Caescar Piccolé

"Starfighters flashing to and fro in the heat of battle can be a wondrous sight&mdash;if you're not being shot at yourself, that is. I wanted to give the citizenry the chance to see what the Republic's pilots could really do, live and in person, without the dangers."

- Captain Caescar Piccolé to a holojournalist, upon his retirement

Caescar Piccolé was a male from  who grew up as a. A talented pilot, he toured the galaxy as a part of the semi-professional circuit. When the began conquering worlds on the edge of the 's borders, he left a promising career as a racer behind and joined the Republic Marines. A veteran of the and later the, he eventually rose to command the 11th Marine Starfighter Squadron, flying a  during the. More than twenty years later, as the Republic continued to recover from these conflicts, he was instrumental in forming the Red Gundarks flight demonstration team, a touring force of elite pilots that put on displays of precision maneuvering and formation flying for civilian crowds across the civilized galaxy.

Early life
"A swoop jock who found a higher calling. Good kid, though; he's definitely got the stuff."

- A Marine instructor's evaluation of Piccolé

Growing up on the cold, dry world of, Caescar Piccolé always loved flying. Even before he could safely drive a or, he loved to admire them from afar. However, after taking apart the engine of his uncle's speeder bike and being unable to put it back together again no matter how hard he tried, he decided against pursuing a career as a mechanic. Demonstrating considerable aptitude on his first flights on a tandem swoop, he soon became an avid pilot. At age fifteen, Piccolé joined the amateur swoop circuit, becoming one of the planet's youngest champions in his second season. After having attained sponsorship for the semi-professional galactic circuit from the, he raced for three more seasons, winning several key races and demonstrating skills that had him on track to move up to the professional ranks.

Joining the Marine Corps
"One of my fiercest opponents when I started swooping offworld was this Cathar woman a couple of years older than me. When I heard about her homeworld getting shellacked by the Mandos, though, that hurt. So I joined up."

- Caescar Piccolé to a holojournalist, upon his retirement

While the continued their conquest of worlds beyond the Outer Rim, Piccolé kept a keen eye on developments as news reached the. After hearing of the devastation of the homeworld, however, he gave up his career as a  and joined the Republic Marines' Aerospace Wings in the hope that he could prevent other worlds, including his own homeworld, from falling under such attack. During the eighteen month training course, he excelled at the tight, terrain-following flying that was the hallmark of Marine doctrine and tactics. He also showed potential in fighter versus fighter engagements, earning high marks throughout the course. After graduation, he was assigned to the 11th Marine Starfighter Squadron, where he was billeted as the commanding officer's.

The Mandalorian Wars
"A blind mynock could see that they were eyeballing the Republic. Personally, I still don't understand why we waited for them to strike the first blow."

- Caescar Piccolé

By the time the s launched, Piccolé had been promoted to junior lieutenant. Flying as an element lead, he experienced his first taste of combat at the ; though the Republic force under Admiral was defeated and much of the surface of  had been devastated by nuclear missiles, the 11th Marines had managed to hold their own against the Mandalorian fighters. Piccolé and his accounted for two kills each. Along with the surviving Republic force, Piccolé and the rest of his were forced to retreat.

Throughout the next phase of the conflict, Piccolé and the 11th Marines were stationed aboard a succession of Republic capital ships, mostly, though during the defense of they had staged from one of the ' orbital cities. By the time the s and  began to take over leadership of the Republic war effort, the squadron had taken serious losses both from combat and through attrition. Piccolé himself was shot out of his at the, returning to the unit after a brief respite to take a promotion to full lieutenant and leadership of the third. After taking part in the, however, the unit was sent back to the Core Worlds for rest and refitting.

The Jedi Civil War
"After Taris, they never sent us back to the battle planes. I still don't know why, and to be quite honest, I don't want to know. Something happened to them during that last campaign, that's the only explanation I can think of for what those turncoats did."

- Caescar Piccolé

During the brief respite between the Republic victory at the and the emergence of Darth Revan's new, Piccolé worked hard to help bring the 11th Marines back up to fighting trim. Stationed at the shipyards at when the facility came, the squadron was barely able to scramble in time to escape their launch facility before it was severely damaged. In the midst of the mass theft and defection operation that the new were conducting, Piccolé and his fellow pilots were among the first Republic fliers to encounter the -manufactured s. In the dogfight that followed, the 11th's executive officer was killed, along with several more pilots forced to eject. After the Sith fleet's departure, having absconded with a third of the Republic warships docked there, Piccolé ran cover for the rescue shuttles as they picked up stranded pilots and crewers.

In the wake of the battle, Piccolé was assigned to replace the fallen squadron XO, taking over the second flight in the process. He also gave the first accounting of the capabilities, strengths and weaknesses of the Sith interceptor, noting his astonishment at the craft's lack of s. For the first few months of the newly-ignited, he and the rest of his squadron were rushed about the battle planes in a vain attempt to stem this new tide of conquest, participating in a number of small engagements and raids along the flanks of Sith territory. After the at the , however, the 11th was reassigned to the Second Fleet under Vice Admiral Forn Dodonna. Piccolé and his pilots participated in the counteroffensive that followed, lending close support to the and Marine troopers on the ground during the  at  and later, at the  at.

Behind the scenes
Caescar Piccolé was created by fan fiction author Sean "Goodwood" Nash.