Lit Books Cynically Reliving the X-Wing Series

I level my character doing Galactic Starfighter. My Inquisitor and Smuggler both have their XP bonus perks maxed out for it.

Back to my original post, I'm contemplating checking out that X-Wing miniature game myself. I saw some guys playing it at the game store when I was there to play the SW LCG and Netrunner.


I find it curious that in this, and in their SW LCG tutorial video, they use Holst's Mars, Bringer of War, if I'm not mistaken.

 

DigitalMessiah, that's a good idea; I now have no excuse for ever being under-leveled. To be fair, I'd probably do GSF more on a non-Sith character...starfighter combat just doesn't seem to be a very Sith-y thing to do; at least in comparison to a Jedi or smuggler doing it. Though to be fair Vader flew a TIE in ANH and Eldon Ax flew a fighter in Fatal Alliance, just to name a few. Still, though, usually space combat is done by actual pilots, smugglers, or Jedi (count the number of Jedi who fly fighters in the movies and EU–it's startling, and they actually have specific starfighters dedicated for them in the Clone Wars).

Ooh! Ooh! Cynical_Ben! Are you including Mercy Kill in the reread? If so I have some notes I will begin compiling about the squadron members in it.

 

Yeah, I'm curious how my sorcerer who is a Miraluka with no eyes flies around.

I prefer flying the flashfire with my smuggler, with his singleplayer starship mission code name Ace, Dash Rendar style.


Also does this mean Dash Rendar was in Rogue Squadron for one mission?

 

I imagine it's much like the time a sniper says, "I'll do it blindfolded," even if they're a Miraluka. Unintentional humor. I never could get into the "on-the-rails" space missions, so little that to this day I only know the codenames of the Smuggler and Trooper–"Ace" and "Comet."

Yes, yes it does.

 

A real-world comparison isn't applicable, since the U.S. isn't in any way comparable to where the New Republic was in 2.5 ABE. "But it doesn't happen in the real world" arguments are admittedly sometimes applicable when dissecting SW, but this isn't one of those times. The New Republic is in a very early and fragile state and is using politics as much as military force in order to win allies in a war that they're not quite winning yet. Put two Thyferrans in the Rogues, and Thyferra is happy. Their military output is validated and foreign interest/investment in them is potentially increased due to the celebrity status of Rogue Squadron. The New Republic is politicizing the Rogues in a bid to hold onto allies that it desperately needs --- desperate times call for desperate measures, after all.

I'm not saying it's the right thing to do --- Wedge objects to it it because he sees the logic in not weakening the unit, after all --- but I don't find it unbelievable that the NR is doing it in the first place. Politics pervade everything.

 

Yeah, but Thyferra is one planet in an entire galaxy, so it was contrived to be the one planet in the whole galaxy that has bacta. It's just a contrived thing and it doesn't work for me.

What about the other thousands of planets that want pilots in Rogue Squadron? Surely some of them are important in their own ways.

 

Indeed. The cost of possibly lessening the strength of Rogue Squadron is nothing compared to loosing those Allies all together.

 

But there's a lot of stuff in Star Wars that doesn't work for me, which I think is silly and contrived. And I know there's stuff which I like that other people feel is silly and contrived as well.

I liked Stackpole's Dark Tide quite a bit. And I've only reread a few chapters of Rogue Squadron, and that is just something that stood out to me which I didn't really care for, and I know that it's pretty important to the series but a lot of the time even with a silly starting point the quality overcomes it for me.

 

My main issue with it is that it doesn't go anywhere.

There are no subplots about pilots that just missed out, there is no conflict because losses were sustained that might have been avoided if a better non political appointment was made to the squadron.

It's just sort of hung out there and then left. If it hadn't been initially mentioned at the start of Rogue Squadron you'd have no idea that it was meant to be a factor.

 

It does pan out in that it kicks off the recurring theme of Wedge battling against politics throughout all four of Stackpole's initial books. Politics are there to frustrate him in the beginning, they're there to frustrate the hell out of him when Leia tells him why Tycho needs to go on trial, and they're there at the end of The Krytos Trap when he decides he's had enough of them and says "**** you and your politics; we're resigning from the New Republic to do what needs to be done."

 

Wow, so many replies. I had 17, 17 notifications when I came back from work today. I don't think I'll be able to get through all of the discussion, but, I would like to reply to a few points here.

