Sheltay Retrac

Sheltay Retrac
Biographical information
Homeworld	Alderaan
Died	19 BBY
Descriptive information
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Hair color	Black
Eye color	Brown
Chronological and political information
Affiliation(s)	Galactic Republic

Warning: This infobox has missing parameters: parents, pronouns, children, siblings, partners, families, feathers and unrecognized parameters: era

Sheltay Retrac was a Human female from Alderaan who served as the head of Bail Organa's aides in the closing stages of the Clone Wars. During the conflict, she took part in at least two secret missions, one of which aimed at freeing the Jedi Master Shaak Ti from the gaols of Metalorn. With her husband, an artist from the Castle Lands of Alderaan, Retrac had given birth to a girl named Winter. She died shortly after the establishment of Palpatine's Galactic Empire, leaving her daughter in the hands of Bail Organa.

Biography

A female of the Human species, Sheltay Retrac came from Alderaan, a planet whose inhabitants had been among the founders of the Galactic Republic. Like many Alderaanian of note, Retrac chose to pursue a public service career. In 32 BBY, the Prince Bail of the House of Organa became Senator of the Alderaan system to the Galactic Senate, the main decision-making body of the Republic. Eleven years later, while the Clone Wars had already begun, Organa appointed Retrac head of his senatorial support staff.

Padmé Amidala and Sheltay Retrac teamed up to retrieve critical evidence

By the end of the Clone Wars in 19 BBY, Retrac was married to a mysterious artist living in the Castle Lands of Alderaan—a grassy area covered with millenary Killik hive-mounds. At the beginning of that year, she had just returned from maternity leave, having recently given birth to a baby girl named Winter. She accompanied Bail Organa on the planet Metalorn to meet with Wat Tambor, Foreman of the Techno Union. Under the pretext of signing a treaty with the Confederacy of Independent Systems, Organa wanted to free the Jedi Master Shaak Ti, who was held prisoner on Metalorn. Retrac remained close to the Senator throughout the mission, although she did not take part in the fighting itself, taking cover behind Organa.

Shortly afterwards, Retrac joined Naboo Senator Padmé Amidala in acquiring proof that Senator Bezz Drexx was taking bribes from the Confederacy of Independent Systems by infiltrating his personal tower. Amidala and Sheltay Retrac decide to investigate in secret during a gala, separating from the rest of the hosts and infiltrating private areas of the building to gain more information into the matter. Disposing of their dresses, the two women revealed combat bodysuits. They fought their way to Drexx's tower and split up when they found a split end. Eventually, Amidala caught Drexx on the act of accepting a case of gold from the uncle of Passel Argente, a Separatist leader. However, the Senator's hidden holocamera was noticed by the two corrupt bureaucrats, who sent their guards after her. Amidala escaped the tower while Retrac waited for her outside at the controls of a speeder ready to streak off and vacate the premises.

On the fifth month of 19 BBY, the Clone Wars were brought to an end. However, the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, leader of the Republic, refuse to relinquish his emergency powers. Instead, he announced the transformation of the Republic into the First Galactic Empire and ordered the elimination of the Jedi Order. Subsequently, Sheltay Retrac followed Bail Organa on his consular starship, the Sundered Heart, in an attempt to locate survivors of the massacre.

Winter, on the left, dressed very much like her mother

Soon after those events, Retrac accompanied Organa to the Royal Palace of Aldera, where the Senator lived with his wife, the Queen Breha Organa, and his newly adopted daughter Leia. The senator of the Sern sector, Fang Zar, was branded a traitor to the Empire, and took refuge in the Palace. When the Emperor sent his dreaded second-in-command Darth Vader to investigate the presence of Fang Zar on Alderaan, Sheltay Retrac was tasked with getting the Queen to safety.

Sheltay and her husband died shortly thereafter. The orphaned Winter was subsequently adopted by the Senator Organa, who integrated her to his household in the Royal Palace of Aldera. More than a decade later, in 3 BBY, Winter wore a white robe and sported a hairstyle very reminiscent to that of her mother on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Alderaan Ascendancy Contention.

Personality and traits

Sheltay Retrac was a slender, light-skinned woman with brown eyes. She had dark hair that she kept long following an Alderaanian custom. While serving Bail Organa at the end of the Clone Wars, she wore a tight-fitting white dress that revealed her shoulders and the color of which symbolized her belonging the Alderaanian ambassadorial community. Although she belonged to a fundamentally pacifist people, Sheltay Retrac was trained in combat and carried a hold-out blaster.

Retrac had a close bond with the Senator Organa, who did not hesitate to shield her from blaster shots and take her by the hand during flight from dangerous situations. Their good relationship was also underscored when the Senator accepted to take care of his late friend's daughter. In the last year of her existence, Retrac was also on first name terms with Senator Amidala of Naboo.

Behind the scenes

Warren Fu's design for Padmé Amidala's costume, which became Sheltay

Sheltay Retrac first appeared in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, the last installment of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, in which she was portrayed by Brazilian-Australian model and actress Caroline de Souza Correa. The dress Retrac wore in her brief movie appearance was based on a design by Warren Fu, who worked as visual effects art director on the prequels. That set of clothing was originally intended to be one of Padmé Amidala's, but was rejected for use on her. In The Art of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Fu commented that he designed that robe so it would tie in to both Princess Leia's white gown from Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope and Amidala's "Geonosis attire" from Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. On the cover of the comic book Legacy 3: Broken, Part 3, the Imperial Missionary Astraal Vao was shown wearing an outfit identical to Sheltay Retrac's.

In the novel in Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, the character was erroneously referred to as "Sheltray Retrac," and her irises were mistakenly colored blue in at least one panel of Bailed Out, a story from Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Volume 5.

"Retrac" is "Carter" spelled backwards.

Appearances

• "Bailed Out" — Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Volume 5
• "Spy Girls" — Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Volume 7
• Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (First appearance)
• Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader

Sources

• Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith The Visual Dictionary (First mentioned)
• Dressing a Galaxy: The Costumes of Star Wars
• Star Wars Chronicles: The Prequels
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. III ("Retrac, Sheltay")
• Sheltay Retrac in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)

Notes and references

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