The squadron was ultimately the brainchild of CommanderArhul Narra, the leader of Renegade Flight. After the battle, Red Squadron was reformed and would operate as two flight groups: the first, Renegade Flight, would continue to operate under Narra; the second would be the new Rogue Flight. Narra placed Skywalker in charge of this new unit.[1] Rogue Flight was built around him and Antilles, with additional pilots including Zev Senesca, Wes Janson and Derek Klivian.
The Rogues' early operations included missions to Kwenn Space Station and Vactooine. When the Rebels finally evacuated the base on Yavin 4, Rogue Flight helped cover their escape through the Ison Corridor. Following the evacuation, Skywalker, Antilles and the others continued to sometimes work as Red Squadron under Narra's command, like a rescue mission when they allied themselves with an aged clone trooper from the Clone Wars. The squadron later fought at Jabiim.
The Rogues headed to Dantooine to rescue the Imperial pilot Tycho Celchu, whose spying for the Rebels had been discovered. The mission was a success and Celchu eventually became a Rogue. A short time later, the pilots were sent on a mission to help cover the escape of scientists working for the Alliance. Since the evacuation of Yavin, the Rogues' LieutenantSarkli had caused tension among he and his fellow pilots, believing he was not getting the credit he deserved. During the Ralltiir mission, Sarkli decided he had enough and joined the Empire. The pilots' next missions included an escort operation on Barkhesh and the rescue of a downed Rebel supply ship.
On Corellia, when the Empire learned of a secret meeting between Imperial officer Crix Madine and Rebel commanders, Rogue Squadron helped cover the officers' escape. The squadron began to work on a number of missions under the direction of Madine, including the liberation of Gerrard V from the oppression of MoffKohl Seerdon. On that mission, the Rogues disabled the TIE interceptor of Lt. Kasan Moor, commander of the 128th TIE Interceptor Squadron. Moor took the opportunity to defect to the Alliance, and flew with the Rogues on missions that were successful thanks to her knowledge of Imperial operations. On one such mission, the squadron helped liberate many prisoners from Kessel after rescuing Wedge Antilles from near imprisonment there. The pilots then put an end to Moff Seerdon's schemes on a number of worlds, including his attempt to take control of valuable bacta supplies needed by the Rebellion.
Narra and Renegade Flight were destroyed on an escort mission at Derra IV, along with a convoy carrying supplies for the new Rebel base on Hoth. After this, Rogue Flight officially became Rogue Squadron, with Luke Skywalker as their commander, and with new pilots added to their roster. As the Rogues became more autonomous, they became a group with no standing orders, ready any time or place for urgent missions that would arise. During the Battle of Hoth the Rogues' membership was augmented with additional personnel to crew their twelve cold-modified T-47 airspeeders (also referred to as snowspeeders) with pilots and gunners. Some of these temporary Rogues were added at the last moment, like smuggler Dash Rendar. The T-47s of Rogue Group gave the Rebels enough time to evacuate Echo Base, although many of the squadron's members lost their lives in doing so.
After the evacuation of Hoth, Antilles took command during the absence of Skywalker during his trials on Dagobah, leading a dangerous mission at the Maw. Antilles led important missions such as the Battle of Dubrillion, the Battle of Kothlis, and the Battle of Fondor. After the capture of Han Solo, Skywalker and Antilles formed a squadron of 12 units around the core group, reestablishing the elite fighting force originally envisioned after the Battle of Yavin. While Luke was still recovering from his injuries from Cloud City, Rogue Squadron, under Antilles command, was dispatched to stop an Imperial Strike Cruiser that spotted the fleet's position from escaping and reporting its findings, although they also had to enter a dogfight against a TIE squadron to get to the ship. They ultimately succeeded via Rogue Five attacking the front of the ship (as attacking the back was rendered ineffective due to placing its shields at the back), although Rogue Three's X-Wing engine was damaged in the process, and the fleet had to detour in case word did get out in regards to their location. Antilles often commanded the squadron when Skywalker had important off-flight missions. One of the aspiring Jedi Knight's last missions with the squadron was the Battle of Gall against the Imperials, in an attempt to flush out the bounty hunter who had abducted Han Solo.
