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Character History
Michael Corso was a mercenary and Rebel soldier who gained his initial fame during the Galactic Civil War.
Michael was born on Telos IV but was marooned on Tatooine as a small child. There he was raised by Tusken Raiders. After expressing wishes to see the universe unfolding around him he was banished from his tribe and spent time traveling across the desert world. Michael witnessed the cruelty of the Galactic Empire firsthand and decided to join the Rebel Alliance, which he would ultimately leave after suffering the loss of his many good friends.
Early Life
Born one year after the formation of the Empire on the planet of Telos, Michael enjoyed a simple life with his parents and brother, Dante. Both brothers excelled in their early education; Michael could speak Galactic Basic with clarity at the age of four. These were the first inklings of the true talent of the boy. Neither Michael nor his brother knew much about their parents, for tragedy struck early for them. In 13 BBY, the starship carrying the Corso family was attacked by an Imperial Star Destroyer over the planet of Tatooine. The brothers were sent in separate escape pods to better their chances of survival. Dante's pod landed in the outskirts of the city of Bestine and Michael's landed in the Jundland Wastes.
Shortly after the crash, Michael was picked up by a Tusken Raider tribe. For ten years he learned to become one of them and became a member of the tribe. At the age of fifteen, Michael completed his rite of passage and officially became a Raider. Because of the time spent with the Tuskens, he developed a certain veracity and untamed wildness in him which would sometimes lead to altercations later in life. However, this style of living was not for him. Michael knew there was an entire galaxy around him, and he wished to be a part of it. Of course, this did not bode well with his tribal elders. The ensuing debate earned Michael banishment from the tribe. Several years before the Battle of Yavin, Michael took his pet bantha and set out for Mos Eisley.
Seeds of Rebellion
The injustices of the Empire were not difficult to spot on the backwater desert world. During his travels through the Dune Sea, Michael encountered moisture farmers spending nearly all they earned on Imperial taxes. In the cities, especially Mos Eisley, stormtroopers would arrest random street urchins or non-Humans and execute them without being accused or tried of any crime. It was in Mos Eisley that Michael decided to start his war against the Empire, and his first step in doing so was doing odd jobs for Jabba the Hutt. Though not all of the work was benevolent in nature, much of the work he offered Michael stopped up the plumbing of Imperial operations. Though after the Battle of Yavin, the Empire cracked down more on underground operations and Jabba could no longer offer jobs with Imperial targets, so Michael went right to the source.
Michael entered Anchorhead and met several members of the Rebel Alliance who officially inducted him into their ranks. Working missions for the Alliance was Michael's calling. He felt anything he could do that would undermine the Empire was worth a try. He participated in several minor skirmishes and events during the early years of the Galactic Civil War. He also became very proficient in piloting, and took great pride in his skills. He became most well-known for his proficiency and knowledge of all manner of weapons, especially those more readily available to the Alliance.
New Republic Army
Michael joined the 44th "New Republic Army" Corps on Dantooine shortly after joining the Rebellion. Under the command of an enigmatic colonel by the nickname of Undertaker, the NRA as they came to be called employed indirect combat skills. Michael learned to hunt and train creatures long before adorning his Rebel uniform and spent months in training under his veteran superiors. He befriended many in the group, including a fellow soldier named Carlos. After six months with the NRA, Michael was finally sent out to become a Rebel pilot for the NRA's standing fighter squadron. He graduated from Alliance flight school fourth in his class with a rank of Lieutenant. From then on he remained running supply missions for the 44th Corps and hit and run skirmishes. His fellow soldiers teased him endlessly about him not engaging Imperials on the ground, but could never compete with him in space and he quickly rose through the ranks to Commander. During R&R, Michael would go hunting with Carlos and Undertaker on Dantooine. For once he felt that he belonged somewhere. Of course, all of it would come to an end.
In 1 ABY, Michael was conducting a surprise attack on Imperial Tibanna gas platforms when he received the news about his friends. The Empire had intercepted a transmission revealing the location of several Rebel bases, one being the city that housed the New Republic Army's base of operations. Two Imperial Star Destroyers struck the base from orbit, leveling the city around it and killing thousands of innocent civilians along with the majority of the New Republic Army. The handful of survivors, including Michael, were all offworld at the time. Of that group, Carlos was the only one of Michael's friends to survive the attack. With Undertaker missing in action and their home base decimated, the remainder of the New Republic Army was ordered by Alliance High Command to the wild planet of Talus.
Regulators
Michael and the surviving members of the 44th Corps spent several months on mandatory leave on Talus. Survivor's guilt was a burden on them all, and relaxing did not come easy. Before they reentered service, three of Michael's fellow soldiers committed suicide. Being out of battle made him twitchy and uneasy. The loss of so many friends and the deaths of the innocents tainted him. During his time on leave, he got acquainted with his new surroundings and began hunting again to ease his mind. It was months before he was certified "fit for duty" again.
