Fideltin Rusk

"When I was first given this assignment, I believed it would be an excellent opportunity to serve the Republic. I underestimated. It has been the greatest honor of my life."

- Sergeant Fideltin Rusk on his time with the Hero of Tython

Fideltin Rusk was a male Chagrian who served the Galactic Republic as a soldier in the Republic Military during the Second Great Galactic War, the Cold War, and the Second Great Galactic War with the resurgent Sith Empire. Raised by a colony of pacifists, the Chagrian enlisted in the military as soon as possible and became devoted to defending those who could not defend themselves. He soon gained a reputation as a determined and skilled commander with years of experience against the Empire, criminals, and pirates across a wide range of battlefields, but became considered a pariah as a result of his belief that soldiers were meant to be used despite the consequences.

During the Cold War, Rusk was stationed with the 301st Infantry on the ice planet of Hoth, where he battled both the Empire and the White Maw pirate organization. In 3,642 BBY, Rusk's unit was assigned to aid the Nautolan Jedi Leeha Narezz and the Jedi Knight known as the Hero of Tython in their mission on the planet. Together with the two Knights, Rusk and his squad fought both pirates and Imperials across the world's icy surface to recover the plans for the Sith Emperor's space fortress, and afterwards the sergeant was assigned to the Hero's crew on a permanent assignment. Rusk accompanied the Knight and the other members of the crew to the Emperor's fortress, but they were imprisoned for months when the Hero and the other members of the Jedi strike team were turned to the dark side and trained as Sith.

After the Emperor's Wrath, Lord Scourge, betrayed his Master to free the Hero and crew from the fortress, the Wrath revealed that the Emperor planned to consume all life in the galaxy as part of a dark ritual and joined the Jedi's crew in an effort to stop him. As the galaxy became consumed in the Second Great Galactic War, the Hero and crew traveled to Belsavis, Voss, and Corellia in order to stop the Emperor's agents from committing genocide and rescued the strike team members from their enemy's control. In a final showdown, the Knight's crew aided Grand Master Satele Shan and the Republic Military in an invasion of the Imperial capital, Dromund Kaas, while the Hero and the astromech droid T7-O1 faced and defeated the Emperor in a final battle. Their mission completed, the group continued to travel the galaxy and aid those in need during the conflict.

Early career
"I came from a pacifist colony, Master Jedi. We were bullied remorselessly: by pirates, corporations, Hutts, even governments. I joined the military as soon as I could. Peace only comes to those willing to fight for it."

- Fideltin Rusk

Fideltin Rusk was born in a colony of Chagrian pacifists, but quickly began to rebel against his family's beliefs when he realized that the colony's pacifism allowed pirates and other enemies to take advantage of them. Rusk enlisted in the Republic Military as soon as he could, and became a skilled soldier who quickly rose to the rank of sergeant during the Great Galactic War with the Sith Empire. Rusk's first assignment as a sergeant with his new squad was to liberate prisoners of war from a relatively undefended Imperial outpost, and intelligence claimed that Imperial reinforcements would not arrive for another twenty-four hours.

Intelligence was wrong&mdash;the prison was heavily guarded, and Rusk's squad was outnumbered ten to one. However, the squad fought valiantly against overwhelming odds and escaped successfully with the prisoners, with almost every member of the squad sustaining heavy injuries but with no fatalities amongst the prisoners or Rusk's unit. The Chagrian considered the soldiers in his first squad to be the finest he had ever commanded, and Rusk continued to serve valiantly with other units while his squadmates&mdash;including Karsim, Naja, and Eckerd&mdash;were recruited by General Garza into the Republic Special Forces' black ops program.

While initially considered a remarkable commander and excellent soldier, Rusk soon became considered a pariah by many of the military's top leaders. His determination and loyalty to the Republic were overshadowed by what many considered to be reckless disregard for the lives of his soldiers, resulting in a series of assignments throughout both the Great Galactic War and the subsequent Cold War on remote and combat-heavy environments. While other soldiers gained medals, recognition, and commendations, Rusk was passed over for promotions and remained a sergeant personally leading squads into battle. He later served during the Geonosis campaign with Durant, a man who would eventually become a general in the Republic High Command.

Working with the Jedi
"Before the Empire arrived, I was fighting the White Maw. They're well-armed, heavily fortified, clever scum."

- Sergeant Rusk

During the tenuous peace brought to the galaxy by the Cold War, Rusk was assigned to the 301st Infantry and stationed on the remote ice planet of Hoth, where his unit battled pirates from the White Maw organization. The Empire soon arrived as well, discovering that the planet's icy atmospheric conditions preserved the wrecks of starships remarkably well&mdash;and there were plenty of wrecks. In 3,665 BBY, the Hoth system had been the site of a massive space battle that had sent hundreds of Republic and Imperial ships crashing to the surface. As tensions rose and the Cold War's peace collapsed around 3,642 BBY, both the Republic and the Empire returned to Hoth in a desperate scramble to recover whatever remained of the technology and weapons that had been lost during the battle.

