Beesar Tal-Apurna

Beesar Tal-Apurna was a Chadra-Fan female who married the Chadra-Fan Teemank. After her wife was killed by Nihil marauders during the Battle of Kur in 232 BBY, she grieved her spouse deeply. Fueled by resentment, Tal-Apurna agreed to spy on a Nihil collaborator and doctor Kisma Uttersond for Jedi Master Emerick Caphtor to avenge Teemank's death. While on the Outer Rim planet Chad in 230 BBY, the Chadra-Fan followed the doctor and watched him interact with his family in their home. When Tal-Apurna's attempts to attach a tracking device to a Nihil freighter were unsuccessful, she instead opted to board the vessel and relayed her location to Caphtor's droid, Q-2.
While aboard the ship, she wielded the Nihil Storm Zagyar's blaster against Uttersond and the criminal Arathab Fal to protect Caphtor—who became incapacitated upon encountering the Nameless Force-eating creature aboard. However, when Fal attempted to kill her with his electrostaff, investigator Sian Holt saved Tal-Apurna, and the group fled the Nihil freighter and traveled to the Starlight Beacon space station. After seeing the space station was under attack, Tal-Apurna threatened Uttersond until he agreed to share some details about the Nameless with them. Afterward, she boarded Starlight Beacon with her newfound colleagues. While there, she monitored the doctor for Caphtor and eventually left the doomed station with several other escaping Jedi aboard Holt's ship.
==Biography==
===A loving wife===
The Chadra-Fan female Beesar Tal-Apurna was married to the Chadra-Fan Teemank for many years during the High Republic Era. In 232 BBY,Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia following the Great Hyperspace Disaster, Teemank opted to join the fight against the Nihil pirate organization plaguing the galaxy and signed up for the Republic Defense Coalition. The Chadra-Fan begged her not to go but ultimately failed to change her wife's mind. At some point after joining, Teemank learned how to fly a starship and taught Tal-Apurna some piloting techniques, though the latter remained relatively inexperienced. Tal-Apurna also learned of her wife's struggles while serving the Republic's coalition, including the coalition's opinion that she was too old to be of use and that Chadra-Fan did not need the Republic.
Teemank died later that year in the Kur Nebula's Battle of Kur against the Nihil when the marauders shot down her ship. Tal-Apurna was furious at the Nihil when she passed away, grieving her wife's death deeply. The Chadra-Fan became miserable in her grief for some time afterward, reflecting on her failure to convince her wife not to serve in the coalition and also on the years they had lost together. Not long after, the Jedi Master Emerick Caphtor asked Tal-Apurna to spy on Kisma Uttersond—a Chadra-Fan Nihil collaborator and doctor—on the Outer Rim planet Chad. Tal-Apurna readily agreed, willing to do anything necessary in Teemank's memory. Eventually, the Chadra-Fan—strengthened by the legacy of her wife's memory—came to empathize with Teemank's decision to join the fight to protect her family. Over time, Tal-Apurna witnessed Uttersond's interactions with his family, realizing he cared about them deeply.
===Boarding a Nihil freighter===
In 230 BBY,Star Wars: Timelines dates the events of The High Republic: Trail of Shadows 4 to 230 BBY. Tal-Apurna followed Uttersond to his home on Chad, hiding from view as he entered his residence. As she watched the doctor interact with his family by peering through a window, the Chadra-Fan reflected on Teemank's death and how that had led to her spying for Caphtor and the Republic's investigation. When Uttersond left his house and headed toward a shipyard, Tal-Apurna followed him there and attempted to attach a tracking device on a Nihil freighter, becoming frustrated with it due to not understanding how it functioned. However, the vessel began to take off before she could firmly secure the technology into place.
While considering that she was acting in memory of Teemank's bravery, Tal-Apurna instead boarded the vessel via its landing gear and reported the ship's coordinates to Caphtor's droid, Q-2, via comm. The Chadra-Fan then continued monitoring Uttersond, overhearing the Nihil Storm Zagyar berating the doctor for messing up their last transport and overhearing information about their reinforcements. Not long after, Caphtor arrived at the location leading a group of starfighters, engaging in a skirmish with the Nihil convoy present. The Jedi told his colleagues that their Republic contact was on one of the vessels and that he intended to board the ship.
