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X-Wing Rogue Squadron: Difference between revisions
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* [[Asskicking Equals Authority]]: The more badass Rogues quickly shoot up the ranks. Late in the series and in other EU books, old Rogue and Wraith squadron members later become Generals, Admirals, and other high ranking individuals.
* [[Awesomeness By Analysis]]: Face's Holmesian ability to determine someone's planet of origin and past just by the way they walk.
* [[Bad Boss]]: ''Isard.'' When one of her ship captain minions [[Heel Face Turn|betrays her]], her response is to order not just his death, but the death of his girlfriend's ''entire family''; a calmly delivered, easily missable line reveals that she started killing the families of all the ship's crew hours ago. Her management style was mocked in one of the later Wraith Squadron books by a more [[Affably Evil]] villain, who noted that anyone who worked for a capricious psycho like Isard only had one of two things to look forward to: [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]], or [[You Have Failed Me...]]. Of course, Admiral Trigit, the Imp in question, is not much better. He's a [[Benevolent Boss]] as long as this are running smoothly, but when the chips are down, he's perfectly willing to sacrifice his Star Destroyer and everyone aboard to [[It's All About Me|save his own sorry ass]].
** Even Isard's co-conspirators hold her in such contempt for such insanity that one of them (who's the POV character for the scene above, and has pretty well already decided to betray her) decides that he'll make sure the families in question remain safe despite not giving a damn whether they live or die, just because it'll annoy her.
** Her backstory in the comics and a mini-novel by Stackpole and [[Timothy Zahn]] makes it abundantly clear she's willing to [[Hold Your Hippogriffs|throw anyone to the rancors]] to advance her own agenda. {{spoiler|Including her own father, whom she has arrested for treason before taking over his post as Director of Imperial Intelligence.}}
** On the other hand, this trope is zigzagged with Zsinj, who is sometimes prone to [[You Have Failed Me...]], but other times displays a Thrawn-like pragmatism.
* [[Badass Crew]]: Both the Rogues and the Wraiths, naturally, which is par for the course for squadrons captained by Wedge Antilles. The four pilots of Red Flight from ''Starfighters of Adumar'' are also quite badass. They're the four Rogues that were there since before Hoth, and they know what they're doing.
* [[Badass Normal]]: Other EU focuses on Jedi, or Han Solo, or clone commandos trained from birth by [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|elite Mandalorian mercenaries]]. This series? ''Pilots''.
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* [[Emotional Torque]]: Allston's writing is composed primarily of [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Funny]], [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Awesome]], [[Tear Jerker|Tearjerkers]], and [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Heartwarming.]] It borders on [[Mood Whiplash]] sometimes. In the later books the emotional torque itself is a large part of the plot. Since so many bad things keep happening, Wedge is constantly trying to find ways to keep the mood and morale up, but Zsinj or just his own pilots keep on bringing it down.
* [[Enemy Mine]]: In the Allston books, Han and an Imperial commander hatch a secret plan to combine forces against Zsinj. Then there's ''Isard's Revenge'', in which several Rogues die and the others end up having to work with an old enemy.
* [[Epiphany Therapy]]: Kell's fear and hatred of the man who killed his father ''and'' his, for lack of a better term, performance anxiety are cured this way. The first is after he realizes that Janson isn't the [[You Have Failed Me...]] type, the second when it dawns on him just what running away will mean to the love of his life. (It's not ''quite'' so simple, as it's mentioned Kell will never get rid of the fear entirely... but then the fear is mentioned only fleetingly.)
* [[Escalating War]]: The prank war in the Wraith Squadron books. The moral of the story: Wedge doesn't have a particular love or knack for practical jokes, but he does have resources.
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Happens a lot, particularly to Isard. Uwlla Iillor, captain of the Interdictor Cruiser ''Black Asp'' decides she's though putting up with Isard's [[Bad Boss]] tendencies {{spoiler|and defects with her ship}}. Kirtan Loor decides [[Wouldn't Hurt a Child|bombing a school]] is beneath him. Gara Petothel dislikes [[Senseless Waste of Human Life|senseless sacrifices]]. Fliry Vorru is more [[Pragmatic Villainy|practical]] -- he hates having to pander to Isard's [[Revenge Before Reason]].
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* [[Former Child Star]]: Garik "Face" Loran used to be a child actor in Imperial propaganda holodramas. [[The Atoner|He regrets his involvement]], and now uses his piloting skills and considerable acting ability to help the New Republic.
* [[Fridge Brilliance]]: By ''Isard's Revenge'' Ysanne Isard is no longer affiliated with the legitimate Empire of Thrawn and Pellaeon. ''She'' claims it is by her choice but evidence in ''The Bacta War'' (where an Imperial warlord only very reluctantly loans her ship -- and then lectures her when it is destroyed) implies she has a acquired a reputation as a [[General Failure]] and it may actually be the Empire that wants nothing to do with her.
* [[Fun Personified]]: Wes Janson. Making it all the more dissonant in ''Wraith Squadron'' that Kell (because of being misinformed of the manner of his father's death) is terrified of him, believing him to be a [[General Ripper]] prone to [[You Have Failed Me...]].
* [[Gambit Roulette]]: Subverted. {{spoiler|When Corran returns from the ''Lusankya'' with information exonerating Tycho, someone wonders if the information could have been planted to keep the accused Imperial sleeper in place. This is casually dismissed, as it would have required an absurd level of planning and foreknowledge of completely random events.}}
* [[Genius Bruiser]]: Voort is a [[Pig Man|Gammorrean]] whose brain chemistry was altered, making him intelligent and stable enough to become a very good pilot. And he has a habit of being able to knock out any human in one punch.
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{{quote|'''Face:''' Zsinj can investigate all he wants… because he won't be investigating ''us.''}}
* [[You Killed My Father]]: Wes Janson was forced to shoot Kell's father during a mission. This makes things very awkward when they're on the same squadron.
* [[You Have Failed Me...]]: Isard is the Queen of this trope, whose murderous punishments for failure were known to go as far as Familicide. Isard's love affair with this trope is skewered in one of Allston's novels, where the slightly more [[Benevolent Boss|benevolent]] Admiral Trigit notes that anyone working for a [[Bad Boss|capricious psycho]] like Isard had nothing to look forward to except either death by the Rebels, or death by ''her''.
** Averted once by her in the first novel (Before we ''really'' get to know her, possibly?). When someone he's interrogating dies before giving up the information he needs, Kirtan Loor is summoned back to Imperial Center by Isard, Empress in all but name. All along the way, even while [[The World Is Just Awesome|marveling at the view]], he's sweating and expecting her to kill him. She doesn't -- not at that point in time -- but she does make her displeasure at his poor thinking clear, and wants him to perform better.
** Zsinj goes back and forth on this trope. On the one hand, he has had a number of subordinates killed - some for major things (losing a highly valuable Ewok test subject, then lying about it), and some for not-so-major things (slacking off on the bridge one time too many). On the other hand, he knows when to shut up and let people do their jobs, as in ''Solo Command'' when fighting off {{spoiler|Lara's}} sabotage-bots -- even giving the chief engineer a bonus for fixing his ship early (he approves of efficiency).
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