Vanguard Squadron (Hapes)

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Vanguard Squadron was a volunteer squadron within the Empire of the Hand raised on Hapes during the Yuuzhan Vong War by Jagged Fel and his Chiss wing guard Shawnkyr Nuruodo, based around the two Clawcraft of their scout element.

History

Vanguard Squadron

When his father subsequently authorized him to return to former New Republic space on a reconnaissance mission, he was accompanied only by his wingmate Shawnkyr Nuruodo. Flying as Vanguard One and Vanguard Two, they had strict orders only to scout for the Household Phalanx; but from the start, Jag was planning to recruit more pilots.^[1]

The resulting unit, known as Vanguard Squadron, was raised on Hapes, and accordingly consisted mostly of Hapan volunteers, but also included Kyp Durron, whose squadron had been destroyed around him for the second time since the start of the Yuuzhan Vong War. This squadron served in the Battle of Hapes,^[1] and later, when Jag joined Twin Suns Squadron under Jaina Solo's command, leadership of Vanguard Squadron was taken over by Shawnkyr.^[2]

Chiss Squadron

At some stage after the Battle of Borleias, a full squadron of Clawcraft arrived in former New Republic space - a unit normally referred to simply as the Chiss Squadron. Jag quickly took command of the newly-arrived Squadron, and on his own initiative, he kept them in the front line against the Yuuzhan Vong, fighting alongside Jaina Solo's Twin Suns Squadron.

The Chiss Squadron was detached from Twin Suns, and they were assigned to patrol the Hydian Way, grouped with a squadron of New Republic E-wings.^[6] After Ebaq, Shawnkyr returned to the Chiss space to report to her superiors.^[3]

Although Jag initially considered his second-in-command, Eprill, and a young female pilot named Sumichan for this duty, he went instead with the eager male warrior Miza, who was killed in a skirmish at N'zoth, and the cool, Csilla-born female Jocell.^[3] After the Defense of Mon Calamari, the Vanguard Squadron roster had been reduced to six Clawcraft, including the fighters of Jag, Shawnkyr and Eprill. These were amalgamated into Twin Suns Squadron, and flew as part of that unit during the Recapture of Coruscant, with Jag as Twin Lead and Shawnkyr as Twin Four. At least half the pilots of this newly-formed Twin Suns Squadron were Chiss.^[4]

Behind the scenes

In the dramatis personae for The New Jedi Order: Dark Journey, Jag Fel is named as "commander, Chiss squadron". This is clearly a generic title for a Chiss squadron, rather than a unit designated "Chiss Squadron", and to confuse matters further, Jag holds no such squadron command in the course of the novel: his previous command is explicitly identified as a multi-squadron force (as it was in The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide II: Ruin), and in the course of the novel, he first leads a two-ship Chiss scout element, around which he forms Vanguard Squadron from volunteers recruited on Hapes. In The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream and The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand, no further Chiss pilots appear: Jag transfers to Twin Suns Squadron, and his Chiss wingmate Shawnkyr Nuruodo takes command of the Hapan volunteers of Vanguard Squadron.

A squadron of twelve Chiss Clawcraft appears abruptly at the start of The New Jedi Order: Destiny's Way, where they are said to have been detached from Twin Suns Squadron in the weeks following the Battle of Borleias. The first references to Chiss Squadron as a designation occur in The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic I: Remnant, and this designation is used consistently through the Force Heretic trilogy, but there is one dialogue reference to them as "Vanguard Squadron" in The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic II: Refugee, and by The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force, they have certainly acquired the name formerly used to denote Jag and Shawnkyr's Hapan volunteers.

Various explanations are possible for the confusion of names and the changing numbers of Chiss pilots, but it is unclear whether any such dynamics were conceived of by any of the authors: the very existence of "Chiss Squadron" and their subsequent identification as "Vanguard Squadron" may represent nothing more than Chinese whispers and breakdowns in communication between authors and editors.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that many of the novelists would seem to have been confused by the distinction between Household Phalanx forces and the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force, as established in Vision of the Future. As a result, the political allegiance, chain of command and rules of engagement of "Chiss Squadron" are utterly unclear.

Appearances

• The New Jedi Order: Dark Journey (First appearance)
• The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
• The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand
• The New Jedi Order: Destiny's Way
• The New Jedi Order: Ylesia
• The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic I: Remnant
• The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic II: Refugee
• The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic III: Reunion
• The New Jedi Order: The Final Prophecy
• The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force

Sources

• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia

Notes and references