John Cog

Background
John Cog was born to farmers, Amy Cog and Samuel Cog, on Lothal around 23 BBY. His family lived on a plot of land that had been their family's ground for generations. That was, until the Empire formed. When Lothal came under the grasp of the Imperial might, John's family farm was one of the first to be haggled over for the rich resources down below. Eventually, a deal was struck for the parents to sell a large portion of their land, in exchange for some of the plot left over for them to live on and a sizable amount of Credits. For the rest of John's childhood, he'd live in relative peace. As he grew up, he'd pick up several traits that would be key to his later life. He particularly liked simulations and strategy, tending to outmaneuver his enemies with ease. He also went out to hunt quite often with a slugthrower rifle, bagging serious game with his natural ability. Eventually, John grew to his late teenage years and would go to the city more often. It was there that his sheltered life came crashing down. He saw some Stormtroopers dragging out a store owner, who apparently had fallen behind on his taxes. As he punched one across the visor, cracking it, the Stormtrooper lost his cool and shot the alien man then and there. John was shocked, he had only seen the Empire do good in their interactions. This led to John getting involved with a certain crowd that shared his curiosity, who told him the truth about the Empire. Slavery, Extortion, Nothing was above the Empire. It was then that John became a Rebel. Using the funds from his family, he became an investor in several businesses that paid him back many times over. John would begin to use these funds around 3 BBY and by 2 BBY would be ready to fully join the Rebellion.

Early career
At the beginning of his tenure with the Rebellion, his career wasn’t that great. He would establish the Lothal Trading Company and the City of Rapture under his real identity. However, he soon made the identity of “Aura”. Aura began to be promoted not for fighting the Imperials, but by working for Jabba the Hutt and establishing good relations. Jabba sent him on missions against the Clan’s rivals and Aura did not disappoint. He took on an escort to capture several transports that had been stolen, only losing a squadron of fighters and a squad of marines before he captured the entire pirate force. This of course pleased Jabba, who sent him on another mission. He cleared about two hundred troops without losing more than two squads of men, causing some of his superiors to consider the use of Aura as Special Forces with the tactics he showed in that Skirmish. Aura also began to train under the Mandalorians around this time, absorbing their culture and fighting ability on top of his tactical brilliance. He even grew into a short relationship with a certain Kyr’Ika Saxon.

Warrior rising
After slowly rising in the ranks of the Rebellion, John would go on a quest to become as heavily geared as possible. He would go to Alderaan to purchase a DC-17M with all of it’s attachments, but soon learned of Mandalorian armor being smuggled in. The dealer wished for Aura to assist with this transport, promising a share of the armor. Little did Aura know, by the end of tomorrow he’d be putting on Mandalorian Super Commando Armor, complete with Vambraces. Of course, he had to fight off countless pirates to achieve such a reward. But, he was ordered by the dealer to kill his friends he made along the way. Instead, Aura revealed what was said to the others, causing one to put a gun to Aura’s head from behind. Suddenly, the dealer came out with two dozen stormtroopers, disappointed in Aura. With a cocky response lost to time, Aura would go on to kill the opposing forces with his new weapons and gear. He then took the dealer, shot him in the legs, then used his grappling hook to hang him from the ceiling as a message to the Imperials who dared oppose him. He then went to the bar to drink with his new Scummy friends.

Insurgency on Lothal
Meanwhile, Commandos in the Capital City would annihilate an Imperial peace keeping unit without a single loss, all thanks to Aura’s training and doctrines. Twenty Imperial “Master” Spies were sent in afterwards, being swiftly found out and captured at night. By the end of the morning, all twenty were dead. Five weren’t by Aura’s men, however, as Aura had converted them to try and kill their CO which of course failed. This would lead to a series of events that caused the Imperials to switch commanders around until giving up entirely with Special Forces and II.

The Battle of Corellia
It is the Battle of Corellia that is John’s “pièce de résistance”, a testament to all his years of simulations and war games. Aura’s forces would establish a pristine defensive trench system over the course of several months, waiting for the Imperial counterattack that he knew was bound to come. When Grand Admiral Moore jumped in with countless other commanders, Aura knew this was his Judgement Day. He ordered his fleet above to flee the system after the GR-75s dumped all of their supplies. Using the planet to escape the Interdiction Cones, the fleet would make it all the way back to Yavin to tell of the massive attack. Alas, reinforcements were “Too Risky”, leaving John and his army on the ground alone with no hope of salvation from anyone but themselves. The Battle started with Brigadier General Onzo attempting to swarm the enemy with waves of fighters and TIE Reapers in an attempt to achieve Shock and Awe tactics. However, Onzo did not expect the ferocity of Aura’s fighters, taking out both elite pilots and the men they carried, killing hundreds of men before they even reached the ground. For those who did make it, they were stuck between the Jungle and the Trenches, a planned Killzone that Aura grinned when he first thought of it. Onzo’s men were bombarded by artillery and LMG fire from the bunkers in front of them as they landed. This led to the Imperials being forced to bomb the jungle to make room for an Acclamator to come in to deliver the main force. They also attempted to land Gozanti’s but these were taken out as well by the Bombers, causing even more damage. As the fires burned the onslaught of Aura’s men and droid pilots only continued, causing massive casualties to the enemy while only suffering some fighter losses. Onzo realized the importance of the hangars the Rebels were using and bombarded them even with Civilian danger close, causing fighter losses to steadily increase. When the Acclamator became the new target, the Aggressors and B-Wings complied by grabbing ammo off of makeshift runways, making a flanking maneuver low to the ground to surprise the enemy. With one fell swoop, the Acclamator went up in flames, taking out hundreds of men along with a few vehicles. Luckily for the Enemy, the main forces had already departed before the bombing run. But, it didn’t get any easier. Onzo attempted to use Juggernauts filled with men to break the trench lines, but none of them even made it to the front line before being bombed by artillery and starfighter fire. Hundreds more died before finally Onzo was pulled from the battlefield, being replaced with new commanders. Before he was pulled, however, Onzo had managed to orbitally bomb the bunker systems, giving the new commander, including CIS commander Sigrid, quite the advantage. With that, Aura took out their transports as well, causing the losses of countless droids from Sigrid, he ordered his men to retreat to the city and prepare for urban warfare. In a stunning act of selflessness, the Rebels gave up their Hovervans to evacuate the civilians, disarming them for hopes that the Imperials would not fire. (To be continued).