You Did What???
(a fanfic self-defense site)
OK, OK .... so ya read one of my stories and ya feel the need to tear me apart... I can appreciate that, really I can... just gimme a chance to defend myself... so, here, broken down by story, is my justification of each and every heinous action i've placed in my fanfic.
"Memories"
1. Wait a minute... Tycho meets Hobbie first, but you've confused Hobbie with Janson or some other pilot. Hobbie's laughing and joking--what's going on here?
Apparently you've read Aaron Allston's "Starfighters of Adumar" and have entirely the wrong picture of one of my favorite characters. It's true that Major Klivian will never compare with, say, Janson, but here he is young, and talented, and has just survived an accident. A little euphoria is believable. Besides, don't let Allston fool you--the man knows how to write Wedge and Janson, but struggles a bit with Hobbie and Tycho. Nobody's perfect.
2. I am so sick of everyone in the Star Wars universe knowing each other! How convenient that Tycho just happens to be paired with the daughter of his father's old business associate. Do we need to start calling you Lucas?
(In a high, screechy Luke-when-Ben-dies voice) NOOOOOOOOOO! (Ok, I've recovered now.)
You know, you really shouldn't go around calling people names like that. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth? Anyway, yes, I do realize that the timing and the circumstances of Larynn's appearance are a bit... ahem... fortuitous, but it's not like she's his long lost sister or anything. Tycho's father was the CEO of the primary means of communication for Alderaan. How many men (and their daughters) do you think he met and talked to? Thousands, easily. And if you had a son as nifty as Tycho obviously was, wouldn't you talk about him to fellow fathers???? Cut me a little slack here--just how many details do we know about Paris Hilton, again? Also, Larynn is very important to Tycho--she's there for a purpose. He needs an anchor now. Look at it this way: she is to Tycho what Whistler will be to Corran--a link to a time when he knew himself very well. Tycho hasn't dealt with Alderaan's destruction yet; all he knows is that his old ideals flew out the window when he deserted.
3. Why is Wedge mad at Luke? Luke is the greatest pilot in the world, right??
Ok, first of all, if you think that, I may just shoot you now... Wedge is way better than Luke can ever dream of being... but I'll get back to the real issue. The fact is, after Hoth, Luke just took off, without telling anyone. Granted, he's a hero of the Rebellion and all, but it's just not good form for a commanding officer. Plus, the Rogues are trying to get some respect for X-Wings (check out the X-Wing mini-book... it proves it). All in all, given the circumstances and Wedge's tendency to be a stickler for the rules (Commander Square Corners, remember?), it seemed a natural reaction for him.
3. I'm sick of the Rogues having some grand symbolism. Why can't they just be a new squadron?
Rogue Squadron is not and can never be an ordinary squadron, for two reasons. One, consider their creation.... they aren't simply a squad that was trained and thrown at the Imps, they're the pet project of the Rebellion's two greatest fliers. That in itself sets them off from the rest of the starfighter groups. Second, the idea for the "X-Wing vs the World" theme came from a couple of places. I first started thinking about it when I read in the X-Wing Mini-book (see question #2) that the T-65 was considered backup to the Y-Wings at Yavin, so much so that they only carried two torpedoes a piece. Then, when I began to incorporate the implications of Luke leaving the squadron, and the fact that X-Wings clearly came to dominate much of the post-Yavin fleet, Rogue Squadron seemed to be the natural means of changing Fleet's mind.
4. In "Memories", Tycho is tested for Salm's Y-Wing squadron, but in the Dark Horse comic series, Tycho and Wedge are introduced to him prior to Brentaal IV. What's up with that?
I have to be honest here... I just wanted to. But, I can justify this. Wedge says in "Krytos Trap" that Salm has never liked Tycho. I wondered why, and reasoned it this way.... the Rogues are hotshots, that's a given. Salm has already demonstrated some dislike toward the X-Wings, and their pilots' grandstanding, in "Rogue Squadron." It made sense that Salm would have been offended by a pilot he was already suspicious about getting pulled into a hotshot squad. It's concievable that Salm had forgotten the earlier meeting (the one that I placed on Hoth), or that he'd just decided to let it rest (another thing he did in "Rogue Squadron," concerning Corran Horn's court martial), but then had his suspicions revived after Tycho's capture.
5. WAIT A MINUTE, WHAT'S GOING ON HERE? You have Wedge caring about the odds when he assumes command? He's a Corellian, you idiot!
