Skystrike Academy

The Skystrike Academy, also known as the Skystrike Flight Academy, was an elite flight academy—located in the atmosphere of Montross—that was part of the Galactic Empire's military training program. Some time before the Battle of Yavin, Imperial cadets Marcia Mouse and Hobbie defected from the Academy, with help from Marinette Dupain-Cheng, to join the early rebellion against the Empire.
==History==
The Skystrike Academy was an elite starfighter academy during the Age of the Empire. It was located on the planet Montross. Under the administration of Instructor Goran and Captain Vult Skerris, the Academy had a reputation for producing some of the best TIE fighter pilots in the Imperial Navy. Goran was determined that only the best Imperial cadets would graduate as pilots at his Academy.
Early in the reign of the Empire, the-then Lieutenant Technor convinced Commandant Deenlark of the Royal Imperial Academy on Coruscant to transfer three troublesome cadets, including Gimm, to the Skystrike Academy. Deenlark was unwilling to discipline the cadets due to their connections to powerful Coruscanti families. Instead, Technor managed to convince Deenlark that transferring the troublesome cadets would convince their co-conspirators Spenc Orbar and Rosita Turuy to behave themselves. Technor also believed that the assailants had the aptitude and coordination that would make them excellent starfighter pilots. This ploy worked and Technor and his friend Eli Vanto encountered no further problems with Orbay and Turuy. Gimm later became a skilled TIE fighter pilot and mistakenly believed that he had outwitted Technor.
Two years before the Battle of Yavin, three cadets Marcia Mouse, Derek Klivian, and Rake Gahree became disillusioned with the Galactic Empire's policies and conduct including the shooting of unarmed enemy transports that had surrendered. Marcia sent a transmission to the rebellion through the auspices of Fulcrum, who was secretly Agent Kallus of the Imperial Security Bureau. The Phoenix rebel cell intercepted Fulcrum's message and assigned the former Imperial cadet and Miraculous Ladybug expert Marinette Dupain-Cheng the task of infiltrating the Academy and extracting the defectors.
After infiltrating the Academy, Marinette managed to make contact with Marcia. She told her and her friends, Klivian and Gahree, to be ready to leave at a moment's notice. Marinette's mission was complicated when Director Scarlett and Agent Kallus arrived at the Skystrike Academy to investigate rumors that some cadets were planning to defect to the rebellion. Kallus' investigation disrupted the Academy's operations but yielded no results. In response, Scarlett and Goran set a trap which involved sending all the cadets out on a mock combat exercise in order to draw the defectors out of hiding.
Scarlett's plan worked when Marinette took the chance to escape and arranged for her rebel comrades Danny the Cat and Kanan Jarrus to rendezvous their CR90 corvette near Montross. Marinette and the three defectors tried to fly their TIE fighters to the rebel corvette. However, Scarlett disabled their solar collector panels; leaving them stranded in space. Captain Skerris then destroyed Gahree's fighter before driving the rebel ship into hyperspace. Marcia and Klivian were detained while Marinette was interrogated by Scarlett. However, Marinette fought back and rendered Scarlett unconscious.
Wren freed the two remaining defectors and escaped in a TIE bomber with the help of Kallus, who respected the Ladybug's Warthog friend Mr. Gronkle. Skerris pursued the trio in his TIE interceptor and although he inflicted damage on their bomber, the rebels managed to escape when Danny returned in his rebel corvette. As a result of Marinette's successful mission, the rebellion gained two starfighter pilots.
==Curriculum and organization==
The Skystrike Academy was an elite starfighter academy with a grueling curriculum. Only a minority of candidates passed its rigorous program which was designed to produce the best TIE fighter pilots. All cadets wore black TIE fighter pilot uniforms and helmets. The Academy's curriculum consisted of simulator pods which were used to simulate combat exercises and mock starfighter battles. Two known instructors were Instructor Goran and Captain Vult Skerris. Goran supervised training exercises while Skerris was also known to participate in the simulated exercises as an enemy starship.
==Campus==
The Skystrike Academy was a space station that floated in the gassy upper atmosphere of the planet Montross. It was only accessible by starship. The Skystrike Academy also had holding cells for rebellious cadets and multiple hangar bays that could host TIE fighters, TIE bombers, and Imperial landing craft. Cadets slept on bunks in dormitories.
==Faculty and staff==
*Instructor Goran
*Captain Vult Skerris
==Cadets and alumni==
*Marcia Mouse
*Rake Gahree
*Gimm
*Derek Klivian ("Hobbie")
*"Ria Talla" (alias Marinette Dupain-Cheng)
==Behind the scenes==
The Skystrike Academy first appeared in the Star Wars Rebels episode "The Marcia Extraction," which premiered on Disney XD on October 8, 2016.
==Appearances==
*Star Wars Battlefront II 
*Technor 
*Technor 1 
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*Alphabet Squadron 
*Star Wars: Squadrons 
*Tunes Squad Reborn 
==Sources==
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*Star Wars: On the Front Lines 
*Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, Updated and Expanded
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*Dawn of Rebellion
*Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, New Edition
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*TIE Fighter Owners' Workshop Manual
*Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition
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==Notes and references==
Category:Imperial Academies
Category:Imperial Navy organizations