yanibar refuge.
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