History Awesome / XWingSeries

* Tyria Sarkin's use of the force improves dramatically in this book, allowing her to sense the bad things that have happened in Binring Biomedical's labs and even provides a functional danger sense that lets her make it out of the incinerator trap nearly unscathed and is the only one out of the infiltration team to be flight ready after that mission. (The other three fliers were Lara, Elassar and Myn who were in the exterior team.) She also manages to vape the A-Wing pilot Tualin who attacks Mon Remonda with her force senses.
** Despite these force senses giving her much greater situational awareness, a scene shows Corran and Ooryl are still such good fliers that they can completely blindside her with their maneuvers.

* After he was captured by Isard in the backstory, much of the Alliance brass believed Tycho was a ManchurianAgent. In order to get a chance to serve as Rouge Squadron's XO, Tycho had to agree to fly a fighter which had had its lasers removed and replaced with harmless targeting beams and had had a SelfDestructMechanism installed so that he could be remotely blown up if he turned on the Alliance, to be kept under house arrest when not escorted by Alliance Security, and to let them look at his files and communication whenever they felt like. And he agreed to all these humiliations, because he knew that it was the only way he could help prevent the Empire from doing to other worlds what they'd done to his Alderaan.

* Kell's attempt to save Jesmin when her damaged fighter starts to crash: he uses his own fighter to try and nudge her out of a fatal dive, conducting a series of mid-air collisions. ''That was insane.'' Other pilots would have destroyed ''both'' fighters attempting it. True, it didn't work, but that was mainly because [[spoiler:the g-forces had already rendered Jesmin unconscious and unable to do anything to save herself.]]

* When Tal'Dira's brainwashing gets activated, he attempts to shoot down Wedge while they are on a mission. However, a small part of the pilot's mind rebels at the horrible thing he is being forced to do, and [[spoiler:he manages to break through the brainwashing for long enough to switch his shields to the rear, allowing another pilot in front of him to vape him, preventing him from killing Wedge]].

* The final battle itself. The free Adumari forces and Red Flight hit Cartann with everything they've got, timing it so that the enemy's initiative will be sluggish from sleeping in to be ready for their favored time of attack, multiple layers of deception, and using each craft type they've got where it excels the most. And up until the TIE Interceptors show up, they are actually winning. So to deal with the [=TIEs=], they plan on getting Red Flight back into their X-Wings ([[spoiler:which Darpen had confiscated before setting them up to die.]]) As Wedge himself notes: the Adumari wanted to see X-Wings in action in lethal dogfights. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor They got their wish.]] [[CurbstompBattle The more fool them.]]

* Tyria Sarkin's use of the force improves dramatically in this book, allowing her to sense the bad things that have happened in Binring Biomedical's labs and even provides a functional danger sense that lets her make it out of the incinerator trap nearly unscathed and is the only one out of the infiltration team to be flight ready after that mission. (The other three fliers were Lara, Elassar and Myn were in the exterior team.) She also manages to vape the A-Wing pilot Tualin who attacks Mon Remonda with her force senses.

* One for Balass, the Cartann ''Perator's'' heir, immediately after his father abdicates and he takes the throne. He points out to the assembled heads of the free Adumari alliance that if they insist on his surrender, it will create a great deal of legal trouble. Some of Cartann's protectorates will splinter off and demand independence, some will remain loyal to Cartann, the ramifications of the surrender and defeat on Cartann's own government must be figured out, and so on. And all of this will take time, time Adumar doesn't have with the clock ticking until an Imperial invasion. But if the alliance accepts Balass's offer of an immediate truce without repercussion for Cartann's invasion, and lets Cartann and its protectorates join the Alliance immediately and as an equal partner, they can have a unified world government, capable of petitioning for New Republic aid, in ''minutes''. Balass pulls this off while under gunpoint from the free Adumari troops, mere ''minutes'' after taking the throne.

