Kortez

Kortez on Cloud City

New Republic

## Biography

### Early Life

Kortez was born on the planet Corellia with a normal family and education. Kortez and his family moved to Cloud City on Bespin where Kortez would spend the rest of his childhood and teen years.

While living in Cloud City, Kortez became friends with Louise, who worked the same job with Kortez as a Bespin Wing guard and mechanic. The two became good friends and would regularly travel off world together for trading trips. During this time, Kortez became familiar and experienced with explosives and using them effectively.

### Becoming a Businessman

Kortez at this time in his life was very charismatic, which made him skilled at business deals. Kortez quit his part time job as a Bespin guard and started picking up skills to become a businessman. Kortez shuffled around many deals that resulted in many companies wanting him to represent them. Some time in 144 ABY, Kortez won a Sabacc game against the administrator of Nkllon, which won him the ownership of all the operations on the worlds as well as Nomad City. Under his rule, Nkllon became a successful and profitable world, which gave Kortez a name across the galaxy. The Hutts had tried to get Kortez to make a deal with him for Nkllon, but he refused the offer.

During this time too, Kortez had become friends with Emilia Scott, who had been a friend of Jacket t family for years. The two became good friends when they finally started to talk to each other again ever since their childhood. After an attack on Kortez by the Hutts, Emilia had helped get Kortez out of trouble from their goons. Kortez told her that someday later he owed her one.

### Adventures with Bruce Starkiller

#### The Gambit

Kortez joined Bruce Starkiller, Emilia, and John Hunt in their journey to get into contact with the Hutts, as Kortez was the only one to be able to get them to where they needed to be. Nomad City was take over by the Empire as they left the Nkllon, because the Vertibird and The Robin were followed via a tracker. Kortez evacuated the city after the attack though, where a majority of the planet was able to evacuate.

On Taris, Kortez brought the crew to Ebor the Hutt, but the meeting was a trap by the Hutts. Vince, the famous bounty hunter, led them into the trap and captured them in the lower cities of Taris. Kortez and the others escape captivity and confront Ebor again. Everyone is granted a job to work for Ebor after he is impressed from their ability to combat against Vince and the other hunters. Not too long afterwards, Kortez accompanies everyone to Brentaal IV for a trading job, where Bruce comes across his old rival Josque, who challenges him to a race on the planet. The race results in Josque becoming badly injured by Bruce. At night, Bruce is almost killed by friends of Josque to avenge him, but Kortez saves him by accidentally killing one of them. The Empire is alerted and they arrest Bruce and Hanhar, who fail to escape with Kortez and everyone else.

#### Hunter Wars

A year later, Kortez and the crew aided Jonathan to free Bruce and Hanhar from captivity on Denon at the request of Drego Vondar, who worked for Ebor to ensure that Bruce repaid them for losing millions of Ebor's credits from his failed smuggling run on Brentaal. The crew would be tasked with performing a heist on the planet Rellia where a large vault of millions of credits worth of treasures were located. With the help of a computer slicer named Vao, the crew performed the heist in the palace on Rellia, but before they were able to obtain the treasure the crew was betrayed by Emilia, who was working with Ebor the entire time and was the true leader of the Blood Syndicate gang, not Drego. She was also working alongside the Empire and was going to use the money to trap the Rebels and destroy the Alliance in one single move through a fake deal that she was going to give the money to the rebels. They were all about to be killed, but Vao was able to disable Emilia's weapons and her goons who had just arrived, and they were able to escape on John's ship *The Robin.* The crew made the decision to warn Drego about what Emilia was about to do so they traveled to Tatooine, but jumped into the middle of a space battle between the Rebels, Empire, Smuggler's Alliance, and the Blood Syndicate.

*The Robin* took heavy damage during the fight and made a hard landing in Mos Entha on Tatooine's surface. The crew was captured by Blood Syndicate and were to be taken to their hideout on the planet. The prisoners were freed however, when smuggler alliance members came out of the shadows and attacked the blood syndicate. The crew fought alongside the smugglers, but were being quickly overrun. Kortez and Jonathan were heavily injured during the fight and HK was destroyed. John took some hits as well and took Kortez, HK, and Jonathan back to the *Robin* to Bruce's dismay. Bruce wanted to keep fighting alongside Vao and Hanhar, but John took everyone else and abandoned Bruce, Hanhar, and Vao on Tatooine. Kortez was furious with John for leaving them and thought they were all killed during the fight. Kortez and Jonathan would all go their separate ways and Kortez went back to Tatooine in hopes that Bruce was still alive.

Much to Kortez's surprise, Bruce was still alive and had won the battle against Emilia and saved the Rebel Alliance from destruction. Kortez told Bruce that he would make it up to him for John's actions by finding Bruce's ship, the Vertibird, which was being impounded on Corellia for future selling. On Corellia, they infiltrated into the Imperial compound and stole back the Vertibird, where Bruce, Hanhar, Kortez, and Vao would ride off into the galaxy and go their separate ways once they dropped off Vao and Kortez to their desired locations; Bespin being Kortez's.

