Evaan Verlaine was a human female pilot who served as a lieutenant in the Alliance to Restore the Republic and the New Republic during the Galactic Civil War. She was born on Alderaan and was one of the few Alderaanian youths mentored by Queen Breha Organa, which cultivated a deep respect for the House of Organa. Verlaine, a committed royalist, followed in the footsteps of her homeworld's leaders and became a member of the Rebel Alliance, serving as a pilot in the Rebel Alliance Starfighter Corps.
After the Galactic Empire's deep space mobile battle station, the Death Star, destroyed Alderaan, Verlaine heard whispers that the Empire was hunting down surviving Alderaanians. Following the destruction of the Death Star during the Battle of Yavin, Verlaine pledged her loyalty to Princess Leia Organa. The two defied the orders of the Rebel leadership and set out on their own mission to find and protect surviving Alderaanians from the Empire. The two first made their way to the planet Naboo, where they took on a small group of Alderaanian citizens and had to inform them of their world's destruction, before heading for the planet Sullust.