Brooks Carlson

Brooks Carlson was a Human male member of the Galactic Empire who defected to the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War along with another Imperial, Crix Madine. Carlson was hired as a scout for General Madine's Rebel commando unit, and also trained Corporal Dansra Beezer to serve in that profession. In the year 3 ABY, Carlson served on Echo Base, the Alliance High Command's headquarters on the planet Hoth, where he participated in the Alliance's staggering defeat during the Battle of Hoth. In 4 ABY, the Alliance decided to attack the Empire's second Death Star battlestation in orbit over the Forest Moon of Endor. Carlson, by then a veteran scout and pathfinder with the military rank of sergeant, was selected by General Han Solo to be part of a strike team sent to the moon to deactivate the SLD-26 planetary shield generator protecting the Death Star. The strike team managed to disable the shield generator, allowing Alliance starfighters to destroy the Death Star.

Service and defection from the Empire
The Human male Brooks Carlson lived during the time of the Galactic Civil War. Originally a member of the Galactic Empire, Carlson defected to the Alliance to Restore the Republic along with the Imperial Army commander&mdash;and later Rebel general&mdash;Crix Madine. Carlson was hired as a scout for Madine's commando unit, the Alliance Special Forces. At some point during the war, Carlson trained Corporal Dansra Beezer to also serve as a scout in the Alliance commandos.

Service on Echo Base
In 3 ABY, Carlson was stationed on Echo Base, the headquarters of the Alliance High Command on the planet Hoth. There, he served under the command of Major Bren Derlin. That year, the base was discovered by the Empire, which launched a ground assault on Echo Base during the Battle of Hoth. The battle ended with the Alliance being forced to evacuate their base, Carlson among them.

Service in Han Solo's strike team
Following his evacuation, Carlson remained with the Alliance Fleet up until 4 ABY,, by then attaining the military rank of sergeant. During that year, the Alliance discovered that the Empire was constructing a second Death Star battlestation in orbit over the Forest Moon of Endor. The Alliance decided to attack the Death Star while it was still in construction; however, in order to destroy the station, the Alliance first had to deactivate the SLD-26 planetary shield generator on Endor protecting the Death Star. A strike team was organized by General Han Solo to infiltrate the moon. The team was composed exclusively of volunteers who had previously served at Hoth. Solo needed only to make a quick call to Major Derlin, and the team was quickly assembled. Carlson, by then a veteran scout and pathfinder, was part of the strike team.

Carlson and the rest of the strike team traveled to the Endor system aboard the stolen Imperial Lambda-class T4a shuttle Tydirium, piloted by Solo, and bypassed the Imperial Navy with the use of a stolen Imperial code. After landing on the moon, the strike team began scouting the area, but Solo, along with strike team members Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Chewbacca, and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO became separated from the main group, with Solo ordering the strike team to continue on. Major Derlin led the squad toward the shield generator. Several times the squad encountered a patrol and managed to hide; however, Corporal Delevar, the team's medic, almost compromised their position by preparing to take a potshot at a 74-Z speeder bike, to which he was consequently stopped and reprimanded by Derlin.

At nightfall, Derlin ordered the squad to make camp in a shallow ravine, well protected by underbrush. Posting two sentries and setting up a blanket grid with the scanning equipment, the squad settled down to rest. Shortly after starting the first sleeping shift, the scanners picked up an All Terrain Scout Transport moving toward them. Derlin ordered the squad to take cover, hoping that the AT-ST would pass them by. When it became clear that it would not, Derlin ordered Corporal Beezer to jam its transmissions. The squad's sharpshooter, Lieutenant Greeve, destroyed both spotlights with precise shots from his A280 blaster rifle. To keep the walker off balance, Derlin ordered the squad to circle it.

The scout walker began firing randomly into the trees and foliage. Delevar grabbed the squad's Caspel launcher and fired a smoke canister into the cockpit window. The resulting explosion forced the walker pilots to abandon the vehicle, and surrender to the squad. The squad captured the pilots, and forced them to make a comm check-in at blasterpoint. The squad continued on to the rendezvous point, forcing the walker pilot to make several more check-ins on the way to explain the scout walker's absence. Solo and the others then rejoined the rest of the strike team, having allied themselves with the Ewok tribe of Bright Tree Village, which showed the Rebel commandos a route to the shield generator bunker's backdoor. The commandos proceeded into the bunker; however, they were soon ambushed by Tempest Force, the Imperial Military legion stationed on the moon, and the entire strike team was captured and led outside the bunker. Their capture proved to be brief, however, as the Ewoks attacked the Imperial troops, turning the tide of the battle in favor of the Rebel Alliance. The Rebel commandos successfully destroyed the shield generator with the use of 7-PrG proton grenades. With the Death Star's deflector shield destroyed, Alliance starfighters were able to enter the Imperial superweapon and fire at its main reactor, setting off a chain reaction of explosions that ultimately destroyed the battlestation.

Personality and traits
Brooks Carlson was a fair-skinned man with gray hair and brown eyes. During his service at Echo Base, Han Solo saw his loyalty and dedication in action, as well as willingness to get the job done, and was aware of his resourcefulness and ability to devise creative situations. . When he joined the strike team, Carlson eagerly volunteered in order to get revenge on the Empire, having been turned into a hardened veteran from the Battle of Hoth. Solo informed the strike team about the risks of the mission to Endor, and Carlson willingly and eagerly accepted the risks. While on Endor, he wore the standard Rebel commando outfit, consisting of a beige jacket with a light-colored shirt and a helmet. Carlson was a veteran scout and pathfinder by the time of the Battle of Endor.

Behind the scenes
Although he appeared in promotional photos of 1983's Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Brooks Carlson did not appear in the final film. The photos, displayed in the 1998 Star Wars: Behind the Magic CD-ROM, show Carlson, along with other Rebel commandos, standing in the second Death Star along with Luke Skywalker and Sith Lord Darth Vader. 1993's The Movie Trilogy Sourcebook indirectly mentioned Carlson when elaborating the background of the Endor strike team members, proving that they had all previously served during the Battle of Hoth. Carlson himself was first brought into canon on a card for the June 1999 Endor Limited expansion set of Decipher, Inc.'s Star Wars Customizable Card Game. He was later given an entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, released in 2008.

In his blog on StarWars.com, Lucasfilm Holocron continuity database keeper Leland Chee speculates that Decipher used pictures of the same actor to represent Sergeant Brooks Carlson and Corporal Delevar.