### Taking Control of Bespin

After the Hunter Wars, Kortez went on a search for a new business operation to replace his old one lost on Nkllon. Kortez became involved with the Tibanna Gas Mining on Bespin, where he became an administer on Cloud City. Instead of buying his way up the ladder, Kortez worked legitimately to become Baron Administrator of the city. During this time, Kortez talked with Emilia more, since she had been laid off several jobs after the impact of the Hunter War. Kortez offered her a job in Cloud City, which she accepted.

## Roman Wars

### The M4-78 Campaign

In the next few years Louise had left Cloud City to join the rebellion and the reunited Delta Squad while Kortez stayed to take care of his endangered family. A year later Kortez would meet Bruce again when he and his crew Vett, Hanhar, Rose, and TC-6 arrived for repairs from the Empire. Over the next few nights, Kortez was interrogated by the Empire to find his friends to torture them. Kortez unintentionally gave them up and was taken prisoner with the others. Kortez was forced to watch Bruce be tortured for information from Roman, Clay, and Vikram. After Bruce gave up the rebel base and M4-78 coordinates, the crew was being taken to the Ravager as prisoners until Andres arrived to save them. Kortez, Vett, Andres, Hanhar, and TC were separated from Rose and Bruce and went to go save them while being chased by Stormtroopers. They were too late to save them and Kortez led the others to the Vertibird to go after the ravager to save Bruce and Rose.

When they arrived on M4-78, the crew saved Bruce and Rose, killing Clay in the process. Kortez got the Vertibird ready for launch as Bruce defeated Vikram and told the core to deactivate the city. The crew left the planet and made way to Yavin where the Empire began to attack. Kortez helped in the evacuation and met with the rest of Delta Squad at the rebel fleet.

### Rivalry with Thrall

Kortez became an official member of Delta Squad and the Alliance immediately after the evacuation of Yavin IV. His first mission was to return to Bespin and cause as much damage to Empire there and retrieve valuable data from Cloud City that Kortez had left behind. Kortez, Andres, and squads of special forces troops infiltrated Cloud City while the rest of their task force fought the Empire in the skies. Kortez and Andres' mission was successful, but before they could leave the city, they were attacked by Agent Thrall, a ruthless Imperial soldier equipped with Dark Trooper armor. Thrall and Kortez fought, with Andres interfering and destroying Thrall's weapons with his lightsaber. Unarmed, Thrall brutally beat Kortez in hand to hand combat. Kortez was saved after Bespin guards sacrificed their lives to save him and Andres. This distraction allowed them to escape with the rest of the Alliance task force. Kortez spent days in a bacta tank and infirmaries until he recovered from his injuries to continue fight alongside the Alliance. Over the course of the next three years, Kortez went on adventures with Delta Squad and fought against the Empire. Kortez would have run ins with Thrall on occasion and the two developed a deep hatred for one another.

### Battle of Maximus Prime

Two years later the final battle of the war began between the alliance and Empire. Kortez was a part of the ground team to assault the Imperial palace in the Imperial city to kill Roman and destroy the palace. The squad was able to destroy the palace, but Roman was able to escape to the Sun Crusher. Roman then ordered for the Sun Crusher to fire on the city and kill the remaining rebels. They were able to escape from the blast and crumbling city just in time for the final push to the Sun Crusher itself. Kortez was in the Vertibird in the cannons during the attack and witnessed the destruction of the Sun Crushers core firsthand. When the battle was won, Kortez was apart of the celebration on the planet's surface.

Kortez would join the New Republic like the others but was never a huge part of the government. Kortez stayed out of the politics and only joined when there was a mission or battle to be fought.

### Battle of Brentaal IV

Kortez would cement his greatest accomplishment on Brentaal after the New Republic began their push towards the core worlds. With Chandrila already in control of the Republic, Brentaal was the last core world before Coruscant that was necessary for the Republic to advance. Kortez, Andres, and Jax Daemon were sent to the planet to negotiate with the governor of the planet, Rala Val, but Rala was forced by the Empire to lead them into a trap and captured the three Delta Squad members. The trio devised an escape and were able to free themselves, but were caught in their attempt. They only lived because of the Republic fleet attacking after the trio took too long to respond to Republic command. The battle was seen as hopeless by Republic due to the underestimated defenses of the planet and hyper velocity guns destroying ships from the ground. Kortez would use his charisma and words to move the Brentaal military and citizens to fight back against the Empire. With the planet now revolting against the Imperials, they managed to destroy the hyper velocity guns and planetary shields. Blade Squadron and the fleet destroyed the Imperial fleet and captured Imperials on the ground. Kortez's actions during the battle were heroic and made him recognized across the core worlds as being responsible for liberating Brentaal.

