Straus Doakes

Straus Doakes
Biographical Information
Race	Human
Homeworld	Naboo
Mother	Loa Doakes (Deceased)
Father	Xavier Hannay
Spouse	None
Siblings	Kovac Doakes (Brother)
Children	None
Born	Year -15, Day 230
Imperial Service
Branch	Imperial Army
Positions	Morale Adjunct
Prior Service	None
Awards

Straus Doakes was a fairly average human on duty within the Imperial Army. During his upbringing, almost everyone around him saw a career in politics as the only possible route through his adult life, partly due to his lineage, and partly due to the intense political environment that his home planet of Naboo fostered. After coming of age however, he proved all of those thoughts to be wrong, as he signed up with the Galactic Empires military force.

In Depth Biography

Early Life and Upbringing

"Straus? Sure, he gets all of the latest datapad upgrades, but he never seems to get taken out on hunting trips like us."

— Roland King, a childhood friend of Straus' commenting on how the Doakes family provided for it's son in a materialistic sense alone.

Born into a relatively well off family of low level bureaucrats to parents; Xavier and Loa, there is little question as to whether Straus enjoyed a comfortable childhood. Given his parents political connections on the families home planet of Naboo, Straus was entitled to anything that credits could purchase. With this great birth advantage came a great disadvantage. Due to the constant ambition of his parents to drive their political careers further up the bureaucratic chain, he was often neglected and left to his own devices with the various items obtained for him.

This relative isolation was abolished when Straus gained a brother some five years after his own birth named Kovac. Often left to tend to his younger sibling while his parents went to attend political rallies, Straus forged a strong bond with his brother. After several years the pair became inseparable, with Straus acting as the mentor of the younger Doakes.

Despite often being left to only his own, and later, his brothers company, Straus maintained a large social network of friends and acquaintances in his hometown. Like his own family, a large number of other bloodlines in the area stretched back to political roots, and so each often found it relatively easy to identify and befriend the others.

Mothers Death and Move to Coruscant

Approximately ten years after the birth of Kovac, the family took an incredibly large emotional blow when Loa died during a political rally against occupation by a large Imperial military force. Despite the immediate assumption that she was killed by forces of the Empire, it was actually revealed that she was hit by a stray bolt of blaster fire directed at an Imperial official speaking at the event. The attempted assassination failed, and in their haste to escape the debacle, the would be assassins detonated several explosive devices, most of which were homemade. The ensuing explosions killed numerous Imperial troops, and several more civilians. The chaos practically reduced the Doakes families hometown to a ghost town, as many of its inhabitants attended the rally.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, Xavier felt he could no longer cope with the strain of looking after his two sons alone. And so he decided to send the eldest brother, Straus, to live with his long estranged brother (uncle to Straus) who lived on the metropolis covered planet of Coruscant. Despite having disowned his brother years before his wife's death, Xavier felt that he would look after the now teenage Straus well, or at the very least, better than he could given the circumstances.

Understandably upset at leaving his younger brother and grieving father, Straus protested the decision. Regardless, Xavier decided to carry on with his plans, and two months after his mothers death Straus found himself lost within the cobalt skyscrapers of Courscant.

Life on Coruscant

Arriving on the political capital of the galaxy did nothing to encourage Straus' ambitions to become a bureaucrat like his parents before him. If anything, having to live under his uncles roof, who happened to be a low key member of the Imperial Senate at the time (or so he often claimed during his numerous drunken stupors), drove the prospect further and further from his mind. Instead, Straus sought enjoyment from studying the numerous military battles, and the forces that participated in them, that had occurred in the bloody history of the outer-rim systems from the comfort of his local archives.

With a wealth of knowledge at his disposal, Straus studied vigorously, so much in fact that his regular studies at school began to suffer. At the age of eighteen, Straus left one of the many city run colleges with nothing but a degree in Galactic Basic to his name. His tutors at the college summarized such a result wasn't from a lack of intelligence, but rather a lack of interest.

His uncle, furious at what he perceived to be his idiot of a nephew, threw Straus out of his household. Out on the Coruscanti streets with barley a credit in his account, Straus was left with little choice but to take on the various banal jobs available to one with little to no relevant qualifications. From week to week he survived via filling in for hotel porters, or acting as a low key celebrities personal assistant, and even once by working as a tour guide.

The thought of returning to Naboo had occurred to Straus, but he put it to the back of his mind. He had decided long ago that if his father didn't want to shoulder the burden of taking care of him, then he needn't worry about such matters ever again. However, the thought of seeing his brother again prevented such thoughts from slipping his mind completely. Despite that though, he declined to go back to his home world, and so it seemed inevitable that he'd be stuck in his self made purgatory of witless jobs till his eventual demise. That was, until he enlisted with the Galactic Empire.

Enlistment and Academy Life

"Recruit, you managed to finish all exams with a passing grade. Therefore you are graduating from the Imperial Academy with a final score of 95%."

— Lieutenant Commander Daniel Ascarion, on grading Straus Doakes' final Academy examination.

After approximately five years of living in between jobs, Straus happened upon an Imperial recruitment center while on the way to his next part time post. Due to his extensive study of the military during his college years, Straus toyed with the idea of signing up with the Imperial military. And so he entered the recruitment center, and left with orders to be at the nearest shuttle port at 08:00 hours the next morning.

Straus as a new Recruit at the Imperial Academy

Arriving at the orientation center, Straus was flung headfirst into an entirely new world. The rigorous training regimes, the new people, and of course, the new knowledge; all of it invigorated him. He threw himself into his Academy studies with reckless abandon, and on the rare occasion that he was granted free time, he studied further.