Revanfan1, yes, I am going to review Mercy Kill. However, it will be the last book I do for this thread, so, it'll be a while.

As for the general thread of politicization of the Squadron and of the books as a whole, I mostly agree with what Jeff has said. The idea of politics playing a role in the makeup and appointment of the squadron is multi-headed, with numerous layers and purposes in the larger narrative. Right away it lets us know that, as much as Wedge might think otherwise, this isn't his squadron, at least not at first. A lot of his pilots were chosen for his squadron because of their political affiliations or because of the message said appointment would send to others. He didn't get to pick any of his own men aside from Gavin Darklighter and Tycho, and even those he had to fight for tooth and nail.

It also clues us in into just how complex and bureaucratic the New Republic is starting to become, even before they take Coruscant. Nawara Ven, Corran and Rhysati Nyr discuss it at one point; the Republic has already gained all of the allies they're going to get via simple ideals, via beings allying with them out of hatred for the Empire. Everyone else, they're going to have to work to persuade to their side. The Thyferrans, for instance, are making an insane profit by remaining neutral, it behooves them most to remain so, and part of putting Erisi and Bror Jace on the squadron is showing them that the NR values them as an ally, not just for bacta.

And as Jeff has already brought up, it gives us a fairly subtle (for Stackpole) running plot that turns out to be a Chekhov's gun by the time we reach The Bacta War.

As for real-life parallels, politics and war have always been tied together at the heel. I can't speak for the makeup of real-world units, but I do know that half of what we see from our layperson's perspective of both politics and military matters in our own country (not including all of the vets here) barely scratch the surface of what actually goes on. I'm sure that, to almost all of the regular citizens of the NR, the pilots appointed to Rogue Squadron 2.0 are there via merit rather than outside influence. Which, if their test scores are to be believed, they are, in part. It's a pragmatic politic, choosing this pilot over that pilot even though their scores are comparable. The squadron isn't sabotaged by this action, remember, they're just a little clique-ish at the start, before they really gel as a united unit, forged by combat.

I'll probably post the full review of Rogue Squadron tomorrow.

 

It's not a clear-cut issue of weakening it, though. It's not as if Wedge is being handed a band of incompetents for political reasons -- he's being given highly talented pilots, but he's just worried that there could be a better candidate out there somewhere but he's not getting it because politics, and then there's one guy he wants but he's told that's too many Corellians. It's an instinctive bristling at any level of meddling, and a doubt that this is the best way to go about it, more than a real concern that the standards are being watered way down. I mean, Bror Jace is the best new pilot in the unit -- he'd have made it on anyway. The Thyferrans are probably bringing the unit average up rather than down. Wedge isn't being handed incompetents for political reasons; he's being handed a certain cross-section of the best, rather than being allowed to choose from the entire best, for political reasons. Which isn't that unusual for military politics. A lot of things get done to please allies.

It's less like the issue the Marines are having where they just found that 55% of the women in boot camp can't complete the minimum pullup requirement, and more like an officer who's picking from a pool of candidates for his new elite Delta Force unit, has a bunch who are all qualified and basically equally elite enough to be in Delta Force, and he says, "I like this guy, I have the best feeling about him. He was better on this test and I put more weight on that," or whatever, and his superior tells him, "No, you've got too many white guys already. Pick the Asian guy. You don't have any Asians and it'll make people happy to see an Asian in Delta Force."

 

Even what we vets see barely scratches the surface lol

 

EDIT: Wrong thread

 

Is not a generation twenty years?

 

Touche.

What I meant was that the Rogue Squadron series acted as if the Clone Wars happened two generations ago (maybe a little longer) instead of a generation. My mistake.

 

I have yet to read a Star Wars book that was written by an author who seemed to realize he was writing in a galaxy with 100 quadrillion people, 1 billion inhabited star systems, and 20 million sapient species, so X-wing is nothing exceptional in this regard.

 

Yes, that's definitely Mars. I'd recognize that tune anywhere.

Revanfan1 You like blue A-wings?

 

That's an irritating standard for galactic-scale sci-fi, though - that this one planet is the only source for this critical mineral/animal/plant. (And sometimes it actually does work despite the cliche, such as the Dune series).
I thought the whole "the NR can't interfere, sovereign nation, etc." to be wholly contrived in the early NR era - especially since they essentially do this in Isard's Revenge anyways.

