Artur Essada

Artur Essada was a human male who served as a pilot in Nashtah Squadron of the Galactic Empire. Following the Battle of Portocari in 0 ABY, he, along with other surviving members of the squadron, came to the Zero Angle cantina on the Bright Jewel Oversector Flight Base. There, after drinking Ebla, he raised a conversation with fellow soldiers, questioning the incorrect information that they flew on as well as the deaths of their comrades Riggs and Chan. His assumption that the Empire had strained all forces to fight the enemy without sparing people and throwing them into battle for any reason received confirmation when Commander Weller brought the news about the destruction of the Death Star by the Rebel Alliance.

Biography

Battle of Portocari

Artur Essada was a member of Nashtah Squadron, a squadron of ground-hogs or atmosphere pilots, in the Galactic Empire.^[1] Shortly after the destruction of the Death Star at the Battle of Yavin,^[2] in 0 ABY,^[3] the pilots of Nashtah Squadron were sent to Portocari to hit rebel artillery in the hills. The squadron was then called to regroup for a strike on an urban rebel safe house. During the strike, the pilot Muller was hit with an anti-air warhead, leaving her injured. The pilot Barsay was then hit and killed by fire from a Z-95 Headhunter. Then a TIE/sa bomber and its escort, flown by pilots Riggs and Chan, performed a bombing run on the safe house. The safe house, which the pilots were unaware was filled with munitions, exploded, vaporizing both the bomber and the escort along with it. The explosion also killed thousands of civilians in the city. The incident left Essada questioning if Imperial leadership would have called off the strike if it had known the safe house had contained munitions.^[1]

At the Zero Angle

Shortly after the battle, the pilots of Nashtah Squadron went to the Zero Angle cantina, where Essada began drinking Elba. When Huck Trompo began to sing a ground-hog anthem in an attempt to goad Banshee Squadron, a squadron of vac-heads, or space pilots, into a fight, Essada asked squad leader Sax Hastur to step in to prevent it. While Hastur managed to momentarily stop Trompo, the latter shortly began singing again. This time, the other squadron began to sing a vac-head anthem, and a fight shortly broke out. Essada stayed out of the feud while the bartender Florn and the astromech droid Lightning used the droid's sonic emitter to end the fight. After Florn pointed out the wall over the bar that displayed holograms commemorating the pilots that had flown out of the Bright Jewel Oversector Flight Base and were killed in combat, the two squadrons began to uneasily bond over those they had lost. When the topic of the squadron's recent losses at Portocari came up, Essada claimed that he did not believe the strike on the safe would have been called off if leadership had known what was stored inside. The other pilots agreed that recent Imperial intelligence had been faulty. They all began to speculate that something major had happened, and the Empire was retaliating by destroying any rebel target it could find. Shortly after, Commander Weller entered the cantina. Weller informed the pilots of the destruction of the Death Star, and told them to report to their quarters for assignment to new squadrons.^[1]

Personality and traits

Artur Essada was a dark-skinned human male with black hair and brown eyes. As a ground-hog, he believed it was unfair that vac-heads got depicted on recruiting posters and had their victories in combat dominate the HoloNet. After the Battle of Portocari, he expressed dissatisfaction with Imperial intelligence, a sentiment which Huck Trompo described as "rebel talk."^[1]

Equipment

Artur Essada wore the black flight suit of the Imperial Starfighter Pilot. While at the Zero Angle cantina, Essada wore an olive-green Imperial uniform.^[1]

Behind the scenes

Artur Essada appeared in the canon short story "Last Call at the Zero Angle," written by Jason Fry.^[1] The story was published in Star Wars Insider 156 on March 10, 2015.^[4]

An illustration depicting the pilots of Nashtah Squadron by John Van Fleet accompanied the short story, however which pilot was which was not stated.^[1] Jason Fry later confirmed the identities of the pilots in the illustration on Twitter.^[5]

Appearances

• "Last Call at the Zero Angle" — Star Wars Insider 156 (reprinted in Star Wars Insider: The Fiction Collection Volume 2) (First appearance)

Notes and references