The Jedi Rangers were an organization of Jedi Knights in the New Jedi Order. Headed and formed by Ben Skywalker, the Rangers emulated the Jedi of old, wandering the galaxy, righting wrongs as they found them. Though they technically reported officially to the Jedi Council and Grand Master Luke Skywalker, they were actually left to their own devices for the most part, and were occasionally given missions by Master Kenth Hamner.
Because of their mission, they were considered vigilantes by some, and were especially targeted by Fyor Rodan during his race to become Chancellor of the New Republic, and the group of anti-Jedi called the Purists. Though the group was initially small, consisting mostly of Ben's group of friends, over time it grew to include dozens of Jedi, especially after Rodan, in the office of Chancellor, declared the Jedi Order an illegal cabal.
After this, they could no longer be based on Yavin IV, because the Yavin system was quarantined by the Republic. They were provided sanctuary in a forest on Corellia by Wes Lockam. They made a temporary camp there, which could easily be disassembled and moved if they needed to leave quickly. Also in the camp, they kept Ben and Owen's ship, the Wanderer, which they used as their command base. During this time, the Rangers provided support for the rest of the Order, especially Masters Kam and Tionne Solusar and Cilghal, who had taken the young Jedi students into hiding on Jacen Solo's unknown planet in the Unknown Regions.
History[]
Foundation[]
After Kueller's attack on the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin IV, Luke Skywalker left the academy on a personal journey. When his son, Ben, was knighted shortly thereafter, the younger Skywalker also set out into the galaxy. Unlike his father, however, Ben set out not on a mission of meditation but of justice. He had read the histories of the ancient Jedi and desired to be like them, protecting the common men. As he did this, over time he became known as "The Ranger."
When Luke Skywalker later called his family, telling them of a disturbance in the Unknown Regions, Ben returned to the Jedi Order. He, along with his mother, Jaina Solo, and Damien Farrell, traveled into the Unknown Regions, where they found Jacen Solo alive on a planet there. He had created a secret order of Gray Jedi. Many of them turned out to secretly be Sith, led by a woman named Brisha. After a battle on that world, in which Brisha was killed, the Jedi all returned to Yavin IV.
However, Brisha's apprentice Ahli Keros had survived and used an amulet that Brisha had acquired to resurrect the Sith Lord Darth Ruin. Ruin, Keros, and an army of Sith laid waste to the Jedi. After the Jedi finally came back and defeated the Sith for good, Ben Skywalker set out to be a Ranger again, and his brother Owen came with him.
After a year of activity, the two returned to Yavin IV to resupply. They were asked by Master Kenth Hamner to take on a mission to rescue Senator Fyor Rodan from a terrorist named Qazir Radique in the Unknown Regions, on the moon CZ-198. Ben and Owen agreed, and took Jaina, Damien, and Tenel Ka Djo with them for backup. When the mission was completed successfully, they returned to Yavin IV and decided that the five of them would form a permanent team. Shortly thereafter, Rodan announced his candidacy for Chancellor.
Early Missions[]
Ben Skywalker, leader of the Rangers.
One of their first missions together was to New Alderaan. At a military base, a corporal named Raylee Toch had been injured in a speeder crash. Hamner asked the Rangers to look into it because Toch had been a Force-sensitive. The five arrived on the planet and split up. While Ben interrogated Toch's squad mates, Owen searched her belongings, Damien and Jaina investigated the crash site, and Tenel Ka guarded Toch in the hospital. Though Jaina and Damien's search indicated no sign of sabotage—in fact, signs pointed to the fact that Toch had blown out the windshield with the Force—they still believed something felt off. This was proven right when Toch's CO, Sergeant Karst, attempted to apprehend her at the hospital. He was arrested and revealed that he had attempted to kill her because he found Force-sensitivity to be a blight upon the galaxy.
