Tarrin Datch

"Send Rogues Ten and Eleven to Station 3-8."

- General Carlist Rieekan, dispatching Datch following the discovery of the Viper probe droid prior to the Battle of Hoth

Tarrin Datch was a starfighter pilot of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. A product of the Datch family-owned space city Pellezara station, he became a skilled flier while helping to manage the many cargo freighters of the space station's clients. Datch joined the Rebellion as a seventeen-year-old in 1 BBY, after helping a fugitive Alliance freighter carrying stolen Imperial cargo and the Rebel special operative Jan Ors reach its destination. His value to the Rebellion's cause came in the dual ability to pilot both starfighters and the Alliance's dilapidated cargo transports; his talents earned him a position with the elite Rogue Squadron under the command of Luke Skywalker as Rogue Ten. Datch fought most notably during the Galactic Civil War at the Battle of Hoth with Rogue Group, participating in the delaying action that bought time for the transports of Echo Base to evacuate the planet. He later piloted the GR-75 medium transport Thon's Orchard through the Imperial blockade of Hoth.

Early years
Datch was born in 18 BBY. His siblings included at least two brothers and one sister. He grew up on Pellezara station, a floating space city in the Duro system owned by his parents that serviced large freighters delivering supplies to the planet Duro. His parents frequently put on stunt shows for the waiting ship captains to alleviate boredom. Datch, already a gifted pilot by the standard age of twelve, assisted in these flight shows along with his siblings. These performances involved daring maneuvers with modified cargo tugs and cargo-flitters in crowded areas with free-floating service bays and cargo containers, which is what made the shows spectacular to watch.

When he wasn't performing complex loops and rolls in between container rings and repair grids, Datch was typically tasked with helping to move freighters into parking slots while their captains relaxed. He was once grounded for three standard weeks by his father, literally, being assigned to handle traffic control and resupply, after he attempted a miniature Koiogran turn in a bulk freighter, taking out a dozen beacon pods in the process, though the freighter captain never found out.

Joining the Rebellion
In 1 BBY, when Datch was seventeen, he was replacing the gravity disks in the deckplates of a docked freighter that was, unbeknownst to him, carrying stolen Imperial fuel slugs bound for the Rebellion. While dismantling one of the ship's stubborn plates, he discovered a hidden compartment holding a wounded woman, who identified herself as Jan Ors. Her right leg was stricken with a strange injury sustained in the jungles of Oulanne. Datch was both terrified and captivated. In her delirium, Ors revealed the freighter's Rebel ties to Datch.

The Empire soon arrived at Duro, in hot pursuit of the stolen cargo. The freighter's crew had disembarked for the station to find medical supplies for Ors, and Datch was the only pilot aboard. He knew he could not allow the valuable fuel slugs to fall back into Imperial hands. Datch took control of the freighter, and broke away from Pellezara's main docking tower, heading for open space. The Rebels still in the station could only watch in horror as their freighter left them stranded, being followed closely by an Imperial Gamma-class assault shuttle. Datch steered the Rebel transport towards the heart of heavy traffic, weaving as though he was piloting a starfighter. The Imperial ship could barely keep up, inadvertently scraping its hull against stationary lighters and space tugs. Datch was able to reach open space and engage the ship's hyperdrive, leaving Pellezara behind for an outlying-system station he often used as a stunt range.

There, in the well-equipped medicenter, Datch helped to stabilize Ors's condition. He knew they could not return to Pellezara, and how badly the Rebellion needed the fuel they carried. Ors gave him the coordinates of a secret Rebel base on the planet Dantooine, and the two soon left for Rebel sanctuary. At Dantooine the two separated, with Ors going off on other secret missions, while Datch began training as a fighter pilot. Although he missed his family, he knew he could not risk involving them in the Galactic Civil War, for their safety.

