Impossible’s our stock-in-trade.
—Wedge Antilles
Wedge Antilles was one of the most famous pilots on either side in the Galactic Civil War. Antilles was born on Corellia and was orphaned as a teenager as a result of an accident. Already a gifted pilot, he learned under the smuggler Booster Terrik before Imperial forces killed his girlfriend. Joining the fledgling Rebellion, he distinguished himself as a starfighter pilot, quickly earning his ace status.[1]
Though his full exploits and career are largely chronicled elsewhere, this document serves to encapsulate his interactions with the Force exiles of Yanibar. Antilles was one of a very small handful of pilots to survive the first Death Star trench run. He fought during the darkest hours of the Rebellion, including on Hoth, serving as part of the elite Rogue Squadron along with Luke Skywalker.[1] In 4 ABY, he was stationed on Tierfon Base. After a mission to Abridon, he was told about a B-wing pilot in Ice Squadron named Seirla Trasani by one of his pilots, Wes Janson. Janson and Antilles had flown together for years, and Antilles trusted his appraisal of Trasani's skills. He approached her and offered her a position in Rogue Squadron, but she declined, saying she felt her squadron needed her more. Antilles also passed along an invitation to dinner from Janson to Trasani, and she accepted, meeting with Janson, Antilles, and two other Rogues, Tycho Celchu and Derek Klivian at a local dive.[2]
The Rogues flew alongside Ice Squadron again over Bespin, where they launched a daring raid to suppress Imperial defenses and steal much-needed Tibanna gas. The raid was successful, part of a series of moves the squadron undertook in preparation for a move against the second Death Star. Meanwhile, Janson had also begun a relationship with Seirla. Assembling at Sullust, the Rebellion threw the bulk of its fleet into a desperate attack against the mammoth battle station and its attendant fleet.[2] Though his full exploits and career are largely chronicled elsewhe The end result was one that changed the galaxy: the second Death Star was destroyed, the Emperor slain, and the Empire reduced to tatters of its former glory.[1] Antilles personally fired one of the two salvos that destroyed the Death Star, making him the only pilot to survive both Death Star runs.[2]
After the battle, he and the other Rogues were able to celebrate on the surface of Endor's moon, but their celebration was cut short not long afterward when they were assigned to a mission to Bakura. While they were gone, Seirla Trasani was presumed lost on a routine escort mission, leaving Janson disconsolate. Antilles and Skywalker helped console their friend over her loss.[2]
Little did they know that "Seirla Trasani" had been an alias for a Force-using member of the Yanibar refuge named Hasla Almani, who had been assigned to infiltrate the Rebel Alliance. Upon her return to Yanibar, she became a squadron commander for a group of B-wings dubbed Paladin Squadron.[2] Antilles continued to fly with Rogue Squadron as their leader, striking against the Empire in a campaign that led to the newly-established New Republic seizing the galactic capital of Coruscant.[1]
Shortly thereafter, the Imperial Director of Intelligence, Ysanne Isard, unleashed the krytos virus, sickening millions. To treat it, the New Republic needed as much bacta as possible—which Isard foresaw and subsequently seized control over the one planet that could produce it, Thyferra. Antilles and the other Rogues resigned their commissions and began a private war against Isard, whom the New Republic was unwilling to move against openly.[1]
As part of their war, they were assigned to hit bacta convoys, stealing the precious liquid and distributing it where needed. On one such mission, they encountered a group of B-wings that also hit the mercenary guards that were protecting the freighters. Together, the Rogues and the other squadron made short work of the convoy, but both parties wanted the bacta. A standoff resulted, with neither side willing to let the other have the convoy. Antilles was about to order his squadron to attack when the commander of the B-wing squadron revealed that she was Hasla Almani—the pilot he had known as Seirla Trasani. She offered to allow him to kill her, but pleaded for her people, who were suffering from the virus. Antilles was tempted to seek revenge, but relented and allowed her to leave with the freighter, warning her that he would not suffer this betrayal lightly, and would kill her if they met again.[3]
