Starlight Squadron

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Starlight Squadron

Starlight Squadron was astarfightersquadron, consisting of elitepilots of theRebel Alliance, that served the Alliance'sFourth Division during theGalactic Civil War.

Description[]

Starlight Squadron was composed of a mix ofRZ-1 A-wing interceptors andT-65B X-wing starfighters,^[1] that served in theRebel Alliance'sFourth Division during theGalactic Civil War.^[7] The squadron's starfighters were flown by elite Rebel Alliancepilots,^[1] led byLieutenantShara Bey.^[2] Staff officers includedCommanderWedge Antilles,CaptainL'ulo L'ampar, and LieutenantEvaan Verlaine. Other members included CaptainMart Mattin andFreyta Smyth.^[1]Jedi CommanderLuke Skywalker assisted the Squadron on a mission toAb Dalis.^[3] The squadron received its orders directly from Skywalker’s younger twin sisterGeneralLeia Organa. The squadron's starfighters,flight helmets andflight suits were emblazoned with an insignia, which consisted of a red starlight burst, occasionally with a vertical black stripe background.^[1]

History[]

Formation[]

Following theevacuation ofHoth in3 ABY,^[8] the Rebel Alliance scattered its fleet to secret rendezvous points across the galaxy. TheGalactic Empire, however, cracked Alliance communications because of a signal analysis protocol developed by CommanderEllian Zahra and herforces continued to attack the divided fleet.^[9] With no way to communicate with Alliance forces across the galaxy, CommanderGrek devised a plan to reassemble the scattered fleet divisions, namedOperation Starlight.^[10] Shortly after, Starlight Squadron was formed with the most elite pilots available within the Division as well as some from theSeventh Division, and tasked with undertaking dangerous missions on behalf of Operation Starlight.^[1]

Operation Starlight[]

Search near Felucia[]

In 3 ABY,^[6] Starlight Squadron took part in their first mission for Operation Starlight, led byStarlight Leader Lieutenant^[2] Shara Bey, upon which they were tasked by General Organa with finding the scattered divisions of the Rebel Alliance, to warn them that the Empire cracked Alliance communications and deliver a newTrawak security codeC-3PO and his team developed. During their search, the squadron discovered the wreckage of theSixth Division nearFelucia. Commander Wedge Antilles noticed there were signals all around them, to which someone else noted that they were Imperial signatures. Captain L'ampar (Starlight Three) spotted Imperialprobe droids waiting nearby and quickly realized they gotsetup. The Starlight pilots took evasive action, but the probe droids latched onto theastromech droids of the squadron's X-wings and attempted to access their archives by drilling into their conical domes. Fearing the probe droids might get the coordinates of the other rendezvous points, Antilles suggested shooting them off, however Bey questioned their ability to actually pull it off. Instead, Bey ordered all pilots to set their astromech's self-destruct and eject them, which meant losing their nav data and making it difficult to get back to the fleet. With no other choice, the droids ejected and detonated, saving their valuable data from the Empire.^[1]

Ambushed by theTarkin's Will[]

With no time to catch their breath, theImperial II-class Star DestroyerTarkin's Will arrived and ambushed the squadron.^[1] The Star Destroyer launched a swarm ofTIE fighters which outnumbered the Rebel starfighters three to one. Captain Mattin (Starlight Four) suggested the A-wings leave while they still had a chance, as there was no way they could coordinate a hyperspace jump during a dogfight without their astromechs. However, Bey made it clear that she was staying to fight. After studying the TIE's tactics, L'ampar noticed the TIEs were not ganging up on individual starfighters, per theImperial Tactical Manual when outnumbering the enemy, and quickly realized they were being herded. TheTarkin's Will engaged its tractor beams, catching the squadron's starfighters to bring them in for interrogation. Evaan Verlaine and Antilles agreed that using brute force to try to escape would not work. Antilles then suggested a maneuver that the Rebel pilots war-gamed back inRogue Squadron but was untested. The maneuver involved accelerating full throttle and riding the tractor beam toward the Star Destroyer. As they did this, the Imperials aboard theTarkin's Will remained unfazed, as the starfighter tactics gave the impression the Rebels were planning to ram the Star Destroyer in a last-ditch suicide mission. As soon as the shields dropped to pull the starfighters in, the squadron targeted thetractor beam projectors and fired theirconcussion missiles andproton torpedoes, destroying it. With thetractor beam offline, and the Star Destroyer's targeting computers unable to lock on due to their speed, the Starlight starfighters raced into the hangar, and fired upon the TIE fighters andstormtroopers within. This prevented moreTIEs from scrambling from theTarkin's Will.^[4]