[[folder:Comics]]
* "You've saved your world. When you're ready, come back and save the rest of us."
* In "Mandatory Retirement", in which Rogue Squadron goes through a daring mission to rescue a high-ranking Imperial defector. One of the pilots, a nonhuman who'd been in the squadron for a long time, dies during this. The defector, who's been an enemy for a long time, complains about the fuss made over "animal filth". Wedge Antilles [[BewareTheNiceOnes snaps]], does a NeckLift on the defector, and tells him "Don't make me go Vader on you." It seems like it should be a PunctuatedForEmphasis moment, but that's really not a Wedge thing.
* ''Requiem For A Rogue'' is commonly seen as a weaker plot for its very OffModel art, some rather pointless deaths, and general weirdness - however, it's hard not to find Wedge's undbending defiance in the face of the Dark Jedi who brought him back to life and could kill him effortlessly awesome.
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* Corran is chasing after Isard's shuttle to catch her before she can escape into hyperspace. The two exchange taunts, but Corran's out of torpedoes, slams his console in frustration, and prepares to try and [[RammingAlwaysWorks ram]] the shuttle. And then torpedoes come streaking in out of nowhere to blast the shuttle into scrap - fired by Tycho, who thanks Corran for the targeting information he relayed via his console.

* The final battle itself. The free Adumari forces and Red Flight hit Cartann with everything they've got, timing it so that the enemy's initiative will be sluggish from sleeping in to be ready for their favored time of attack, multiple layers of deception, and using each craft type they've got where it excels the most. And up until the TIE Interceptors show up, they are actually winning. So to deal with the [=TIEs=], they plan on getting Red Flight back into their X-Wings ([[spoiler: which Darpen had confiscated before setting them up to die.]]) As Wedge himself notes; the Adumari wanted to see X-Wings in action in lethal dogfights. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor They got their wish.]] [[CurbstompBattle The more fool them.]]

* The final battle itself. The free Adumari forces and Red Flight hit Cartann with everything they've got, timing it so that the enemy's initiative will be sluggish from sleeping in to be ready for their favored time of attack, multiple layers of deception, and using each craft type they've got where it excels the most. And up until the TIE Interceptors show up, they are actually winning. So to deal with the [=TIEs=], they plan on getting Red Flight back into their X-Wings (which Darpen had confiscated before setting them up to die.]]) As Wedge himself notes; the Adumari wanted to see X-Wings in action in lethal dogfights. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor They got their wish.]] [[CurbstompBattle The more fool them.]]

** Janson beats Wedge to the challenge, and explains why: he's more expendable than Wedge, he hints that it's an engagement present for Wedge and Iella, and while Wedge would fight the duel out of duty, Janson plans on enjoying himself.

* When General Cracken, the [=HMFIC=] of the pilots in the books up until this point, shows up telling Wedge that his vacation is cancelled, Wedge immediately begins unleashing snark and vitriol on him. When Cracken threatens him with charges of insubordination, Wedge reminds him that he is a General now and "what I am is dangerously close to is violence."

-->'''Lara Notsil''': "''Iron Fist'' is now in the Selaggis system with her hyperdrive inoperable... I recommend you come by and take a look. Oh, bring your fleet too."

* Wedge ''intentionally allowing'' himself to be shot at during a battle, even ordering his squadron to let the attacker continue, on Squeaky's say-so. Granted, the attacker was using powered down lasers and was actually transmitting crucial information to him, but only Squeaky knew that at the time. It wasn't until after the battle that Wedge got a full explanation.

-->'''Lara Notsil''': ''Iron Fist'' is now in the Selaggis system with her hyperdrive inoperable... I recommend you come by and take a look. Oh, bring your fleet too."

* And late in the story, Donos is flying with his fellow pilots into an AsteroidThicket after Zsinj, but suddenly warns that they need to bug out. At first even he thought his PTSD was hitting him again, but Donos was actually recognizing a tactic Zsinj had used in an earlier battle, targeting asteroids to crate shrapnel to destroy incoming starfighters, and his warning lets the Rebel pilots escape the trap without too many casualties.

