History
The Early Years
Nalan'rha was born on Ryloth to a large lower class family. She was the fourth of five children born to Namar'rha and Tipik'rha, both extremely skilled mechanics. When she was three years old Nalan'rha's parents were hired by the ship manufacturing company Kuat Drive Yards and the family traveled Kuat where they made a modest (though lavish by typical Twi'lek standards) living. While her siblings all expressed interest in attending schooling and learning about the galaxy Nalan'rha could not be pulled away from her playthings which she would continuously disassemble and reassemble. As a solution her father, a mid-level hyperdrive mechanic, took her on as his apprentice where she learned about and soon developed a passion for mechanics and tinkering.
Nalan'rha made many friends in her youth including the outspoken young human Nejj Rodan with whom she soon developed a lasting bond. While Nejj was not a mechanics-oriented young girl like Nalan'rha she spent most of her early life on Coruscant with her parents who were mineral traders hailing from Yridia IX. The small human family made a small fortune selling metal mined cheaply on Yridia IX to Kuat Drive Yards to be used in the creation of an assortment of ship-related gadgets which did not rate the high quality durasteel used in bulkheads and plating.
Nalan'rha as a Teen
While her brothers and sisters were sent off one by one to various academies throughout the portions of the galaxy remained untouched and safe from the Yuuzhan Vong, Nalan'rha remained behind with her parents on Kuat. In her early teenage years she was given an actual paying job cleaning grease from her father's crew's tools after their shifts. However, the lack of traditional school in her daily schedule left her a great deal of free time to pal around with Nejj. They spent most of their time playing with a pair of outdated Y-Wing simulators their fathers had bought for them second hand and the two quickly became skilled pilots, practically living in the simulators when they weren't at school (in Nejj's case) or at work (in Nalan'rha's case).
The young Twi'lek was soon promoted out of her scutwork job and became a real mechanic for Kuat Drive Yards. By the time she was 17 she was working on her father's crew as a full hyperdrive technician and the two girls had saved enough money to buy top of the line flight simulators.
The Yuuzhan Vong and Yridia IX
Throughout the year 27 ABY life at KDY was relatively peaceful and, despite the increasing number of warships to provide security after the fall of Fondor, life went on as normal. The girls worked hard and spent their free time playing in their simulators, battling against imaginary TIE Fighters and Coral Skippers and letting their imaginations run wild. However, as 28 ABY drew closer the Yuuzhan Vong threat once barely a thought in the girls' minds was now looming ominously on the horizon of the Kuat System.
On the fateful day that the attack began Nalan'rha's mother and father submitted their resignations to KDY and, with the help of Nejj's father Asyl Rodan (and an impressive lump of saved money to bribe Kuati officials) managed to secure passage out of the system on the cargo freighter Asyl had been using for decades. The family fled with the Rodans to Yridia IX where they sent their wayward children messages letting them know they were alright and, talented mechanics with impressive resumes, they soon found respectable work where they began saving for their retirement. Nalan'rha, however, was entirely taken in by the images of battle she had seen as the cargo freighter fled Kuat and in 30 ABY she joined the Tarentum Navy. Due to her experience as a mechanic and her practiced talent behind a fighter's yoke she was assigned to Rapax Squadron under Lieutenant Commander Huldrych, as the squadron mechanic and one of the very few non-veteran pilots in the unit.