Black Squadron (Galactic Empire)/Legends

"You're to find a group of independent thinkers who can operate outside of the Empire's bureaucracy. Pull them from the Imperial prison system if you have to."

- Darth Vader to Dorin Millavec

Black Squadron was an elite unit of eight TIE Fighter pilots serving under Darth Vader's direct command.

History
Sometime prior to the Galactic Civil War, Juno Eclipse commanded the unit.

Stationed aboard the first Death Star during the Battle of Yavin, Black Squadron was the TIE unit which Vader led into battle against the attacking Rebel snubfighters - the only TIE unit to deploy against the Rebels during the battle. An element of six TIEs attacked the X-wings providing top cover, while Vader himself and two wing guards engaged the ships making the trench run. It is not often appreciated that the Imperials were significantly outnumbered in the air during the battle, but the pilots of Black Squadron were among the finest the Empire had to offer: they fought hard, and were responsible for many of the Alliance casualties.

After the Battle of Yavin, Vader recruited former Separatist ace Nas Ghent to train and command a new squadron of eight elite pilots who could operate outside the normal chain of command. Known as the Black Eight, this unit should probably be seen as the successors to Black Squadron.

To accomplish this, Ghent was posted to the Star Destroyer Crucible, working under the Star Destroyer's fighter operations officer, Commander Dorin Millavec. Ghent arrived aboard as a civilian, and even in uniform remained a tired cynic with little respect for military discipline, rapidly arousing Millavec's paranoia and hatred. However, when Millavec ordered his wingmen to destroy him, Ghent instead wiped them out, and Millavec covered himself by claiming that the attack had been staged on Vader's orders as a test.

He then replaced the dead pilots with the worst psychopaths he could find in the Imperial prison system, and waited for them to destroy Ghent. The subsequent fate of the unit is unknown.

Order of battle
With only eight pilots, Black Squadron was obviously organized differently from a standard TIE squadron, and Vader later told Ghent and Millavec that he viewed original thinking and an ability to ignore rules and regulations as assets for the pilots of the new unit they were to create; unfortunately, such attitudes mean that evidence is sparse as to the formation's exact position in the chain of command.

During the Battle of Yavin, the pilots of Black Squadron bore DS-61 designations, but this does not mean that they were specifically created or regularly assigned as part of the Death Star's TIE force - rather, their designations indicated the fact that they were assigned to the Death Star at that time, just as the pilots of the 181st Imperial Fighter Group bore DS-181 designations during the Battle of Endor. More clearly, the DS-61 designation does suggest that the squadron was associated with a numerical designation as the 61st, though it is unclear whether this denoted Black Squadron itself, or a Wing or Group that they were part of.

It is sometimes assumed that Darth Vader held the position of Black Leader, but there is no direct evidence for this. His two wing guards were "Mauler" Mithel, flying as "Black 2" and DS-61-3, nicknamed "Backstabber" as "Black 3".

The composition of the rest of the squadron is less clear, but it is known that they included DS-61-4 "Dark Curse" (the pilot who scored a hit on Luke Skywalker's X-wing) and DS-61-8. Lieutenant Tanbris was the unit's non-flying executive officer.

As Black Squadron were the only fighters actually deployed in the battle, it seems almost certain that Qorl was also a member of the unit, although he may in fact have been one of the pilots already mentioned.

Behind the scenes

 * Jeremy Barlow has hinted that a future Rebellion arc could feature Ghent recruiting BoShek into the squadron.
 * The Star Wars Pocket Model TCG indicates that the Black Eight and Black Squadron are two separate units, as it contains both a "Black Squadron" and a "Black Eight Squadron."

Appearances

 * Death Star
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
 * ''Walking the Path That's Given