Weeks later, the Jedi Knight Jaden Korr went missing on a diplomatic mission to Melida/Daan. The Rangers went to the planet to rescue Jaden. While Ben spoke with the Melida Council, the other four searched for Jaden. In Jaden's suite, Jaina and Damien found no sign of listening devices or spy cams. On the streets, Owen and Tenel Ka were assaulted by four young humans who warned them that off-worlders were not wanted there. Ben found out that the Melida Council blamed the Jedi Order for the Dark Jedi Kueller's attack on their world, and thus they shunned outsiders, especially Jedi. They said that if their officers found Jaden first, he would be tried for resisting arrest. Ben and the others managed to find and rescue Jaden and return him to Yavin IV. Ben was disturbed that the Melidan Senator was one of Fyor Rodan's strongest backers.
On Corellia, a man named Wes Lockam contacted the Jedi Order after his girlfriend, Reina Lurren, was kidnapped. He initially believed his father had been the one to kidnap her, but when he revealed that he hadn't, Wes feared the kidnapping may have had something to do with the fact that Reina was Force-sensitive. The Rangers traveled to Corellia, which was Damien's homeworld, where they spoke with CorSec officers. Ben and Owen investigated Lurren's apartment, where Ben sensed that another member of the Lockam family had been there, but could not determine who. At the Lockam residence, Jaina and Damien questioned Wes and his father, when Wes's brother Begg Lockam entered. Jaina questioned Begg and discovered that he was the one who had kidnapped Reina. Tenel Ka knocked Begg out and he was arrested. As Wes had suspected, he had kidnapped her due to her Force-sensitivity; Begg believed Force-sensitive beings to be "filthy."
Some time later, on Coruscant, a swoop racer named Baxo Weriz died in an undercity cantina. Because Weriz was Force-sensitive, the Rangers investigated the murder. One of the suspects, a waitress at the cantina named Seha Dorvald, was found innocent, and the Rangers watched the cantina's security footage. Weriz had entered with a female Twi'lek, and facial recognition identified her as Aaye Tuo, aide to the Senator of Ryloth. They questioned her and found that she was guilty of the murder, at the orders of the Senator himself. As they prepared to leave Coruscant, they were attacked by an unidentified assailant in Senate security garments. They killed him and removed his mask to find he was a blue-skinned, black-haired alien like Radique.
A New Member[]
Jysella Horn during the Battle of Rattatak.
Shortly thereafter, the planet Rattatak was assaulted by a fleet of alien ships from the Unknown Regions, representing the Unknown Regions Liberation Front, the group Radique had led. Hamner sent the Rangers, along with Zekk, Jaden, and Jysella Horn, traveled to Rattatak to fight the URLF. They managed to get many civilians to safety and clear out the city square, but Ben, Jaina, and Damien were captured in the process. Owen, Tenel Ka, Zekk, Jysella, and Jaden fled as URLF gunships began to bomb the city. But as they did, they were backed into a dead end. Before the bombs hit, they were rescued by a hooded figure who led them down to a basement. There, he removed his hood and revealed himself to be Jacen Solo.
Meanwhile, Ben, Jaina, and Damien were taken to the warship, where the leader of the URLF was revealed to be Radique, who had survived the attack. On the planet, Owen came up with a plan to defeat the URLF; since the Republic refused to send a fleet because they did not have a Chancellor to issue the order, he contacted Talon Karrde instead. While the Rangers distracted the URLF on the ground and in space, Karrde launched his fleet and arrived in time to push the URLF back into the Unknown Regions. With the mission successfully completed, they returned to Yavin IV. Jacen reluctantly came with them, but was unsure about whether or not he wanted to continue to help the team, as he was reluctant to use the Force after nearly turning to the dark side. However, at his friends' urging, and after careful deliberation, Jacen decided to become a permanent sixth member of the team.
