Anni Capstan

"Finish it, Twelve.''" "''As ordered, Sticks."

- Jaina Solo and Capstan, over Ithor

Anni Capstan was a female from the planet Corellia who served in Rogue Squadron as a starfighter pilot in 25 ABY during the Yuuzhan Vong War. Recruited at the time of Rogue Squadron's participation in the action between the Yuuzhan Vong and the forces of the New Republic over the world of Dubrillion, Capstan went on to fight alongside her wingmate, the Jedi Jaina Solo, and became good friends with her. Flying as Rogue Twelve, Capstan helped evacuate refugees from the planet Dantooine, and participated in getting a reconnaissance team onto and off of the planet Garqi. At Ithor in 25 ABY, where the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant fought to defend the jungle world from the invaders, Capstan fell victim to enemy coralskippers in the early stages of the fighting. Her damaged X-wing starfighter crashed into a Yuuzhan Vong landing craft, killing her.

Joining Rogue Squadron
"Nice shot, Twelve.''" "Following your lead, Sticks." "We showed them!" "''We did."

- Jaina Solo and Anni Capstan, after damaging Rock-One

A female from the planet Corellia born before 25 ABY, Anni Capstan at some time participated in a starfighter event near the planet Dubrillion, in which pilots sought to achieve the longest time spent flying in the asteroid group known as Lando's Folly. There, Capstan set a decent time. In the year 25 ABY, the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong species invaded the galaxy, and during the initial fighting between the New Republic and the invaders, Dubrillion was targeted. Driven off once, Yuuzhan Vong forces returned to lurk near the planet, and, at that time, Capstan was present on Dubrillion. As New Republic forces planned to evacuate the citizens of Dubrillion and abandon the world to the invaders, Capstan was recruited into the elite starfighter group Rogue Squadron. She was chosen due to her time running Lando's Folly, and was designated Rogue Twelve, filling the position that the Rogue Tik had held before his death; Jaina Solo, a Jedi who was quite skilled at flying, was given the position of Rogue Eleven to fill in the gap created by another death.

As the refugee convoy began to depart Dubrillion space, the Yuuzhan Vong forces that had been lurking nearby moved to engage the convoy and its escort. As a part of Rogue Squadron, and specifically in Three Flight alongside Solo, Capstan launched from a hangar bay on Dubrillion in her X-wing starfighter, and proceeded to place herself between the oncoming Yuuzhan Vong forces and the convoy. While other squadrons took on the coralskipper groups that began to make runs on the convoy, Capstan and the other Rogues, including her wingmate Solo, were given the task of taking out Rock-One, the miid ro'ik capital ship that was leading the invaders' assault. Capstan covered Solo as she made strafing runs on the ship, and her wingmate soon discovered that Rock-One's plasma launchers were vulnerable to enemy attack and not shielded by the gravity manipulating effects of dovin basals just before the launchers fired. Because of this, Solo timed a set of proton torpedos so they flew into the launcher and detonated. Capstan followed her wingmate's lead and also managed to get one of a pair of proton torpedoes into the plasma launcher right after her wingmate's set, and the resulting explosions heavily damaged the weapon.

Just then, Rock-One used its dovin basals to block the hyperspace route that led to the world of Agamar, the convoy's destination. Though some of the ships managed to make the jump before this occurred, the majority of the convoy was forced to head to the world of Dantooine instead. With the convoy out of the system, Capstan and Rogue Squadron broke off their attack on Rock-One, and travelled to Dantooine.

Engagement at Dantooine
"Two and Twelve, keep the last skips off us."

- Rogue Leader Gavin Darklighter

However, Yuuzhan Vong forces soon pursued the refugees from Dubrillion to Dantooine, and assaulted them there. Masses of Chazrach ground troops attacked the refugee base that was located on the planet's surface, and Capstan and the rest of Rogue Squadron were tasked with occupying the coralskippers that were accompanying the Yuuzhan Vong ground forces. In the middle of the battle, where New Republic ground forces engaged the invader's Chazrach troops, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker requested that two members of Rogue Squadron complete a run on the largest enemy ground vehicle. Rogue Leader Gavin Darklighter and Solo complied, and while Capstan and Rogue Two watched their flanks, the pair fired a quartet of proton torpedoes at the vehicle.

