Red Commodores

"The training I went through... it was harder than my knight's trials! And that was only to become a blue."

- An ex-jedi who lied to enter the original Commodores.

The Red Commodores (also called Reds or Commodores, and the restored group was sometimes called the new Commodores) were a group of the most efficient pilots, gunmen and hand-to-hand fighters in the Galaxy formed to combat the Galactic Empire. After their first victory alongside the Rebel Alliance and Droid Confederacy, resulting in the Empire's destruction, the Red Commodores went their separate ways, many returning to their old lifestyle of bounty hunting or smuggling. When the Yuuzhan Vong war broke out, the Red Commodores were little more than a myth, though a devoted few restored the organization and recruited others who had just as much skill as their predecessors. This new group helped the new Republic defeat the Vong, though after the war history repeated itself, and the new Commodores also split. The original reds' headquarters was aboard the Crimson, a large capital ship, thought the new commodores had no headquarters.

Heirarchy
The leaders of the commodores were the commodores themselves. Each commodore had to own his/her own ship and be in command of at least 10 soldiers, called blues. Twice a year, every commodore would meet to discuss the running of the organization. Each of them would select one of their blues to compete to become a commodore, though only one could win at every meeting. In this way 2 more commodores were recruited a year. To win, a blue must have great skill at flying, shooting and fighting, as well as have the ability to acquire a ship and 10 more blues within a short time. No force-sensitives were permitted to enter this organization, though one who lied to get in said that his training was "harder than his knight's trials". There were always very few Commodores at one time, and sometimes more were killed per year than were recruited.

Rebels?
Though the reds wanted the same thing as the rebel alliance, they defended their autonomy fiercely. The commodores immediately rejected every offer made by the rebels to join into one larger group, as they enjoyed the freedom they had as equals within their own organization. Despite this, imperials often referred to red fighters as 'rebels', though it is unknown if the empire did know the difference between Commodores and rebels. The Yuuzhan Vong war was similar, with the new Commodores retaining their independence despite all odds.

Uniform
The reason the Red Commodores were so called was because of their uniforms. They wore red caps, red shirts, red capes and red trousers, though with black belts and jackets. The blues wore blue shirts, blue belts and black trousers, with no hats, jackets or capes.

Weaponry
Reds had to be perfect shots with all manner of blaster pistols, and were expected to carry two at a time in case of emergency. Other weapons were, however, permitted, and reds would often have one particular favourite weapon as well as their two pistols. Blues would be supplied with one blaster rifle, one blaster pistol and two knives. They were not allowed to use other weapons.

Starships
Every red had to own a starship, which could be any size as long as it could carry them and all of their blues. In this way prominent reds would have to own bigger ships as more blues were assigned to them. The reds all shared one capital ship, the Crimson. The blues could own starfighters, but these would have to be able to fit into their commander's own ship, so only blues with commanders owning large ships (with hangar bays) could own starfighters.

Requirements
The requirements to become a red or a blue were relatively simple. They were that every blue had to be efficient in at least one form of unarmed combat. This could be anything from unstructured boxing to highly complex martial arts such as Ikee Keeza. A red had to have achieved at least half of the awards possible in one of their fighting styles, or if there was no structure, be able to defeat ten opponents unarmed. The Commodores were quite a specieist organization. The other requirement was that they accepted only human, near-human or Togruta members, and any other applicants would be turned away or suggested to the rebel alliance. Despite this, they were well-loved by all rebels/republicans after the two wars they were involved in, even those who were discriminated against.

Behind the Scenes

 * I created the red commodores based on a custom character I made on Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. He had Panaka's hat and a number of red clothes.
 * I remembered all too late that the Red Admiral is a butterfly.
 * A Commodore is technically a person above captain but below rear admiral. Often they are in control of two or three ships. None of the Star Wars commodores own more than one ship, so none of them are 'true' commodores.