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Former Paladin
Jordan Lane is
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Bastion
Posts: 968
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Jordan Lane: Female Imperial
Jordan Lane
Age: 31
Gender: Female
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Brown
Height: 5'6"
Homeworld: Coruscant
Affiliation: the Empire
Jordan Lane was born on Coruscant three years after the birth of the Galactic Empire to rich parents, Jerod and Heather Lane. Having wanted a boy (hence her androgynous name), they accepted their lot and raised their only child Imperial to the point where at school she was praised for her dedication to and belief in the Empire and its New Order. Because of their own loyalty to the Empire, the Lanes put their daughter through pilots' training and tactics courses so she could enroll in the Imperial Academy when she turned eighteen.
Happy was her eighteenth birthday, for which Jordan's parents gave her a speeder and an application to the Carida Star Academy of the Imperial Military Academy on Carida. However, her parents' moods were just the opposite when the response came a month later. She had been denied admittance to the academy. Enraged, and convinced that her gender had had nothing to do with it but that her skills or resume must have been at fault, Jordan was kicked out of the house with nothing but the clothes on her back and the speeder she ran away on.
The next two months went by torturously. Jordan lived between the upper echelons and the underworld of Coruscant, working and, when she couldn't find honest work, selling herself to less than dignified passersby. Her masculine upbringing helped her push any emotions this brought up to a far corner of her mind, but only barely.
One day, when she passed by an entertainment room, her hands itched to feel even the simulated controls of a vehicle again, so she decided to use some of her meager earnings to play a few sims. After two games proved much too easy for her, she moved to another machine which allowed the user to manipulate multiple ships at once pitted against a computer-controlled enemy group of ships. Fitted much more to her skill level, Jordan played for an hour before she realized that she was being watched. An older woman had been standing nearby for at least the last thirty minutes.
"What do you want?" Jordan demanded after closing down her session.
"You're damn good at that," the woman replied, dodging the question.
"Thanks, but that's not what I asked."
"How did you learn to do all that?"
Jordan's arms crossed defensively over her chest. "You answer my question first. Who are you?"
The woman laughed. "Well, aren't you a fiery one. I'm Alli. I slice for a living."
"You're a crook, then."
"You're not much better," Alli retorted, pointedly eyeing the bruise on Jordan's neck.
"What do you want with me?"
"I want you to prove all those male bastards out there wrong. You seem to have a knack and the training to become a top-notch pilot, if not officer in the Imperial Navy. Don't tell me - you applied for the Academy and were rejected, right?"
A quick blink of Jordan's eyes was the only evidence of surprise she allowed herself to show. "What of it?"
"Well, it obviously wasn't because you weren't good enough. Face it, girl - it's because you're female. Now I'm going to get you in there."
"You are, are you. What's in it for you?"
"Satisfaction. I've got enough set aside to retire in seclusion if need be. I'll get you in and you'll prove your skills to them before they have a chance to kick you out, and then they won't because they'll want you."
"How are you so sure?"
"Been there, done that."
Jordan eyed the sallow-faced, middle-aged woman she was speaking to, but said nothing.
"You don't look like the best cadet yourself right now, you know."
"I know," Jordan replied, the comment coming out more harshly than she thought it would.
"Well, let's get to work, then."
The eighteen-year-old was about to protest when Alli cut her off. "You don't have any other options right now and I'll be damned if you're going to throw your talents away just because you don't want to work with a crotchety older woman like me."
Jordan shrugged and followed the woman out of the gaming room. Jordan spent the next week getting back on a healthy diet, a strict exercise regimen, lots of sim practice, and a proper haircut. While Jordan was busy making herself Academy-ready, Alli spent her time slicing into records and ensuring all the data would be there when Jordan presented herself on Carida as a newly accepted cadet.
* * *
"What is the meaning of this?" the captain in charge demanded three weeks later.
"Well, sir, she is a human female who has surpassed all the other new cadets in the latest simulation run."
"I can see that, Squad Leader. I'm asking how a female ended up in your squad at all."
"She was assigned to me, sir. Here," he said, handing over his datapad. "All the information is there."
"Hmm... a Jordan Lane, eighteen years old, from Coruscant, daughter of staunch Imperial supporters, lots of training in tactics and piloting." The captain stood and stared Jordan down from his height eight inches above her own. "Cadet Lane, please explain to me what happened in the simulation."
"Sir," Jordan responded crisply. "We were split into squads of four men each, sir. These squads were deployed into space orbiting a lifeless moon, sir. The plan was to reach the most defensible spot on the moon's surface, marked off by beacons, and proceed to defend it with as few kills as possible, sir."
"And how can you explain your tactics?"
"Well, sir, most of the cadets went straight for the beacons. I asked my wingmen to hold back and take out those who only had their eyes on the target and not on the environment. At first they didn't want to listen, sir, but when we were able to take out two unfriendlies without an enemy shot being fired, we decided to follow this course and were able to reach the defensible place without any enemies remaining."
"Why did you pick this plan of action?"
"Sir, if I was fighting enemies of the Empire and I knew what their target was and what they planned on doing there, I would do everything in my power to keep them from reaching the target, rather than allowing them to reach it and then follow the rest of their plans. Sir."
"You know it was not aligned with the mission outline."
She nodded. "Yes, sir, but the mission objective was achieved."
"All right. Be wary of your decisions in the future, Cadet. I don't want to see you in here again. Dismissed."
Jordan saluted smartly before spinning on her heel and exiting the office.
The captain shook his head. "Squad Leader, please keep an eye on her. There aren't many like her even among our top male cadets."
"Yes, sir."
* * *
Jordan did not graduate with top honors, but she had expected that due to her gender. Thankfully, with Alli's help (who she never saw again), she had been able to enter the Academy and prove herself to the staff there without her data ever being thoroughly questioned.
During Jordan's time at Carida the devastating news of the Emperor's death reached them. Shocked by the Empire's terrible defeat at Endor, Jordan threw herself into her studies and training so that, maybe, something she would learn could keep the hope she had in the Empire alive.
Later on, after graduation, Jordan was assigned to a Victory-class Star Destroyer, where her skills were often overlooked but kept in good form through simulations and studies. Multiple times she wanted to advise the captain on various decisions, but she kept her tongue in check because she knew how bad it could be for her if she spoke out of turn.
After years of setback after setback, however, Jordan can't help but wonder if she'll ever find a commander to serve under who could possibly bring back some of the Empire's former glory and order.
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And, to your questions, Han, yes and yes. I thought the graduation prior to Carida's untimely demise would be a given... I do not think I would like to be a dead Imperial, though others may want me that way.
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