Bio:

The news of rebels destroying the Empire's mighty Death Star hit the galaxy like a giant hammer. Imperial forces were at a new low, their morale even lower. With most of the Empire's top officers killed with one lucky shot by a mysterious farm boy, a new wave of commanders were promoted, one of which being the father of Nick Finelli.

Nick, being in a strict military family, had no friends outside of the military academy he attended. He was taught basic Imperial combat and did very poorly in education because he was constantly questioning Imperial views. As he got older he took up training in TIE fighter simulators, which he enjoyed much more then any of his other studies. However, he never understood what the Empire's purpose was in the galaxy.

His father was a tyrant. He was in command of a patrol squad that controlled the docking bays of Mantooine, in the Atrivis Outer Rim. Nick was constantly told that the Imperial Navy was his future and this eventually drove him mad. After graduating, in the lower end of his class, a hatred of his father began and depression filled his mind. The day that Nick was to be shipped off to the Star Destroyer Ravage he made a decision to run away from his future life in the Imperial Navy.

He found a job as a copilot on the transport called Nighthawk. This freighter was known for carrying supplies all over the galaxy and was heavily watched by Imperial eyes. The captain, John Ralt, never fully trusted Nick because of his time with the Empire. This left Nick with the feeling that he was constantly being monitor by other crewmembers.

The Nighthawk had to make a delivery to a military Strike Cruiser and immediately Finelli believed they were delivering for pirates. The freighter met up with the cruiser and docked with it to make the transaction. To his surprise the cruiser was not a pirate vessel but a rebel ship. He had never seen an Alliance cruiser or fighter in his life, besides in the simulator. Finelli explored the Strike Cruiser, Wave Runner II and learned that this was home of Gray Squadron.

Exploring the ship he bumped into the XO of the Gray's, Axel "Luxo" Glez. The two began a conversation, discussing Galactic War politics and Finelli told Luxo of his time on Mantooine. In exchange, Glez revealed a side of the Empire that Finelli had wondered about, but had never seen. From that conversation, Finelli decided that the Alliance was the place for him. Luxo took the young pilot to the simulator, and decided that Finelli's specific place was behind the stick of a Gray Squadron starfighter.

Finelli's time with Gray Squadron as Gray 5 was lengthy, where he tested many prototype starfighters for the Alliance Research and Development program. When the Squadron was asked to help in the evacuation of the Arconis sector because of an Imperial strike force invasion, he and his fellow pilots fought bravely, saving hundreds of civilians and Alliance personnel. After the evacuation of Arconis, Gray and Blue squadrons took the sector back in a later campaign, leaving Gray with heavy casualties. The surviving members helped reform the battered squadron, making it more structured and organized.

Alliance Starfighter Command noticed Finelli's above normal piloting skills and contacted Gray's commanding officers, recommending he be transferred from the Outer Rim Territory. It did pain him to think of leaving behind the Wave Runner II and Gray Squadron, but Finelli agreed that flying with a squadron more on the offense then on defense would be a greater help to the Alliance's cause. A request for a transfer was sent to Starfighter Command. During the waiting period Finelli heard that a good friend aboard the freighter Nighthawk had been slain by a pirate ambush, and thus Nick changed his call sign to honor him. When the transfer was approved Finelli left the Wave Runner II behind and was sent to the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser Liberty, where his assignment is classified.

Bio:

Tony was the son of a minor elected official who, with his wife, lived in the Imperial City on Coruscant. Growing up so close to the Imperium, Tony was exposed to a very distorted view of the Empire, where Star Destroyers were viewed as an extravagant means to protect the galaxy against the reckless terrorists know as the Alliance.

Most of his young life was spent in private political schools, where he was expected to dedicate himself to the future of the "glorious" Empire. But he cared little for politics, as he was only interested in piloting a starfighter. Much of his free time was spent studying the statistics of the Imperial TIE Fighter and its various counterparts.

Once for his birthday, his father made arrangements for Tony to visit an actual fighter bay aboard an Imperial Star Destroyer. There he was allowed inside the cockpit of a TIE Fighter and a TIE Interceptor. Weeks later, while waiting in his father's office for him to return from a meeting, Tony accessed his father's Imperial HoloNet terminal when he saw a very disturbing image. He saw a recording of a "police" action wherein five Star Destroyers completely obliterated a colony on the Outer Rim. He saw uncensored footage of hundreds of innocent citizens standing in a city street, many pleading for mercy, others shrieking with fear as Imperial AT-ATs began firing ruthlessly into the crowd.

Unsettled, Tony asked his father to explain. His father was very agitated and told him that the entire incident was "staged", nothing more than propaganda from the Rebels who were trying to make the Empire appear to be the aggressors. But his father too seemed shaken by the recording and Tony got the feeling that his father did not believe the story about a "staged incident" even as he told it to him.

Later that same year, when the Imperial Senate was disbanded and the political side of the Imperial government was torn asunder, Tony's family fell on hard times. His father objected to the Senate's dissolution and ran afoul of the Emperor's secret police. This left Tony's family in poverty. All of their possessions and rank were taken away and they found themselves having to survive with the scum that infested the lower levels of Imperial City. Shortly thereafter, rumors began to spread about the destruction of Alderaan and Grand Moff Tarkins "Rule by Fear" doctrine.

