Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/May 27, 2011

Dash Rendar was a Human male smuggler and freelancer. Born into a wealthy Corellian family during the final years of the Galactic Republic, he chose to pursue a career as an officer in the Imperial Navy rather than joining the family shipping business. When his parents refused to sell their business to Prince Xizor, owner of Xizor Transport Systems and leader of the Black Sun crime syndicate, the Dark Prince sabotaged a freighter flown by Rendar's older brother, Stanton, killing him as his ship crashed into the Imperial Museum. Emperor Palpatine blamed the Rendar family, exiling them from the Core Worlds and dismissing Rendar from the Imperial Academy on Carida. Fleeing to the Outer Rim Territories, Rendar gained a reputation as a hot-shot pilot, smuggler, and mercenary. His success gained him his own ship, the YT-2400 light freighter Outrider, and the services of the Cybot Galactica LE-series repair droid LE-BO2D9 as his co-pilot.

Despite his personal reasons for disliking the Empire, Rendar refused to get involved in the growing Rebellion. His motivation was profit and, though he occasionally took on work for the Rebel Alliance, he insisted on being well compensated. In 0 ABY, Rendar boarded the luxury liner Star of Empire with the intention of stealing it to sell to the Rebels. Before he could act, however, the ship's computer, an artificial intelligence known as SIM, took control of the ship itself. Rendar was one of the few passengers trapped aboard and joined forces with the Shi'ido Mammon Hoole and his adopted children, Tash and Zak Arranda, to escape the ship and defeat SIM. He later took a job escorting the famous swoop racer Kimmi Chyler, smuggling supplies for the Rebels as he traveled. His work came to the attention of both the Imperial Security Bureau and Prince Xizor but, despite multiple attempts to stop him, Rendar successfully completed several deliveries. In 3 ABY, while delivering supplies to the Alliance's Echo Base on Hoth, Rendar was trapped on the planet when the Empire attacked and helped Rogue Squadron hold off Imperial ground forces until the Rebels could evacuate, destroying an All Terrain Armored Transport in the process.

Following the Battle of Hoth, Rendar was hired by the Rebel Lando Calrissian to track down Han Solo, who had been captured by the bounty hunter Boba Fett. He eventually led Calrissian to Gall in the Zhar system, but the Rebels were unable to rescue their friend. Following this, Rendar was hired by Princess Leia Organa to watch over the young Jedi Luke Skywalker after a recent attempt on his life. After saving Skywalker from a swoop gang on Tatooine, Rendar accompanied him on a mission to recover the plans to the Empire's second Death Star battlestation from the Mobquet medium transport Suprosa. The mission was a success, but an apparent mistake by Rendar cost the lives of many Bothan pilots. Seeking to make amends, Rendar helped to rescue Organa when she was held prisoner by Xizor in his palace on Coruscant. The Outrider appeared to be destroyed while fleeing Coruscant, but Rendar merely faked his death to avoid reprisals from Black Sun and the Empire. In the following years he teamed up with the Human replica droid Guri, forming a mercenary team and eventually establishing a company to create more HRDs, including a replica of Rendar's own brother, Stanton.