Escaping theTarkin's Will[]

Mattin and Verlaine's X-wings stood guard to keep the TIEs that were chasing them, out of the hangar, while L'ampar's A-wing covered the interior access door from stormtroopers. With the hangar temporarily locked down from further Imperial threats, the rest of the pilots landed and disembarked their ships. Getting close to the tractor beam generators fried the A-wings' navigational memory banks so Bey and Freyta Smyth scrambled to three Imperial astromech droids nearby, while Antilles provided cover. Smyth sliced into one of the astromechs and was surprised it wasn't using tough encryption. Bey ordered Smyth to get the astromech back to an X-wing and start running the hyperspace calculations, while she stayed behind to do something.^[4]

Just as L'ampar destroyed anAT-ST walker, more entered the hangar. Antilles urged Bey to hurry as the Imperial astromech, who was in his X-wing, almost finished the nav calculations and their ships were linked and ready to go. Bey explained she was able to steal valuable intelligence from the other droids in the hangar, which they could take back to the fleet. As Bey raced back to herA-wing, but it was destroyed by an AT-ST, leaving her stranded. On witnessing this, L'ampar told Bey not to give up, as Starlight would continue to fight the AT-STs and steal her a ship. However, Bey recognised the foolishness of these actions, as staying to help would lose them their only chance to get back to the fleet, and so she issued a direct order to L'ampar to go, along with a request for him to tell her husbandSergeantKes Dameron that she loved and have him kiss their sonPoe for her. L'ampar reluctantly acknowledged the order and the Squadron left without her.^[4]

Returning to the fleet[]

On the way back to the fleet, L'ampar, nowStarlight Two, sent the Fourth Division a transmission, stating the mission was unsuccessful. He mentioned finding the remains of the Sixth Division, and the ambush by the same Star Destroyer hunting them acrossthe galaxy. L'ampar also mentioned the fighting on it that resulted in leaving Starlight Leader behind, which Kes, who was listening in, was sad to hear. L'ampar finished off with the only bit of good news, regarding the capture of the Imperial astromech droid with its memory banks full of useful navigational data, which was Bey's idea and one that Organa planned to utilize for the Operation and in hunting down Zahra before she did anymore damage to the Rebel Fleet by locating theTarkin's Will.^[4]

Hiding onTarkin's Will[]

Later, Bey managed to slip away off the Star Destroyer's hangar deck before she was captured. She managed to find a place to hide somewhere on the city-sized starship and dismantled one of the Imperial astromech droids to raise communication with the Forth Division, where she was able to talk to her husband, much to his relief. Bey told Dameron that she was working on slicing into the Imperial systems and she was going to make herself useful getting more valuable information until such time as a team could be sent to rescue her. Bey then debriefed General Organa on the intelligence she already gathered in the hangar.^[2]

Battle of Ab Dalis[]

Starlight Squadron resumed it's search across the unexplored rally points with the help of Antilles' good friend and Organa’s older twin brotheraspiringJedi Commander Skywalker since they were down one member until Lieutenant Bey got off theTarkin's Will. Their journey's next destination was the planet Ab Dalis. TheEleventh Division was in abattle againstAdmiralKalaxo who was in command of the Star DestroyerUltima II and a member of Commander Zahra's Hunter Fleet. His ship was below a dormantvolcano which the Squadron reignited using their proton torpedos and died in the blast. Skywalker told Antilles he had to depart forJekara to help General Organa andLando Calrissian save his friend and Organa's lover CaptainHan Solo from anauction hosted byCrimson Dawn because he had a vision revealing Organa’s and hisfatherSith LordDarthVader was coming after the owner of theMillennium Falcon. Antilles understood since he knew how important Solo was to the Rebel Alliance and gave the new Trawak security code to the Eleventh Division. Starlight Squadron had boosted the Rebel Fleet's strength by fifty percent and brought back two of it's leaders,ChancellorMon Mothma and AdmiralGial Ackbar.^[3]

Rescuing Lieutenant Bey[]

