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"Corran Horn was not a man who gave up, no matter what the odds. More than once he took upon himself the responsibility of dealing with a threat to the squadron and to the Rebellion. Heedless of his own safety, he engaged overwhelming forces and by sheer dint of will and spirit and courage he won through. Even here, on Coruscant, he flew alone into the heart of a storm that was ravaging a planet and risked his life so this world would be free. He did not fail, because he would not let himself fail. Each of us who knew him has, in our hearts, dozens and dozens of examples of his bravery or his concern for others, or his ability to see where he was wrong and correct himself. He was not a perfect man, but he was a man who sought to be the best he could be. And while he took pride in being very good, he didn't waste energy in displays of rampant egotism. He just picked out new goals and drove himself forward toward them." ―Wedge Antilles, in a eulogy for Corran Horn after his presumed death [src]

Corran Horn was a Force-sensitive Human male Corellian pilot who served as a Corellian Security Force investigator, a Rogue Squadron ace and New Republic hero, and later a Jedi Master of the New Jedi Order. Born to Nyche and Valin "Hal" Horn on Corellia, Horn lived his early life unaware that his grandfather was Nejaa Halcyon, a Jedi Master. He followed his father and adoptive grandfather into the Corellian Security Force, where he excelled. However, he came into conflict with his Imperial Intelligence liaison officer, Kirtan Loor, and eventually fled Corellia after the Battle of Endor in order to evade execution. Horn spent a year lying low on Garqi before saving several locals from the Empire and making the decision to join the New Republic.

A highly skilled pilot, Horn joined Rogue Squadron in 6 ABY and became a flight leader. He participated in the captures of Borleias and Coruscant. In the latter battle, he took down the planet's shields, though he was captured by the Empire in the process. He was incarcerated in the infamous Lusankya prison, where he resisted Ysanne Isard's brainwashing and became the first individual ever to directly escape the prison. On his return, he was hailed as a hero, but on learning that the New Republic would not allow the targeting of Isard for political reasons, he led Rogue Squadron in resigning and waging a guerrilla war against Isard's regime on Thyferra. During the course of that campaign, the Bacta War, Horn was married to Mirax Terrik, the love of his life and the daughter of his father's old rival, Booster Terrik. Horn rejoined the New Republic and continued his career in Rogue Squadron, helping defeat Zsinj and Thrawn and free the Lusankya prisoners.

When his wife was kidnapped in 11 ABY, Horn realized he had to tap his Jedi talents to save her, having learned of his family's secret past from Luke Skywalker's investigations several years earlier. He trained at Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum before rescuing Mirax, defeating the Invid pirate gang in the process. Horn balanced his careers as a pilot and Jedi until 19 ABY, when he resigned from the squadron with the rank of colonel after peace was achieved with the Imperial Remnant. Horn served as a Jedi instructor, training his two children, Valin and Jysella, before the Yuuzhan Vong War broke out. Horn served a vital role in the war, defeating Shedao Shai, the killer of Horn's close friend Elegos A'Kla, in a duel to save Ithor; the failure of the Yuuzhan Vong to live up to the terms of the duel shamed Horn and caused him to briefly take a leave of absence from the Jedi. He returned to full service after the Battle of Coruscant, and was crucial to the resolution of the war, helping unlock the mystery of Zonama Sekot.

After the war, Horn was elevated to the rank of Jedi Master and became one of the leading Jedi on the Masters' Council. He argued for strong relations with the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, and during the Dark Nest Crisis in 36 ABY, he was temporarily put in charge of the Jedi Order. When events on Corellia erupted into a war in 40 ABY, Horn helped steer the Jedi through the crisis as a member of the Jedi Council, even when the Jedi were declared enemies of the state, and saw the Jedi to victory over Darth Caedus, Dark Lord of the Sith. In 43 ABY, when Jedi began succumbing to a strange Force madness, Horn's family was stricken with tragedy when his son and daughter both contracted the psychosis and were captured and imprisoned in carbonite by the Galactic Alliance.

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Biography Edit

Corellian Security Edit

Formative years Edit

"No one makes a victim of folks I'm sworn to protect." ―Corran Horn, to Iella Wessiri [src]

Corran Horn was born in 18 BBY, the son of Valin Horn, known widely as Hal, and Nyche Horn.[2][8] Valin Horn was actually the biological son of Nejaa Halcyon, a Jedi Master, but when Halcyon was killed, Valin was adopted by Rostek Horn, a Corellian Security Force police officer who was Halcyon's best friend. Rostek married Halcyon's wife Scerra as well and, as the Great Jedi Purge began, hid all evidence of Valin Horn, who now went by Hal, as he was a Force-sensitive. Corran Horn himself was raised in Coronet City, unaware of any of this history or his own Force-sensitivity.[9][10]