Upon returning to active duty, Michael was assigned to the 4th "Regulator" Division of the Alliance Special Forces under Generals Nathanos and Crowspenis. Before his first week, they saw enough promise in him to be commissioned as a SpecForce Field Commander at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. The small group tactical focus allowed him to get to know his fellow men and his superiors well. Most of Michael's work was concentrated in the Outer Rim, performing surgical strikes on Imperial garrisons. During this time he unknowingly met his own brother in battle. It is also known during this period that Michael served as a Senator in a makeshift Senate based in Corellia between many of the factional houses in an attempt to keep many conflicts diplomatic situations. Though he was not the original choice to represent the Regulators, he was seen as an exemplary politician at the Senate floor, and was quickly asked to help his division in representing their home planet of Dantooine.
But like the New Republic Army before them, it was not long before the Regulators fell in battle as well. The entire Corps was involved in a major operation evacuating Alliance sympathizers and civilians from the war-torn moon of Rori. Michael was in charge of a team overseeing transport from Naboo off-world to the Outer Rim when Imperial troops landed in the outskirts of Theed. In order to save the civilians, Corso and his men would have to fight a pitched battle to hold just enough ground for the evacuation to complete. By nightfall, the unit suffered more than sixty percent casualties, and there were still ships to be sent off. Michael ordered a retreat to the ships, but had the alleyways and buildings on the way booby trapped to cut down on the quickly advancing stormtroopers. One last firefight ensued outside of the starport before being extracted.
Twelve men including himself made it off the planet of the original compliment of three hundred that were dropped. The young colonel had three broken ribs, burns on his torso, and a torn up leg from a thermal detonator. Once he was properly taken care of, he learned that the rest of the Corps had been annihilated in in the energy explosion during the Battle of Restuss. Yet again orphaned by the atrocities of the Empire, Michael resigned his commission shortly after being rehabilitated.
Return to Tatooine
After the massacre at the hands of the Imperials, Michael retreated back to Tatooine and became a regular patron at the Mos Eisley Cantina. He had had his share of the war and the broader picture and sought to avenge his fallen comrades. He wasn't out to help the Rebel cause anymore, but to slaughter Imperials on his own accord. He earned a reputation as a skilled hunter and a drunkard, drowning his sorrows in Vasarian Brandy. This did not exclude him from good-will work however, as he would readily aide any good-natured person who solicited his help. Michael Corso became a relatively familiar name in the Mos Eisley area when he returned to working for Jabba the Hutt, but for far less heroic work. Though he refused to take the more heartless deeds, he willingly performed unmentionable acts to punish enemies of Jabba whom Michael personally deemed had it coming...and was compensated greatly for it.
This trend continued on for the better part of a year, to the point where his appearance in the cantina and on the sands was a staple of the desert ambiance. Most knew of his connections with Jabba and his friendship with Wuher the bartender, but his distant past was hidden from all but a privileged few. Nader Corso met his younger half-brother during this time when they were both assigned the same bounty. The pair worked together to take the mark out and learned of their common heritage shortly thereafter. Nader became involved in the Rebellion after hearing some of Michael's stories and tried to persuade him to re-join to no avail. Michael remained extremely bitter about his experiences as a soldier and vowed to stay out of the conflict.
The Cantina Incident
It was only a matter of time before Michael was going to get into more trouble than he bargained for. Roughly a year after leaving the Rebellion, he was sipping his favorite vintage of vasarian brandy when questioned by then-officer candidate Jan Alexi. With a sandstorm raging outside, Michael had no choice but to play into the Imperial's hand and hope that nothing went horribly wrong. Unfortunately, a Zabrak temp musician for the band playing in the cantina started a fight, and Alexi took measures to arrest them. He tried to make a quick exit but was halted by the Imperial, leading to a standoff of sorts. He touted his relation to his brother, who was a colonel at the time serving in Bestine, and promised to wait for the storm to blow over and Imperials to arrive.
While Jan did not know who Michael was at the time, she was eager to have him detained and interrogated. His capture would have meant her promotion to a full Lieutenant. Knowing full well what would happen in the event of his incarceration, Michael broke his promise and started a gunfight with the aid of another mercenary by the name of Ghent. Inexplicably, the Zabrak temp aided the Imperial and the four of them were forced into a close-range firefight. The mercenary pair had managed to inflict some damage and hide behind the bar before the end of the storm, but both had been injured and wouldn't last much longer. Both tried to pull for a truce but the Imperial would have none of it. She would not stop until she had both of them either dead or in her custody. Thankfully Michael's knowledge of the cantina's floorplan allowed them to escape through a trap door and make it out of the cantina just as Imperial reinforcements arrived.
Ghent took Michael to a local medical facility via his speeder and the two recuperated together becoming friends along the way. Ghent decided to take more jobs for the Rebels and Michael learned that while he had survived the encounter, he was much further off his game than he once was during his soldier days. It was obvious the Imperials wouldn't be taking a break from enslaving the Galaxy; he thought it irresponsible in retrospect to abandon his duty to prevent it. Once he was fully healed he placed Spike in the care of Nader and accepted an offer proposed by his new friend.
Ghent had been a intel agent for Clan Arcona of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood. He had been scouting Michael Corso after learning of his experience and natural talent. With this in mind, he decided to work him in the cantina. Upon seeing his skills and resourcefulness first hand, he made the offer for the man to join Clan Arcona's navy as a weapons officer. Corso accepted the offer from his friend, seeing his opportunity to try something new.
Trivia
- Voden created the character biography and background.
- It is excessively long.