Unvigintuple Elite
The few organizations she has been seen consistently around, if largely independent of, include the Aisling Guardians, the Tionisla Historical Society in the old worlds, the Alliance Rapid-Reaction Corps, and the Free Marlinists of Carinae. A multi-billionaire since the Borann Low Temperature Diamond Rush, Alira maintains a wide arsenal of ships and weapons. She most consistently fields a heavily-engineered Anaconda named Destiny and a substantial personal armory of suits and predominantly Manticore plasma weapons. She is quite good with them too if her multiple ratings of Elite are anything to go by. She even maintains a rating in the Top 300 of all pilots on Inara.
Her hobbies include science and exploration, gaming, health and fitness, and mountain climbing. She maintains a well-equipped gym on her Anaconda in order to stay in shape even in low or no gravity and on long journeys. She has a preference for synthwave music, enjoys visiting new places with a tradition for having a drink, often Lavian Brandy, at each new port and first footfall, and sometimes entertains herself with VR holos. Though she avoids the subject of religion, she is known to implore the Lady of Fate in dire circumstances. She is also known to drink more heavily than she should, and is no stranger to Combat Stabilizers to keep her going as a soldier of fortune in some conflict zones.
Alira does not advertise her birthright in Imperial nobility, largely having consigned it to the past. In most interactions, she even actively conceals it, using a drawl of an accent that has been ubiquitous in flight for over a thousand years. Only when on personal time, or after drinking too much, does she slip into her trained habits. She maintains a certain standard of decorum where it comes to appearances. Not a single drab, old flight suit exists on her ship. Instead she maintains a clean and fashionable wardrobe, with spares fit for any guest, and her personal comm is always the latest model. Her Anaconda might not have the most luxurious of appointments, but she ensures everyone and anyone their dignity, and the ship herself is kept clean, maintained, and with a crisp paint job.
"The Lady of Fate favours the best."
— Proverb of the Pilots' Federation
Born illegitimately to Imperial Senator Thera Veles on 29 November 3282 after the senator had a fling with a scoundrel of a Commander at a flight demonstration on Achenar 2. Although she was born on the terraforming Water World of Lulus 2 as a publicity stunt, she grew up mostly at Baffin Palace on Lulus 1 among the lavish appointments of House Veles. Literally the red-headed stepchild, Alira's stepfather, Earl Relf Elafus-Veles, never cared for her, and might have even had her thrown to more common Imperial standings if not for the fact that he had married up in position to stabilize the Lulus system in the late 3200s. Alira's father, who at the time went by CMDR Lancel, still visited from time to time with the intent of seeing his daughter, something Thera and Elafus tolerated as they had their own children. Hardly one for Imperial decorum, Alira's father took her on his battered old Cobra Mk III on simple trade runs and nearby exploration, and together they first catalogued the Stratum on Lulus 5 and became the first to map Col 285 Sector ZU-N B20-3.
Sometime while she was a teenager, her father stopped showing, leaving her to come into conflict with her parents, especially her stepfather. Thera was of a mind to let Alira replace her as Senator one day despite general opposition. Alira wanted to see the galaxy. On her 18th birthday, a missive from the solicitors Sue, Cripple, and Sneer indicated that she per her father's request to receive 2000 credits, a Remlok flight suit, a Sidewinder Mk I, and a prepaid pilot's license training course. It had been set up long before he had disappeared, and bore no evidence of what had happened to him. Her mother ultimately acquiesced to her daughter's desire for adventure, and elected to let her go on good terms, rather than risk her escaping on her own. On passing her pilot exam, Thera gifted her daughter with a shiny, new, red Eagle Mk II.
"Just remember, girl, all this, everything we've done here today is yours as much as mine, and maybe one day you can carry it on yourself and blaze your own trail if that's what you want to do."
— CMDR Lancel, Alira's biological father, 3294
Alira followed into adventure on 29 December 3300. Finding her father's name inactive in the Pilots' Federation database, Alira took it for her own to continue the family legacy as he would have wanted. She hunted down pirates and took to exploration in that Eagle Mk II, eventually acquiring an Asp Explorer with which she discovered her first Earth-like World, and later an Imperial Courier for supporting Princess Aisling Duval. Despite some early success, Alira's fortunes took a turn for the worse when she became involved in a skirmish inside the Achenar system itself on the eve of Arissa Lavigny-Duval's coronation on 17 October 3301, started by "poor losers" as the Imperial Herald reported. She spent much of the next two years repairing her reputation with her mother in the Lulus system and slowly building her rating, mostly in Exploration.