As a child, Horn observed his father in some minor meditative exercises and attempted to imitate him. The elder Horn taught him these techniques, telling Horn they were part of a secret game and he must not reveal them to anyone; they were, in fact, Jedi exercises.[4] As he grew, his father and grandfather encouraged him to always follow his hunches and to heed any internal sense of discomfort with a situation, knowing that they were manifestations of his Force abilities.[1][11]

Horn entered the Corellian Security Force Academy immediately upon graduating secondary school, where he excelled, setting new records—many of them by beating his father's. He was in the Academy when he heard of the destruction of the Death Star and the warrant placed on Han Solo for his part in it. Horn was left feeling that the smuggler Solo was a blot on Corellia's honor, causing the world to be overly associated with smuggling and lawlessness.[1]

Around 1 ABY, Horn was present in the Corellian city of Doaba Guerfel investigating the extremely powerful Black Sun crime syndicate as an undercover officer. During that investigation, he became aware that Chandra Conrad was willing to come forward as a witness. However, at that same time, he had to attend a vital Black Sun meeting. Horn had to recruit a trustworthy individual to escort Conrad to a later meeting with him, at which point he was able to deal with her safely. Upon finding that the individual had performed well and unable to move against Black Sun due to his undercover position, Horn engaged his new operative to bring in Obrio Caldori, a mid-level Black Sun administrator who was willing to turn state's evidence. Caldori quickly turned over major information when he saw how much Horn already knew, and with his evidence, Horn had a major Black Sun figure, Voydd Blancken, arrested.[12]

When Boushh and another bounty hunter kidnapped his father after the Battle of Talus, Horn pursued and confronted them with several Corellian Security agents in tow—exactly as they had planned, hoping to collect a bounty placed on Horn's head. The fierce battle degenerated into a stand-off, leading the pair to offer to let the elder Horn go if Corran Horn would turn himself over to them. Refusing to allow harm to come to his father, he agreed. Rebel agents later rescued him, along with several Rebel-aligned captives, from imprisonment outside Bestine on Tatooine.[13]

Around 2 ABY, Horn graduated from the CorSec Academy and became a full officer of the Corellian Security Force. He frequently worked alongside his father, developing his skills as a bright young prospect, and participated in many undercover missions.[3][14] At some point, he was part of a security detail for Imperial actress Wynssa Starflare during a visit to Corellia.[4] The Imperial Intelligence liaison with whom Horn's division of Corellian Security had to coordinate was Kirtan Loor, and he and Horn mutually despised each other; Horn regarded Loor as arrogant, incompetent, and intrusive.[1][15] He always tried to avoid having to actually deal with Loor in person.[9] Loor only aggravated Horn's existing dislike of Imperial interference in Corellian affairs; he wanted the Empire's influence and presence on Corellia to be minimal. To that end, he believed in keeping a minimal Rebel presence on Corellia so that the Empire would not need to intervene strongly. He disliked the Rebellion, regarding them as a band of criminals who cloaked their law-breaking in talk of revolution.[15] Over the course of Horn's CorSec career, his investigations would lead to the capture of Jedi, though he appeared to be unaware of his role in any Imperial Jedi-hunting.[9][14][16]

Later in 2 ABY, Horn's mother was badly injured in a landspeeder accident with a drunken driver, and Horn and his father rushed to the hospital to be with her.[3][15] She spoke with them about their future before passing away, leaving Horn and his father grieving together.[10]

Capturing Zekka Thyne Edit

"Getting into the fortress is only the first step, you know. You think you'll be able to simply march up to Thyne, slap the restraints on him in the name of Corellian Security, and march him out?"

"We do have the legal authority to do that, you know."

"Which means nothing at all inside his stronghold. You have any idea how many CorSec agents have gone after top Black Sun lieutenants like Thyne and simply vanished?" ―Valin "Hal" Horn and Corran Horn [src]

In 2 ABY, Horn was partnered with his father. While surveilling Sajsh's booth on Treasure Ship Row—an outlet for the business of Corellia's top Black Sun lieutenant, Zekka Thyne—he noticed a man speak with Sajsh and ask for Borbor Crisk—a rival of Zekka Thyne. Finding this suspicious, he kept an eye on the man, who joined up with another young man, a woman, and a Tunroth. He returned to report to his father, also present in the marketplace, and while doing so noticed the group meet up with a bounty hunter Hal recognized as Jodo Kast. Realizing that the strangers would likely be investigated by Thyne and brought before him in his private stronghold, Horn suggested that he and his father should attach themselves to the group in hopes of being brought along. Hal thought it was extremely dangerous, but agreed to at least see what the group was doing.[15]

