Escape of Venisa Doza

In 34 ABY, during the First Order-Resistance War, Resistance pilot Venisa Doza and her astromech droid Torch escaped from the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer commanded by First Order Security Bureau Agent Tierny after having been captured while attempting to rendezvous with the Colossus, the mobile space station commanded by Venisa's husband Captain Imanuel Doza.
==Prelude==
During the Galactic Civil War, Venisa Doza was a Rebel Alliance starfighter pilot who convinced the Imperial officer Imanuel Doza to defect from the Galactic Empire. Following the Empire's defeat, the two married and established a family. They produced a daughter named Torra Doza, who shared her mother's fighting spirit and piloting skills. Venisa and Imanuel deeply loved each other and were inseparable. Imanuel ran a mobile refueling platform on the planet Castilon called the Colossus.
In response to the New Republic's inaction against the First Order, Rebellion veteran Princess Leia Organa resigned from the Galactic Senate. She established a paramilitary outfit called the Resistance that attracted several like-minded individuals including C-3PO, Admiral Gial Ackbar, Temmin Wexley, and New Republic pilot Poe Dameron.Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary Venisa shared Organa's views about the First Order and joined the Resistance six years before the outbreak of the First Order-Resistance War. To maintain the bonds of family, she and her family met once a year in space on her daughter Torra's birthday.
Prior to the Hosnian Cataclysm, the First Order occupied the Colossus after engineering a kidnapping attempt against Torra. A motley resistance cell led by Kazuda Xiono and Rebellion veteran Jarek Yeager expelled the First Order forces with the help of Doza and Torra. Captain Doza then took the Colossus into hyperspace, fleeing the First Order.
Though the First Order was still hunting for the Colossus, the Doza family resolved to continue their annual reunions. Captain Doza activated a signal beacon in space. However, the First Order was listening and dispatched a Resurgent-class Star Destroyer commanded by First Order Security Bureau Agent Tierny to pursue the station. To avoid further damage to the station's deflector shields, Captain Doza was forced to abort the rendezvous.
==The escape==
===Capture===
Shortly after the dogfight, Venisa Doza and her astromech droid Torch exited hyperspace in their X-wing starfighter. Venisa engaged in a brief dogfight with First Order TIE fighters and disabled two before being trapped in the Star Destroyer's tractor beam. Having encountered the First Order in earlier incidents on Bakura and Rakata Prime, Venisa decided that they would "play dead". Torch went into hibernation mode, pretending that his circuits had been fried.
Agent Tierny ordered that a defiant and uncooperative Venisa be taken to the Star Destroyer's detention block, intending to interrogate her. First Order stormtroopers also examined the ship and Torch for information, but found that they had been supposedly "fried". The stormtroopers threw Torch into a skip bin, destined for the trash compactor. However, the droid revived and went to search for his master.
===A worthy adversary===
The First Order TIE Fighter Pilot cadets Tamara Ryvora and Jace Rucklin saw Venisa being led to her cell. Curious about the prisoner, finding her familiar for some reason, Ryvora, a former resident of the Colossus, secretly went to speak with Venisa in her cell. After Ryvora removed her helmet, Venisa recognized her as Tamara Ryvora, mechanic Yeager's employee and surrogate daughter. While Ryvora was still loyal to the First Order and referred to herself by her First Order designation DT-533, Venisa sought to reason with the younger woman and convince her that the First Order was not as benign as Ryvora had been led to believe. Venisa warned Ryvora that the First Order was only obsessed with power and frowned upon individuality.
Venisa revealed her identity to Ryvora and confirmed her relationship with Captain Doza and Torra. Immediately afterwards, Torch sneaked up behind Ryvora and shocked her unconscious. Taking pity on Ryvora, Venisa decided to bring her home as a "hostage". On the way, they were stopped by Rucklin, who engaged in a verbal confrontation with Venisa. Venisa dared Rucklin to shoot her and Ryvora, but the cadet was unable to take that risk; Venisa remarked that there was still hope for Rucklin to turn from the First Order. While Rucklin was distracted, Torch lowered a blast door, trapping Rucklin on the other side.
While making their way to the hangar bay, Venisa told Ryvora her motivations for joining the Resistance. They were then cornered by stormtroopers, who engaged in a gun battle with Venisa. Torch managed to seal the stormtroopers behind a blast door, allowing the three of them to reach the hangar bay.
===Skirmish in the hangar===
Reaching the hangar bay, Venisa got Torch to create a diversion by blowing up a fuel tank with a detonator. While in the hangar, Venisa told Ryvora that Yeager missed her and regarded her as a daughter due to the loss of his own daughter. Respecting that Ryvora was still unwilling to join the Resistance, Venisa stunned her, but not before warning her to steer clear of the hangar.
To mislead Agent Tierny and her stormtroopers, Venisa got Torch to commandeer a TIE fighter, which began strafing the parked TIE fighters and fuel tanks, creating more chaos. Tierny's stormtroopers shot the starfighter down as it exited the hangar. However, Torch ejected safely into space. With the First Order preoccupied, Venisa climbed back into her X-wing and flew out of the hangar, rendezvousing with Torch. The two then escaped into hyperspace.
==Aftermath==
Venisa Doza's escape was a small victory in the ragtag Resistance's struggle against the powerful First Order. Following Venisa's escape, Agent Tierny questioned Ryvora, who admitted that she had been taken captive by the prisoner. However, she withheld information about the Resistance pilot's identity. Suspecting that Ryvora was not being truthful, Tierny warned that the First Order had "eyes everywhere" and that the Security Bureau wanted a full briefing of her encounter with Venisa.
Torra was upset at not being able to meet up with her mother. She took offense when Ace leader Hype Fazon made a flippant remark about her father's decision to use a signal beacon. Xiono subsequently learnt about Torra's mother Venisa from Neeku Vozo and Yeager. Torra initially considered taking her racer Blue Ace to find her mother, but decided against it after realizing that it would only attract First Order attention. To cheer Torra up, Xiono, Vozo and the other Aces made her a green jelly cake with a gorg inside to celebrate her sixteenth birthday.
==Behind the scenes==
Venisa Doza's escape from the First Order first appeared in the Star Wars Resistance season 2 epsiode "Rendezvous Point," which first premiered on Disney XD on November 24, 2019.
==Appearances==
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==Sources==
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*Star Wars: Timelines
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==Notes and references==
Category:Battles in the Outer Rim
Category:Missions of the First Order–Resistance war