She had little participation in the Thargoid War, her Competent rating and Imperial Courier struggling to shoot down even a few Scouts and abandoning an engagement with a Thargoid Interceptor. Instead she was called back to Aisling Duval's space, which saw little engagement from the Thargoids. Nevertheless, her explorative nature led to her joining the ill-fated Gnosis expedition in 3304. It proved just as ill-fated for Alira. When Alira scrambled to defend the Gnosis, she was faced with the new Hydra variant moving directly over her landing pad. The engagement was woefully one-sided, Alira barely able to deploy hardpoints before a Thargon rammed off one of her Courier's nacelles and caustic substances ravaged the hull. She was forced to eject only seconds after launch as her Imperial Courier was destroyed, becoming one of the first casualties of the battle. Recovered promptly by Canonn Research, Alira spent much of the rest of the battle in medical or helping damage control aboard the megaship for her return journey.
Returning to Lulus, Alira acquired a new Imperial Courier after aiding her mother for a time again. Her mother had become increasingly insistent that she stay home more permanently, but the call of the void still left Alira with unfinished business. Understanding turned to protectiveness for her daughter, and Alira fought with her mother more and more over the following months. Alira visited her mother at the Imperial Senate on Achenar to make some amends before she left on another expedition on 25 January 3305. Arriving unannounced, Alira was present when the massacre of Nova Imperium was conducted in the Senate Chambers at the arrangement of Emperor Arissa. Among the victims were Alira's mother, who had been implicated as a supporter and a Marlinist, and she died in Alira's arms as Emperor Arissa gave her following speech. Alira's stepfather had mysteriously positioned himself well and the Patrons pledged to him under the Likedeeler of Michel instead of Alira. Left outcast, Alira left the Lulus system and the Empire behind, taking with her her mother's Imperial Saber, which she had neglected to bring up to her stepfather.
"There is only the Empire."
— Arissa Lavigny-Duval, Emperor of the Empire of Achenar, 25 January 3305
Effectively independent, despite still possessing an honorary title of Viscountess, Alira set about to longer and longer expeditions, meeting new engineers, discovering the messages and story of Kahina Loren, and eventually discovering for herself the mysteries of the Formidine Rift. From there, she started to be noticed, if only just. On 18 June 3305, Alira returned from an expedition to the Omega Nebula to earn the rating of Elite, which she formally received at Jameson Memorial in Shinrarta Dezhra that same day. Having saved a considerable bank, she at last bought herself an Anaconda, the Destiny, which she still pilots to this day. Though it would be some time before she had it engineered to a truly formidable craft, she spent much of the following months learning about the Guardians and the Thargoids, as well as supporting the Imperial Witch Head Nebula expansion, before meeting a strange man at a Concourse bar one day by the name of Drew Wagar who was hosting a tour of sorts as a long-range expedition. Intrigued, she ultimately joined the expedition, and by then was known to be Dangerous. Around this time she also hired a crew, one Laurel Park, a Buckyball racer down on her luck who was looking to get into ship-launched fighter escorts, and met other mysterious figures such as the more esoteric engineer Romania Krysnov.
"I don't want to blow my own trumpet, but I was a finalist in the Buckyball Race. That's what kind of flyer you're dealing with."
— Laurel Park, Elite Fighter Pilot
In early 3306, Alira, never one for much excess credits, participated in the Borann Low Temperature Diamond rush, from which she earned much of her extra fortune. With her help, Borann's famous rings became depleted with the onrush of Fleet Carriers. Harnessing a group of people who remained loyal to her over what Relf had done in Lulus, Alira had them crew a Drake-class Fleet Carrier named the Valiant to perform more mobile operations, by then earning a Trade rating of Elite herself. Some of her own, new ships were moved aboard as well, just in case. In November of 3306, Alira fought against the Neo-Marlinist rebellion after terrorist bombings had killed Princess Aisling Duval's father. Despite her attitude toward Arissa, Alira ultimately fought against the Marlinists for their crimes, earning her a new reputation among the Empire where her efforts were recognized with the honorary title of Queen among the Imperial Navy Reserve. It was around this era that she had first met another mysterious figure, one Phoenix Dagon.
Over the following months, Alira supported more initiatives and continued developing her own circle of resources, eventually becoming Deadly on 23 April 3307. One of her larger initiatives was an invitation to a major initiative in Adityan to trial new, state of the art personal shields and a new In-Sight integration system. It was during these trials that Alira met another mysterious stranger, this time one CMDR Alyssia Verdi. Once the Pilots' Federation approved general release, Alira for a time pursued Mercenary work, and became quite good at it. Over the following months, Alira performed special operations, took down scavengers and their stashes, and fought wars both in space and on foot, and finally on 14 November 3307, Alira earned the most coveted of all pilot ratings, the Combat rating of Elite. At the same time she had become Triple Elite, but it was short lived as only two weeks later she earned her Mercenary rating of Elite which made her Quadruple Elite.