===Confronting the enemy===
Meanwhile, Tal-Apurna watched Zagyar confront Uttersond, believing the doctor had betrayed them to the Republic. As the vessel lurched when hit by a Republic starfighter, Zagyar's blaster clattered to the floor, and Tal-Apurna reached for it. However, after seeing the doctor doing the same, she slowly backed into her hiding spot again. Uttersond used the blaster to kill Zagyar, ranting about how sick he was of encountering both Jedi and Nihil. After the doctor had finished shooting at the Nihil Storm's body several times, the spy was horrified by the burning husk of a corpse sitting before them both. Moments after, when Caphtor boarded the vessel and ignited his lightsaber near Uttersond, the doctor opened the peephole of the freighter's containment area for one of the Nihil's Force-draining Nameless creatures.
The peephole's opening left the Jedi incoherent, causing his colleague—the investigator Sian Holt—to worry about him when he did not respond. As Uttersond moved open the door between him and the Nameless, intending to kill the Jedi, Tal-Apurna grabbed Zagyar's weapon and held the doctor at blaster-point. Tal-Apurna hesitated to harm the doctor—not wanting to harm a fellow Chadra-Fan—and kept the weapon set to stun as she confronted him. Uttersond asked her to be reasonable while indicating that the criminal Arathab Fal—with whom the doctor had secretly been working to sell a Nameless with which to leave the Nihil—would not share his same stance of not wanting to hurt her.
As Fal approached behind Uttersond, Tal-Apurna used the blaster to stun the doctor, though Fal was left unaffected by the blast. When the spy struggled to change the setting on the weapon to kill to fire again, Fal teased it was too late to do so and relished in her panicked state. Fal knocked the item out of Tal-Apurna's hands and moved to kill her with an electrostaff of his own. However, Holt—who had followed Caphtor onto the ship—sliced off the Nihil's arm with the Jedi's lightsaber.
===Fleeing the freighter===
Q-2, who had arrived with Holt, insisted they needed to evacuate Caphtor from the Nihil freighter as Tal-Apurna closed the nearby peephole to the Nameless's crate, knowing that Uttersond had said it was part of what affected the Jedi. The spy thanked Holt for saving her, telling the investigator her name. Though initially hesitant—having only received minimal piloting instruction from Teemank—Tal-Apurna agreed to fly Holt's ship, insisting she would do whatever was necessary to complete their objective. The group then fled the freighter, and Holt took Uttersond captive. With Tal-Apurna piloting, they made their way to Starlight Beacon space station so that Caphtor could receive medical care.
As they approached Starlight Beacon's location, Tal-Apurna was updated on the Jedi's condition and indicated they should arrive at their destination soon. However, the spy and Holt noticed shortly afterward that Starlight was under attack. The group resolved to question Uttersond for answers, though the doctor claimed he had no moral code and only wanted to acquire lots of money. Tal-Apurna became furious, telling those present about Teemank's death to the Nihil and indicating the lives of Uttersond's family could become similarly miserable if he did not cooperate.
===Falling stars===
Uttersond relented and agreed to tell them what he knew, giving them a small piece of parchment with handwritten notes and telling them a few details about the Nameless and their Force-eating capabilities. As the ship's passengers watched the space station before them, the doctor indicated that Starlight Beacon was doomed, as his convoy had been due to be part of the second attack wave. Despite Uttersond's protests as to its futility, Caphtor resolved to board the station, and Tal-Apurna joined her newfound colleagues. After crashing through the ceiling of the station's assembly room, the group encountered Jedi Master Torban Buck and a group of Jedi younglings, who boarded Holt's ship to escape Starlight Beacon.
