Garven Dreis/Legends

"Almost there&hellip;"

- Garven Dreis

Garven "Dave" Dreis was the commander of Red Squadron, and a T-65 X-wing starfighter pilot for the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Originally serving with the Rarefied Air Cavalry, Dreis fought in the Clone Wars that took place from 22 BBY to 19 BBY. During the Battle of Virujansi, Dreis had the opportunity to fly alongside the "Hero With No Fear," Anakin Skywalker. In the wake of the Clone Wars and the subsequent Declaration of a New Order, Dreis joined the Rebel Alliance&mdash;an organization dedicated to shaking the Galactic Empire's hold on the galaxy.

In command of Red Squadron, Dreis took the callsign "Red Leader," and the nickname "Boss." He adopted a fatherly approach to commanding his men, and supervised the instruction of new recruits personally. In 0 BBY, he was posted at the Alliance's base on Dantooine, and was transferred to Yavin 4's Great Temple shortly afterwards. From there, he led Red Squadron in an attack on the Empire's Death Star superweapon, which was moving to destroy the Alliance base. When an attack run on the battlestation's vulnerable exhaust port from Jon Vander's Gold Squadron failed, Dreis was forced to make his own attempt. He almost succeeded, but his proton torpedoes failed to enter the Death Star's exhaust port. Dreis was subsequently shot down by Lord Darth Vader.

Clone Wars
During the pan-galactic conflict known as the Clone Wars, which broke out in 22 BBY and raged for three years, Garven "Dave" Dreis served with Virujansi's Rarefied Air Cavalry. When the planet was occupied by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the Rarefied Air Cavalry fought alongside the Republic Navy to liberate the planet. Much of the air-based combat was done in giant borecrawler caves, where Dreis was given the opportunity to fly alongside the heralded "Hero With No Fear," Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, who was leading the Republic air forces in the battle. Thanks to the efforts of the Rarefied Air Cavalry and the Republic, Virujansi was successfully liberated. In his later life, Dreis would hold Skywalker in great esteem.

The Rebellion
At some stage after the Declaration of Rebellion, Dreis joined the Alliance to Restore the Republic and served as a starfighter pilot in Red Squadron. He flew the lead T-65 X-wing starfighter under the callsign of "Red 1" or "Red Leader." Most of the pilots in his squadron had been trained by the experienced Dreis, who, along with his pilots, was tasked with the protection of Alliance High Command. When commanding Red Squadron&mdash;or as he referred to them, "Red Boys"&mdash;he adopted an almost fatherly approach, and was well-respected for it. He also earned a second nickname: "Boss," but to the younger pilots he was only ever known as "Red Leader."

In his work, he participated in the recruitment of new pilots for squadrons other than his own, such as Ryle Torsyn of Gold Squadron. For a considerable amount of time, Ord Mantellian smuggler Theron Nett flew as Dreis's wingman. In addition to his use of the T-65, Dreis amassed over a thousand hours of experience in the T-16 skyhopper, which featured similar controls to the X-wing. In 0 BBY, he was assigned to the Alliance base on the world of Dantooine, where he was joined by an old comrade, Davish Krail of Gold Squadron. The Rebels were forced to abandon that base, however, when Torsyn discovered a hidden Imperial tracking device, and as a result, they relocated to the Great Temple on Yavin 4.

The Battle of Yavin
When Princess Leia Organa delivered the plans to the Empire's new planet-destroying Death Star battlestation to General Jan Dodonna on Yavin 4, preparations were made for a decisive strike against the weapon that would totally obliterate it. Accompanying Organa was Luke Skywalker&mdash;the son of Dreis's former Clone Wars comrade Anakin Skywalker. Pilot Biggs Darklighter programmed a simulator run for Skywalker to fly before he could join Red Squadron and the assault on the superweapon. Together with Commander Vanden Willard, Dreis reviewed Skywalker's performance, which was impressive&mdash;the young Human had only been shot down twice when pitted against an entire starfleet. Dreis approached Skywalker, congratulated him on his run, and subsequently accepted him into Red Squadron under the callsign "Red 5."

