Rogue Squadron/Legends



"Well, you know the Rogues. All we need is a ship and rock to land it on."

- Wedge Antilles

Rogue Squadron was an elite X-wing starfighter squadron founded by Wedge Antilles and Luke Skywalker shortly before the Battle of Hoth.

Yavin, Hoth, and Endor
The origins of Rogue Squadron could be traced back to the Battle of Yavin, where the two pilots who would ultimately establish Rogue Squadron&mdash;Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles&mdash;were the only members of the Rebel Alliance's Red Squadron to survive the battle of Yavin.

After the battle, the squadron would operate as two groups. The first was Renegade Flight under Commander Narra, the squadron leader; the second was Rogue Flight under Luke Skywalker. The core of Rogue Flight was Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antilles, Zev Senesca, Wes Janson, and later Kasan Moor.

Renegade Flight was destroyed after the Battle of Yavin on an escort mission at Ison, coming from Derra IV with a convoy carrying supplies for the Rebel base. After this, Rogue Flight became Rogue Squadron, with Luke Skywalker as their commander, and with new pilots added to their roster, like Tycho Celchu and Red Squadron veteran Derek Klivian. As the Rogues became more autonomous, they became a group with no standing orders, ready any time or place for urgent missions that would arise. During the Battle of Hoth, the Rogues had only eight pilots (grouped into a four pairs), but they add some 'guest' members into their squadron, including the visiting smuggler Dash Rendar. The snowspeeders of the Rogues gave the Rebels enough time to evacuate Echo Base. Only six of them survived the Battle of Hoth. After the evacuation of Hoth, Antilles took command during the absence of Skywalker at Dagobah, leading a dangerous mission at the Maw.Then Wedge led important missions such as the Battle of Dubrillion, the Mission at Destrillion, the Battle of Kothlis and the Battle of Fondor. After the capture of Han Solo, Skywalker and Antilles formed a squadron of 12 units around the core group and the Rogue Squadron was formed. Antilles often commanded the squadron when Luke had important off-flight missions. One of Luke's last missions was the Battle of Gall against the Imperials, in an attempt to flush out the bounty hunter who had abducted Han Solo. Rogue squadron particapated in countless important missions during the year leading up to the battle of Endor. The Squadron particapated in the stealing of the shuttle Tydirium, the rescuing of prisoners from Hoth in the First battle of Bakura, the subsequent pursuit of the Imperial Escort carrier Exploiter to Geonosis, and last but not least, the Battle of Bespin. During the Battle of Endor, Rogue Squadron was dissolved and absorbed into the general fleet, with many of its pilots distributed to other squadrons. The remaining Rogues and new pilots were grouped into a unit called Red Squadron, which Antilles named in memory of the Battle of Yavin; he himself took the role of "Red Leader". In fact, only five pilots remained in Rogue Squadron&mdash;Wedge Antilles (Red Leader, X-wing), Tycho Celchu (Red Two, A-wing), Wes Janson (Red Three, Y-wing), Derek Klivian (Red Four, A-wing), and an unidentified Human male as Red Five (X-wing). All of them (except Red Five) survived the battle.

Fighting for a New Republic
After Endor, the squadron was hastily and temporarily reformed by Antilles with the best rebel pilots in order to defend the planet Bakura. The Rogue Squadron was now a lean team of 6 units: Antilles, Janson, Klivian, Celchu, Plourr Ilo and Dllr Nep. One of the important missions during the New Republic's infancy was the failed rescue mission for Sate Pestage, which bolstered the fame of New Republic.

Since Janson and Klivian formed their own squadrons, Antilles had to reinvent Rogue Squadron, which for political reasons now with pilots from a wide variety of planets. The reconstituted Rogue Squadron fought against Imperial forces led by Ysanne Isard. They were instrumental in the capture of Coruscant for the New Republic, and were involved in the Bacta War to liberate Thyferra from Isard&mdash;a war they resigned their commissions to fight. In the war against Isard, Rogue squadron was reformed and quickly trained. it was comprised of pilots like Corran Horn, Gavin Darklighter, Erisi Dlarit, and Lujayne Forge. they were quickly thrust into the line of fire in the disatorousBattle of Borleias. Corran Horn was stranded there but was subsequently rescued. Very soon after, Borleias was taken in second heated assault.

Then, with 2 new additions of Aril Nunb and Pash Cracken, Rogue Squadron infiltrated Coruscant. They went in as teams of 2 but all subsequently met up, gaining an ally in Asyr Sei'lar, a bothan who was an alum of the Bothan Martial Academy. Tycho Celchu,saved a bunch of the Rogues, when he was presumed dead after a disatorous attack by Warlord Zsinj on Noquivzor. He had been brought in beforehand by Wedge as backup. Tycho had purchased 5 Z-95 Headhunters, which were used in the attack to bring Coruscant's orbital shields.