Before they departed, Caphtor led a group to investigate a wounded Nameless Buck had encountered to learn more about them, instructing Tal-Apurna to monitor Uttersond. Caphtor and Holt moved to the front of the group and neared the creature, but when it readied to attack, Uttersond pushed Tal-Apurna aside and threw one of her thermal detonators at it. The Jedi and Chadra-Fan were ambushed by a group of Nihil aboard, forcing them to flee back toward their ship. Caphtor bid farewell to Buck, fleeing the station with several younglings, Jedi Knight Qort, Holt, and Tal-Apurna. In the year afterward,The chapter of The High Republic: The Eye of Darkness that establishes Emerick Caphtor was still investigating the Nameless takes place a year after the destruction of Starlight Beacon but before Pra-Tre Veter's execution, which equates to 229 BBY per Star Wars: Timelines. Caphtor continued his investigations regarding the Nihil in the aftermath of Starlight Beacon's destruction.The High Republic: The Eye of Darkness
==Personality and traits==
Beesar Tal-Apurna had white fur, black eyes, and pale skin. She was one meter (three feet three inches) tall and spoke Galactic Basic. By the time she served as a spy on Chad, the Chadra-Fan had an elderly appearance. The woman considered herself soft-spoken and felt she did not operate well under pressure. For many years, she and her wife maintained a deeply loving relationship. Upon Teemank's death to the Nihil, Tal-Apurna became extremely depressed while mourning her spouse's passing and her inability to prevent it. Despite not having previously cared about the Nihil threat, her grief fueled her newfound strong resentment for the marauders. Though Tal-Apurna agreed to spy for the Republic in her wife's memory, she felt she was not adequately trained for the role and considered herself only a "kindly old lady."
The Chadra-Fan abhorred the violent way Uttersond killed Zagyar and watched the Nihil's corpse tearfully as it fell. While she did fire on Uttersond and Fal with a stun blast, she did not wish to hurt either and pleaded for them to stop what they were doing so she could assist Caphtor. Whenever unsure of her capabilities, Tal-Apurna reminded herself of her wife's courage in fighting the Nihil and resolved to do whatever was necessary to end their presence in the galaxy. After seeing the Nihil's attack on Starlight Beacon, the Chadra-Fan was willing to threaten Uttersond's family and wielded a blaster against the doctor until he agreed to tell their group more about the Nameless threat.
==Skills and abilities==
The Chadra-Fan was able to operate as a spy and remain undetected by Uttersond on Chad while surveying the doctor's home. Despite her best efforts, she often struggled to use technology efficiently. By 230 BBY, Tal-Apurna had learned enough piloting knowledge to fly Holt's ship. 
==Equipment==
While operating as a spy, Tal-Apurna wore a long-sleeved pale green shirt paired with gray pants and a lime green hood that had holes for her ears. She completed her outfit with a brown belt featuring several pouches and brown boots. At the Chad shipyard, Tal-Apurna attempted to attach a tracking device to Uttersond's ship.
Despite the weapon being much larger than her, the Chadra-Fan wielded Zagyar's blaster against Uttersond and Fal aboard a Nihil freighter. She later threatened Uttersond aboard Holt's ship with a smaller blaster pistol that fit in her hand. While aboard Starlight Beacon, Tal-Apurna was armed with several thermal detonators in a silver-colored sling attached to her body across her shoulder.
==Behind the scenes==
Beesar Tal-Apurna debuted and was first identified in the fourth issue of the Star Wars: The High Republic: Trail of Shadows comic-book miniseries. The issue was written by Daniel José Older, published by Marvel Comics, and released on January 26, 2022, as part of the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia series' Phase I. Prior to the issue's release, a page depicting her was included in a StarWars.com preview for the issue on January 19 of that year. Older had initially alluded to Chadra-Fans appearing in the comic on Twitter on December 28, 2021.
While being interviewed on Star Wars: The High Republic Show, Older indicated that Tal-Apurna was his favorite new character from Trail of Shadows and that he had enjoyed writing her. He was pleased he had gotten the opportunity to write more Chadra-Fan as the author considered them an interesting species. Older explained that Teemank's death fueled Tal-Apurna's strong motivations for defeating the Nihil to avenge her wife, serving as a contrast to Uttersond's character arc of being a Nihil collaborator in the series. In the same interview, Disney–Lucasfilm Press's Michael Siglain said he felt Trail of Shadows fourth issue was one of the best created for the The High Republic initiative, especially given the installment's opening pages—which featured Uttersond and Tal-Apurna—were not centered around the miniseries' main characters of Caphtor and Holt.
==Appearances==
*The High Republic: Trail of Shadows 4 
*The High Republic: Trail of Shadows 5
==Sources==
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*Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia
==Notes and references==
Category:Chadra-Fan
Category:Females
Category:Galactic Republic individuals
Category:Individuals with she/her pronouns
Category:LGBTQIA+ individuals
Category:Pilots
Category:Spies