Born on Coruscant to Devane and Miriam Erat, Ethan was the oldest of three brothers. His father was a reputable businessman employed by Bin Gassi Racing Engines. As such, the family lived a fairly well-to-do life and neither he nor his brothers ever wanted for anything. And with his father's business, Ethan learned at a young age how to pilot various craft as well as became attached to swoop racing. With all the exposure, it was little wonder that both he and his brother, Darien, enrolled at the Republic Flight Academy shortly after their preliminary schooling was completed.
Each of the two brothers excelled at the Academy, though neither of them took any top honors. Ethan was always slightly better in the cockpit and did his best to ensure that Darien was just as capable. It became his own personal quest that his brother succeed. It was also something that his parents had implied in regards to them both going off. With Darien a year behind, it was fairly easy for Ethan to keep him up to speed on what he could expect and during their summer breaks, Ethan continued to help Darien along.
When Ethan graduated, he was sent off to patrol the area around Rishi and Kamino to help with an increasing amount of pirate activity. Not that there was much that could truly be done to stop them, but the random patrols had been able to thwart a few would-be attacks upon civilian and commercial ships. He was there for a full year, the entire time wondering how his brother had been doing at the Academy. His question was answered upon his return to Coruscant following the tour in Wild Space.
Both Ethan and Darien were then kept around the Core Worlds, being part of supply convoys and the like. It was a nice change, in that they were still very near to home and could visit regularly. The two brothers were successful in every escort mission that they had been commissioned to fly during their two year assignment in the Core Regions.
The luck, however, did not hold up as their next assignment was to escort a transport to Coronet City in Corellia. Just short of their arrival, they were attacked by a pirate frigate and a squadron of assorted starfighters. While the two brothers and their fellow pilots were quite skilled, Darien was killed during the battle. Ethan blamed himself, even though there was nothing to prove that he could have done anything differently. After taking a small leave of absence for personal reasons, Ethan's latest assignment sent him to the planet Bellassa.
During his time there, the Empire was formed. When the Republic was dissolved, he was ordered with his squadron to return to Coruscant. His squadron returned, but he was forced to remain behind until repairs on his ARC-170 could be completed. Once finished, Ethan returned to Coruscant and to his family. A month of leave was granted for his service, and his family soon left the central hub planet, relocating on Alderaan. With all the rumors that were spreading, they no longer felt safe in Coruscant and decided that a quieter planet would be best for raising their last child.
Devane bought Ethan a used SoroSuub Cutlass-9 Patrol fighter, somewhat damaged but easily able to be fixed. During the repair process, a smaller hyperdrive was added to the underside of the ship, to allow for long-distance travel. Ethan later named the ship, the Inferno.
Once the ship was fixed up enough to withstand extended use, Ethan left Alderaan and made his way towards Bellassa, not knowing that the Empire was already staging an attack. Dropping out of hyperspace a fair distance away, he was able to avoid detection and stay out of sensor range and is now awaiting the opportunity to return to the planet that he had been protecting for the past year.