Rogue Squadron participated in countless important missions during the year leading up to the Battle of Endor. At some point prior to that engagement, Rogue Squadron participated in Operation: Quick Strike, a series of deep-space engagements intended to harass Imperial military-industrial operations. The squadron also participated in the stealing of the shuttle Tydirium, the rescue of prisoners captured on Hoth at the First Battle of Bakura, and the subsequent pursuit of the Imperial escort carrierExploiter to Geonosis. It was deployed along with Gold Squadron to defend the Rebel platform Hormuuz, which marked the Rebellion's beachhead in the Elrood sector, at the time of the First Battle of Gelgelar. After being forced to retreat from the sector, the Rogues went on to participate in the Rebel campaign to expand Alliance activities into the Airam sector, piloting various starfighters and serving in a number of disparate mission profiles, including fighter interception and anti-capital ship striking. It is unknown whether the Rogues were under the command of Antilles, Skywalker, or someone else during this campaign. Shortly before the Alliance offensive at Endor, Antilles led Rogue Squadron in the Raid on Bespin.
During the Battle of Endor, Rogue Squadron was dissolved and absorbed into the general fleet, with many of its pilots distributed to other squadrons. The remaining Rogues and new pilots were grouped into a unit called Red Squadron, which Antilles named in memory of the Battle of Yavin; he himself took the role of "Red Leader". In fact, only five pilots remained in Rogue Squadron—Wedge Antilles (Red Leader, X-wing), Tycho Celchu (Green Three, A-wing), Wes Janson, Derek Klivian (Red Four, X-wing), and Keir Santage as Red Seven (X-wing). All of them (except Red Seven) survived the battle.
The new Rogues being selected shortly after the Battle of Endor.
After Endor, the squadron was hastily and temporarily re-formed with available rebel pilots who could be spared in the aftermath of the battle, in order to defend the planet Bakura under Luke Skywalker, who was still considered Rogue Leader.
Rogue Squadron, officially reformed under Antilles, was considered the best of the best, undertaking their first mission to Cilpar with a lean team of six: Antilles, Janson, Klivian, Celchu, Plourr Ilo and Dllr Nep. Joined by Elscol Loro following this mission the squadron moved on to Mrlsst and then Tatooine where Elscol moved on to new things with a converted Imperial Intelligence team led by Sixtus Quin.
During the following year, Rogue Squadron eventually swelled to twelve—regular size for a New Republic starfighter squadron. They were involved in skirmishes on various worlds, including Brentaal IV where they captured Baron Soontir Fel, who defected and joined the squadron. They were also involved in the failed defection and rescue of Sate Pestage on Ciutric IV.
Of the remaining squadron members, Janson and Klivian went to train new squadrons, Fel disappeared, Celchu took on a mission for NRI and Nrin Vakil transferred out to deal with his grief. Antilles undertook a publicity tour on numerous New Republic worlds. When using diplomacy had reached its limits in getting worlds to join the New Republic, it was decided that taking Coruscant was required.
Antilles was then tasked with reforming Rogue Squadron in 6.5 ABY. The reconstituted Rogue Squadron would be an instrumental part of the New Republic's push against Imperial forces led by Ysanne Isard, with the ultimate goal of capturing Coruscant. Over 1200 pilots volunteered to join the resurrected Rogues.
Rogue Squadron in battle over Borleias.
The reformed squadron was quickly trained with a variety of missions designed to test the Rogue's abilities in numerous areas. It comprised pilots such as Corran Horn, Gavin Darklighter, Erisi Dlarit, Lujayne Forge, Andoorni Hui, Ooryl Qrygg, Nawara Ven, Rhysati Ynr, Peshk Vri'syk, and Bror Jace. Antilles chose Tycho Celchu as his Executive Officer, a choice he fought for with some of the upper echelons of the New Republic's military, as Celchu was under suspicion from previous encounters. The pilots of their command were quickly thrust into the line of fire in the disastrous First Battle of Borleias. Very soon after, Borleias was taken in a second, heated assault. From Borleias, the New Republic was in position to take an offensive action toward the core, particularly the capital world of Coruscant. Rogue Squadron would continue to lead the way.
