Viggen

Viggen was a human who served in the military of the Galactic Empire. In the fourth year before the Battle of Yavin, he served as the commanding officer of an Imperial base on Imvur. Under Viggen's watch, the base was raided by a group of anti-Empire insurgents led by Commander Ryden. Although Viggen's forces damaged their transport starship, the rebels still managed to escape with stolen supplies. Intent on wiping out Ryden's operations, the Imperial C.O. then tracked the insurgents to their base, which was also located on Imvur. Once he arrived in the orbit of Imvur aboard an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer, Viggen was glad to find the rebels unprepared to evacuate. Against the suggestion of a lieutenant, the C.O. chose to launch an immediate ground assault instead of starting with an orbital bombardment. Having taken place in one of two AT-AT walkers, Viggen led their war machines toward Ryden's base, easily breaking through the rebels' meager defenses.

At one point, the rebels apparently decided to counter-attack, as three MLC-3 light tanks came out of the base and fired on the AT-ATs. Convinced that those obsolete tanks were no match against Imperial walkers, Viggen continued on to their primary target, ignoring the MLC-3s. They quickly changed their mind when one of the tank, piloted by the rebel Kanan Jarrus, managed to destroy an AT-AT by hitting its neck at full power. The Imperial then figured out the tanks were only performing distraction maneuvers. When Ryden was forced to exit his tank, Viggen ordered their forces to shoot him. That action, however, was interrupted by the sudden arrival of a rebel evac ship that brought the remaining AT-AT down. Although Viggen and the pilots survived the crash of their walker, they were forced to watch the rebels flying away from Imvur.

Biography

During the reign of the Galactic Empire, Viggen served as the commanding officer of an Imperial base and also controlled their own Imperial I-class Star Destroyer.^[1] In 4 BBY,^[2] Viggen's base was raided by a rebel cell led by Commander Ryden. The rebels managed to successfully steal a large amount of supplies during the raid, but their transport was heavily damaged and one of them was captured by the Imperials before the rest escaped.^[1]

Angered at the trouble Ryden and his rebel had caused, Viggen traveled on their Star Destroyer to locate the rebels' base, which was also located on Imvur. The rebels became aware of Viggen's arrival after they intercepted an Imperial transmission that was sent out. Upon reaching orbit, one of the vessel's lieutenants informed Viggen that they had arrived, and wanting to see to the end of the cell personally, Viggen declared that they would lead Imperial forces on the planet's surface to destroy the base and threatened to demote the lieutenant when they questioned the sense of such a decision by suggesting an orbital bombardment instead. Word was then sent to Viggen's forces to prepare for an assault, and two All Terrain Armored Transports were deployed to the surface of Imvur, one of which carried Viggen on board.^[1]

As the two walkers made their way through a canyon toward the base they triggered the rebel's outer perimeter alarm and were quickly spotted by a lookout post that managed to send imagery of Viggen's forces back to Ryden at the base before being destroyed by the Imperials. Turrets on the walls of the canyon then began firing on the walkers, but their weaponry was not strong enough to pierce the vehicle's armor and so Viggen had the Imperial forces carry on unperturbed, destroying the rebel defenses in sectors three and four as they did. The AT-AT's sensors then picked up three approaching targets; a trio of MLC-3 light tanks piloted by Ryden himself and two members of a separate rebel cell providing aid to Ryden's: the former clone trooper Rex and the Jedi Kanan Jarrus, both of whom had prior experience in facing All Terrain Armored Transports.^[1]

Believing that the tanks were a desperate ploy by the rebels which would still not be able to damage the walkers, Viggen ordered the AT-AT pilots to ignore the distraction tactics the tanks were employing and continue on toward the base. The commanding officer swiftly changed their tune, however, when the rebel's astromech droid C1-10P piloted the VCX-series auxiliary starfighter Phantom into the canyon and opened fire on the second walker's neck, weakening it enough to allow Jarrus to fire with his tank and destroy the walker. Realizing that their walkers were not as invulnerable as they had believed, Viggen ordered that the tanks be destroyed, and Jarrus only narrowly dodged a gruesome death as he abandoned his tank before it was crushed by one of the AT-AT's huge feet.^[1]

Having figured out the rebels tactics, the Imperials managed to prevent the Phantom from getting a clear shot on the neck of the walker carrying Viggen; however, Ryden was able to score a hit with the weaponry of his tank, but drained the vehicle's power in doing so and failed to disable the walker. As the commander was forced to flee the powerless vehicle, Viggen saw the kill shot they had been waiting for and ordered the remaining Imperial forces to gun Ryden down. Before the Imperial could take revenge for the assault on their base, the rebel Gozanti-class cruiser Evac One arrived and distracted the Imperials by firing on the walker from above. This gave Rex a chance to fire from the last powered tank, and his shot crippled the walker, causing it crash into the side of the canyon. Viggen survived the crash, but was unable to prevent all of the rebels escaping once again with the supplies on board the cruiser, detonating explosives within their base as they did. Viggen was left standing on the surface of Imvur swearing they would one day take vengeance on Ryden.^[1]

Personality and traits

Viggen was a fair-skinned human with blue eyes, gray hair and a black moustache. After Ryden raided their base, Viggen wanted revenge and decided to personally destroy his base on the surface of Imvur, insisting on leading troops on the planet's surface as they would enjoy watching them suffer. When one of their subordinates suggested a more sensible bombardment, Viggen threatened to demote the lieutenant for daring to question their decision. On the ground, the attack initially went more smoothly than they would have expected, with the rebels unable to damage the walkers, but Viggen was taken by surprise when the rebel tanks managed to destroy one of the AT-ATs and left fuming on Imvur once the rebels managed to escape.^[1]

Equipment

While onboard their Star Destroyer, Viggen wore a standard gray Imperial officer's uniform including the cap. Upon traveling to Imvur's surface however, they donned a set of combat armor over the top of the uniform.^[1]

Behind the scenes

Viggen first appeared in the comic strip "Vulnerable Areas," which was written by Martin Fisher and illustrated by Bob Molesworth. The strip was published in Star Wars Rebels Magazine 17 in 2016.

Appearances

• "Vulnerable Areas" — Star Wars Rebels Magazine 17 (First appearance)
• "Academy Cadets" — Star Wars Rebels Magazine 18 (Indirect mention only)

Notes and references