The Jedi's mission
"You're looking for a detachment from the 301st Infantry, led by Sergeant Rusk. His squad is being overrun by Imperial probe droids."

- Leeha Narezz asks the Hero of Tython to aid Rusk

Not long after the Empire's arrival, Sergeant Rusk and the 301st Infantry received a special assignment from General Callan Grayne. The unit would be working with the Jedi Knight Leeha Narezz and another Knight &mdash;the one known as the Hero of Tython for actions during the Desolator Crisis the year before &mdash;in a classified mission that the Jedi were not willing to share information on. What Rusk was allowed to know was that they were searching for an Imperial shuttle belonging to an Imperial scientist that had crashed on the planet during the battle over two decades ago.

However, when the Hero and crew arrived on the planet, Sergeant Rusk's unit was under attack by an Imperial force and were pinned down. Rusk and the other five members of his unit had been setting up sensors in an outpost belonging to Ortolan colonists in Crescent Canyon, but an Imperial strike team had located them and were using probe droids as weapons against the soldiers. The probe droids would rapidly approach the Republic infantry and then detonate when they were close enough, making suicide runs in attempts to kill the entrenched soldiers.

Rusk's unit managed to send a distress signal to Narezz before their communications were jammed, and the Nautolan Jedi sent the recently arrived Hero to their rescue. The Knight and a companion stormed the outpost, quickly cutting through the attacking Imperials and removing the immediate threat to the 301st. The Hero then spoke briefly with Sergeant Rusk and the only other survivor of his unit, Private Murtag, before the Jedi was forced to fight off a second wave of probe droids while the Chagrian defended his wounded subordinate. After the battle ended, Rusk escorted the injured Murtag to the nearest medcenter and informed the Knight that he would meet back up with the Jedi at Narezz's location with a new squad.

Returning to the Republic's Aurek Base, Rusk selected a new five-man squad consisting of Privates Elder, Reico, Vanth, Voshpar, and Dromol. However, on the way to Outpost Cresh to meet with the two Jedi, Rusk was contacted by Narezz with a new assignment. She revealed that a Sith by the name of Guardsman Lassicar was hunting the two Jedi, planning to capture them, and she wanted to set a trap at the site of the shuttle for him. Narezz ordered Rusk and his men to wait for her signal to enter the caves.

Narezz's plan worked perfectly&mdash;within moments of Lassicar's men arriving in the caves, Sergeant Rusk and his men rappelled down through the cavern's ceiling and turned the odds in the two Jedi's favor. Together with the Hero's help, the squad won the fight and left none of Lassicar's troopers standing.

However, Rusk's inexperienced squadmates quickly turned to bickering amongst themselves, causing the Chagrian to order Private Dromol to stand down and drop the insubordination. The Hero came to Rusk's rescue, reminding the squad how it was their duty to put aside emotion in battle and do their duty to the Republic&mdash;a speech that the sergeant agreed with wholeheartedly. Meanwhile, Narezz had discovered an Imperial scientist by the name of Urrisov hiding in the remains of the Deference&mdash;the Pythar-class shuttle that was the Jedi's target&mdash;and Rusk immediately began to aggressively interrogate the scared, young human.

The Hero intervened and calmly convinced Urrisov to tell the group what they need to know. The Jedi and the soldiers were dismayed to learn that the White Maw pirates had reached the Deference first and stolen the shuttle's databank&mdash;which contained the plans of the Sith Emperor's space fortress that the two Jedi were seeking. Rusk had encountered the pirates during his service on Hoth and knew that the pirates moved all of their scavenged material through the wrecked dreadnaught Star of Coruscant deep in the Starship Graveyard, a region where many of the ships had crashed.

Taking the fight to them
"I'll be fine either way. How can we minimize casualties to your squad, Sergeant?''" "''The pirates lack discipline. They'll panic under pressure, make mistakes."

- Sergeant Rusk and the Hero

The pirate depot in the wreck was protected by a ray shield that was powered by two generators, so the Hero departed to take out one of the reactors while Sergeant Rusk's squad traveled to the other facility. Before their attack, Rusk and his men were ordered to eliminate the White Maw's munitions stockpiles nearby, and Rusk contacted the Knight to inform the Jedi of the additional mission. The 301st were successful in their mission, though Privates Vanth and Voshpar sustained minor injuries. They rendezvoused with Narezz and the Hero at Outpost Zerek, near the Graveyard.

