Villian Dance

"I'm a fighter pilot. It's what I do, and I'm good at it."

- Vil Dance

Villian Dance, nicknamed Vil, was an Imperial TIE Fighter pilot who defected to the Rebel Alliance after becoming disillusioned with the Empire. Dance attended Imperial City Naval Base on Coruscant early in his career, where he trained under Vindoo Barvel, a hero of the Clone Wars who was considered the best pilot in the galaxy. At some point before 1 BBY, Dance was promoted to lieutenant and given control of Alpha Squad.

In 1 BBY, Dance and his squadron were moved to the Death Star, a battlestation being constructed above Despayre. Dance fought for the Empire in the Battle of Despayre, where he became a double ace after amassing ten kills. However, the ease with which he killed the enemy pilots disturbed him, as Dance felt that the battle had been a virtual slaughter. After the Destruction of Alderaan a short time later, Dance lost all faith in the Empire, and planned to desert along with his girlfriend Teela Kaarz and a small group of like-minded individuals. During the Battle of Yavin, the group commandeered a shuttle. When the Death Star exploded mere seconds after they had left the hangar, they were free from the Empire. Dance announced that he planned to join the Rebel Alliance, and proposed marriage to Kaarz.

Early Imperial service
Villian Dance entered the Imperial Navy before 1 BBY, with dreams of becoming a pilot. At some point prior to that, Dance was at Imperial City Naval Base on Coruscant, training under Colonel Vindoo Barvel, who was widely considered the best pilot in the galaxy. During a training exercise with powered-down fighters, Darth Vader showed up and requested a TIE Fighter to fly against Barvel and the trainees. Vader easily eliminated the trainees, and was left with just Barvel. Though Vader did not outclass Barvel at first, the others realized that he was toying with the colonel. This realization was made fact when Vader swooped past Barvel and shot him down, despite the colonel's best efforts to escape. This left a lasting impression on Dance, who was stunned at the ease with which Vader had defeated the so-called best pilot in the galaxy in starfighter combat.

Around 1 BBY, Lieutenant Dance, officially known as ST-1-1, was stationed on the Imperial Star Destroyer Steel Talon above the prison planet Despayre as the commander of Alpha Squad when a group of prisoners on the planet stole a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle. Dance, along with the rest of his squadron hurried to their TIE Fighters, ready to destroy the enemy ship.

Dance, in the faster and more maneuverable TIE Fighter, was able to easily catch up to the enemy ship. He ordered the escapees to surrender, but they refused, forcing him to destroy the shuttle. Dance easily blasted it apart, killing the escapees just before they could jump to hyperspace. After successfully completing his mission, Dance took a moment to think about how much he loved his life and especiialy his job. He was a commander of an Imperial squadron, and he hoped that if he kept moving up the ladder, he would be promoted and placed onboard the Empire's new battlestation&mdash;a superweapon named the Death Star.

However, destroying the virtually helpless shuttle would come back to haunt him. Dance had several nightmares about the destruction of the shuttle in the nights following its destruction, and he began, for the first time, to question the Empire and what he was doing.

A short time after destroying the shuttle, Dance's squad was one of ten sent to escort a transport carrying Darth Vader from the Star Destroyer Devastator to the Death Star. Hearing that Vader was aboard brought back memories of the time when Dance had witnessed the Dark Lord defeat Vindoo Barvel in an exercise. Though Dance was aware that Vader needed no escort, he did his job without complaint. As he flew alongside Vader to the Death Star, Dance remarked to himself that something was up if Vader was commanding the Devastator and traveling to the Death Star.

Promotion
"I'm Lieutenant Vil Dance, by the way."

- Vil Dance introducing himself to Teela Kaarz

Not long after this, Dance and Alpha Squadron were transferred to the Death Star. However, during a training exercise in the Death Star's equatorial trench, disaster struck for Dance. Nond Kendo, who recently joined the squadron, refused to pull up during a training run on several target drones. Kendo, determined to show off, kept going until he was unable to turn before hitting the drones, destroying his fighter and killing him.

Dance was both angered and upset by this. Although he knew that it was not his fault, he still felt guilty, and Dance wished that he could do more to help Kendo's family than just sending them a consolatory message via the HoloNet. He felt that Kendo's death had been pointless, and began to have more doubts about the Empire. In the time after this incident, Dance spent almost all his spare time training, by flying in simulators, and even attending a Teräs Käsi class taught by Sergeant Nova Stihl. Dance's piloting skill improved during this period, as he worked relentlessly to get better in an effort to erase the memory of Kendo's death from his mind.

When his duty was over, and he had spent what he felt was enough time practicing, Dance sometimes spent time in the Hard Heart Cantina, located on Deck 69 and run by the Twi'lek Memah Roothes. There, a short time after Kendo's accident, Dance met the architect Teela Kaarz. Seeing her harassed by a drunken patron, he intervened, holding off the man long enough for the bouncer Rodo to come over and throw the disruptor out. Dance was attracted to Kaarz, and introduced himself. Kaarz found herself intrigued by the pilot, and the two began talking. The two became friends, and began interacting frequently, going out to dinner often. It was not long before they developed a romantic relationship, with Kaarz inviting Dance to her apartment for dinner at one point.

