Brooks Carlson
Physical description
Species	Human[1]
Gender	Male[1]
Hair color	Gray[1]
Eye color	Brown[1]
Skin color	Fair[1]
Chronological and political information
Era(s)	Rebellion era[1]
Affiliation	Galactic Empire[2] Alliance to Restore the Republic[1] Alliance Special Forces[1] Endor strike team[2]

[Source]

Brooks Carlson was a Human male member of the Galactic Empire who defected to the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War along with another Imperial, Crix Madine. Carlson was hired as a scout for General Madine's Rebel commando unit, and also trained Corporal Dansra Beezer to serve in that profession. In the year 3 ABY, Carlson served at Echo Base, the Alliance High Command's headquarters on the planet Hoth, where he participated in the Alliance's staggering defeat during the Battle of Hoth. In 4 ABY, the Alliance decided to attack the Empire's second Death Star battlestation in orbit over the Forest Moon of Endor. Carlson, by then a veteran scout and pathfinder with the military rank of sergeant, was selected by General Han Solo to be part of a strike team sent to the moon to deactivate the SLD-26 planetary shield generator protecting the Death Star. The strike team managed to disable the shield generator, allowing Alliance starfighters to destroy the Death Star.

BiographyEdit

Service and defection from the EmpireEdit

The Human male Brooks Carlson lived during the time of the Galactic Civil War.^[1] Originally a member of the Galactic Empire,^[2] Carlson defected to the Alliance to Restore the Republic along with the Imperial Army commander—and later Rebel general—Crix Madine. Carlson was hired as a scout for Madine's commando unit, the Alliance Special Forces.^[1] At some point during the war, Carlson trained Corporal Dansra Beezer to also serve as a scout in the Alliance commandos.^[3]

In 3 ABY, Carlson was stationed at Echo Base, the headquarters of the Alliance High Command on the planet Hoth. There, he served under the command of Major Bren Derlin. That year, the base was discovered by the Empire, which launched a ground assault on the Alliance. Carlson fought in the Battle of Hoth, which ended with the Alliance being forced to evacuate their base, Carlson among them.^[1][4]

Service in Han Solo's strike teamEdit

Following his evacuation, Carlson remained with the Alliance Fleet until 4 ABY,^[1][4] attaining the military rank of sergeant.^[1] During that year, the Alliance discovered that the Empire was constructing a second Death Star battlestation in orbit over the Forest Moon of Endor. The Alliance decided to attack the Death Star while it was still in construction; however, in order to destroy the station, the Alliance first had to deactivate the SLD-26 planetary shield generator on Endor protecting the superweapon.^[5] A strike team was organized by General Han Solo to infiltrate the moon. The team was composed exclusively of volunteers who had previously served at Hoth. Solo needed only to make a quick call to Major Derlin, and the team was promptly assembled.^[4] Carlson, by then a veteran scout^[6] and pathfinder, joined the team,^[2] eager for revenge against the Empire.^[4]

Carlson^[1] and the rest of the group traveled to the Endor system aboard the stolen Imperial Lambda-class T4a shuttle Tydirium, piloted by Solo, and bypassed the Imperial Navy with the use of a stolen Imperial code. After landing on the moon,^[5] Carlson,^[1] along with the strike team, began scouting the area, but Solo and other strike team members Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Chewbacca, and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, became separated from the main group. Nevertheless, Solo ordered the squad to continue on.^[5] The squad made its way toward the shield generator under Derlin's lead.^[7]

When night fell,^[7] Carlson^[1] and the squad made camp in a camouflaged shallow ravine, posting two sentries and setting up a blanket grid with their scanning equipment. Shortly after their first sleeping shift, the scanners detected an All Terrain Scout Transport walker moving toward their location. Corporal Beezer and another member of the squad, Lieutenant Greeve, jammed the walker's transmissions and destroyed its spotlights with a sniper rifle, respectively, and the squad circled the walker in order to keep it off balance. Corporal Delevar, the team's medic, fired a smoke canister into the AT-ST's cockpit window when it began firing randomly into the trees and foliage. The resulting smoke explosion forced the walker's crew to abandon the vehicle and surrender to the strike team. The squad captured the Imperials and forced the walker pilot to make a comm check-in at blasterpoint. The squad continued on to the rendezvous point, forcing the walker pilot to make several more check-ins on the way to explain the scout walker's absence.^[7]