There, Rusk began to plan the attack with Narezz and the other Knight. The databank they were searching for was located near the center of the dreadnaught, but there was a problem&mdash;Imperial and White Maw forces were battling for control of the ship, so both groups had strike teams at either end of the ship.

Thinking it over, Rusk believed that his men would have a better chance against the pirates&mdash;the undisciplined criminals were more likely to panic when under attack than the Imperials. While the two groups engaged their enemies, Narezz and an ME-D would retrieve the databanks, so the three teams set off through the graveyard. Fighting through the White Maw forces that controlled the region, Rusk's unit headed to the fore section of the Star and cleared a path through the wrecked dreadnaught to the fore hangar bay. Within the hangar, Rusk and his men fought the White Maw strike force there and killed their Gen'Dai leader, Zeshatt, escaping with no casualties.

A new assignment
"I can't waste a soldier like Rusk on shore leave, so I'm assigning him to you."

- General Callan Grayne

Dismayed at the loss of his team, Rusk undertook the trek back to Outpost Zerek himself, where he took a speeder back to Aurek Base to meet with a successful Narezz and the Hero. There, the Chagrian was also surprised to learn from General Grayne that he was being assigned to the Jedi Knight's squad permanently, as the 301st was being rotated back to the planet Coruscant. Rusk took his place among the Hero's crew, meeting the other members of the Knight's team: the wise-cracking medic Doc; the astromech droid T7-O1; and Kira Carsen, the former Padawan of the Hero. Having completed their assignment on Hoth, the group departed aboard their Defender-class light corvette to return to the Jedi Order's homeworld of Tython, where the Hero met with the Jedi Council.

Rusk and the others accompanied the Hero on the Knight's mission to infiltrate the Emperor's fortress, but remained on the ship as the Hero and Carsen disembarked to meet the other members of their strike team&mdash;Leeha Narezz with Jedi Masters Tol Braga and Warren Sedoru. However, events took a dark turn when the Emperor dominated the minds of the Jedi, turning them to the dark side and making them his servants.

Second Great Galactic War
"Master Jedi, the defeat of the Sith Empire is easily the most ambitious mission I have ever given. In fact, the odds of surviving a battle against the Emperor himself are almost zero. I'm looking forward to this more than any other assignment I have ever had."

- Sergeant Rusk

Captured by the Emperor's guards, Rusk spent several months imprisoned with Doc, T7, and Carsen while the Hero underwent training as a Sith. However, the Knight was freed from the Emperor's control by the Force ghost of the Jedi's former master, Orgus Din, and the Hero managed to escape back to the station's hangar after freeing Carsen from a Sith torture device. The Jedi was surprised to find that the others had already been freed from their cells by Lord Scourge, the Emperor's Wrath. Pledging his loyalty to the Hero, the Sith accompanied the Knight and crew back to Tython, where he explained that the Emperor was planning to consume all life in the galaxy through a dark ritual, and that he had foreseen that only the Hero of Tython would be able to defeat his former master.

With Scourge as an uneasy ally, the Hero and crew traveled to the prison planet of Belsavis, where they worked to stop a fanatic Imperial officer by the name of Executor Krannus from detonating the planet's core and committing mass genocide. Rusk and the others then accompanied the Knight to the Korriban's Flame space station, where the Jedi fought and redeemed a corrupted Narezz aboard the Imperial station.

The Hero's next mission was to the planet Voss, where the group battled the Sith sorcerer Lord Fulminiss and prevented him from releasing the malevolent entity known as Sel-Makor. After successfully stopping Sel-Makor from unleashing a plague of homicidal madness upon the world, the Hero fought the fallen Jedi Master Warren Sedoru when he captured the Republic cruiser Valiant.

When the Hero was appointed Supreme Commander of all Jedi forces on the recently invaded planet of Corellia, Rusk and the crew accompanied the Knight to the contested world. Joining forces with the Republic military under General Var Suthra, the Knight led Jedi in battles across the capital of Coronet City as the fallen Master Tol Braga attempted to massacre hundreds of innocents in an attempt to start the Emperor's ritual. Finally defeating and redeeming the Kel Dor Jedi Master in a battle above the city's government district, the group prepared to stage a final assault upon the Emperor while Grand Master Satele Shan and several of the Hero's companions launched an attack on the Imperial capital of Dromund Kaas.

Together with T7-O1, the Hero managed to strike down the Emperor in a final duel, and Rusk was awarded the Cross of Glory along with the rest of the Knight's crew aboard the Valiant by Grand Master Shan. Though the threat of the Emperor was ended, the galaxy was still consumed in war, so the Hero and crew continued to travel from planet to planet aboard their ship while aiding those in need.

