Dhara Leonis was a young, Force-sensitive woman who, like her parents, wished to serve the Galactic Empire. After her family moved to the planet Lothal, she joined the Academy for Young Imperials, where she quickly proved to be a promising candidate. Her talents attracted the attention of the being known as the Inquisitor, a fearsome dark side user serving the Galactic Empire in the capacity of Grand Inquisitor. The Inquisitor kidnapped her as part of Project Harvester, an Imperial project designed to identify Force-sensitive individuals with the hope of honing their talents and putting them to the Empire's use. Dhara, however, proved to be resistant to this idea and suffered terrible things at the hands the Inquisitor.
When Dhara disappeared, her brother, Zare Leonis, chose to join Lothal's Academy for Young Imperials to investigate. With the help of his girlfriend, Merei Spanjaf, he learned the truth of his sister's kidnapping, as well the fact that she was being held at the Arkanis Academy on the planet Arkanis. After training hard at the Academy for Young Imperials, Leonis was granted a transfer to the Arkanis Academy, but unknown to him at the time, the transfer was granted as part of the same program under which his sister had been kidnapped. What Leonis did not know was that his transfer was only granted because the Inquisitor suspected him of being complicit in treasonous activities against the Empire. During his time at the Arkanis Academy, Leonis learned of a secret society known as the Commandant's Cadets and that the Inquisitor had been killed by rebels. Just when it seemed that he was finally reaching his goal, he was outed as a traitor. His friend, Beck Ollet, had been captured by the Empire and brainwashed into supporting it in a program called Project Unity. Ollet recognized Leonis as he was about to be inducted into the Commandant's Cadets and revealed his true agenda for enlisting in the Empire.
Leonis was expelled from Imperial service and sentenced to death by firing squad. He was imprisoned and offered a last meal of his choice, delivered by the individual of his choice. He chose to have two jogan fruits delivered by Ollet. He then used the smell of the fruits to remind Ollet of how the Empire had destroyed his family's jogan fruit orchards. This broke through the Empire's conditioning and the two friends, together again, plotted how they could escape and rescue Dhara Leonis.
Leonis and Ollet put their plan into action. They exited the cell and neutralized the two stormtrooper guards, using the moves they had learned in grav-ball. They then headed for the detention block and took down the stormtroopers there. Leonis used the computers there to search for his sister, but as he did so, a ship landed on top of the tower. Leonis rushed to try to find the information he so desperately needed, but was shut out of the system. The two feared their rescue attempt was over barely after it had begun, but discovered that the ship they had heard had brought reinforcements, in the form of Leonis's girlfriend, Merei Spanjaf, her mother, and three members of the rebellious group that had killed the Inquisitor, known to them as "the Spectres." They quickly put into effect a new plan, one that had a much better chance of success with their combined talents. As everyone split up to put the plan into effect, Spanjaf used her slicing skills and quickly learned that Dhara was being held in cell seventeen. She continued to work to disable the lockdown. Leonis compared their situation to a losing game of grav-ball, but she reminded him that it was the final score that counted.
Spanjaf succeeded in disabling the lock and Leonis rushed to cell seventeen, where he discovered his sister, Dhara. It was a dimly lit cell and Dhara was in bad shape, jittery and confused. She was convinced that her brother was a hallucination, a trick of the Inquisitor, but Zare told her that the Inquisitor was dead, that their Mom and Dad were waiting for them. Trembling violently, Dhara got to her feet and embraced Zare, recognizing that it was really him. The two left the cell, but Imperial pursuit was closing in. They were cut off by stormtroopers, and the same was true for their backup, with TIE fighters inbound. Pinned in, Ollet was ready for a desperate move, and he planned to use a grenade provided to him by Sabine Wren. Although such a move would likely result in his own death, he was prepared to risk it, as he felt that the survival of the others could spark a fire that would turn the Empire into ash. Then, before anyone could object, he launched a mad charge at the Empire's control room, taking out the troops, but also sacrificing himself in the process. Zare's last sight of his friend was of an arm clutching a sprig of jogan blossom.
The group searched for a way out, only for an auxiliary elevator to open, revealing four stormtroopers and Lieutenant Chiron, an instructor who had been Zare's greatest advocate at Lothal's Imperial Academy. He told Zare that it was over, but Zare, sensing an opportunity, showed Chiron his sister Dhara. He knew that Chiron had his reservations about some of the Empire's practice and was hoping to bring Chiron to his side, but Chiron would not be swayed. Though his face twisted in misery at Zare's words that the Empire he believed in only existed in his head, he promised that he would do his duty. Dhara, however, had had enough. Shrieking in rage and pain, she drew upon the power of the Force, sending chunks of rocks and metal pummeling down on the entire Imperial group, killing them. The effort left her exhausted and confused, and she clung to her brother as the group entered the elevator and then boarded a heavily modified freight hauler owned by the Ithorian known as Old Jho. By the time the TIE fighters arrived at the tower, the group was well away.
Spanjaf's father, Gandr, began working on creating new identities for the Spanjafs and Leonises. Meanwhile, she and Zare Leonis were left to contemplate their fates. Knowing what they did about the Empire, they felt there was no way they could not continue to fight. Spanjaf herself had information that could be damaging to the Empire: thousands of classified documents that she had stolen from the Imperial network on Lothal using her forged Imperial credentials. The group arrived in Garel City on the planet Garel, where Dhara Leonis shared warm embrace with her parents, telling them to never let go.
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