Fighting the Empire
Datch's experience flying cargo freighters while growing up on Pellezara was a great asset to his new allies. The Rebellion frequently found itself short on both ships and capable pilots. With his valuable abilities, Datch's shifting role found him alternating between flying starfighters and piloting the Rebels' dilapidated freighters and transport vessels.

At some point during his service with the Rebel Alliance, Datch was assigned to the nascent Rogue Group, an elite starfighter squadron formed around two of the survivors of the Battle of Yavin—Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles. He flew as Rogue Ten. He soon earned the title of starfighter ace. While with the Rogues, Datch became friends with Skywalker, Antilles and Wes Janson.

By 3 ABY, four years after joining the Alliance, Datch was assigned to the secret Echo Base on the remote ice world of Hoth with the rest of the Rogues. His duties on Hoth included patrolling the planet's icy wastes in the base's modified T-47 airspeeders, dubbed snowspeeders. When an Imperial Viper probe droid discovered Echo Base, Datch, along with Rogue Eleven, Tenk Lenso, was among the first pilots dispatched by General Carlist Rieekan to respond to the threat.

The Battle of Hoth
"Yeah! Transport Away!"

- Derek Klivian, elated after the escape of Datch and the Thon's Orchard

When the Empire invaded Echo Base during the Battle of Hoth, Datch flew one of the base's airspeeders with Rogue Group. They were given the monumental task of delaying the advance of several Imperial walkers long enough in order to buy sufficient time for the base's vulnerable transports to escape. His speeder was shot down by Imperial fire late in the battle, but he was rescued by another Rogue member before a group of three All Terrain Scout Transports could descend on his position. He was then able to safely return to Echo Base, where the final Rebel remnants were preparing to evacuate the planet.

Back at Echo Base, Datch was once again pressed into dual piloting service. He was tasked with piloting the GR-75 medium transport Thon's Orchard off Hoth, one of the final transports to evacuate the planet. But his job did not end with simply flying the ship free of the besieged base. Waiting in Hoth's orbit to intercept the fleeing Rebel ships was a line of Imperial-class Star Destroyers—Darth Vader's own personal Death Squadron.

Flying escort for Datch's transport were two T-65 X-wing starfighters piloted by Skywalker and Antilles, and a BTL-S3 Y-wing starfighter piloted by fellow Rogue Derek Klivian with Janson riding along as gunner. The Thon's Orchard's flight path was directly blocked by one of the Star Destroyers. Antilles and Klivian executed the fanciful maneuver known as the Tallon Split, in conjunction with a surprise attack from Skywalker from below the transport, to help Datch and the Thon's Orchard to escape into hyperspace and rejoin the Rebels at the secret rendezvous point.

Personality and traits
One of Tarrin Datch's virtues included an empathy for family values, assisting his family in both the maintenance of Pellezara station and the flight shows his parents put on for their customers. After piloting the fugitive Rebel ship away from his family's station and joining the Rebellion's cause, he knew better than to return there or to involve them in any way with his affairs, for the danger it would cause them.

He also carried with him a penchant for daredevilry, risking the ships of Pellezara's clients in order to perform perilous maneuvers. He even used another remote space station as a stunt range. Although his youthful innocence initially betrayed feelings of trepidation at learning who and what Jan Ors was, his risk-taking nature soon clicked in to give him the brazen confidence to defy the Empire.

Notable appearances
The character of Tarrin Datch first appeared in the radio drama of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, though he was only identified by his first name. Datch's last name was first identified in the West End Games' sourcebook Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back.

Datch's actions at the Battle of Hoth were expanded upon and first visually represented in the video game Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, where the voice of "Rogue Ten" was provided by Paul Amendt.

The first and second editions of A Guide to the Star Wars Universe both include entries for the character, though he was omitted from the third edition release.

Mistakes and inconsistencies
Datch's first name is misspelled "Tarrub" in Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption.

According to the novel X-wing: Isard's Revenge, Wedge Antilles identifies the GR-75 medium transport Dutyfree as the ship Datch pilots off Hoth.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back radio drama
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back novelization
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * X-wing: Isard's Revenge