Janek Sunber

"You've made me proud, Janek. On my best day I couldn't have matched what you've done&hellip;"

- General Ziering

Janek Sunber, also known as Tank, was a male Human from Tatooine who served as a lieutenant in the Imperial Army during the Galactic Civil War. He was also a childhood friend of Luke Skywalker.

Early life


Born on the desolate Outer Rim Territories world Tatooine around two decades before the Battle of Yavin, Sunber grew up among the children of moisture farmers, many of whom spent their leisure hours in Anchorhead. These included Biggs Darklighter, Luke Skywalker, Deak, Windy Marstrap, and the future married couple Laze Loneozner and Camie. Biggs, Luke, and Sunber were known to skip their chores and sneak off to shoot womp rats in Beggar's Canyon. Among his friends, Sunber received the nickname Tank for being one of the biggest people around.

At the appropriate age he left his homeworld behind, joining the Imperial Academy at the same&mdash;or close to the same&mdash;time as his friend Biggs. After graduation, he joined the Imperial Navy, hoping to prove himself as a starfighter pilot. While he was an above-average pilot, his skills were not up to Imperial standards, but rather than return home and face humiliation, Sunber enrolled in the infantry. Hard-working and dedicated, Sunber made officer rank within a year.

Maridun campaign
As a lieutenant, Sunber was stationed on the jungle world of Maridun. Under Captain Gage, he led the troops from the ground, involving himself in the grunt work. Sunber's efforts caught the eye of General Ziering, who admired his dedication to putting the mission first. However, Sunber's selfless hard work earned the ire of Captain Gage and his immediate supervisor, Commander Frickett.



Sunber's group was scheduled to bring an order of supplies to an Imperial mining operation, but when they arrived at the mining site, they found the equipment dismantled and the crew slaughtered. Ziering ordered the battalion to build a redoubt near the destroyed mine, and the group prepared to camp for the night. Unfortunately, as soon as Sunber decided to sleep, the camp was attacked by the native Amanin. Infiltrating the camp, the violent natives destroyed one of the valued Juggernaut vehicles, badly wounding General Ziering in the process. With Ziering temporarily out of commission, Commander Frickett led the troops to root out the natives, leading them into an ambush. Sunber watched as Frickett and his men were slaughtered by the Amanin and lost another of their Juggernauts.

With Commander Frickett dead and Gage only concerned with securing a promotion, Ziering turned to Sunber to formulate a plan for dealing with the natives. Sunber gave the general a plan of attack and surmised that they would need to fight "to the last man". Ziering agreed to Sunber's strategy and promoted him to captain. Gage was visibly upset with this but could only watch as Sunber continued to become the general's favorite. To retaliate, Gage sent Sunber to the front lines to face the Amanin. However, Ziering saw this act of jealousy and sent Gage to back up Sunber and his men.

When the Amanin attacked at daylight, Sunber and his men massacred the first wave with minimal casualties. Unfortunately, when they prepared to retreat, Captain Gage abandoned them, fearing for his life. Stranded and outnumbered, the men feared the worst, but Sunber's quick thinking saved the group when he was able to destroy one of the earlier damaged juggernauts with a thermal detonator. The explosion destroyed the Amanin reinforcements, and they were able to retreat back to the main force.

Sunber continued to fight with distinction, and his tactics led to the deaths of scores of native attackers. Near the end of the battle, Sunber was wounded, and Ziering was mortally wounded. With his dying breaths, the general promoted Sunber to commander, telling him to fight on. Sunber's bravery in battle led to the Amanin war chief declaring a truce between the two forces. He negotiated an alliance between the two peoples and the war chief declared that he would give all Amanin warriors that his tribe captured as slaves for the Empire.

Back to lieutenant


Sunber returned to Carida, giving his report to the Imperial leaders there. However, with Ziering dead, there was no ranking officer to confirm his field promotions, leaving the jealous Captain Gage as the only one who could verify Sunber's promotions. Gage did not, and Sunber was made to surrender his rank insignia, returning to the position of lieutenant. Sunber's next assignment was to the planet Jabiim, where he played a major role in the Second Battle of Jabiim, rooting out the last pockets of resistance.

With the capture of the Jabiimi rebels, Sunber followed the prison ship to Kalist VI where he took up a post guarding the prisoners. At his new post, Sunber discovered that he had become something of a legend among the Imperial troops for his role in the Battle of Maridun. Unfortunately, Sunber's professional attitude once again got him into trouble when he tried to stop Lieutenant Clynn from raping one of the female prisoners. Sunber's actions against the status quo left him somewhat ostracized from the rest of the officers, so much so that he was not brought on a mission to the planet Thila.