* When Tal'Dira's brainwashing gets activated, he attempts to shoot down Wedge while they are on a mission. However, a small part of the pilot's mind rebels at the horrible thing he is being forced to do, and [[spoiler:he manages to break through the brainwashing for long enough to switch his shields to the rear, allowing another pilot in front of him to vape him, preventing him from killing Wedge.

* Piggy's response to being shot by Admiral Ackbar's attempted assassin: he picks up a desk and slams it into the assassin and a wall so hard that the ''other side'' of the wall bows out and knocks over (and knocks out) someone who happened to be standing there. And he did this right after being ''shot in the stomach.'' The assassin, for the record, was smushed.

* The final battle itself. The free Adumari forces and Red Flight hit Cartann with everything they've got, timing it so that the enemy's initiative will be sluggish from sleeping in to be ready for their favored time of attack, multiple layers of deception, and using each craft type they've got where it excels the most. And up until the TIE Interceptors show up, they are actually winning. So to deal with the [=TIEs=], they plan on getting Red Flight back into their X-Wings (which Darpen had confiscated before setting them up to die.]]) As Wedge himself notes; the Adumari wanted to see X-Wings in action in lethal dogfights. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor They got their wish.]] [[CurbstompBattle The more fool them.

* And late in the story, Donos is flying with his fellow pilots into an AsteroidThicket after Zsinj, but suddenly warns that they need to bug out. He thought his PTSD was hitting him again, but Donos was actually recognizing a tactic Zsinj had used in an earlier battle, targeting asteroids to crate shrapnel to destroy incoming starfighters, and his warning lets the Rebel pilots escape the trap without too many casualties.

* Anyone who played ''VideoGame/TIEFighter'' might {{squee}} when a certain triple-winged starfighter design shows up in ''Isard's Revenge''.
* Booster Terrik gets the SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome of ''all'' Crowning Moments of Awesome in ''Isard's Revenge'' when he ''beats the ever-loving shit'' out of [[CorruptPolitician Borsk Fey'lya]], ''bare-handed'', over the his attempt to manipulate a Rogue Squadron pilot for his own political gain. Never in ''Star Wars'' has a [[CurbStompBattle beatdown]] been so thoroughly earned, and [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing made the audience so happy]] to see it done.
* Iella Wessari's LittleNo at the end of ''Isard's Revenge'' and making "Iceheart" ''panic''. As well as what led up to that; Booster Terrik was able to predict exactly what Isard was after, and were able to take out Isard and two Imperial boarding parties with four people and two well-placed traps.

--->'''Kell''': "Consider yourselves humiliated. And welcome to Folor. Out."

* One of the NewMeat mouths off about how Wedge is getting too old to be an effective pilot, and should leave the flying to the young. Wedge responds by challenging them to a land race: first to drive a hover-truck past a certain point wins. The race begins, and Wedge seems to be having trouble. As the rookie approaches the finish line, Wedge drive his truck up a ramp, lands on the rookie's truck (which slows it to a near stop), and then rushes ahead to victory. When she complains that he cheated, he points out to her that if he were an enemy pilot that cheated, she'd be too dead to complain. She gets the point and shuts up.

* The battle in Alderaan's graveyard. A double handful of snubfighters manage to destroy a lesser ''Victory-II'' class Star Destroyer, damage an Interdicor cruiser to the point it is forced to flee and its owner withdraws it from further service to Issard, ''and'' shoot down 24 out of 36 enemy fighters.
** The fighters had some help, too. Tycho, for sentimental reasons, had switched his IFF system to an old Alderaanian setting, and upon entering the Graveyard picked up some anomalous signals from it. During the middle of the fight, what [[GunshipRescue shows up to help]] the Rogues but an automated Alderaanian War Cruiser reacting to Tycho's targeting data, for some beyond-the-grave revenge against the Empire that destroyed their world.
* In the aftermath of the failed Graveyard ambush, High Admiral Teradoc scolds the ''Head of Imperial Intelligence, who essentially runs the Empire'' that he'll only lend her toys if she promises they won't return broken (referring to the Interdictor he lent her, which was damaged in the ambush).