His mother fell ill and was residing in a fourth-rate medical center when his father mysteriously disappeared. Tony suspected foul play at the hands of Imperial agents and stayed constantly by his mother's side. As her life signs began to fail she told him of a hidden stash of credits and supplies that she and his father had put aside years ago. It just might be enough to take him off the planet. After her ensuing death Tony managed to retrieve the hidden cache his mother had told him about. Contained therein were a blaster, several dehydrated food packs, ten thousand credits and a few personal momentos from his parents lives. He then made off with his newfound belongings and hired a smuggler to get him off the planet.

After knocking around the Outer Rim for months, Tony was approached by a casual drinking acquaintance and attended a meeting of those unsympathetic with the Empire. In time he was asked to join the Rebel Alliance. His casual friend turned out to be the Leader of the famous Gold Squadron, who put Tony through a grueling simulator training course at Comstock Base, the hidden home of Gold. During his pilot training Tony became acquainted with the rest of Gold Squadron, and signed on with them.

Bio:

Brennan was born on the rainy planet Donovia. As a young boy he enjoyed hunting food with his father in the local forests and listening to the miners and pilots trying to one-up each other with their stories in the cantinas of the local space port. The miners spoke of the vast and dangerous world underground in the planet's massive mines. The pilots spoke of the even more vast and dangerous world of space and the galaxy's other planets. Brennan also enjoyed the fact that both sets of workers gave his father respect and regularly bought him drinks. His father was one of the planet's "rainmen", mechanics charged with repairing and maintaining the giant signal towers high above the surface of the planet in the constant downpour. The complex signal towers were critical to communications in the planet's constant rainfall allowing the mining traffic of giant freighters to run smoothly to and from the planet, greasing the wheels of the planet's economy.

Following in the footsteps of his grandfather and his father, after his primary schooling he took an apprenticeship with the Rainmen's Guild. Along with learning the communications and mechanical systems, the job required proficiency in marksmanship to protect his fellow rainmen from the myriad flying predatory animals on the planet. Working on the signal towers required the use of enormous hoods to keep the rain out of the workers faces and off of the sensitive equipment once the access panels were removed. With their hoods up, they had no peripheral vision so others were required to provide overwatch at distance and from concealment. The skills he learned hunting for food with his father served him well in this capacity, allowing him to concentrate for hours at a time while lying still and protecting his co-workers. This is also where he first learned to pilot a craft, as the rainmen used both the T-16 Skyhopper and the standard civilian version of the T-47 airspeeder to ferry workers and parts to the signal towers.

Because of its affiliation with the Mining Guild, Donovia became part of the Seperatist Movement in 24 BBY, seceding from the Galactic Republic. During the Seperatist Crisis (as it came to be known) the economy on Donovia suffered from the conflict and several rainmen left the planet hopping aboard freighters heading offworld for better economic prospects. The situation continued to worsen when the Seperatist Movement was eventually crushed by the formation of the First Galactic Empire. Life under Imperial rule was not easy for Brennan and his family. The government seized control of the Rainmen's Guild and the members who were left were forced to do the dangerous work of many with little pay. Brennan's father died while working on a signal tower under orders from the local governor who was more concerned with the flow of product than the safety of the shorthanded team of mechanics.

Resenting the brutal rule of the Empire for the death of his father, Brennan convinced a Bothan trader and freighter captain he knew, *NAME REDACTED*, to smuggle him off-world in his ship. The Bothan had been working a profitable side business smuggling people, goods, and information to and from the planet along with the shipments he was moving from the mine. As the smuggling business became more profitable he decided to expand his business, which was now based on the nearby world of Hali, purchasing a larger freighter, hiring additional crew, and leaving the mining industry altogether. Brennan was initially hired to design and maintain the group's communications systems, as well as being a general mechanical hand and providing sniper overwatch for their more dangerous meetings. Eventually, a pair of surplus Z-95 Headhunters were purchased to fly escort in the event of pirates or Imperial Inspection. Brennan, being familiar with the controls due to their similarity with the Incom T-16 and T-47s he had flown as a rainman, became one of the group's most reliable escort pilots.

Due to the clandestine nature of the business he was in, Brennan eventually fell in with the Rebel Alliance. Wishing for a more direct way to contribute to the struggle against the oppressive Galactic Empire, he left *NAME REDACTED*'s operation and joined the Alliance as an escort pilot shortly before the Battle of Yavin eventually being assigned to Red Squadron for a short time. He was flying one of his first escort missions for the Alliance when the First Death Star attacked the Alliance base on Yavin. The Alliance lost many good pilots in the Battle of Yavin and, as a result, had an immediate need to replace them. Brennan, now using the callsign "Rainman", requested assignment to Corsair Squadron after it's eventual creation, aboard the CRS Liberty because of his experience with escort, interception, and reconnaissance. After a time flying with Corsair Squadron, he was reassigned to Buccaneer Squadron and was eventually reassigned again to *REDACTED*.

Rainman disappeared while on leave shortly before the battle of Endor.