With two new additions of Aril Nunb and Pash Cracken, Rogue Squadron infiltrated Coruscant. They went in as teams of two but all subsequently met up, gaining an ally in Asyr Sei'lar, a Bothan who was an alumnus of the Bothan Martial Academy. Celchu shocked the Rogues, when he showed up on Coruscant after having been presumed killed in a disastrous attack by Warlord Zsinj on Noquivzor. He had been brought in beforehand by Wedge as backup. Tycho had purchased six Z-95 Headhunters, of which five were used in the attack to bring down Coruscant's orbital shields. The sixth was flown by Corran Horn into a storm created by the Rogues by boiling the city's water supply with Coruscant's orbital mirrors. Their goal was to take down a power Grid Subsystem buried under a Statue. Although this endeavor was successful, Horn was subsequently captured by Ysanne Isard using the Headhunter's override codes (given to her by turncoat Erisi Dlarit). Horn was taken to Lusankya but presumed dead in the rubble where the storm and his attack had taken place.
Tycho Celchu was accused of being the traitor and was brought on trial, defended by fellow Rogue Nawara Ven. Meanwhile, Corran Horn was trapped in Isard's Lusankya facility. Ysanne Isard couldn't change him, so she put him in the highest security area on Lusankya. He managed to escape, while Celchu's trial was tearing Rogue Squadron apart. Finally, when Ysanne Isard blasted out of Coruscant on the Lusankya, Erisi Dlarit, the real traitor, faked being pulled by a tractor beam, and rendezvoused with the Super Star Destroyer.
To pursue Isard, Rogue Squadron resigned their commissions and participated in the Bacta War. With only minimal resources, they managed to lure the Star DestroyerAvarice to the New Republic, and they heavily damaged Lusankya, making her surrender. Ysanne Isard was presumed dead, shot down by the Rogues as she tried to escape. Thyferra was liberated, and Rogue Squadron gained a pilot in Tal'dira. However, Nawara Ven became the Squadron's XO, never to fly an X-Wing again, for he had lost his leg and wasn't able to fly well enough with a prosthetic.
During that time, Klivian led a temporary Rogue Squadron during the "true" Rogue Squadron's absence. However, an alleged filing error kept the resignations from being documented, and the Rogues were again New Republic officers, and the mission on Thyferra was retroactively considered a New Republic-sanctioned campaign. Antilles turned command over to Celchu and founded Wraith Squadron. Antilles commanded both squadrons against Warlord Zsinj and after that he returned to his command as Rogue Leader.
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"I say let the Imperials keep coming, because every time a new admiral crawls out of the Outer Rim or some Imperial goon finds a lost superweapon, Rogue Squadron gets a new starfighter. Seems like a good deal to me."
Rogue Squadron saw a great deal of combat during the Thrawn Crisis, including the Battle of Sluis Van and the Battle of Bilbringi, and immediately afterwards, the conquest of Prince-Admiral Delak Krennel's Ciutric Hegemony. The New Republic took one of its outlying planets, Liinade III and then prepared to attack Ciutric, the capital planet of the Hegemony, while simultaneously looking for clues that would lead to the remaining Lusankya prisoners. One of them, Urlor Sette, unexpectedly turned up at a party for the squadron, but when Corran Horn recognized him and said his name, an implanted device killed Sette. The Squadron went on a mission to Commenor, finding some of the prisoners and learning that Isard might be alive. During the attack on one of Krennel's outlying planets, Horn was shot down. He found a secret facility that showed evidence of a Pulsar Station, not unlike the Death Star, and the Rogues moved to attack it at a moon orbiting a gas giant, only to be ambushed. They were saved by two squadrons of TIE/D Defenders, Stranger and Interloper Squadrons, under the command of ColonelBroak Vessery, and taken to a secret base, having suffered the death of 2 pilots and the critical injury and presumed death of 2 more. Surprisingly, they met Ysanne Isard, who was responsible for their rescue. She revealed that the Isard they had thought they had killed was a clone, and she had survived to make herself a threat, and that all Isard wanted was her demise.
Rogue Squadron (left) performs aerial maneuvers with Red Squadron in 7 ABY
The squadron was trained to use TIE Defenders and then attacked Ciutric. The New Republic attacked at the same time, killing Krennel in the ensuing space battle. The real Isard tried to recapture Lusankya at Bilbringi, but was shot and killed in the attempt by Iella Wessiri. The real Isard had already betrayed Rogue Squadron by not supporting them in their attempt to kill the clone Isard and rescue the rest of the Lusankya prisoners at Ciutric. Rogue Squadron was successful however, and the clone of Isard was killed.