As torpedoes were heading towards the vehicle, astromech droid R2-D2 changed the trajectory of the missiles fired by Capstan's wingmate and commander by giving them a new set of data. When the gravity anomaly that the vehicle had created to block the initial threat to its side attempted to move between the missiles and the vehicle's spine, Skywalker, who was in the shuttle Impervious alongside R2-D2, held the gravity anomaly back with the Force, and then pushed it forward so that the anomaly hit the transport instead. The vehicle, which was the controller of the Chazrach, was sucked into the gravity anomaly, and destroyed, while the missiles impacted the ground and detonated, killing many of the enemy ground troopers. Because the controlling vehicle was destroyed, the ground troops went mad, and attacked anything around them.

With the majority of the refugees loaded into freighters, the New Republic evacuated the base. Capstan and the surviving members of Rogue Squadron accompanied them into the orbit of Dantooine, but a Yuuzhan Vong cruiser similar to the one they encountered at Dubrillion was using its dovin basals to prevent any of the convoy from escaping. Despite this, the convoy was rescued after the Bothan Assault Cruiser Ralroost and the Victory-I class Star Destroyer Corusca Fire arrived in the system, and drove off the cruiser so the convoy could make a getaway. After the battle on Dantooine, Solo moved into the squadron barracks and took up a room with Capstan.

Escorting a reconnaissance mission
"Twelve here. I have one contact coming up from Garqi. Looks like our people."

- Capstan reports on the Best Chance position

Later that year, Capstan flew with the Rogues again, this time at the Yuuzhan Vong–occupied world of Garqi. There, they flew from the Ralroost, and were tasked with taking the coralskippers that came to engage them while the battered freighter Lost Hope tried to enter Garqi's atmosphere; the Lost Hope contained a reconnaissance team, including Solo's brother Jacen Solo, which was tasked with obtaining valuable information about the enemy. When two of the ten coralskippers that came to engage Capstan and Rogue Squadron targeted the Lost Hope, she and her wingmate moved to engage them. Solo quickly blasted the first enemy craft apart, and while she covered for Capstan, Rogue Twelve went at the last coralskipper from the side, firing at it with all of her laser cannons. However, the dovin basals of the enemy craft absorbed all of the shots.

Despite this, Capstan scored a hit with one of a pair of proton torpedoes after the coralskipper crossed in front of her, destroying the craft completely. The Lost Hope exploded just then, due to an unknown cause as seen by Capstan and the others; unbeknownst to them, the explosion had been one engineered by the New Republic forces, and the reconnaissance team had ejected from the doomed Lost Hope via the shuttle Best Chance, to land unnoticed on Garqi by both their friends and their enemies. After withdrawing from the area around Garqi, the pilots were informed that the team had actually made it to the surface safe and sound. Later, Capstan and Rogue Squadron were tasked with escorting the reconnaissance team back off Garqi. As soon as the Ralroost completed its microjump into the system, Capstan and her wingmate launched from its bays. They soon detected the Best Chance rising to meet them, but it was then that the Yuuzhan Vong forces arrived, with the cruiser Burning Pride leading the battle group.

Rogues Twelve and Eleven came at a group of six coralskippers heading for the Best Chance, and Capstan fired two torpedoes, one after another. The first detonated prematurely, as intended, and the gas cloud forced the group of craft apart. The second missile met two of the coralskippers that had fled when confronted with the gas cloud, and destroyed both of them. While Solo took out one of the remaining craft, Capstan managed to damage another with her lasers. Despite the arrival of New Republic reinforcements, which consisted of two Victory-class Star Destroyers, the battle seemed to be going poorly until the space forces of the Imperial Remnant, alongside a small contingent of Nssis-class Clawcraft from the Empire of the Hand, came to Garqi. While the clawcraft helped mop up the remaining coralskippers that were harassing the Best Chance and the New Republic battleships, two new Star Destroyers helped turn the tide of the battle. A group of clawcraft escorted Capstan and Solo back to the Ralroost before the entire New Republic–allied group departed the system, their mission of getting the Best Chance out a success.