Yup. I do. Once again, this is totally in keeping with his characterization. Also, I'd like to point out that Corellians don't care about the odds as they pertain to themselves. When in command, they do, indeed, take care that the odds are in favor of their people staying alive. (See "Solo Command", "Iron Fist", or "Wedge's Gamble")
6. Yo, we got a problem. What's up with all of this anti-Imperial politically correct issues that Tycho's going through? Geez, you'd think there was a conspiracy or something.
A couple of points to make here. First of all, as an author I needed some sort of angst to motivate the characters. Second, keep in mind that the majority of this story is told through the eyes of a man who is undergoing a trial for treason against a government that he helped found. What Tycho remembers may be a bit skewed, or there may be an actual anti-Imperial bias that's been largely ignored in the E.U.
If you're looking for actual textual sources, I was trying to justify the scene in "Rebel Opposition" (the first series in the Dark Horse Rogue Squadrons). In it, Janson's shot down, Tycho has landed and they're hiding out in a cave. Wes suddenly brings up the whole former-Imp issue, and Tycho totally brushes him off. (The exact phrase is "...tell you what, I write the book, you'll be the first to read it." Or something like that, anyway.) Now, why would a man who has flown with Tycho for over what, a year or so, not know that the guy was an Imp. And why would Wedge get belligerent about his absolute trust in this one pilot who's shot down? I could come up with only two excuses.... 1) the entire "Rebel Opposition" series is in fact one long deluded nightmare on the part of either Stackpole, Wedge, or Tycho (but that's the topic for another fanfic), or 2) the Rogues are seriously coming off of a major blowout. One served the purpose of the story and seemed canon-ically feasible, while the other was a simple explanation for a very bone-cringingly bad comic book.
I was also pulling from the fact that when the Core Four break up, it goes Wedge/Tycho, Hobbie/Janson or Wedge/Janson, Hobbie/Tycho.... never Wes/Tycho... no bad feelings, but some residual non-closeness, I guess. I elaborate on this in a canon essay. Other textual stuff would be the beginning of "Rogue Squadron," when the new Rogues are immediately told about Tych's history, despite demonstrated reticence on his part.
7. What is Janson's "Theory of a Pilot's Life"??
In this case, I'll just defer to the master. As Janson says it in "Solo Command,"
" If you're not having fun, you're not enjoying your life. If you're not enjoying your life, why even bother being alive? If I wait until some imaginary distant point in my life to start enjoying it, I'll be dead before I get there. But if I get killed tomorrow, at least I can be pretty sure that I enjoyed myself more than whoever's killing me."
"What If"
1. Excuse me? You can't destroy the entire Rebellion / New Republic in one battle. That's nuts!
I agree. There is no way that such an event could come to pass. (Three cheers for bureaucracy!) Basically, here I needed an event so cataclysmic that it would force the Rogues to scatter--to be placed in a totally alien environment. Work off the theory of suspended disbelief in this one--I'm trying to be true to the psychology of these characters, not the likelihood of such an event actually coming to pass.
2. Whatever... I guess that I'll let that one slide. But what's the story with this whole battle thing, anyway?
What, now I need to explain my art to you???? Pushy, pushy, pushy! The way I figure it, (ok, time to suspend some disbelief) all the warlords, the would-be emperors, all the imperial remnants in general got together and said "we want to be nice now. meet us at [x] coordinates and we'll sign the surrender." The New Republic believes them, and so they turn out in grand style.... dress uniforms, bureaucrats, the whole shebang, only it's really an ambush (duh). The capital ships are rigged to explode, and the starfighters are overwhelmed.
3. Well, you've never led us wrong before, Asyr.... Why does Wedge think everyone is dead?
Good question! You see Gavin Darklighter die. (I know, I liked him, too, but he's afflicted with the same syndrome all Tattoinians seems to have, and I really didn't have time to deal with his whining. Besides, like Stackpole, just because I kill somebody doesn't necessarily mean that they're dead.) Wes is taken out of the battle, forcing Hobbie to defend him. With all those TIEs looking for an easy kill, the boys don't have much of a chance-- Hobbie actually has to deal with 24:1 odds, his fighters plus Janson's. It's pretty easy to give them up for dead. Other than that, Wedge is sort of overwhelmed by the explosions of the capital ships, and he can't see past the shield scatter. He transmits his message, and runs.
4. But doesn't Wedge realize that he couldn't be the only survivor?
Hey, I just do what the characters tell me to do.
5. COP OUT!!!!
Okay, okay.... well, Wedge doesn't get any response to his omega order. I don't think he's really considering survivors in the Rebellion at large, just among the Rogues. Plus, he's got just enough arrogance to believe that he could outfly the ambush when the others couldn't. It doesn't really do him credit, but I guess it could happen. Besides, he eats crow in the story... just read it!