Following the return of EmperorPalpatine, the Rogues were back, flying mission after mission to safeguard the New Republic. After the fall of Coruscant, Antilles was ordered to reconfigure Rogue Squadron into a multi-fighter unit. Antilles felt this would destroy the cohesion of the unit, but his commanders felt that the prestige coming from using the Rogue Squadron name would be worth it. Antilles established a force using V-wing airspeeders, X-wings, B-wings, and E-wings, with over 100 starfighters in total devoted to Rogue Squadron. For that reason, he chose to base it on Lusankya. During this time it fought in the First Battle of Mon Calamari and Second Battle of Phaeda, although the Lusankya did not join the squadron in battle until the latter conflict.
Members of Rogue Squadron fight on the planetAdumar.
In 11 ABY, the Rogues were deployed on a number of campaigns, most notable of which was against the Invids led by former Imperial AdmiralTavira. Corran Horn, now trained as a Jedi, was instrumental in this campaign as he found the dark sideusers behind the Invids and stopped them. In 12.5 ABY they were one of the few New Republic survivors of the Battle of Orinda.
A situation on the newly found planet of Adumar called for Wedge to return to the cockpit with Tycho Celchu, Wes Janson and Hobbie Klivian in 13 ABY. Antilles led a diplomatic envoy which succeeded in bringing the neutral world to the New Republic. The four pilots used Rogue Squadron markings on their X-wings and flew as Red Flight with call signs Red 1 through Red 4.
The Caamas Document incident also called for Rogue Squadron's unique talents as they were pressed into ground-based service in an attempt to find out the truth behind the document. The return of Thrawn also saw the Rogues thrust back into the frontlines in an attempt to protect the New Republic.
The signing of the peace treaty ending the Galactic Civil War marked the time for many pilots from Rogue Squadron to retire.
Under the leadership of ColonelGavin Darklighter, Rogue Squadron played a central role in a number of battles against the Yuuzhan Vong. The conflict saw Rogue Squadron suffer heavy losses, including nine pilots killed, one resignation and one transfer — the Battle of Dantooine took the lives of half the squadron. The war also saw the adoption of several new technologies, including the shadow bomb and XJ3 model X-Wing fighters.
Following the conclusion of the war, Colonel Darklighter accepted a Fleet command and handed Rogue Squadron over to Jaina Solo.
The Rogues continued to fight for the Alliance despite Jacen's elevation to Head of State and Jaina's allegiance to the Jedi Order. They were assigned to the Anakin Solo during the failed attempt by the Alliance to seize Centerpoint Station. During the engagement the Rogues met the Jedi-aligned Rakehell Squadron, which ironically included former Rogue Leaders Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antilles, and Tycho Celchu. During this action, at least two Rogues were lost in combat, including Lensi flying as Rogue Leader.
During the Battle of Mon Calamari, Rogue Squadron provided cover for the Alliance Remnant fleet. Intent on keeping incoming waves of Predator-class starfighters from attacking Stazi's flagship Indomitable and other Alliance capital ships, the Rogue's flew interference and shot down several fighters. Once the main objective of capturing the Imperious-class Star DestroyerImperious was achieved, the Rogues fell back and covered Stazi's fleet as it jumped to a secret rendezvous point.
Late in the battle, Commander Jhoram Bey returned to the Indomitable to rescue Admiral Stazi from his crippled flagship. As CaptainJaius Yorub piloted the Indomitable into the Mon Calamari shipyards on a suicide run, Bey, escorted by fellow Rogues Anj Dahl and Andurgo, jumped to hyperspace and made it safely back to the Alliance rendezvous point.