Death over Ithor
"Sithspawn! I'm hit!"

- Anni Capstan, before her death

During Capstan's time serving as Solo's wing and bunk mate, she talked about Solo in every message she sent home to her mother on Corellia, though Capstan herself never mentioned her family much when talking to Solo. Because Solo was a Jedi, Capstan, a gambler, never played with her due to the intuitive powers most Jedi possessed. Despite this, Solo and Capstan became good friends. Sometime after the events at Garqi, Capstan and the rest of Rogue Squadron were sent to the planet Ithor, alongside a significant force from the New Republic, the Imperial Remnant, and the Empire of the Hand, in order to defend it. It had been discovered during the mission to Garqi that the pollen of the Bafforr trees native to Ithor had devastating effects on the living armor that the Yuuzhan Vong warrior caste used, and thus, Ithor was considered a valuable asset.

There, Capstan and Solo were tasked with scouting out a shuttle adrift that had appeared in the system. The ship matched the one that had taken Caamasi Senator Elegos A'Kla to a peace talk with Yuuzhan Vong Commander Shedao Shai, and the shuttle was in its landing position with organic growths all over it. After an Imperial Remnant shuttle used its tractor beams to haul the other ship to the Star Destroyer Chimaera, Capstan and Solo were also ordered to land on the battleship, and they were scanned for any life forms that may have hitched a ride. Told that they were clean, Capstan ran off, and Solo, who remained in the pilots' ready room, believed that she had found a game of sabacc somewhere on the Imperial vessel. In the shuttle were found the decorated bones of A'Kla, and an organic villip that carried a message from Shai, announcing that the two sides would meet at a battle over Ithor.

When the invaders' forces did come to the world of Ithor, Capstan launched from the Ralroost alongside Rogue Squadron, and fell into position behind Solo. As the enemy advanced towards the New Republic and Imperial positions, Rogue Squadron was assigned to take out the enemy landing craft, which were dubbed crates, destined for the surface of the jungle planet. After Solo took out a coralskipper, Capstan warned her to go to starboard, and then shot up an enemy craft that was pursuing her wingmate. The pair broke through the fighter screen guarding the troop carriers, and Solo proceeded to damage one of them with her lasers before ordering Capstan to finish it off. However, before she could, two coralskippers came behind Capstan's X-wing before she could break off her run on the crate. The pair of attackers quickly took out a pair of her engines, and Capstan's starfighter swung out of control to impact the troop carrier she had been targeting, killing her.

Although the New Republic defeated the forces assembled against them, the Yuuzhan Vong managed to wipe out all of the biological life on Ithor with a bioweapon before the end of the battle. Upon Capstan's death, and after the battle at Ithor, Darklighter dispatched a message to Capstan's family, and Solo sent a small message along with it. Capstan's mother, grieving at the loss of her daughter, told Solo in a response message that she would be welcome to visit Capstan's mother if Solo ever went to Corellia. She also told the Jedi that she had some of Capstan's things that she wanted Solo to have. Capstan's death affected Solo greatly, and the Jedi would think about her wingmate's death throughout the war with the Yuuzhan Vong. In tribute to her deceased wingmate, Solo named her astromech "Cappie."

Personality and traits
Capstan was a skilled starfighter pilot, so much so that she managed to get a berth in the elite Rogue Squadron. She was able to hold her own in battle, though the coralskippers of the enemy ultimately killed her. She was also a gambler, and was good enough that Solo considered her able to strip the credits from the players on the Imperial Star Destroyer Chimaera. During her time as Solo's wingmate, the two became close friends, and Capstan mentioned the Jedi in every message she sent back to her mother.

Behind the scenes
Anni Capstan first appeared in Dark Tide I: Onslaught, by Michael A. Stackpole, and later appeared in the sequel, Dark Tide II: Ruin. Both were released in 2000, and were a part of The New Jedi Order book series. She was mentioned in later books in the series, and received an entry in 2008's The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

Appearances

 * Dark Tide I: Onslaught
 * Dark Tide II: Ruin
 * Balance Point
 * Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
 * Star by Star
 * Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
 * Destiny's Way
 * Ylesia
 * Invincible