### Liberation of Bespin

Following the capture of Coruscant and subsequent Imperial worlds across the galaxy, Kortez returned to Bespin with the aid of a Republic task force. The Imperial occupation was still vast to the point that Cloud City was transformed into a gray, industrial city. Another city was built near Cloud City that looked similar in appearance, but was completely comprised of factories and used as a mining and construction platform. Kortez, Naomi Rand, and Erik Rand infiltrated Cloud City through the lower levels directly from the stalk of the saucer. Rising up through the city, the three Republic infiltrators got a surprise attack on the Imperials and caused yet another uprising that saw civilians and Bespin Guards switch allegiance and fight against the Imperials. The empire was driven away from the city as well as all of the Tibanna Gas stations. Once again, Bespin was now back in Kortez's control and he would begin supplying the New Republic with resources after returning the planet to its former glory.

### Battle of Rakata Prime

The Roman Wars would come to an end at Lehon, also known as Rakata Prime, which served as the final stronghold of the Imperial forces. Kortez fought in the battle while commanding a captured Imperial Star Destroyer, *The Corellian Flame.* His Star Destroyer suffered lots of damage from the Super Star Destroyer *Wraith,* but the ship survived through the rest of the battle after the SSD retreated from the battle following a massive loss of casualties. The

Republic captured Imperials who were left behind and accepted new allies who surrendered and offered their services to the New Republic. Once everything on Rakata Prime was finished, Kortez decided to stay connected the New Republic by dividing his time between his business ventures and the government.

Kortez would become valuable in managing finances and creating new economic bases for the New Republic using his many connections. Kortez split his time between staying on Bespin and Coruscant, but he was stationed on Cloud City for most of his time. Kortez used much of Bespin's own money to invest in defenses and garrisons for Republic soldiers since Bespin was a high priority target by Imperials. With the rise of Imperial warlords, Kortez couldn't be more careful.

## Victorian Wars

### The Battle of Coruscant

Years later, Victoria Correa emerged to command the new Correan Empire, an Imperial factions built from Roman's Empire. Her first attack on the New Republic would be at Coruscant, which was where Kortez and much of the Republic was located at the time. Imperial sabetours infiltrated the Galactic City, causing as much damage and death as possible. A massive attack broke out in the former Imperial Palace, which now housed New Republic delegates, families, and Delta Squad. Kortez helped in the defense of the palace from Imperial agents and stormtroopers. Delta Squad took care of most of the Imperials in the palace, but everyone was forced to retreat after TIE Bombers began to obliterate the palace. Rose Moonwood stayed behind to rescue children that were stuck in the palace, one of which was Mandalore's youngest son James. It wouldn't be until hours later that Kortez and rest of the Republic learned that Rose was killed in her rescue attempt, but she did manage to rescue many kids, except for James. When the attack was over, Kortez attended Rose's funeral that was held by the Jedi Order and then proceeded to go back to Bespin and reconcile there.

### Victoria Attacks Cloud City

After the battle of Coruscant and death of Mandalore's son and Rose, Victoria and her army arrived to Cloud City to steal personal logs from Kortez's vault to gain more information about Delta Squad and Republic operations. While the battle ensues outside, Victoria and Admiral Devon confront Kortez in his office and force him to give up his info. Kortez quickly escapes through his office window to escape the officers and shimmies across the skyscrapers ledges to get to safety. Kortez brakes through a window a few stories down and rushes to the Republic transports to flee the planet.

### Siege of Crescendo

The Correan Empire would later attack the New Republic's main military base on Crescendo which would lead to its destruction after a deadly space battle. Kortez would participate in the Space battle above with Delta Squadron but would soon be run thin after the Empires arrival of Star destroyers and orbital strikes. The battle would be lost by the Republic and mark the final battle of the Victorian Wars.

### Death of Mandalore

Six years after the siege, Mandalore would be "killed" by Victoria for his danger towards Victoria's plans. Kortez and the rest of Delta Squad would arrange a service for his death and mourn his death.

### Funeral of Jonathan Flores

Ten Years after Mandalore's death, Jonathan would pass away of his old age on his deathbed on Korban. Kortez would attend his grand funeral hosted by Bruce on Coruscant and Corellia. Kortez would also help model Jonathan's statue in Coruscant's commemorative garden.

### The End of the War

Two years later Kortez along with the rest of Delta Squad would go at an assassination attempt on Victoria at her parade on Coruscant. They were caught however by Admiral Devon and sentenced to be hung infront of the cities civilians at the parade. Before they could be hung, Victoria was sniped by Mandalore, who was alive, and the squad escaped capture with the help of Dianna and Vett.

### Later Years

Delta Squad would separate after the war to live their own lives. Kortez returned to Cloud City and move his family back. He continued his role as Baron Administrator of the city for the rest of his days. Kortez was later start a family with his unknown wife sometime in the future, but his personal life was very secret to the other Delta Squad members after his marriage at 58 years old.

## Personality and Traits

Kortez was a laid back and calm person for the most part. Kortez was not afraid of speaking the truth when it came to an unpopular opinion and was very honest when it came to talking to people.

Kortez had an affinity for flying and showed impressive skills when flying in battles or escaping from enemies. He also was skilled at explosives and served as the expert for heavy weapon fighting and supplying during his time with Delta Squad.