Mari'ha Andona

Mari'ha Andona worked as a flight controller for a sector on the planet Coruscant. In 19 ABY, the New Republic general Han Solo—an old friend of Andona's who was experiencing nostalgia for his prior smuggling career—contacted flight control to request a flight plan. Admitting to Andona he did not have a destination in mind at the time, Solo nevertheless requested she push through clearance for him to depart Coruscant. Despite predicting an upset reaction from her flight droid colleague and being berated later by her supervisor, Andona still provided Solo with a flight plan, with the general leaving the planet afterward.

Biography

Mari'ha Andona was a flight controller for a sector on Coruscant,^[1] the Core Worlds city-world that served as the capital of the New Republic,^[2] who served by 19 ABY.^[3] She worked in a flight control tower using a console that was equipped with a comm unit, a hologram viewing area to her right side, and a number of screens that displayed all of the flights in her sector—which was such a large quantity that it was hard for a Human to pick out any individual marker of a flight. Andona worked alongside a flight droid.^[1]

By 19 ABY, Andona had been doing her job for long enough that she was aware of a tendency by Han Solo, a Human New Republic general and former smuggler^[1] who was also an old friend of hers,^[4] to only use his rank when he was going to be forceful when communicating with flight control personnel. At one point that year, Solo—who was feeling nostalgic for his smuggling career—decided to go on an improvised trip away from Coruscant aboard his^[1] light freighter,^[5] the Millennium Falcon. He hailed flight control, with Andona answering the call and grimacing at Solo's self-addressing as general. Solo admitted that he did not yet have a destination in mind, which made the flight controller sigh in anticipation of the flight droid reacting negatively to the general's unscheduled departure.^[1]

When Andona let Solo know that his request for a flight path would require several minutes to process, the general demanded that she hurry up, jokingly threatening Andona with the prospect of him personally visiting the flight control tower and charming her "to death." The flight controller subsequently submitted Solo's request for clearance and then repeatedly entered a command to override the flight droid's objections. Finally, Andona cleared Solo for departure, and, after an exchange of sarcastic remarks, the general went on to leave Coruscant, ultimately traveling to the planet Jubilar^[1] in the Outer Rim Territories.^[6]

Shortly after Solo's call, Andona's supervisor contacted the flight controller via a holocall. Having learned of the general's departure, the supervisor berated Andona and questioned her for any information on Solo's destination or time of return. In response, the flight controller could only tell that Solo had entered hyperspace approximately twenty minutes prior.^[1]

Personality and traits

Mari'ha Andona was an experienced flight controller.^[1] She could be counted on to bend the rules for Han Solo and to approve his occasionally-unorthodox flight plans;^[4] however, she could still be taken by surprise by such irregular requests—though not to the point where she would lose her composure. Nevertheless, she was annoyed by Solo's use of his military rank to achieve what he wanted, and she let her annoyment seep into a conversation she was having with the general when she predicted the negative reaction from her flight droid colleague to Solo's unorthodox request. In that same exchange with Solo, Andona also expressed a sarcastic streak.^[1]

Behind the scenes

Mari'ha Andona first appeared in "The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett," a short story by Daniel Keys Moran that was published in the 1996 anthology Tales of the Bounty Hunters.^[1]

Appearances

• "The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett" — Tales of the Bounty Hunters (First appearance)

Sources

• Star Wars Encyclopedia
• A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Third Edition, Revised and Expanded
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia

Notes and references