Films and Fiction

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The next step of my journey into the old Star Wars Expanded Universe takes me to the popular X-Wing series, by Michael A Stackpole, which begins with Rogue Squadron.

The story is set a couple of years after the Battle of Endor and destruction of the second Death Star. Rogue Squadron is an elite group of pilots whose unit is renowned for it’s brilliance, making them a symbol of the Rebellion and their fight against the Empire.

As the struggle against the Empire continues, the Rebel Alliance has to take the fight to the enemy by attacking them in the heart of Imperial Centre: Coruscant. But the way there is a hard one and Rogue Squadron is chosen to be in the vanguard of the new offensive, meaning they will once again have to prove that their reputation is a sound one.

I’m not that familiar with the old Expanded Universe, which was rebranded as Legends after Disney’s takeover, but I can see why a lot of fans were put out by this, as there’s some genuine continuity to it all. Set a couple of years before Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire trilogy, there are several small references and tie-ins to that series, like the mention of the legendary Katana fleet, which help to fill in the gaps, and show how the writers put in the effort to make it all connect, while also being an extension of George Lucas’s work. For someone who’d followed it for years, it must have been a real sting for it all to be rebranded in one quick swipe.

As a story, Rogue Squadron doesn’t have the same complexity as Zahn’s work. There are no galaxy-changing heroes, of the likes of Han, Luke and Leia. There’s not the same focus on politics either, and certainly no struggles with the Force. It’s a smaller story, about smaller characters, which is where it differs from these “greater” works, and where its strength is, as we follow this small group of pilots.

Once the book gets going, it’s a smooth, engaging ride, but you have to wait around a bit for that to happen. The first third of the book has an uneasy feel and can drag at times, as we get shown all the main characters, and spend most of the time following them on training runs. But it’s not for nothing, and once it does get going, you feel it taking off like an X-Wing about to start its attack run. The time spent building everything up is worth it, and there’s a real sense of danger that these pilots might not make it back from a mission, as they are willing to risk everything for the Rebellion’s cause, and for each other.

This is helped by the way Stackpole takes the the trouble to get into the mechanics of what this book is about. The slang used by the pilots, the banter, the technical and military elements; it’s clear he’s inspired by real events, but puts a unique coat on them to fit into a galaxy far, far away. It makes you think of things in a different way, things that the movies never really went into, like how much fuel an X-Wing needs, or how many shots the shields can take. So often, this is just as the plot needs, but here it’s always on the pilot’s minds, and so always on the reader’s too.

Most of the main characters are fighter pilots, who are painted with pretty broad strokes. The biggest is Corran Horn, who gets the most time on the page, alongside the legend Wedge Antilles. Most of the others are in the background, but there are enough moments spent hanging out in bars and jostling in training missions to get you invested in them, and no doubt we’ll go deeper on them in the next novels.

I wish we had gotten to see this version of Star Wars history, rather than the New Republic we now have, where the Rebels are still fighting against a powerful Empire, which outguns them, and where the remaining forces are led by strong individuals like Ysanne Isard (nicknamed Iceheart by the pilots). The Rebels are barely hanging on, and have to scrounge equipment where they can, using Imperial ships and not having a centralised base. It’s important to remember the Battle of Endor was the beginning of the Empire’s fall, not the end, as it seems in the Mandoverse, where the scrappy Imperial forces and petty warlords like Moff Gideon don’t have the menace that a battered but undefeated Empire should possess.

It’s good to see how a story can be set in the Star Wars galaxy without needing to have Force-sensitive characters, or focus solely on the history defining moments, yet still feel connected to what George Lucas created. Rogue Squadron is a great tale, that shows the breadth of stories that can be told in this world, and how there were many types of heroes in the fight against the Empire.

You can buy X-Wing: Rogue Squadron on Amazon here.

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