Alira has continued her own explorations and participation in various initiatives. Now a more than capable pilot, Alira had gunned down Thargoid Interceptors, hostile Spec Ops, other Commanders on foot and in space, and been to Sagittarius A*, the Great Annihilator, the Formidine Rift, and Colonia. She still favored the same Anaconda she had acquired when she first became Elite, now heavily engineered and featuring new, advanced technology. Her reputation began to precede her, and she had been noticed. At some point at the end of 3307, she was approached by mysterious figures in dark robes who proposed she join them, among them more than a few familiar faces. They presented a sigil coin to her with "CMDR Lancel" inscribed upon it.
It was old.
"To the jewel that burns on the brow of the mother of galaxies! To the whisperer in witchspace, the siren of the deepest void! The parent's grief, the lover's woe, and the yearning of our vagabond hearts. To Raxxla!"
— Alleged toast of the Dark Wheel
Before joining the present group, Alira had provided some support for Salvation. Seeing the stagnation of Aegis, Alira thought that some kind of competition was in order and new ideas for how to confront the Thargoids. Far from a fanatic, Alira performed a small number of investigations, but had leaned on a pet theory that Salvation was a Scrivenner Dredger Clan scientist who had taken on the alias to conceal his participation with outsiders. She was wrong.
The revelation of Salvation as the ancient leader of Azimuth Biochemicals, "The Witch" as some called him, and the perpetrator behind many of the darkest injustices on the frontier led Alira to go AWOL. Having already taken part in the events which ultimately led to the dissolution of Aegis, including the defense of Taurus Mining Ventures in the T Tauri system, she used her reputation to take what data she could on Salvation's weapon and returned to the Bubble. As the Battle of HIP 22460 raged, Alira stayed away, unwilling to take part in such annihilation.
Despite her intentions, it was on 8 August 3308 that she was called in for a mission by her mysterious new friends. A contact aboard the INV Illustrious Fortune had data on the Proteus Wave and needed extraction ahead of the weapon's firing. Though reluctant at first, Alira did hastily retrofit a set of new Shard Cannons and dive into HIP 22460 in the final hours ahead of the Proteus Wave deployment. She arrived to find the Illustrious Fortune under heavy Thargoid attack. After nearly an hour of fighting, the ship was still besieged and Alira's Anaconda was beginning to wear down after destroying dozens of Scouts and even a few of the Interceptors herself. With no time left and a fresh wave of Interceptors making for an attack run, the contact transmitted the data directly to Alira, declaring it imperative that she get on site readings of the firing. Dropping out of supercruise above the site of the Proteus Wave, Alira witnessed history unfold.
"To all humankind: This is Salvation. Future generations will remember our triumph today - the Thargoid threat consigned to the past..."
— Caleb "Salvation" Wycherley at the Battle of HIP 22460, 9 August 3308
The first pulse which seemed to work as planned, the sudden Thargoid signatures leading to the second pulse, the Anaconda's systems shutting down, the Bright Sentinel bursting into fire in the distance, the massive anomaly at the surface site which remained in her canopy's view. Alira and her crew barely managed to get systems back online and take in the anomaly with sensors before a Thargoid Interceptor dropped in to destroy them. The ship was heavily damaged, shields low, and for reasons soon to be understood they could not bring the Guardian weapons online. Faced with no option to fight, Alira went to supercruise before the Interceptor could close the gap. Communications were almost dark across the system, with only a handful of distress calls from beleaguered Commanders breaking the eerie silence. Alira crossed the short distance at the wreck of the Bright Sentinel to find bodies and a handful of high wake signatures from ships that had somehow escaped the docking module, perhaps lurking cold in the debris waiting for the Thargoids to move on. Alira managed to collect the logs and a black box before a Thargoid clean up crew arrived. Still unable to fight, Alira again went to supercruise, this time for the INV Illustrious Fortune to make good on her extraction, but it was already too late. The ship had been destroyed, and no escape pods were to be found, not even bodies this time.
The same story played out across the system. Devastating human losses across the system, and Guardian technology completely neutralized by the hazardous radiation being emanated from the anomaly site. The Pilots' Federation sent a rare broadcast advising that all Commanders withdraw from the system. After overstaying her own welcome with two Interceptors in hot pursuit and inside mass disruption range, Alira fled the system via hyperspace.
"Dig deep enough and you'll find dirt on anyone and everyone. The question is whose dirt actually pisses you off."
- Alira
Although Alira investigated the initial signs of a Thargoid invasion, it was a human invasion which ultimately occupied her attention. When Close Encounters Corp invaded the Marlinist colonies, Alira responded of her own volition to defend the colonies. After a coup attempt by her own Carrier's captain, Hazel Sharpe, Alira seized her own carrier and eliminated the Brewer Corporation influence.
Alira in November 3309
"My Inara profile exists purely to be a monument to my vanity. #Elite"
- Alira
"Don't do it for people because they want you to. Do it for people who need you to."
"I don't expect a perfect life, just a happy one."
"Might doesn't make right. It just lets you get your way."