After he had been on the Death Star for several months, Dance and Alpha Squad were interrupted during a training mission with the report that an enemy ship had entered the system. The ship was the Fortressa, a Lucrehulk-class battleship belonging to the Rebel Alliance. Alpha Squadron, along with nine other TIE squads, was dispatched to engage the battleship and the fighters it carried. Excited about the possibility of doing battle with the hated Rebels, Dance flew into combat eagerly. The battleship released 250 X-wing starfighters, but they proved to be no match for the Imperials. The Death Star fired its superlaser, destroying the Fortressa, and thus preventing it from issuing reinforcements or recalling the fighters. The X-wings were dead-set on reaching the Death Star, in the hope that they could find a way to destroy it. Because of this, they virtually ignored the TIEs around them, allowing the Imperial pilots to rout the Rebels.

When the battle was over, the Rebels had been massacred, and Dance was a double ace, having killed ten enemy fighters. However, he took no pride in it, because he believed it had been too easy, more of a slaughter than a battle. Dance expressed these feelings to Kaarz, and also told her that he wanted a challenge, something the architect understood.

This led to Dance beginning to lose faith in the Empire, as he wondered what government would allow its soldiers to slaughter people, even its enemies. The trust and faith he still had in the Empire was lost after the Destruction of Alderaan, which saw the Death Star destroy the pacifist planet Alderaan. Though the Empire claimed that Alderaan had been harboring dangerous rebels, there were rumors that it had been destroyed just to make a point. Distraught, Dance spent most of his time after the destruction in the Hard Heart.

Defection
"What the Empire did to Despayre and Alderaan? That's not right."

- Vil Dance

There, he spoke with Kaarz, cantina bouncer Rodo, Roothes, her boyfriend Celot Ratua Dil, archivist Atour Riten, Stihl, and Doctor Kornell Divini. The group, sickened by the Empire's actions, began to formulate a plan for escape. A short time later, they held another meeting in secret, where they spoke of their plan to leave that very day. They planned to steal a E-2T medical shuttle, while Riten would use codes he obtained through slicing to get it clearance to leave.

At the same time, the Death Star was in the Yavin system, heading towards a Rebel base near the planet Yavin Prime. The Rebels launched a flight of X-wings, hoping to be able to destroy the space station before it entered within firing range. In the chaos, Dance stole off to the hangar. He met the rest of the group, save for Riten, who had decided to stay behind to allow the shuttle a better chance to leave.

The group, dressed as medics, entered the hangar, claiming that they were part of an emergency rescue team sent to pick up injured prisoners. However, the guards refused to buy it, and Rodo and Stihl decided that they too would stay behind. Both were masters of Teräs Käsi, and planned to fight the guards, letting the others reach the shuttle and take off. The two's sacrifice enabled the others to leave, although the remaining group was not yet in the clear.

Darth Vader, flying to battle in his TIE Advanced x1, sensed that the shuttle contained deserters, and flew over to force them back to the Death Star. However, Dance was able to evade the Dark Lord by momentarily killing the engines, completely stopping the shuttle so that Vader flew right by him. Though Vader was able to turn around and again aim his guns at the shuttle, he suddenly broke off pursuit to confront a Rebel pilot who posed a threat to the Death Star. Though it appeared they were free, the shuttle was once again stopped from escape, this time snared in a tractor beam. The beam pulled the shuttle in towards the Death Star, when suddenly the space station exploded, the result of the Rebel pilot firing a proton torpedo down an unshielded vent.

The shuttle was free, and the group was free from the Empire. They discussed their plans, and Dance announced that he intended to join the Rebellion, and fight against the government he had once defended. Before he did this, he proposed to Kaarz, who told him that she would think about it, but planned to go join the Rebellion along with Dance regardless. Ratua and Roothes decided to go see Ratua's family on Coruscant, while Divini also decided to join the Rebel Alliance.

Personality and traits
"It wasn't as much fun as I always thought it would be." "I wouldn't think killing people would be." "You can't think of them as people, just as the enemy. It's not that. It was...too easy."

- Vil Dance and Teela Kaarz speaking about the Battle of Despayre

Early during his service to the Empire, Dance felt proud of the job he was doing. He considered flying in the name of the Empire to be the greatest job in the galaxy, and hoped to keep improving so he would promoted to the Death Star, which he considered to be a magnificent structure. Dance also felt a great deal of pride at helping enforce Imperial sovereignty, and the Tarkin Doctrine.

However, Dance's opinion of the Empire began to change after the Battle of Despayre. He felt that he had slaughtered the Rebel pilots, and was shaken by that fact. Dance's remaining faith in the Empire was later destroyed along with Alderaan. The fact that a so-called civilized government had destroyed a peaceful planet for no reason other than to make a point was unforgivable in his eyes.

Abilities
"Not to mention, you're the man who outflew Darth Vader."

- Teela Kaarz

Dance was one of the best fighter pilots on the Death Star, ranked in the top .001% of pilots onboard the Death Star by a simulator. He received command of his first squadron before the age of 25, and was considered to be a good leader by his men. Dance was also a talented gunner. He enjoyed a challenge when flying, and preferred flying unshielded TIEs because he felt flying with deflector shields was too easy.

He aspired to become better at flying, and spent as much of his spare time as possible practicing in simulators so that he would become better. He tried to always be ready for duty, and slept in his uniform so he would be ready quicker if awoken in the middle of the night for a mission. Dance also frequently attended Nova Stihl's Teräs Käsi class, hoping it would give him an edge by making his reactions quicker while flying.

Behind the scenes
Villian Dance was created for the 2007 novel Death Star, where he is one of the main protagonists.

Appearances

 * Death Star

Villian Dance