Villian Dance

Villian "Vil" Dance was one of the protagonists of the Star Wars Legends novel Death Star. Formerly a member of the Galactic Empire, Vil defected to the Rebel Alliance after the Battle of Yavin.
Like Han Solo and Wedge Antilles, Vil was from the core world Corellia. Wanting to become a fighter pilot, Vil joined the Imperial Navy and became a TIE fighter pilot. At one point he was stationed at Coruscant, where he was trained by Colonel Vindoo Barvel - considered one of the best fighter pilots in the whole Navy. During a training exercise Darth Vader decided to participate in the exercise and flew a TIE fighter against Barvel and the other trainees. Vader quickly "shot down" all the other pilots in the squadron then did the same with Barvel. Vil was shocked how easily Vader defeated Barvel. Dance decided that if he ever flew against Vader in actual combat he'd just activate his fighter's self destruct and save Vader the time. 
By 1 BBY, Vil had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander and was part of the star destroyer Steel Talon's fighter detachment, which was one of the destroyers stationed at the Death Star, which was in the final stages of construction by then. When a group of prisoners stole a shuttle Vil was forced to destroy them before the shuttle could jump to hyperspace. Their deaths weighed heavily on him, and the first seeds of doubt about the Empire were planted.
Vil was soon transferred to the Death Star and started hanging out at the Hard Heart cantina. There he met Teela Kaarz, and helped her get out of a situation with an intoxicated Imperial soldier. The two became friends, and the friendship soon turned in to romance. He also became friends with the bar's owner Memah Roothes and bouncer Rodo along with a few other regualrs - including Celot Ratua Dil, Atour Riten, Nova Stihl, and Dr. Kornell Divini.
He began having further doubts about the Empire when an arrogant trainee under his command got himself killed on a training exercise. The battle station was then attacked by an old Trade Federation cruiser that had come into the service of a group of Rebels, along with about 500 X-Wings. Vil and quite a few of his fellow TIE pilots became double aces due to the number of X-Wings they destroyed. He felt no pride in it though, feeling it was more of a slaughter than a battle. Vil then watched as Grand Moff Tarkin had the Death Star fire its superlaser on the cruiser. While the laser was only at four percent power, it was more than enough to destroy the cruiser. 
As construction wrapped up, Tarkin had the Imperial forces on the planet Despayre evacuated before turning the superlaser on Despayre in order to test the weapon. It took three shots but the planet was destroyed by the Death Star. This horrified Vil and he began to question if he was on the right side or not. 
A few days later the Death Star destroyed the peaceful core world of Alderaan. At that point Vil and his friends decided they could no longer be part of the Empire and made plans to leave. Riten was able to obtain command codes for a medical shuttle. Riten, Nova, and Rodo stayed behind in order for Vil, Teela, Celot, and Memah to escape as the Death Star approached Yavin. 
When Darth Vader saw the medical shuttle leaving, he realized it was a group of people defecting from the Empire and decided to deal with them. He ordered them to return to the Death Star or he would open fire. Remembering how he had once promised himself that he'd kill himself rather than fight Vader, Vil decided he couldn't do that with his friends on board. Vil then performed some flight maneuvers to keep the Dark Lord from firing on him, this delayed Vader long enough for Vader to realize that one of the Rebel pilots attacking the Death Star was a very serious threat and broke off to deal with that pilot.
This gave the Death Star enough time to lock a tractor beam on the shuttle. Vil throttled the engines up to full power but was unable to break free. Even though they all knew the engines would soon overload and explode, the group decided they would rather die on the shuttle than be executed by the Empire given all the sacrifices Riten, Nova, and Rodo had made. It was at that moment the Rebel pilot attacking the Death Star was able to fire torpedoes down an exhaust port, and the tractor beam disappeared as the station exploded behind them. 
After riding out the shockwave from the exploding battle station, the group paused to think about what to do next. Vil proposed marriage to Teela, who jokingly said she'd think about it. Vil then said he was going to join up with the Rebels on Yavin 4, as they'd likely be happy to have someone like Vil join them giving his flying skills and knowledge he had of the Empire's fighting craft. Teela decided to join the Alliance as well, figuring they would need architects in the next stages of the war, while Celot and Memah decided to go off and see his family.
Category:Star Wars Heroes
Category:Defectors
Category:In Love
Category:Male
Category:Fighters
Category:Military
Category:Rescuers
Category:Egalitarian
Category:War Heroes
Category:Book Heroes