"This is Bravo Leader. Bravo Two, intercept enemy fighters. Bravo Three, make your run on the transmitter station."
―Ric Olié, commanding Bravo Squadron from Bravo 1[src]
From his coronation, Naboo's KingArs Veruna worked with Nubia Star Drives, Incorporated and the Theed Palace Space Vessel Engineering Corps to design the N-1 starfigher. By the time of his abdication of the throne[1] in 33 BBY,[8] Veruna had had some of the starfighters constructed. One of the first manufactured, Bravo 1 was assigned to a new squadron, Bravo Flight, the first composed entirely of N-1s. Bravo 1 was piloted by the squadron's leader, Ric Olié,[1] under the call signBravo Leader,[12] and it saw combat at the planet Chommell Minor against a group of pirates. To test his new ship and the rest of Bravo Squadron, Olié led them on strafing runs destroying asteroids.[1] At some point, Olié personally modified the craft's control configurations to his liking.[3]
Bravo 1 flying with Bravo Squadron
In 32 BBY,[7] the Trade Federation responded to increased taxation by the Galactic Republic with an invasion and blockade of Naboo. Bravo 1, alongside other Bravo starfighters and their pilots, was within Theed Hangar in the planetary capital, Theed, when the Federation took control of that building.[4] After a month of failed negotiations, Veruna's successor as the Monarch of Naboo,[13]QueenPadmé Amidala, was liberated from Federation custody by two Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. The trio and Amidala's security detail freed Theed Hangar so they could use her personal craft to reach the galacticcapital, the planet of Coruscant, where she could petition the Galactic Republic's Senate for aid. Olié and the other pilots fled the hangar in their Queen's vessel and the Federation retook control of the building, along with Bravo 1 and the other starfighters, in short order.[4]
When her efforts in the Senate were stalled by bureaucratic practices, the Queen decided to free her homeworld with force; she led a task force to storm her palace. One of her first steps was to free the hangar again so Bravo Squadron could claim its ships and disable the Vuutun Palaa, an orbitingLucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship that was commanding the Trade Federation Droid Army forces stationed on Naboo.[4] Olié boarded Bravo 1 with his personal astromech droid, R2-A6,[10] and his Squadron took flight.[4] While approaching the Control Ship, Olié transmitted the coordinates of the space battle to every N-1 starfighter in the area so any available ships could assist them.[14]Bravo 1 and Bravo Squadron skirmished with enemy Vulture droids[4] and, upon an order from Olié, split into two forces—one to continue to stave off the droids and another to attack the Control Ship's transmitters.[15]Bravo 1 was part of a strafing run, but its laser cannons could not pierce the Control Ship's deflector shields.[4]
Meanwhile, a Bravo Squadron N-1 from the hangar that was not flown into battle,[4]Bravo Fighter,[16] received the coordinates from Bravo 1,[14] and its autopilot propelled it to that location. After some time, Vulture droids shot down the fighter and it crash-landed inside the Control Ship.[4] When it was brought to Olié's attention, he ordered his pilots to stay out of the Control Ship and to buy Bravo Fighter time to escape.[17]Bravo Fighter's pilot, a boy named Anakin Skywalker, fired proton torpedoes into the ship's main reactor, destroying it. The destruction of the Control Ship deactivated all of the Trade Federation droids on the surface, giving Amidala leverage enough to compel the Federation to sign a treaty and release the planet.[4] Olié continued flying with Bravo Squadron for the next few years afterward.[12]
Ric Olié flew Bravo 1 while fighting with Bravo Squadron.[3] He was born on Naboo, and at the time of the Trade Federation's invasion he was considered the best pilot on that world.[12] Olié believed his R2-series astromech droid, R2-A6, was a good luck charm, so he made sure to fly with that droid when piloting Bravo 1.[10]
↑The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. I ("Futhark") Here, Futhark script is identified. This was the same oval-shaped script that can be seen on the side of Olié's ship.