General Wedge Antilles: The Perfect Imperial

The renowned Wedge Antilles of Star Wars Lore has been around for years. He starred in all 3 Original Movies, and his character and history has been advanced throughout the Star Wars "Expanded Universe" Novels.

For those who may be unfamiliar with our friend Wedge, he (along with Luke Skywalker) are the only Red Squadron (X-Wing) pilots to have survived the Battle of Yavin. He's the one that didn't get a medal. Besides Chewbacca, that is. He flew Rogue 3 in the Battle of Hoth, and helped Luke takedown some Imperial Walkers. He capped his movie performance by flying as Rogue Leader as Lando Calrissian's wingman to destroy the Emperor's Second Death Star at the Battle of Endor.

In the Novels, he plays increasingly important roles. He Rebuilds Rogue Squadron and then leads them to defection in order to topple an Imperial Warlord. In the process, he (not-quite) single-handedly captures Ysane Isard's Super Star Destroyer Lusankya. He eventually becomes a New Republic General.

Why is he the Perfect Imperial? Well, to answer that, we need to look at the New Jedi Order series. After the fall of Coruscant, Wedge is charged with liberating and holding Borleias in the Pyria System after it is captured by the Yuuzhan Vong (in the book "Rebel Dream"). He has a large fleet, including the newly refitted SSD Lusankya. Wedge uses different styles to defend the system. He uses the "Hard-Style" Defense of the New Republic, then the "Soft-Style" Defense of the Rebel Alliance. On the Third Vong Attack, he is asked what style it will be that defends the planet. His response: We've shown them New Republic, We've Shown them Rebel Alliance. This time, we'll show them the Empire.

Wedge really outdoes himself in this attack. He plans Operation Emperor's Hammer. In it, he fakes a losing ground battle as the Yuuzhan Vong land on the planet while his fleet stays in orbit over their base. As they withdraw towards the base, giving land up to the Yuuzhan Vong, the New Republic forces halt within their base's borders with the Yuuzhan Vong right behind. As soon as the friendly forces are safely inside the base's "kill zone," Wedge finally puts the Lusankya and the other Star Destroyers to the use they were built for. Operation Emperor's Hammer delivers full-scale orbital bombardment on the Yuuzhan Vong's ground troops, completely obliterating them. The New Jedi Order series, to this point, had been a series of devastating defeats, especially on the ground, for the New Republic. I wanted to stand up and cheer for Wedge! He truly is THE MAN!

-Kal