Training[]
The Rangers were, for the most part, trained in the same way that apprentices in the New Jedi Order were. In fact, most members of the Rangers were already Knights within the Jedi Order proper before joining the Rangers. However, some did join as apprentices, especially if their master was already a part of the Rangers. Because of this, over time the Rangers grew to have their own training style that differed somewhat from the typical Jedi teachings.
Philosophy[]
Tahiri Veila engaging in a form of moving meditation.
Like the New Jedi Order, the Rangers believed in the Living and Unifying Force. They believed that the Force guided their actions, but also obeyed their commands. They were taught how to meditate, but unlike most Jedi they were taught forms of moving meditation through combat or mechanical work rather than a peaceful, resting meditation.
The Rangers' philosophy hinged on helping others. Ben Skywalker, when he became a Ranger, went out with the specific purpose of righting small wrongs around the galaxy. He believed the Jedi, though pure in motive, had become too caught up in saving the galaxy from large threats, like the Sith. He believed they also needed to fight small injustices, from poverty and hunger to small-time crime and slave smuggling. The Rangers followed this, usually in the Outer Rim, where the Hutts and other crime families controlled many worlds.
The Rangers were highly cautious about the dark side; Ben had experienced the dangers of the dark side in fighting the Sith and seeing what the temptation of darkness could do to Jedi, especially in his cousin Jacen. He, and the other Rangers, were always careful to guard themselves from the dark side.
Combat[]
Two Jedi rangers training for combat.
Also like the New Jedi Order, the Rangers typically trained in lightsaber combat. The lightsaber was their main weapon, and they spent most of their time practicing with it. However, because of their mission, lightsabers were often considered overkill, so they also trained with a wide variety of weaponry including blasters, vibroblades, and crossbows. Many also trained in unarmed hand-to-hand combat.
Owen Skywalker, one of the first members of the Rangers, was a master of the combat sticks; baton-like weapons with electrical tips. He used these sticks as a Jedi would a pair of short lightsabers. He was the most proficient user of that type of weapon among the Rangers, and they were his weapon of choice, though he also carried at least one blaster with him at all times.
As unarmed combatants, the Rangers often trained in the forms of teräs käsi or Echani combat. Ben decided that it would be wise to learn how to use their bodies as weapons after he was captured by the Sith on Yavin IV and had to fight the Sith Judicar, who was wielding a lightsaber, with his bare hands.
The Rangers also used the Force telekinetically in combat, like most members of the New Jedi Order. They were careful to only do so when it was necessary, especially when fighting non-Force-users. They were especially proficient with Force pushes and pulls, and Jacen Solo was a master of a paralytic stun.
Equipment[]
A typical Ranger utility belt.
Due to the wide array of missions a Ranger could undertake, they often had a multitude of gear to choose from for a specific mission. In addition to their lightsabers, the Rangers typically carried a blaster with them at all times, as well as a utility belt with a grappling hook, rebreather, comlink, holomap, and either stun cuffs or zip-tie restraints.
Unlike the New Jedi Order, the Rangers did not typically don Jedi robes unless it was for a formal meeting. Because they usually traveled the galaxy and were often among citizens, they dressed in casual but practical clothes, including Bantha leather jackets or utility jumpsuits. They often wore their lightsabers on a hook inside their jacket unless they were deliberately setting out to arrest or investigate something as a Jedi, in order to keep themselves anonymous.
On dangerous combat missions, the Rangers would wear a light combat suit under their clothes. This combat suit was blaster-resistant, and it could also provide protection against blunt force. The suits were usually black with blue light piping across the sleeves and legs. This lighting came from energy tubes that channeled through the suit, providing lighting in darkened areas, and also warming the suit in cases of extreme unexpected cold.
For missions to arctic or desert planets, the Rangers had cold-weather or desert equipment that came with gear necessary to survive such missions. They also had access to vacuum suits for deep-space missions.
Appearances[]
- Star Wars: Restoration of Darkness (First mentioned)
- Star Wars: Masters of the Force (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars: Purity (First appearance)