Sometime after the Battle of Ab Dalis, Bey's cover as a stormtrooper was blown whenWarrant OfficerKronauer saw her armor was damaged since that caused to Commander Zahra discover there was a mole on theTarkin's Will due to her second-in-command LieutenantGorr pointing out there was no stormtrooper on her ship with the com number TK-510 and found out about Bey's coded transmissions so she learnt Bey survived the destruction of her ship and hid in the damaged part of the Star Destroyer since internal scanners couldn't detect anything there. When Bey's plan to steal aLambda-class T-4a shuttle went south and was apprehended by Zahra, Starlight Squadron and a small group ofPathfinders led by Kes, decided to rescue his wife without permission from Mothma and the rebel leaders.^[11]

After recovering the equipment and intelligence she stole and learning her impressive story, Commander Zahra demanded Bey tell her about the new transmission code, what the Rebel Fleet's targets are, and who was still alive after the Battle of Hoth or she would go after Poe and his maternalgrandfather. Then Starlight Squadron and the Pathfinders who were aboard aUT-60D U-wing starfighter/support craft dropped out ofhyperspace and engaged the swarm of TIE fighters from theTarkin's Will again to extend the fight. Sergeant Dameron and his team got aboard the battle damaged Star Destroyer but it jumped into hyperspace when Commander Zahra changed her plan from stopping Starlight Squadron from rescuing Lieutenant Bey to destroying the lastdivision of the Rebel Fleet at theBattle of Panisia after she received intel on it's location from theImperial Security Bureau and ordered the TIE swarm be left behind since there was no time to get them back aboard and to prevent the Rebel starfighters from escaping like they did at Felucia considering they were outnumbered and assured Gorr they would be picked up once they returned but if they were defeated, it would be no loss as the Empire had zero tolerance for the weak in its forces. However Zahra was lured into a trap as the Rebel Fleet showed up to get the last division and finally kill the vengeful Commander as part of a plan developed byLadyQi'ra, who was in charge of the criminal syndicateCrimson Dawn, to cause a distraction so her agentDeathstick could grab theMourner's Wail Syndicate and theUnbroken Clan's heirCadeliah and in an attempt to gain General Organa and the Alliance's trust to form a partnership with them for her master plan to kill Vader andEmperorPalpatine so she can bring an end to theSith and the Empire to make the galaxy an equal playing field for those who want power. Then after defeating the stranded TIE swarm, Starlight Squadron rendezvoused with the Rebel Fleet and had Lieutenant Bey lead them again since Dameron's mission to rescue her was a success but he lost his team since they stayed behind to destroy the main reactor on theTarkin's Will to damage it and lower the shields so the Alliance could finally destroy it. Then Bey led her team again into helping General Organa locate Commander Zahra after she survived the crash of her ship and after a brief fight in the cave she was hiding in, Organa emerged and said they would never have to worry about her again. However Organa was wrong because Zahra survived, although grievously injured, and joined araider faction during a mission she embarked on with Verlaine and Skywalker to find a fleet of survivingAlderaanians they previously helped after theBattle of Yavin, but with help from the Rebel Fleet, stopped Zahra for good.

Behind the scenes[]

Starlight Squadron was first mentioned inStar Wars (2020) 6, acomic written byCharles Soule, illustrated byJesús Saiz, and published byMarvel Comics^[7] onSeptember 16,2020.^[12] It later made its first appearance inStar Wars (2020) 10, a comic written by Charles Soule, illustrated byJan Bazaldua, and published by Marvel Comics^[1] onJanuary 6,2021.^[13]

Appearances[]

• Star Wars (2020) 6(First mentioned)
• Star Wars (2020) 10(First appearance)
• Star Wars (2020) 11
• Star Wars (2020) 12
• Star Wars (2020) 13(Mentioned only; in the opening crawl)
• Star Wars (2020) 14
• Star Wars (2020) 15
• Star Wars (2020) 16(Mentioned only; in the opening crawl)
• Star Wars (2020) 19(Mentioned only)
• Star Wars (2020) 21
• Star Wars (2020) 22
• Star Wars (2020) 23(Mentioned only)
• Star Wars (2020) 24
• Star Wars (2020) 48(Emblem only)
• Star Wars (2020) 49(Mentioned only; in the opening crawl)
• Star Wars: Squadrons(Emblem only)

Sources[]

• "Pilots of the Rebel Alliance" —Star Wars Encyclopedia
• Star Wars: Timelines
• Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy

Notes and references[]