 

Blue A-wings Now that they used greens screens, I expect to see them show up at some point in the ST. YOU HEAR ME ABRAMS? MY OPINIONS SHOULD MATTER TO YOU! I BUY BOOKS!

Anywho, here's how we're going to do this review this time around. Since this series is a good deal shorter than the NJO, around half the size even with the addition of Mercy Kill, I'm going to break the review and discussion down so that it'll take place over different topics through different days. I know at least a few people have picked their beat-up old copies of Rogue Squadron to reread along with me, so I hope to foster some good discourse. First, I want to discuss the characters.

First, we're not going to be attacking Corran Horn for being a Mary Sue, thank you very much. Easy target, low hanging fruit, whatever you want to call it, I don't want to hear it. Instead, we're going to be tackling the principle character of, not this book necessarily, but of the series as a whole certainly, the one on whom this series rests.



Yes, Wedge, we're talking about you.

Wedge Antilles is the only movie character, the venerable Admiral Ackbar aside, seen in Rogue Squadron, and his role is essential in selling the narrative and informing the readers, who may not be familiar with the ideas and formalities behind the fictional military operation he's a part of, as to how these things are going to work. In short, he's the gateway character, the one with whom we are familiar. Others, like General Salm and Bror Jace, fit into stereotypes you may have seen or read about before if you're familiar with military fiction, but are otherwise new.

Wedge is what prevents this book from dissolving into a Top Gun story in space where Corran Horn is the focus and his rivalry with Bror Jace is played out to Kenny Loggins music in the skies above Borleias, giving the bird to the TIE pilots along the way and crying when Oorl crashes into the ocean. Wedge is the rock, both inside the story and outside of the story, the leader of a group of elite pilots who are now heirs to a legacy Wedge alone lays proper claim to. He is, as Tycho puts it, the greatest living pilot the New Republic has short of Luke Skywalker himself. But, as this book shows, his skills aren't just in dogfighting. He has the makings of a good leader as well, even if he chooses to focus on a squadron rather than a fleet.

One thing I did notice in my re-read is how much more flawed Wedge seemed than when I read this book last. I supposed it was my own fault for skimming parts of the internal narratives, but I did remind myself this time that they are there for a reason. Stackpole has his characters monologue internally, the same way Traviss does, because most of his characters don't, or can't, wear their emotions on their sleeves. These are military personnel, and outside of a few scenes in unguarded moments, respect is payed to the uniforms being worn. Wedge is no exception, as he comes off most often as a calm, unflappable, quick-thinking and reasonable authority figure. As I said, the rock.

However, that's only the face he presents to his pilots and his superiors. Parts of him are given to us, the readers, to show that, yes, Wedge is a really good pilot, but he's also a scarred survivor. He's lived through some of the biggest and most brutal battles of the Rebellion, played a role in the destruction of both Death Stars, and has more kills to his name than any pilot since the Clone Wars, save maybe Luke Skywalker himself. Yet, he's also had friends die, seen beings he'd grown close to burn without a chance to say goodbye. Hobbie and Janson are both elsewhere, leaving him alone aside from Tycho and Mirax, trying to train up a fresh group of pilots who, despite only surrendering a year or two at most to him, seem a lot younger by contrast.

Wedge is only 27 by this point, but he's already an old man in some ways. He tries to keep himself distant from the pilots, tries to play at being the officer, at being in charge and apart from them. Emotional distance is armor for the soul, he says to himself. But, as he realizes himself toward the end of the book, he simply cannot do that. The most important thing to him in the galaxy, short of bringing the Empire down, is the well-being of the pilots in his charge and on his wing. He's willing to immediately turn around after the second mission to Blackmoon and go after Corran, operational security and mission planning be damned. He's willing to toss operational protocol in the refresher to go back for one of his own.

He's got a while to go before he's ready to lead a full-scale military operation the way we see him do in the NJO books far, far in the future. It'll be interesting to re-view how this series not only fleshes Wedge out as a character beyond what we see in the movies, but on how his character grows and progresses over nine books, seeing that he is the only character who is in all nine (ten).

Thoughts and comments on Wedge as this book portrays him? Suggestions on who/what to discuss next, either starting tomorrow or the day after?

 

I like the middle image that is a cool paint job.

 

We should discuss Ackbar at one point as well, though admittedly I think his better parts come in Wedge's Gamble, so maybe we can await till then.

--Adm. Nick

 

Oh, I see what you're saying! Wedge is Viper. Got it. Thanks.