Shortly afterwards, Dreis accompanied his men at Dodonna's briefing. The plan was to launch snubfighters against the gargantuan weapon, and subsequently fire proton torpedoes down a two-meter wide exhaust port that was situated at the end of a long and narrow trench. The torpedoes would then travel down the port and hit the Death Star's main reactor, destroying the station. Making the situation more dire was the fact that the Death Star had entered the Yavin system and was already moving against the fourth moon itself. Following the briefing, the pilots began making their final preparations. Even after the simulator run, Dreis was not entirely sure that Skywalker was up to the task. But Darklighter, who was a childhood friend of Skywalker's, vouched for the newcomer's skills, which satisfied Dreis.

Without further ado, Dreis and the X-wings of Red Squadron launched from the Great Temple, accompanied by Jon Vander's Y-wing Gold Squadron, and Merrick Simms' Blue Squadron. As they rounded the gas giant Yavin Prime, the Death Star came into view. In preparation, Dreis ordered his pilots to report in before giving the order to lock S-foils in attack position. As he flew through the station's magnetic field, Dreis advised his men to set their deflector shields to double front, and then reprimanded a particularly informal Red Two for extraneous chatter. Leading the assault, Dreis ordered Red Squadron to accelerate to attack speed, and soon afterwards received word from Vander that Gold Squadron was moving to make their run on the Death Star's trench.

In an attempt to draw the station's defensive fire away from Vander's men, Dreis flew across the Death Star's axis. Red Squadron followed suit, prompting the Imperials to open fire, beginning the first exchange of the Battle of Yavin. As Dreis and his men began attacking the station's deflection towers, Red Squadron sustained its first casualty when Jek Porkins perished. Soon afterwards, they were contacted by Del Goren, who was at the Great Temple monitoring the battle. Goren advised Dreis, Vander, and Simms that enemy fighters were moving to intercept them.

When Skywalker protested, claiming that there was no indication of enemy fighters on his scope, Dreis quickly ordered his men to pick up their visual scanning. Sure enough, TIE/ln starfighters from Black Squadron entered the fray, engaging in various dogfights with Red Squadron. Pilot John D. Branon was killed shortly thereafter, but through cooperation, Dreis's men were able to hold their own against the Imperials. Finally, Vander and his two wingmen started their trench run, but were quickly pursued and shot down by Lord Darth Vader, who was piloting a prototype TIE Advanced x1. Davish Krail, Dreis' old friend and the last of the three to be killed, advised Dreis that Vader's attack had come from the rear, before perishing himself.

Trench run and death
In the wake of Gold Squadron's failure, Dreis had his men regroup. He then received orders from General Dodonna to split his group in two, and then make an attack run on the trench. With only six pilots left, Dreis ordered Skywalker, Darklighter, and Wedge Antilles to wait behind until they were given the signal to start their own attack on the trench, should Dreis fail. Entering the trench with Nett on his wing as always, and another pilot flanking him, Dreis was met by heavy turbolaser fire. When the fire stopped, Dreis cautioned his wingmen to watch out for Vader and Black Squadron.

Sure enough, Skywalker informed Nett and Dreis that Vader and his wingmen were moving to intercept. Before Vader had the opportunity to begin harassing the half of Red Squadron that was making the run, Dreis came within range and began using his targeting computer as he bore down on the exhaust port. As they hurtled down the trench, Vader swiftly picked off one of Dreis' wingmen, while another Imperial shot down Nett. The sacrifice of Red Leader's pilots bought him time to fire his proton torpedoes at the exhaust port, and Dreis initially thought that his attack had succeeded. He soon realized, however, that his warheads had merely impacted on the battlestation's surface, and had failed to enter the port.

Making matters worse for Dreis was the fact that Vader was still bearing down on him. Skywalker offered to cover for him, but the man refused when he noticed that he had lost his starboard engine. Ordering Skywalker, Darklighter, and Antilles to start their run, Dreis was fired upon by Vader, who caused substantial damage to the Alliance pilot's craft. Yelling as his craft fell toward the Death Star's surface, Garven Dreis perished upon impact with the battlestation. What he never realized was that the man who had shot him down, Darth Vader, was in fact his Clone Wars comrade, Anakin Skywalker.