Personality and traits
"Met guys like Rusk on Balmorra. Strangely enough, they always wind up victims of friendly fire&hellip;"

- Doc

A blue-skinned Chagrian male with blue eyes and dark grey lethorns, Fideltin Rusk began to chafe under his family's pacifist ideals when he realized that they allowed others to take advantage of them. At the first chance, he enlisted in the Republic military and quickly found his calling as a front-lines soldier. Rusk believed that peace was only worth having it was fought for, and despised the Sith Empire for crushing the liberties of innocent civilians. Rusk believed that soldiers were meant to be used, and that while their loss did hurt the Republic, not using soldiers to their full potential was a waste of manpower and resources.

While his determination and drive to defend the Republic was praised by many, his consistently high casualty rates gave him a bad reputation among the military's leaders. His apparent disregard for the safety of his men was misunderstood by those who did not know him, and he seemed to take reckless and unnecessary risks during his assignments. The Chagrian greatly respected his original squad, and was dismayed to learn that the group had crossed the line during their time in the Republic Special Forces. While Rusk opposed the Empire with all his might, he and the Hero agreed that women and children&mdash;innocents&mdash;should never be targeted. Unlike his former squadmates, he knew where the line was and when to stop.

A military man, Sergeant Rusk applied a mindset of statistical efficiency to much of his life, and frequently referred to things such as combat readiness, casualty rates, and tactical advantages in the form of percentages. He greatly respected the Jedi Order for their devotion to the Jedi Code, and believed that the Republic military would be far better off if they adopted the Order's teachings on internal peace and setting aside emotions during battle. He also greatly appreciated being given a challenge with seemingly impossible odds, such as the defeat of the Sith Emperor, as he believed that wars were won by meaningful sacrifices on behalf of those fighting for the right causes.

Equipment
"I've been analyzing your battle tactics, Master Jedi. I hope you don't mind. I believe I've found a way to increase my own combat efficiency by another twenty-five point four percent."

- Sergeant Rusk

As a member of the 301st Infantry on Hoth, Sergeant Rusk wore a standard set of solid white Republic trooper armor with light blue markings over a black jumpsuit. His Chagrian physiology prevented him from wearing a standard helmet, so Rusk chose to forgo it and allowed his lethorns to hang freely. Sergeant Rusk also wielded a heavy repeating blaster cannon into battle, which he carried strapped to his back when not in use.

Behind the scenes
"If Sergeant Rusk ate all the energy pudding again, I'm gonna be upset. That man has no respect for other people's food."

- Doc, during one of his optional companion conversations

Fideltin Rusk first appears in Star Wars: The Old Republic, the massively multiplayer online role-playing game released by BioWare and LucasArts on December 20, 2011. A companion character for the Jedi Knight class, he appears as "Sergeant Rusk" and is acquired after completion of the class storyline on Hoth during Act II. Rusk is voiced by the actor and martial artist Ron Yuan.

In The Old Republic, players can gain or lose affection with companion characters depending on their actions and decisions. Rusk gains affection when the player kills Imperials, protects the Republic, and motivates others to fight. However, Rusk loses affection when the player avoids fights, shows weakness, or disrespects authority.

As a companion character, Sergeant Rusk is one of six characters that can be utilized by player characters. However, unlike companions such as T7-O1 and Kira Carsen, he is not required to accompany the player character on any class missions. Therefore, this article assumes only that one of the companions accompanies the Knight on the class missions but does not specify which one. Also, as a Republic character, the Jedi Knight is assumed by community consensus to be a light-side character. Therefore, the Hero of Tython (the in-game title for the character) is assumed to choose only options that result in the maximum light-side points.

The final mission on Hoth actually has two possible paths: the first, "The Imperial Guard", has the player fight Lassicar and his men in the aft section of the Star of Coruscant, while the second, "The White Maw", has the Jedi fight Zeshatt and the pirates in the fore section. Whichever mission the player chooses, Sergeant Rusk will complete the other, but his squadmates will be killed against the highly-trained Imperials, and the Knight goes after the White Maw out of vengeance. Therefore, this article assumes that the Knight allowed Sergeant Rusk to choose, and that his squad survived.

Another game mechanics event occurs in the final mission, "Doomsday". One of the player's companions&mdash;Kira Carsen, Doc, or Rusk&mdash;will come to the Jedi's aid during the attack on the Dark Temple, and the player can choose to save them (light side) and allow the Emperor to gain strength or ignore the distress call (dark side) to continue onwards. If the player chooses to leave the companion to their death, they will later learn that one of the other companions saved them. If Sergeant Rusk is the companion in danger, he will be saved by Carsen, while Rusk will save Doc and Doc will save Kira. Regardless, all companions are present on the Valiant for the end of the class Act.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Old Republic