Solo and the others then rejoined the rest of their group, having allied themselves with the Ewok tribe of Bright Tree Village, who showed the Rebel commandos a route to the shield generator bunker's backdoor.^[5] Carlson^[1] and the rest of the commandos proceeded into the bunker; however, they were soon ambushed by Tempest Force, the Imperial Military legion stationed on the moon, and the entire strike team was captured and led outside the bunker. Their capture proved to be brief, however, as the Ewoks attacked the Imperial troops, turning the tide of the battle in favor of the Rebel Alliance. The Rebel commandos successfully destroyed the shield generator^[5] with the use of 7-PrG proton grenades.^[8] With the Death Star's deflector shield destroyed, Alliance starfighters were able to destroy the Imperial superweapon.^[5]

Personality and traitsEdit

Brooks Carlson had fair skin and brown eyes. His hair was gray in 4 ABY.^[1] During his service at Echo Base, Han Solo saw Brooks Carlson's loyalty and dedication in action, as well as willingness to get the job done,^[1][4] and was aware of his resourcefulness and ability to devise creative situations.^[1][9] When he joined the strike team, Carlson eagerly volunteered in order to get revenge on the Empire, having been turned into a hardened veteran from the Battle of Hoth. Solo informed the strike team about the risks of the mission to Endor, which Carlson willingly and eagerly accepted.^[1][4] While on Endor, he wore the standard Rebel commando outfit, consisting of a beige jacket with a light-colored shirt and a helmet.^[1] Carlson was a veteran scout^[6] and pathfinder by the time of the Battle of Endor.^[1]

Behind the scenesEdit

Although he appeared in promotional photos of 1983's Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Brooks Carlson did not appear in the final film. The photos, displayed in the 1998 Star Wars: Behind the Magic CD-ROM, show Carlson, along with other Rebel commandos, standing in the second Death Star along with Luke Skywalker and the Sith Lord Darth Vader.^[10] Carlson was first brought into canon, and given a name and back story, on a card for the June 1999 Endor Limited expansion set of Decipher, Inc.'s Star Wars Customizable Card Game. Prior to that, 1993's The Movie Trilogy Sourcebook confirmed that all Endor strike team members were veterans of the Battle of Hoth, an event shown in 1980's Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Carlson was later given an entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, released in 2008.

In his blog on StarWars.com, Lucasfilm Holocron continuity database keeper Leland Chee speculated that Decipher used pictures of the same actor to represent Sergeant Brooks Carlson and Corporal Delevar.^[11]

AppearancesEdit

•  "Night Attack"—Galaxy Guide 5: Return of the Jedi (First appearance) (Indirect appearance only)
•  "Night Attack"—Galaxy Guide 5: Return of the Jedi, Second Edition (Reprint) (Indirect appearance only)

SourcesEdit

• Star Wars: Behind the Magic (First pictured)
• Star Wars Customizable Card Game – Endor Limited (Card: Sergeant Brooks Carlson) (First mentioned)
• Star Wars Customizable Card Game – Endor Limited (Card: Corporal Beezer)
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 44 (END12, The Battle of Endor)
• Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 7 (Picture only)
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. I ("Carlson, Sergeant Brooks," "Beezer, Corporal")
•  Dansra Beezer in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link on Archive.org)
•  Rebel Troopers in the Encyclopedia (Picture only)

Notes and referencesEdit

External linksEdit

•  "General Solo's Rebel strike team" – "Keeper of the Holocron's Blog," Leland Chee's StarWars.com Blog (content now obsolete; backup link on WebCite)
•  Carlson, Brooks in The Completely Unofficial Star Wars Encyclopedia (backup link on Archive.org)