Fanfic Remarks

I've written down a few remarks about my own fanfics. What inspired me to write the story, which official sources it is based on, which characters/events are my own creation and not part of SW canon, etc., in case you are interested in such things.

The Decision

• This story was inspired by a very interesting discussion on alt.fan.wedge about Tycho's motives for joining the Imperial Navy . If you would like to read the afw thread, please click here.
  
  
• The information about Tycho's family is mainly taken from chapter 11 of "The Bacta War". In "The Rebel Opposition" it is said that Tycho had two sisters, and that his fiancee was called Mia. In "Battleground Tattoine" this is corrected: Mia was Tycho's sister, and his fiancee was named Nyiestra. As Tycho only mentions 'sisters' in BW, I decided to give him three: the two mentioned in RO plus Mia. Tycho's brother Skoloc is introduced in BW, but there is no information about his age given. The way Tycho talks about him made me suspect that he was younger than Tycho, but that's just my assumption, not canon.
  
  
• In this story (and also in some of the others) I mention the clone wars. After watching "Attack of the Clones" I guess that George Lucas' clone war will be very different from what I imagined, so Episode 3 might contradict some of the things I wrote.

Cadets and Rebels

• Based on a conversation of Luke and Biggs in the SW Radio Drama and on the Prefsbelt scenes of "The Making of Baron Fel".
  
  
• The Luke/Biggs scene is an expanded version of the cut scene from ANH in which Biggs tells Luke that he is about to join the Rebellion. In the Radio Drama version he explains his reasons. This is the part that was the inspiration for my story:
  
  "Luke, I had a friend at the academy. He helped me through, the way I used to help you. Just before graduation, I heard he got picked up during a roundup of Rebel suspects. They said he died in interrogation."
  (Biggs, Radio Drama ANH, Episode 1 "A Wind to Shake the Stars")
  
  
• Zack is my own character. I created him for another fanfic which I started to work on before I wrote "Cadets and Rebels", and which still isn't finished.
  
  
• This story has a first glimpse into Hobbie's past. I later expanded Hobbie's background story in "Last Farewell" and "Changes" (see below). As the only things known about Hobbie's past are his homeplanet and that he went to the Imperial academy on Prefsbelt, I had to create my own version of his past life. So except for him being from Ralltiir, everything is pure speculation and not canon.

Last Farewell

• As already mentioned above, this whole fanfic is pure speculation and has very few connections to canon sources (simply because there aren't many). All that is known about Hobbie's life before he joined the Rebellion is his homeplanet Ralltiir, that he attended the Imperial military academy on Prefsbelt, and that he defected shortly after graduation. These few things I tried to include into my story, but the rest is speculation.
  
  
• Not only about Hobbie, but also about Ralltiir very little is known officially. The only time Ralltiir plays an important part in Star Wars history is shortly before the destruction of Alderaan. These events are described in the SW Radio Drama and summarized in the "SW Essential Guide to Planets and Moons". See my remarks at "Changes" for a brief summary. I tried to hint at these upcoming events in "Last Farewell" and addressed them in more detail in "Changes".
  
  
• In case you wonder if there is a reason that makes me think that Hobbie's family background is like I describe it in this story: there is not. I can't put my finger on anything particular in the official sources that made me write this fanfic in the way I did; it just happened :-).
  
  
• About the two star destroyers I mention: I couldn't find any mention of a ISD Agitator in the offical sources, but the Devastator actually exists. It was used by Lord Tion during the subjugation of Ralltiir and shortly thereafter it became Vader's flag ship. The star destroyer that hunts the Tantive IV at the beginning of ANH is the Devastator. I only learned this after I'd chosen the name for my story, but I think it is fitting.

Changes

• "Changes" is kind of a sequel of "Last Farewell", but I hope that it can be read as a stand-alone, too. It is based heavily on Hobbie's background story I created for "Last Farewell", though.
  
  
• As already mentioned above, there is little known about Ralltiir. This is the excerpt from the "Essential Guide to Planets and Moons" on which I based my story: 
  
  "For generations Ralltiir has been known as a center of banking; its financial institutions were considered some of the most stable in the galaxy. Fanatic supporters of Palpatine's new regime, however, infiltrated the planetwide fiscal records and tampered with them, bringing them more 'in line' with existing Imperial prejudices. Nonhuman investors and known Rebel sympathizers logged in to discover that their life savings had been erased. Knowing that the planet's reputation was at stake, the Ralltiir High Council denounced the sabotage and worked to reverse the damage. However, anything less than a public oath of loyalty to Emperor Palpatine would not be tolerated in the current political climate. An Imperial task force under the command of Lord Tion was dispatched to quash all opposition. Tion disbanded the High Council, arrested its 'treasonous' members, and set up a puppet military tribunal in its place. Roving impressment gangs dragged suspected dissidents to interrogation centers, and a naval blockade prevented anyone from leaving. Resistance from Ralltiir's citizens was dealt with swiftly and pitilessly."
  (The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons, text by Daniel Wallace, 1st edition 1998)
  
  During these events, Princess Leia came to Ralltiir to bring supplies to the local Rebels. She wasn't able to help them, but a Rebel managed to reach her ship and she brought him to safety. From this Ralltiirian Rebel the Alliance first learned about a new Imperial superweapon code-named 'Death Star'. I don't refer to this in my fanfic, as I don't think that the pilots would know about it.
  
  
• In my fanfic I state that the High Council that tried to put an end to the sabotage of fiscal records was the first that was elected democratically for years. This is speculation, not canon. I thought that there must have something happened that caused the High Council to act against the sabotage and the Empire after (most likely) years of ignoring it.
  
  
• Grallia is officially mentioned as Ralltiir's main spaceport, the cities Kazan and Nitanlo are my creations.
  

Past and Present

• The fanfic describes a scene that takes place during the events in "NJO: Ruin", but is only hinted at in the novel. I wished Stackpole had written it, but he didn't, so I eventually decided to try to write it myself.
• There are a few things mentioned that might not be canon: Jag saying that he has three younger sisters (he has two for sure, but his other sibling might be a brother), and the age of Wedge's daughters (which is approximately correct, though). I don't like to make canon mistakes (even if I can't help it because they were no mistakes at the time of the writing), so I tried to keep some things vague, but as the characters should know about them, it is difficult to avoid them entirely (I can't have Jag tell Wedge that he has one brother an two sisters and one sibling who may be a brother or a sister :-)).
• A part of the fanfic was changed again after it was almost completed (I hope that isn't too apparent); that was done due to the events desribed in "Survivor's Quest", as it was needed to keep the story canon. There are no spoilers for SQ, though, in case you are worried.