Legacy
Despite also being harried by Vader, Skywalker succeeded in destroying the Death Star, and in doing so, saved the Alliance. The vacancy left by Dreis' death would be filled by Commander Narra of Renegade Flight. Leadership of the squadron would eventually fall to Skywalker himself, who would reform it into the elite Rogue Squadron. For the majority of the time after the Battle of Hoth, leadership of Rogue Squadron would fall to Antilles. For the Battle of Endor, in which the Death Star II was destroyed, Rogue Squadron was called "Red Squadron" once more, in honor of those who had perished at Yavin.

Personality and traits
A capable and well-respected pilot, Dreis took an affectionate, almost paternal approach to commanding his "Red Boys." He tried to look out for his new recruits, and when in mortal danger would not allow his men to risk their lives for him. Over the years, he had borne witness to and suffered through great injustice, and this inspired him to fight. Although committed to the cause of the Alliance, his prior experiences were the more apparent catalyst for his actions, rather than the fervor of rebellion. Before a battle, Dreis would be desperately eager to begin the engagement, but he did not let it show to his pilots.

Behind the scenes
The character of Garven Dreis was created for George Lucas's Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but technically made his first appearance in Alan Dean Foster's novelization of the film. Both Foster's novelization and Roy Thomas' comic adaptation, Star Wars 5: Lo, The Moons of Yavin, identify Red Squadron as "Blue Squadron" and as such Dreis' character was known as "Blue Leader." In the novel, the character is also identified as "Dave."

For Lucas' film, the character was portrayed by British actor Drewe Henley, who was mistakenly credited as "Drewe Hemley." Henley interpreted the character as an experienced one, and so decided to play Red Leader as a man who did not give away his excitement in his voice. Lucas disagreed with the interpretation, however, leading the actor and director to come to a compromise&mdash;Red Leader would at first be more formal, and then as the battle progressed, would become more and more enthused and excited. Using an American accent for the part, Henley realized that his performance would be almost entirely in his voice. This was due to the fact that he would not be given the opportunity for much physical movement, since he was in a relatively small space for most of his scenes. Henley found it difficult to act in the "cockpit" scenes, as he was totally isolated from the rest of the actors and couldn't interact with them. Unlike many of the actors in A New Hope, Henley's performance was not dubbed over by another actor in post-production.

The performance would prove to be Henley's final one on film, as he was diagnosed with manic depression shortly after shooting had finished, and decided to retire from acting. Henley would later reflect upon A New Hope as the most interesting film he had ever been involved with. In 1997, the Special Edition cut of A New Hope was released in theaters, and featured several scenes that had been cut from the original theatrical release of the film. One of the scenes showed Henley, as Red Leader, talking briefly with Luke Skywalker and Biggs Darklighter, played by Mark Hamill and Garrick Hagon, respectively. Henley was pleased with the inclusion of the scene, despite the fact that the Special Edition had failed to correct his name in the credits.

Even though the scene had been, for the most part, restored, a line delivered by Henley in the middle of the sequence remained cut from the Special Edition. The line, which implied that Red Leader knew Anakin Skywalker, and the accompanying footage was omitted from the release, and to mask the cut, another character walks in front of the shot. The line, however, had originally featured in both Foster's novel and the Marvel Comics adaptations. The connection between Red Leader and Anakin Skywalker was later brought back into continuity by Raymond L. Velasco's A Guide to the Star Wars Universe in 1984, and was elaborated upon by Abel G. Peña in the article Vader Tech, included in Vader: The Ultimate Guide. The Star Wars Encyclopedia identified "Dave" as a nickname of the character, since he had been identified as "Garven Dreis" by the "Premiere Limited" set of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game in 1995. The character's craft appeared briefly in Star Wars Empire 13: What Sin Loyalty?, as did one of his lines from A New Hope, as that comic portrayed the conclusion of the Battle of Yavin from another perspective. Dreis also appears in his craft in the game Star Wars: Empire at War, as a part of the Red Squadron unit. In the game, Dreis' actions are not anchored to the plot, and therefore are not canon.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Star Wars Empire: Darklighter
 * Star Wars radio drama
 * Star Wars Journal: The Fight for Justice
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization
 * Star Wars 5: Lo, The Moons of Yavin
 * Star Wars: A New Hope - The Special Edition 3
 * Star Wars 6: Is This the Final Chapter?
 * Star Wars: A New Hope - The Special Edition 4
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
 * Star Wars Empire 13: What Sin Loyalty?

Notes and references
Garven Dreis Garven Dreis Garven Dreis