Hamo Blastwell

Hamo Blastwell was a Human male starfighter pilot for the Rebel Alliance, who later posed as Captain Trace in order to infiltrate the Imperial Navy and the Secret Order of the Emperor.

Orientation officer
Originally from a small outpost planet, little is known of Blastwell's life before leaving his homeworld to join the Rebel Alliance as a starfighter pilot. Within a year of joining the Alliance, and still in his early twenties, Blastwell had attained the rank of lieutenant and the status of ace pilot. Serving as a wing leader in Red Squadron aboard the Alliance flagship Independence, Blastwell acted as liaison and orientation officer to new recruits including Keyan Farlander, whose similar background led to the two quickly becoming good friends. In this role, Blastwell would prepare recruits for the pilot proving grounds, drilling them in every spare moment, until they could follow his every move without the need for verbal communication and he considered them ready to begin simulated combat training.

Blastwell had high hopes for Farlander early in his training and so volunteered him for his first mission before the young pilot had completed combat training. Continuing in his role as mentor, Blastwell pulled Farlander from the simulators to get some real flight experience before the mission and selected the younger pilot to serve as his wingman. The mission, to retrieve information stored on the Imperial corvette Talon, saw Blastwell flying a X-wing to assist the Nebulon-B frigate Liberator in engaging TIE Fighter escorts while Y-wings from Gold Squadron disabled the Talon for boarding. Although Blastwell's R2 unit sustained damage, leaving him unable to enter hyperspace and forcing him to return to the Liberator, the mission justified Blastwell's faith in Farlander as the recruit played a vital role in capturing the data.

Operation Strike Fear
The Rebels' recent successes against the Empire provoked an Imperial response&mdash;a massive offensive known as Operation Strike Fear. News of what the Empire was planning came to light during a raid on an Imperial convoy in which the captain of the corvette Bixby indicated his intention to defect. While Blue Squadron's Y-wings covered the defection of the Bixby, Blastwell and Farlander were scrambled to destroy the convoy. Shortly after the capture of the Bixby, Blastwell was promoted to captain.

Blastwell would be heavily involved in the fight against Operation Strike Fear, taking part in several missions. With the Alliance running short of astromech droids, the Rebels mounted an operation to steal some R2 units from the BFF-1 bulk freighter Ars Opus, unaware that the Galactic Empire had modified them to take control of X-wings for the Empire to examine. While he was flying a mission with Blue Squadron, Blastwell's X-wing was one of three hijacked and taken to a rendezvous with the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Invincible.

The Rebels mounted a quick rescue mission to recover the stolen ships and their pilots before they could be delivered to the Invincible. Tracking the X-wings to the Invincible's location, three Y-wings from Red Squadron disabled them, allowing shuttles to deliver new R2 units and the pilots to take control of their ships and fly them to the waiting Mon Calamari Star Cruiser Maximus. Though two of the Y-wings entered hyperspace as soon as their targets were disabled, Keyan Farlander, aware that his friend was in one of the X-wings, engaged TIE series fighters launched from Invincible and protected the rescue of the pilots. The incident left Blastwell with a badly sprained wrist which prevented him from flying for a while.

Though unable to fly, Blastwell remained involved with the campaign. In a private briefing with Commander S'man three days after receiving his injury, Blastwell was charged with overseeing Farlander's preparations for a mission to rescue Sullustan prisoners. The successful rescue helped gain support for the Alliance on Sullust.

Blastwell returned to active duty as Farlander's flight leader as the two flew R-22 Spearheads in defense of a diplomatic meeting between the Alliance and the Sullustans near Sullust. After the arrival of the Invincible, the two pilots held off Imperial fighters until the meeting was concluded and all ships fled into hyperspace. The Invincible's attack, however, turned out to be merely a diversion. While the meeting was taking place, stormtroopers kidnapped the Sullustan leader. Farlander and Blastwell were called into action again to disable the shuttle that bore him to the Invincible and hold off Imperial fighters until a Rebel shuttle conducted a boarding operation and escaped into hyperspace.

Search for the Death Star
Following the defeat of Operation Strike Fear, Blastwell was promoted to commander though he wouldn't discuss the circumstances of his promotion with the other pilots. He increasingly spent less time flying with Red Squadron and was frequently involved in special missions which took him off-ship.

The Alliance had been investigating reports of an Imperial superweapon for some time. When they acquired the plans to the first Death Star, they were to be transported to Alderaan by Leia Organa. Blastwell flew protection for the transfer of the plans to her ship, Tantive IV, and was called on again when the ship came under attack from the Star Destroyer Immortal.

Blastwell returned to Independence shortly before the Battle of Yavin and was one of several pilots transferred to Yavin Base to assist in the upcoming battle. Blastwell was believed to have been shot down in the battle, though there were no witnesses and he was officially listed as missing, presumed killed.

Infiltrating the Empire
After the Battle of Hoth, Blastwell went undercover as Captain Trace aboard the Victory-class Star Destroyer Protector, where he fought to end the Sepan Civil War. He noticed that Maarek Stele, a fellow pilot, was meeting with members of the Secret Order, and posed as one of their number, but Stele saw through his charade. Soon, however, Blastwell was able to begin working for the Order himself. When Admiral Harkov, commander of the Protector, defected from the Galactic Empire, "Trace" returned to the Empire and served under Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin. He revealed himself as an Alliance officer to Stele in an attempt to recruit him. Stele refused, but did not turn Blastwell in.

Personality and traits
With his shaggy blond hair months overgrown and his uniform typically only partially buttoned up, Blastwell's somewhat scruffy appearance and general demeanor seemed in contrast to his position as a military officer. This relaxed attitude extended to his command style and Blastwell rarely insisted on being addressed by rank, generally preferring new recruits to call him by his first name. Despite his appearance Blastwell was a dedicated orientation officer. He was happy to share his greater combat experience with his recruits and would watch over their training carefully, reassuring them when they had doubts about their abilities and helping to build their confidence while keeping them grounded and reminding them that they had much to learn. Blastwell himself had great faith in his own ability to do whatever was asked of him and his confidence seemed to grow with successive promotions.

Behind the scenes
Hamo Blastwell was created by Rusel DeMaria for The Farlander Papers, the short novella which told the story of Keyan Farlander, the player character in Star Wars: X-wing. DeMaria later expanded the character, along with Farlander's story, in X-wing: The Official Strategy Guide. Blastwell appeared once more in DeMaria's TIE Fighter: The Official Strategy Guide, this time as part of the story of Maarek Stele, the player character in Star Wars: TIE Fighter.

Appearances

 * The Farlander Papers
 * Star Wars: X-wing
 * Star Wars: TIE Fighter