"Blade Squadron"

Author: David J. Williams, Mark S. Williams

Time: 4 ABY, during the Battle of Endor

Place: Endor

"Blade Squadron" is a two-part short story, and it holds the distinction of being the very first new entry in the Star Wars Canon.

Gina Moonsong is an ex-smuggler from Coruscant who joined the Rebel Alliance as a B-wing pilot. She has a red buzzcut, which means she's also a rebel, lowercase r. She doesn't always agree with her superior, Lieutenant Braylen Stramm. (But she'll fall in love with him, anyway...) Stramm is an Imperial deserter who got tired of fighting the good guys.

Look at me, I'm a rebel!

The Wing Commander of Blade Squadron is Adon Fox, who lost his wife during the evacuation of Hoth. His Imperial counterpart, Admiral  Jhared Monferrat, is commanding the Devastator (which used to be Darth Vader's flagship). He's a cruel man (duh) who jettisons potential smugglers and calmly shoots an officer for questioning his judgment.

The Blade Squadron's goal is to get close enough to the Devastator to destroy it. Spoiler: they do. Fox is able to shoot down Gradd, the star Imperial pilot (who dies pretty anticlimactically). In the process, Fox damages his B-wing so much that he's unable to eject. So he just drifts off into space and presumably dies. 

But at least they were able to blow up the Devastator!

Quotes: Everyone on the squadron grapevine knew how generals were cavorting around with princesses, and if anything the Rebellion was stronger for it.

Final Judgment: 3 out of 5 snubfighters. It was fine. It didn't really make me care about the Blade Squadron, but I'm guessing there are going to be a bunch more short stories about them.