Reunion with Luke Skywalker
As Sunber meandered about the base he was unexpectedly reunited with his old friend Luke. Unknown to Sunber, Luke was posing as an Imperial officer and was on a mission for the Rebel Alliance to rescue the Jabiimi prisoners. Sunber was overjoyed to see Luke again but was horrified to find that their old friend Biggs had died in battle. Skywalker and Sunber conversed about their days on Tatooine and their new lives, but, despite their friendship, Janek was shocked when Luke implored him to join the Rebellion. Sunber quickly realized Luke was part of the Rebel infiltration team that had by now launched its assault, and Luke was forced to knock his old friend unconscious to continue with his mission.

When Sunber came to he alerted the base to the Rebel presence, ordering the troops to try and take Luke alive. He caught up to Skywalker as the base's prisoners were being loaded onto a transport for escape. Luke attempted to talk to his old friend, saying that Janek knew what was right and that the prisoners were slaves, just as his grandfather had been. Sunber refused an offer to join the Rebellion but appeared to be resigned to letting them leave, until the rest of the Rebel team arrived with Jorin Sol.



Angry that Luke had apparently lied to him and that the Rebels were really here to rescue the "spy", he attempted to shoot Sol but the laser bolt was deflected back into his own shoulder by Luke's lightsaber. As the Alliance team left, Luke informed Sunber that Biggs had also been part of the Rebellion. In the aftermath of the attack, Sunber dwelled on the fact that in the space of a day he had found that two of his oldest friends were now gone forever.

Sunber was distraught over the betrayal and was even more torn up to realize that Biggs had died serving the Rebellion. He continued to ponder his service to the Empire when he was reassigned to another battlefront. While there, Sunber came close to dying several times but miraculously survived. He came to the conclusion that he needed a final showdown with his old childhood friend. At the conclusion of the battle, Sunber attended to a Rebel prisoner, who let slip that the pilot who had destroyed the Death Star at the Battle of Yavin was Luke Skywalker. Sunber was thrown into a rage at the news, realizing that Luke wasn't just a mainline member of the Rebellion but one of its greatest heroes and the killer of over a million Imperials.

Imperial spy
Sunber decided to tell Darth Vader everything he knew about Skywalker, despite his personal misgivings. Because of this, he was assigned to infiltrate the Rebellion. The plan called for Sunber to undergo Imperial torture to complete the ruse, but his dedication to the Empire carried him through the painful procedure. After extensive preparation, Sunber sent a coded message to the Rebellion that he wanted to defect. The message eventually reached the Rebel Alliance; however, they were hesitant to risk Rebel agents in a possible ambush.



Luke, refusing to believe that Sunber would betray them, set out with his fellow Rebel agent Deena Shan to rescue his former friend from Imperial custody. Following the coordinates contained in the message, Luke and Deena came across a small space outpost. After entering the station, Luke discovered Sunber, who had been badly wounded by the Imperial torture. Sunber lied to Luke, and told him that he had been tortured for trying to join the Rebellion. In a staged attack, Sunber's former superior, Captain Kale Roshuir, arrived to halt the rescue.

Luke managed to "rescue" Sunber, allowing the Rebel group to escape from the station. Back with the Rebellion, Sunber was extensively interrogated by the Alliance head of intelligence, Tungo Li. Sunber stuck to his story consistently and was eventually allowed access to the less sensitive areas of one of the Rebel capital ships. However, Vader continued to contact Sunber through the Force, and urged him to complete his mission. Sunber, forced to obey, infiltrated Alliance high command.

Just as the Imperial Navy arrived to attack the hiding Rebel Fleet's position&mdash;information they had received from the reluctant traitor Jorin Sol&mdash;Sunber put a gun to Luke's head, claiming that the Commander was now a prisoner of the Empire. When Luke begged his old friend to get the wounded Leia Organa to a bacta tank, Sunber eventually consented to Luke's pleas and promised that he would see that she received medical attention when they were captured by the Empire. Afterwards, the two got into a heated argument, and, in anger, Sunber struck Luke, forcing him to fight back.

During their brutal struggle, Sunber gained the upper hand and swore to Luke that he'd kill him. Luke conceded, saying that Tank had won, for if they continued this much longer Leia might die. Hesitantly, Tank let Luke go and even ended up saving Leia's life. Although he fell down into the exploding ship, an escape pod, possibly carrying Sunber, managed to leave the ship before it jumped to hyperspace.

Behind the scenes
Unusually, although Tank was named in the very first film as one of Luke Skywalker's friends on Tatooine, the character went completely unexplored for almost twenty-nine years of Expanded Universe literature.

Sunber's rapid rising in rank on Maridun and his fall back to Lieutenant afterwards matches the story of the Korean admiral Yi Sun-sin, who had likewise suffered a (albeit temporary) degradation to a common footsoldier by a spiteful and envious rival.

In all of his appearances, Sunber's uniform, as well as those of some other military personnel, appears to shift between gray and green over the course of the comic.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars Empire: To the Last Man
 * Star Wars Empire: The Wrong Side of the War
 * Star Wars Rebellion 0: Crossroads
 * Star Wars Rebellion: My Brother, My Enemy