One year later, Straus graduated from the Imperial Academy with a 95% overall grade. His above average score, which to the delight of the Academy's training officers wasn't a rarity in his fellow recruits of the same semester, entitled him to an Imperial Academy Honors Graduate award and an immediate posting into active duty as a Private First Class.

Within the same week as his graduation Straus was assigned to the Imperial Army, a posting which the young private was immensely happy with. Despite the multitude of good fortune, it would seem that Straus couldn't graduate completely without any ill events marring his new life. Almost exactly on the day of his assignment, an emergency situation was declared, and amidst much activity and danger, Straus settled in for his life in the Galactic Empire. Though his first month of duty was marked by the previously mentioned ill omen, the Galactic Empire managed to triumph over the emergency in question, further assuring the private that he'd made the right decision in signing up with, what he perceived to be, the winning side of the current galactic turmoil.

Reconciliation

Some time after his initial enlistment with the Imperial Army, a period of authorized leave presented itself to Straus. Taking up the opportunity to leave his strict regime of service for a time, he left to finally return to Naboo and face his father. After many years of isolation from his relatives, the occasion seemed a terrifying, and yet exciting, prospect. During the long shuttle ride back to his homeworld, Straus pondered what had become of his father and his younger sibling. Now a fully grown man, Kovac would have no doubt changed immensely from the young kid-brother that Straus once knew. Or so the elder Doakes summarized during that particularly arduous and uncomfortable shuttle journey destined for home.

Arriving at his old home town's starport, it became clear that many things had changed during Straus' absence. For one, the town was now large enough to field an independent local economy of it's own. The very presence of the intergalactic staport that had allowed his return was evidence enough of that. During his childhood, the town fielded nothing larger than a minor vehicle workshop owned by one of the more lower class family's that inhabited Straus' birthplace. Now, a starport and several manufacturing plants thrived in the once small settlement. The rapid nature of this expansion had changed the natural landscape itself. During Straus' childhood, the short Naboo winter season would pass by without leaving much more than a mild cold front in it's wake. Now, due to the pollution brought about by the town's rapid industrialization, Straus found the streets that greeted him clogged with snow. Frost clung to the smaller traditional dwellings that still dotted the roads, the specter of a past long gone barley staying noticeable with them. And yet, even in this chaos, even through the artificial detritus that had sprung up in his absence, Straus managed to make his way back to his old homestead.

Standing outside of his old home, snow threatening to completely bury his feet, Straus began again to feel a deep apprehension. Having not informed his father of his intentions, indeed, not having spoke to him for many years had caused Straus a great unease. He worried that his father may have left the old Doakes family property, and yet he worried even more at the prospect of him still being there. Knocking on what was once his front door, an awful knot constructed itself in Straus' stomach. All at once, he wanted to run, stay and escape to a plane of blissful unconsciousness. Then, all of these thoughts ceased in an instant. The door creaked open and a limp pulse of warmth ebbed out into the cold. A man stood in the doorway to prevent the escape of any more heat from inside. It was Xavier Doakes.

For a moment, the pair were silent. Father and son stared vacantly at each-other. The elder Doakes spoke first, and inquired as to the nature of his visitor. Several days worth of stubble littered Straus' chin, the result of his remote posting in the line of duty. Beneath a face thick with ill-shaved bristles, a weary and somewhat experience hardened face stared back at it's questioner. He proceeded to identify himself.

"I am Sergeant First Class Straus Doakes of the Imperial Army, Sir."

Xavier staggered for a moment, his weight being supported by the door-frame alone. For several seconds he stayed in such a position, before collapsing into his son with his arms outstretched to such a width so as to embrace a Bantha. Straus stood non-reactant to the gesture for a fleeting second, before through pure habit, his arms too hugged back. After some silent and hastily hidden tears from the elder Doakes, the pair journeyed inside. At last, Straus had returned home.

After several hours of banter and alcohol around the house's fire, Straus reluctantly noticed that his brother was missing from the festivities. Tentatively bringing up the subject with Xavier, he was taken aback by the appearance of tears in the elder Doakes' eye's once again. Xavier explained that after Straus' departure following his mother's death, Kovac had become increasingly agitated. Shattered over the loss of both his mother and brother, he had become a withdrawn shell of his prior self. At the age of 18, he had elected to pack up his belongings and leave Naboo, and his father behind. When asked where he would be going, he merely responded he was going to explore the galaxy. When questioned as to his date of return, his reply was a tentative 'in a while'. That was several years ago, and Xavier had gone for that amount of time without hearing anything from his younger son. Disheartened at the news, Straus tried to comfort his father by trying to discredit the possibility that anything serious had happened to the youngest member of the Doakes family. But deep down, he knew that there was a very real chance Kovac had fallen into some very deep trouble during his travels. Straus' Imperial service assured him of that.

Some days of catchup and many more bottles of local brew later, and Straus was back at the town starport, ready once again to return to active duty. Wishing his father a farewell and promising to find Kovac, he exchanged one final embrace with his long neglected family member and departed Naboo. Assured that his father was well, he resolved to seek out his brother during the next opportunity that presented itself. Till such a time came though, he returned back to his duty in the Empire's service.

Promotions While in Imperial Service

Recruit [E1]

Enlisted in Imperial Academy, Rank: Recruit [E1]

Private First Class [E3]

Graduated from Imperial Academy, Rank: Private First Class [E2]

IAHG

Awarded Imperial Academy Honors Graduate Ribbon [IAHG]

Corporal [E4]

Promoted, Rank: Corporal [E4]

Sergeant [E5]

Promoted, Rank: Sergeant [E5]

Staff Sergeant [E6]

Promoted, Rank: Staff Sergeant [E6]

Sergeant First Class [E7]

Promoted, Rank: Sergeant First Class [E7]

DIS

Awarded Mentioned in Dispatchers [DIS]