Rogue Squadron later participated in the Battle of Ralltiir and on a mission to rescue a group of Mon Calamari refugees. On the latter, the Rogues were forced to retreat because of complications created by both the Sith and a Mandalorianbounty hunter. Hondo Karr became involved on this dangerous mission and left the Rogues to pursue Chernan Ordo's killer.[2]
During reformed Rogue Squadron's training they were put into simulated combat against a wing of Y-wings. The base commander, General Horton Salm, agreed to the competition on the belief that the Rogues could not possibly beat 36 Y-wings even with 12 X-wings. The Y-wings of Defender Wing, led by Horton Salm, were beaten with 30 out of the 36 ships destroyed. The Rogues only lost 4 of their own. As if the 8-1 kill ratio wasn't galling enough, a number of Rogue Squadron pilots, led by Corran Horn (with the help of Horn's astromech, Whistler), hacked into the TAARS package. Upon their "death," instead of their flight information, the Defender Wing pilots would have the Rogue Squadron crest shown on their screen. Gavin Darklighter designed the unofficial crest for the prank and the unit adopted it as their own. The crest was described as "a twelve-pointed red star with the Alliance crest in blue at the center, and an X-wing at each point of the star." It was soon adopted by the squadron, painted on their X-wings, and sewn onto their flight suits.
In addition to the unit patches, all Rogue Squadron X-wings had their S-foils painted with red stripes in the far corner near the cannon. The 181st Imperial Fighter Wing had a similar design on their TIE Interceptors, and as a result red stripes on the wings became a sign of supreme skill and honor in the pilot community.
Prior to the invasion of Coruscant, Rogue Squadron pilots often supplied their own flight suits or wore standard orange jumpsuits. Subsequently, to honor Corran Horn's "death", official unit uniforms were created based on his CorSec flight suit's color scheme. The new uniforms were described as an "evergreen overall, with dark gray flank panels, black sleeves, leg stripes, and trim. On the left sleeve and breast rode the Rogue Squadron crest."
In 25 ABY, Colonel Darklighter wore a silver ring that bore the squadron crest. Its inclusion of his rank marker makes it an unlikely personal effect, but it is unknown if the use of such symbols of command were common across the Defense Force or a Rogue Squadron tradition.
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, the first of three video games to star the Rogues
It was author Timothy Zahn who coined the term "Rogue Squadron" and established the Rogues as an elite fighting force of the New Republic, active five years after the Battle of Endor, while writing his 1991novelHeir to the Empire.[10] The Second Edition of Galaxy Guide 3, published in 1996, went on to state that "Rogue Group" fell under the command of Wedge Antilles following the Battle of Hoth, and that it was remodeled and renamed "Rogue Squadron" prior to the Battle of Endor.[11] More recently, 2012's The Essential Guide to Warfare has established a definitive timeline regarding the squadron's nomenclature: "Rogue Flight" was born just after the Battle of Yavin, and while Skywalker and Antilles were stationed on Hoth, they were considering expanding the flight into a full-fledged squadron. Hoth's Echo Base was attacked, however, and "Rogue Group" was an ersatz snowspeeder unit created from Rogue Flight, Green Squadron, and Blue Squadron, and tasked with defending Echo Base.[12] The Rogues then became a full squadron following the battle.[13] The 1977–1986Star Warscomic series published by Marvel Comics featured Rebel pilots flying X-wings in the time period between Hoth and Endor;[14] some of them were later retconned into being members of Rogue Squadron.[15]
As Richard Marquand's 1983 film Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi features Antilles leading a "Red Group" rather than a Rogue Squadron during the Battle of Endor,[16] the first edition of Galaxy Guide 5 asserted that the Rogues reformed into Red Group prior to the battle.[9] It has since been retconned that the name was merely a temporary one used to honor the heroes of Red Squadron from the earlier Battle of Yavin.[17] The 1993 novel The Truce at Bakura sees the Rogues flying as Rogue Squadron again just one day after Endor.[18]
Rogue Squadron has been the focus of a multitude of Expanded Universe works. Author Michael A. Stackpole was contracted by Bantam Spectra to write four X-Wing novels about the squadron in the mid-1990s, and he logged a large number of hours playing the X-wing and TIE Fightervideo games in preparation. He also consulted friends of his who were pilots, read biographies of pilots, and watched television documentaries on fighter squadrons,[19] the latter having been featured prominently on television due to the fiftieth anniversary of D-Day.[20] Six additional X-Wing novels have been written, by Stackpole and Aaron Allston.[21] Stackpole also authored a thirty-five issue comic series about Rogue Squadron,[22] and the Rogues have factored into the plots of other Expanded Universe works, such as The New Jedi Order novel series and the Star Wars: Legacy comics.[23][24][25][26]