Keir Santage/Legends

"The shield is down! Commence attack on the Death Star's main reactor." "We're on our way. Red Group, Gold Group, all fighters follow me."

- Admiral Ackbar and General Lando Calrissian, ordering the assault on the Death Star's main reactor

Keir Santage was a member of Rogue Squadron.

Biography
Rescued from an Imperial detention center by Rogue Squadron commander Wedge Antilles, Keir Santage joined the Alliance to Restore the Republic's Starfighter Corps. Qualifying as a pilot, he flew a T-65 X-wing starfighter. Assigned to the elite Rogue Squadron as Rogue Seven, Santage participated in twelve sorties against the Imperial shipyards at Fondor. He also worked closely with Alliance procurement.

By 4 ABY Santage and Rogue Squadron were part of the Alliance fleet assembled in the Sullust system in preparation for the assault on the Empire's second Death Star. Information had been obtained that indicated Emperor Palpatine would be overseeing the final construction stages of the battlestation, and Alliance command had decided that a successful strike could eliminate both Palpatine and the Death Star.

Santage, now a veteran pilot within the squadron, attended a briefing hosted by Commander Antilles on the battle plan to destroy the Death Star. The squadron was temporarily rechristened as Red Squadron to honor the original Red Squadron that had faced the first Death Star during the Battle of Yavin. Santage would operate under the callsign Red Seven during the coming battle. The Alliance battle plan called for a strike force to fly into the half-completed superstructure of the Death Star, and destroy the main reactor core. Red Squadron&mdash;along with Gold Squadron&mdash;were assigned the mission of taking out the reactor.

Upon arrival in the Endor system, the Alliance fleet expected the shield generated from an Imperial facility&mdash;to protect the Death Star during its construction&mdash;on the surface of the forest moon of Endor to have been disabled by a commando unit led by General Han Solo. However, the shield was still protecting the battlestation, forcing the Alliance fleet to engage an Imperial force led by the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Executor. During the engagement&mdash;which had been a carefully planned trap orchestrated by Palpatine himself to destroy the Alliance &mdash;Red Squadron performed better than their counterparts in the newer A-wing and B-wing starfighters. They racked up an impressive kill count, and stayed relatively intact throughout the battle.

Eventually, Solo's team were able to destroy the shield generator, exposing the Death Star to the planned Alliance attack. General Lando Calrissian, leading the fighter wings under the callsign Gold Leader, ordered fighters from Red and Gold Squadrons to begin their attack on the main reactor. Santage joined Calrissian in the attack, along with Commander Antilles, Tycho Celchu, Colonel Horton Salm, and a pilot from Green Squadron. Skimming the surface of the battlestation, Santage dodged turbolaser fire before entering the superstructure via an access shaft, taking up the rear position in the Alliance fighter formation. TIE fighters and interceptors followed the Rebel fighters into the shaft, intent on destroying them before they could take out the main reactor. Exposed to the enemy, Santage's fighter was hit by several bursts of laser cannon fire from the lead TIE fighter. His fighter broke apart, and he was killed. His death prompted Calrissian to order several other fighters to break off from the assault and head back to the surface in an attempt to draw pursuit off of the strike force. Celchu, Salm and the Green Squadron pilot complied, leading half of the pursuing Imperial fighters away from Calrissian and Antilles, which in turn allowed them to destroy the Death Star.

Personality and traits
Santage was considered to be an excellent pilot, which led to his assignment to Rogue Squadron, the Alliance's elite starfighter squadron. During the Battle of Endor, Santage diligently obeyed orders and followed the Alliance battle plan by flying into the interior of the Death Star in an attempt to knock out the main reactor, a decision that cost him his life.

Behind the scenes
Keir Santage first appeared briefly in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi as one of the pilots during the Battle of Endor sequence&mdash;specifically, during the starfighter chase down an access shaft of the Death Star II. He was unnamed, and his brief scene culminated in his death as he was shot down by a TIE starfighter. In 2000, Decipher, Inc. released their Death Star II Limited expansion for the Star Wars Customizable Card Game. In the set, his name was established as Keir Santage, that he was a Rogue Squadron veteran, and that he flew as Red Seven during the battle.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (novel)
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Star Wars Manga:Return of the Jedi 4

Notes and references
Keir Santage