Antilles and the Rogues prevailed against Isard and returned to New Republic service. He then founded Wraith Squadron, a hybrid pilot-commando unit, and used them to help bring down Warlord Zsinj. Antilles was part of many of the New Republic's many campaigns against the Empire and eventually ascended to fleet command despite his love of starfighter piloting. He retired after the New Republic signed a peace treaty with small remnant of the Empire in 19 ABY and settled down his wife, Iella Wessiri Antilles, with whom he had two daughters.[1]
When the Yuuzhan Vong invaded in 25 ABY, Antilles was recalled from retirement to serve as a fleet commander again. Hobbled by ineffective political leadership and indecisiveness from his commanding officers, Antilles saw the invasion tear through the galaxy despite his best efforts. In 28 ABY, he tried to hold off a Yuuzhan Vong invasion of Coruscant, but despite the presence of half the New Republic Defense Force, the capital world fell. Antilles and his trusted wingman Tycho Celchu fell back to Borleias with their fleet group, retaking it from the Yuuzhan Vong and mounting a defense designed to distract the Yuuzhan Vong while the New Republic regrouped.[1] Celchu helped him overcome his doubts and concern for his family after Coruscant fell, allowing Antilles to refocus on the battle.[4]
During the subsequent siege of Borleias, Antilles was contacted by his old squadmate Derek Klivian, who had raised a group of volunteers to fight the Yuuzhan Vong. Klivian had been chased to Rishi and encircled by the Yuuzhan Vong, but the unexpected intervention of the Yanibar Guard had brought him into a temporary alliance against the Yuuzhan Vong. He contacted Antilles on behalf of the Yanibar Guard, who were hoping to obtain tactical data from Antilles in return for helping protect Rishi and destroying thousands of Yuuzhan Vong. Antilles was skeptical, particularly when he saw Hasla again, but Hasla's superior, a Jedi Master named Selu Kraen, pointed out that they were on the same side, and that the Yanibar Guard had helped the New Republic and Rebellion in the past. Antilles was nonplussed, but relented, knowing that the information could help save lives on Rishi, particularly Klivian's.[4]
Antilles' defense of Borleias was able to drain the Yuuzhan Vong of resources, holding out for months on end. They eventually withdrew and the New Republic regrouped, reorganized itself into the Galactic Alliance, and eventually defeated the Yuuzhan Vong. Having done his part, Antilles once again retired at the end of the conflict.[1]
Ten years later, he was drawn into the Second Galactic Civil War, initially fighting for the Corellians. Later, though, he grew disgusted with the Corellians' leadership and, surviving an assassination attempt, he fled and joined the Jedi, who had become disaffected from both the Galactic Alliance and the breakaway confederation that Corellia and other rebellious systems had formed. As such, he participated in battles that allowed the Jedi to end the war as well as stop the Sith Lord that had taken over the Galactic Alliance. He later helped the Jedi when the Galactic Alliance tried to oppress them, and in 43 ABY, was part of an operation to extract his daughter Myri, who had joined Wraith Squadron.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
The canonical character of Wedge Antilles was brought into Force Exile IV: Guardian as a tertiary character, as Atarumaster88 wanted to create interactions between Hasla Almani and a number of the prominent Rogue Squadron members. Her subsequent defection was initially left unresolved in the novel due to pacing, but Atarumaster88 wrote the follow-on story Rogues and Paladins to further explore the possibility for tension between the Rogues and Hasla. Their encounter in that novel nearly had Antilles kill Hasla, but the author decided to leave the possibility for reconciliation open. The relationship between Hasla and the Rogues was representative of the overall relationship between the Yanibar Guard and New Republic.
In Force Exile V: Warrior, the author chose to bookend the novel with scenes featuring Antilles and Celchu, choosing to frame the novel within the context of the overall Yuuzhan Vong War. He also added another interaction between the Yanibar Guard and Antilles, opting to ultimately resolve the conflict between them at the end of the novel, with Antilles admitting that the Yanibar Guard had done their part to combat the Yuuzhan Vong. Despite Antilles' three fairly considerable appearances, Atarumaster88 was initially reluctant to write about such a canonically deep character for The Essential Guide to Force Exile.