During the battle, Corran Horn's Headhunter was taken over by an outside force Ysanne Isard. She had been given the codes to his fighter.

Tycho Celchu was accused of being the traitor and was brought on trial, defended by Nawara Ven. Meanwhile, Corran Horn was trapped in Isard's Lusankya facility. He managed to escape, while Celchu's trial was tearing Rogue Squadron apart. Finally, when Ysaane Isard blasted out of Coruscant on the Lusankya, Erisi Dlarit, the real traitor, faked being pulled by a tractor beam, and rondevoused with the Super Star-Destroyer.

To pursue Isard, Rogue Squadron resigned their comissions and particapated in the Bacta war. They lured the Star-Destroyer Avarice to the New Republic, and they heavily damaged Lusaknya, making her surrender. Thyferra was liberated, and Rogue Squadron gained a pilot in Tal'dira. however, Nawara Ven became the Squadron's XO, never to fly an X-Wing again, for he had lost his leg and wsn't able to fly well enough with a prosthetic.

During that time, Klivian led a temporary Rogue Squadron during the "true" Rogue Squadron's absence. However, a alleged filing error kept the resignations from being documented, and the Rogues were again New Republic officers. Antilles turned command over to Celchu and founded Wraith Squadron. Antilles commanded both squadrons against Warlord Zsinj and after that he returned to his command as Rogue Leader to battle against Thrawn, Krennel, Palpatine's clones and lead the team to other glorious battles.

Yuuzhan Vong War
"Rogue Squadron to Borleias. We're back. We kicked your butt twenty years ago. Now we're here to do it again."

- Colonel Gavin Darklighter, 27.5 ABY

Under the leadership of Colonel Gavin Darklighter, Rogue Squadron played a central role in a number of battles against the Yuuzhan Vong. The conflict saw Rogue Squadron take heavy losses, including nine pilots killed, one resignation and one transfer.

Identity
During his first few months with Rogue Squadron, green pilot Gavin Darklighter designed an unofficial crest for the unit. The crest was described as: "a twelve-pointed red star with the Alliance crest in blue at the center, had an X-wing at each point of the star." It was soon adopted by the squadron, painted on their X-wings and sewn onto their flight suits.

Prior to the invasion of Coruscant, Rogue Squadron pilots often supplied their own flight suits or wore standard orange jumpsuits. Subsequently, to honor Corran Horn's "death", official unit uniforms were created based on his CorSec flightsuit's color scheme. The new uniforms were described as an "evergreen overall, with dark grey flank panels, black sleeves, leg stripes, and trim. On the left sleeve and breast rode the Rogue Squadron crest."

In 25 ABY, Colonel Darklighter wore a silver ring that bore the squadron crest. Its inclusion of his rank marker makes it an unlikely personal effect, but it is unknown if the use of such symbols of command were common across the Defense Force or a Rogue Squadron tradition.

Behind the scenes
The comic series by Michael A. Stackpole and Dark Horse Comics, X-Wing: Rogue Squadron tells of the first reformation of the squadron after the Battle of Endor.

The book series, also by Stackpole, tells of the squadron's second reformation, two years after Endor, and details the capture of Coruscant. The titles in that series are Rogue Squadron, Wedge's Gamble, The Krytos Trap and The Bacta War. Another series of books, written by Aaron Allston, follows Wraith Squadron, a squad formed by Antilles after the Bacta War which worked closely with the Rogues. These books are Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, and Solo Command.

Stackpole returned to the series with Isard's Revenge, and Allston ended it with Starfighters of Adumar, a novel about Antilles and his closest compatriots, Tycho Celchu, Wes Janson, and Derek Klivian. Corran Horn, one of Rogue Squadron's pilots, is the subject of I, Jedi, another, longer book by Stackpole.

There are also three video games developed by Factor 5 and published by LucasArts: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, for the Nintendo 64, and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader, and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike, both for the Nintendo GameCube.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * X-wing: Rogue Squadron
 * X-wing: Rogue Squadron
 * X-wing: Wedge's Gamble
 * X-wing: The Krytos Trap
 * X-wing: The Bacta War
 * X-wing: Wraith Squadron
 * X-wing: Solo Command
 * Heir to the Empire
 * X-wing: Isard's Revenge
 * X-wing: Starfighters of Adumar
 * Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
 * I, Jedi
 * Crimson Empire
 * New Jedi Order