Black Squadron (Resistance)

"You are my team, you are my friends. We are Black Squadron&hellip;and it's an honor."

- Poe Dameron to the members of Black Squadron

Black Squadron was a Resistance starfighter squadron founded by Commander Poe Dameron. Black Squadron played a key role during several engagements in the conflict between the Resistance and the First Order. The squadron mainly fielded T-70 X-wing fighters, but flew other craft such a BTL-S3 Y-wing starfighter. They notably participated in the search for Lor San Tekka traveling to planets such as Ovanis and Megalox Beta.

Mission to Ovanis
After General Leia Organa recruited Commander Poe Dameron to search for Lor San Tekka, Dameron selected a squadron of four pilots and a technician known as Black Squadron. The squadron's members included the pilots Temmin Wexley, Karé Kun, Jessika Pava, L'ulo L'ampar, the technician Oddy Muva, and several astromech droids including BB-8. For their first mission, Black Squadron with the exception of Muva traveled to the mountainous world of Ovanis. Dameron encountered the Crèche cult and questioned their leader about Tekka's whereabouts. Dameron learned that Tekka had visited Ovanis a long time ago. However, Muva had been blackmailed by the First Order Security Bureau Agent Terex into spying on Black Squadron.

Black Squadron was subsequently involved in a skirmish with First Order forces led by Terex, who had been sent to recover the information that Dameron had acquired during Operation: Sabre Strike. While Dameron and BB-8 tangled with Terex and his landing party, Wexley and the other pilots engaged in a dogfight with First Order TIE/fo space superiority fighters in the skies above Ovanis. The skirmish was interrupted when the Crèche egg hatched and released two large flying creatures, which fought each other. Dameron and BB-8 managed to overpower Terex and forced him to call off his forces. After the Crèche cultists departed with one one of the flying creatures, Black Squadron refueled and departed. Unwilling to risk a war between the New Republic and the First Order, Black Squadron allowed Terex and his surviving man to leave.

Rescuing Grakkus
Continuing their search for Tekka, Black Squadron traveled to Megalox prison on the high gravity world of Megalox Beta to question the imprisoned Grakkus the Hutt. With Organa's help, Black Squadron managed to bribe Warden Luta into allowing them to enter the prison. However, Terex learned they were coming and bribed Luta into abandoning Black Squadron to the prisoners. Despite this setback, Black Squadron managed to fight their way into Grakkus' fortress. Grakkus granted Dameron and Terex an audience but refused to divulge the information on Tekka until one of them had freed him.

In response, Dameron got BB-8 and the other astromech droids O-R10N, R2-HA, and R4 to disable the Megalox space station's gravity shield generator. Black Squadron also fought off an attempt by gangsters hired by Terex to storm the fortress and kill Grakkus. After disabling the gravity shield, Dameron managed to force Luta to let them and Grakkus leave the prison in exchanging for restoring the gravity shield. Before they could leave the system, Terex's starship Carrion Spike attacked Megalox station. Black Squadron drove off the Carrion Spike and obtained the data from Grakkus. In return, the Hutt was given hyperspace coordinates and allowed to leave. After returning, Organa instructed Dameron to suspend his search for Tekka to investigate the presence of a spy within Black Squadron.

Test of trust
Following the events on Megalox Beta, Poe undertook a solo mission to Pheryon to meet with the Galaxy Beacon journalist Suralinda Javos, who had information on the First Order's militarization efforts. After escaping First Order forces, Javos decided to join the Resistance. Still unable to trust his fellow pilots due to the presence of a spy, Dameron brought Muva, BB-8, and Organa's spymaster C-3PO on a mission to recover one of the Resistance's droid spies on Kaddak.

Dameron and his team managed to rescue the BX-series droid commando N1-ZX, who was purportedly carrying vital First Order intelligence including the location of Supreme Leader Snoke. In truth, this was a trap set by Terex to use Dameron and the droid to track down the Resistance base. Terex wanted to destroy the Resistance with his Ranc gang forces. Dameron and the droids managed to flee offworld on Dameron's T-70 X-wing fighter Black One. Terex gave chase in his flagship Carrion Spike and a fleet of "Uglies".

During the journey, Dameron realized that Muva was the spy and suspected that Terex had planted the information in order to find the location of the Resistance base. Dameron exited hyperspace above an uncharted desert planet. Terex and the Ranc gang followed and forced Dameron to ground on the desert planet. Meanwhile, Muva infiltrated the Carrion Spike and managed to reunite with his wife Sowa Chuan, who had been taken captive by Terex to exert leverage over her husband. Muva also encountered Terex's harem of slaves.

Dameron and the droids fled into a cave. BB-8 and C-3PO managed to delay Terex long enough for the rest of Black Squadron to enter the desert planet's system. During the ensuing dogfight, Muva managed to reprogram the Carrion Spike battle computers to target Terex's "Uglies". Black Squadron provided cover for Muva and the escaped slaves' escape pods while fighting with Terex's Ranc fighters. L'ulo shot down one of the "Uglies" that destroyed an escape pod. However, he was shot down by another fighter. While Dameron and BB-8 fought with Terex, First Order forces led by Commander Malarus exited hyperspace and wiped out the Ranc gang forces and Terex's flagship but did not target the Resistance. Dameron's Black Squadron mates flew over Malarus' landing party while Dameron met with the First Order commander. After learning she had come to apprehend Terex for disobeying Snoke's directive to avoid open conflict with the Resistance, Poe handed the rogue First Order agent to her.

Behind the scenes
Black Squadron was created and developed for the 2016–2017 comic book series Star Wars: Poe Dameron.