Keir Santage

<Keir Santage

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Keir Santage

Biographical information

Died

4 ABY,^[1]Endor system^[2]

Descriptive information

Species

Human^[2]

Pronouns

He/him^[3]

Hair color

Brown^[2]

Skin color

Light^[2]

Chronological & political information

Affiliation(s)

Alliance to Restore the Republic^[2]
- Rogue Squadron^[3]
- Red Squadron^[4]

"The shield is down! Commence attack on the Death Star's main reactor."
"We're on our way. Red Group, Gold Group, all fighters follow me."

―Admiral Ackbar and General Lando Calrissian, ordering the assault on the Death Star's main reactor^[2]

Keir Santage was aHuman who served in theStarfighter Corps of theAlliance to Restore the Republic. After being rescued from anImperial detention center, Santage joinedRogue Squadron, the Alliance's premierstarfighter unit. Under the command ofWedge Antilles, Santage operated under thecall sign Rogue Seven. Flying aT-65 X-wing starfighter, Santage participated inseveral missions against theFondor Shipyards, and often worked closely with Allianceprocurement.

In4 ABY, Santage was serving with the Rogues when they were part of theAlliance Fleet assembled in theSullust system tostrike at thesecond Death Star orbiting theforest moon ofEndor. Adopting the call signRed Seven—asCommander Antilles had temporarily rechristened the Rogues asRed Squadron to honor the unit that hadfaced thefirst Death Star atYavin—Santage was one of the handful of Rebelpilots to enter the superstructure of theDeath Star with the intention of destroying thereactor core. At the rear of the Rebel fighter formation, Santage's X-wing was hit bylaser cannon fire from a pursuingTIE fighter; the snubfighter was destroyed, and Santage was killed.

Biography[]

Early service[]

Keir Santage was aHuman rescued from anImperial detention center byRogue Squadron commander Wedge Antilles, who subsequently joined theAlliance to Restore the Republic's Starfighter Corps. Qualifying as apilot, he^[3] flew aT-65 X-wing starfighter.^[4] Assigned to the elite Rogue Squadron^[3] asRogue Seven,^[5] Santage participated intwelve sorties against the Imperialshipyards atFondor.^[4] He also worked closely with Allianceprocurement.^[3]

By4 ABY,^[1] Santage and Rogue Squadron were part of theAlliance Fleet assembled in theSullust system in preparation for theassault on the Empire'ssecond Death Star. Information had been obtained byBothan spies that indicatedEmperor Palpatine would be overseeing the final construction stages of thebattle station, and Alliance command had decided that a successful strike could eliminate both Palpatine and the Death Star.^[2]

The Battle of Endor[]

Briefing and arrival at Endor[]

Red 7 — Santage's T-65 X-wing starfighter

Santage, now a veteran pilot within thesquadron, attended a briefing hosted by Commander Antilles on the battle plan to destroy the Death Star. The squadron was temporarily rechristened asRed Squadron to honor the original Red Squadron that had faced thefirst Death Star during theBattle of Yavin.^[6] Santage would operate under thecall sign Red Seven during the coming battle.^[4] The Alliance battle plan called for a strike force to fly into the half-completed superstructure of the Death Star and destroy themain reactor core. The resulting chain reaction explosion would then destroy thesuperweapon.^[2] Red Squadron—along withGold Squadron—was assigned the mission of taking out the reactor.^[6]

Upon arrival in theEndor system, the Alliance fleet expected thedeflector shield—generated from an Imperialfacility on the surface of theforest moon ofEndor and intended to protect the Death Star during its construction—to have been disabled by acommando unit led byGeneral Han Solo. However, the shield was still protecting the battlestation, forcing the Alliance fleet to engage an Imperial force led by theStar Dreadnought Executor. During theengagement—which had been a carefully planned trap orchestrated by Palpatine himself to destroy the Alliance^[2]—Red Squadron performed better than their counterparts in the newerA-wing andB-wing starfighters. They racked up an impressive kill count, and Red Squadron remained relatively intact throughout the battle, suffering only a small number of casualties compared to the losses of other units.^[6]

Assault on the second Death Star[]

"Now lock onto the strongest power source. It should be the power generator."

―General Lando Calrissian, issuing orders to Santage and the other pilots in the Death Star II reactor shaft^[2]

Eventually, Solo's team was able to destroy the shield generator, exposing the Death Star to the planned Alliance attack. GeneralLando Calrissian, leading the fighter wings under the call signGold Leader and flying theMillennium Falcon, ordered fighters from Red and Gold Squadrons to begin their attack on the main reactor. Santage joined Calrissian in the attack, along withRed Leader Commander Antilles,^[2]Gray Leader Colonel Horton Salm,^[7]Tycho Celchu,^[8] ofGreen Squadron,^[9] andJake Farrell, also from Green Squadron.^[10]

Skimming the surface of the battlestation, Santage dodgedturbolaser fire before entering the superstructure via an access shaft, taking up the rear position in the Alliance fighter formation.TIE fighters andinterceptors followed the Rebel fighters into the shaft, intent on destroying them before they could take out the main reactor. Navigating through the tight confines of the reactor shaft, Calrissian ordered the pilots to lock onto the strongest power source to lead them to the reactor core. Although Santage successfully avoided several obstacles in the shaft, he was exposed to the enemy; his fighter was hit by several bursts oflaser cannon fire from the lead TIE fighter. His fighter broke apart, and he was killed. His death prompted Calrissian to order several other fighters to break off from the assault and head back to the surface in an attempt to draw pursuit off of the strike force. Celchu, Salm, and Farrell complied, leading half of the pursuing Imperial fighters away from Calrissian and Antilles, which in turn allowed them to destroy the Death Star.^[2]

Personality and traits[]

Keir Santage hadbrown hair and light skin, and had grown a moustache. He was considered to be an excellent pilot, which led to his assignment to Rogue Squadron, the Alliance's elite starfighter squadron,^[3] alongside notable pilots like Wedge Antilles.^[8] During the Battle of Endor, Santage diligently obeyed orders and followed the Alliance battle plan by flying into the interior of the Death Star in an attempt to knock out the main reactor, a decision that cost him his life.^[2]

Behind the scenes[]

Keir Santage first appeared briefly in the1983 original trilogy film,Star Wars: Episode VIReturn of the Jedi,^[2] where he was portrayed byBilly J. Mitchell.^[11] Santage was one of the pilots during the Battle of Endor sequence—specifically, during the starfighter chase down an access shaft of the Death Star II. He was unnamed, and his brief scene culminated in his death as he was shot down by a TIE starfighter.^[2]

In2000,Decipher released theirDeath Star II Limited expansion for theStar Wars Customizable Card Game. The set established Keir Santage's name, the fact that he was a Rogue Squadron veteran,^[3] and that he flew as Red Seven during the battle. The image used to represent Santage's X-wing on its CCG card^[4] is actually a shot taken of Wedge Antilles' fighter fromReturn of the Jedi as it skims the Death Star's surface en route to the reactor shaft.^[2] It was not until the release ofThe Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia in2008 that Santage was confirmed to have also used the call sign of Rogue Seven during his service with the Rogues.^[5]