They followed the strangers and, when they became involved in trying to stop a confrontation between the Brommstaad Mercenaries and a shop owner and his daughter, both Horns drew their blasters to keep the Brommstaad leader from drawing on Kast. The mercenaries admitted that they were outmatched and backed off, leaving the suspicious group thanking the Horns. They discussed the situation of the group—Haber Trell, Maranne Darmic, Riij Winward, Rathe Palror, and Kast. The group, a freighter crew, stated that they simply had to deliver a cargo to Crisk. The Horns told them that their cargo, the contents of which they did not know, was almost certainly illegal. They introduced themselves as a pair of small-time criminals looking for a position in Crisk's organization. Horn admitted to having overheard their conversation with Sajsh and asked if they could come along to the meeting that night with the man Sajsh had said was Crisk's contact; the Horns knew it would actually be an ambush by Thyne's men. Kast, the leader of the group, said that only Hal could come along. He assigned Horn, Winward, and Darmic to offload the cargo and prepare it for delivery.[15]

Horn headed to the freighter, the Hopskip, with the others and began subtly probing them for information about themselves. While unloading the boxes, he immediately recognized them as sleight boxes—a smuggling trick box which used small repulsors to neutralize its weight, making its contents difficult to determine. Neither Darmic nor Winward knew the boxes were sleight boxes, or even what sleight boxes were. While unloading the boxes and discussing the morality of the Rebellion with Winward, whom he suspected of harboring Rebel sympathies, Horn was surprised to see Kast return. Kast revealed that he, serving as a rearguard for Hal Horn, Palror, and Trell, had seen them captured by Thyne's thugs and done nothing; he said he had been too badly outnumbered. Kast told them to deliver the cargo to Crisk, having set up a new meeting, while he would free the others from Thyne. Horn angrily insisted on coming along to free his father—though he denied a family connection to Kast and the others. While Kast left, Horn insisted that Darmic and Winward open some of the poorly-sealed boxes to see just what they were delivering. They found glitterstim and Durindfire gems in two different boxes. Horn came up with a plan to take only those two boxes to Crisk, hiding the rest in a storage facility and only giving their location once the others were rescued from Thyne's fortress. If he and Kast failed, they were to leverage Crisk into attempting a rescue. If Crisk refused, they could use their rich cargo to ransom the captives from Thyne.[15]

During the landspeeder ride to Thyne's stronghold, Horn and Kast happened to discuss art, with Horn finding Kast's keen interest in and knowledge of art unusual, and having to make excuses for his assumed criminal identity to be familiar with the works of Venthan Chassu. When they arrived, they were ushered into Thyne's office, where Hal, Trell, and Palror were all restrained and had clearly been beaten. He was shocked when Kast drew a blaster on him, claiming that Trell and Palror were assassins working for Crisk. They were imprisoned in Thyne's wine cellar, and Kast taunted Horn before he left. Hal, imprisoned in the same cell, realized that Kast had left them a molecular stiletto to cut their way out and had warned them, in his taunting, that most of Thyne's forces were being sent after Crisk and the others who were arranging a deal with him, leaving the fortress vulnerable.[15]

The pair ambushed the guard outside the room and allowed Trell and Palror to cut themselves free, telling them to take an airspeeder and leave. They were going after Thyne. They stormed Thyne's office, where Horn stunned one enforcer, and Kast, inside the office, killed the other. Thyne, however, fled down his own private escape route. Kast said that he had more business to handle inside the fortress and left Thyne to the Horns. They pursued him down his escape tunnel. When it widened into a dark cave, the Horns advanced carefully. In the darkness, however, Thyne was able to get the drop on Horn—disarming him and using him as a hostage, blaster pistol to his head—and demanded Hal show himself. Hal did show himself, with a blaster carbine aimed at Thyne. He identified himself as a Corellian Security Force inspector and demanded that Thyne surrender. Thyne instead demanded that Hal drop his weapon. He pretended to remove his finger from the trigger, but actually kept it on, using his Force abilities to fool Thyne. When Thyne relaxed, he struck him with a stun bolt. Hal carried Thyne while the younger Horn led the way out of the tunnel. There, they were surrounded by the Imperial stormtroopers Kast had arranged to raid Thyne's fortress. They identified themselves, and Colonel Maximilian Veers allowed them to pass with Thyne. What they never learned was that "Kast" had in fact been Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo, helping Darth Vader take down Thyne, and in so doing, strike at the Dark Lord's rival, Black Sun leader Prince Xizor.[15]

Living with loss Edit

"I saw my father get shot up. Murdered. And I couldn't do anything about it. I was a hundred meters away, watching him by remote, backing him up, when a bounty hunter walked into the cantina and lit up the booth where he was sitting with two other people. Killed them all and I couldn't do anything about it. I got there and held my father in my arms, but it was too late." ―Corran Horn, to Winter [src]

Around a year after Thyne's capture, in 3 ABY, Horn transferred into the Smuggling Interdiction Division of CorSec.[3] There he was partnered with Iella Wessiri, and he worked with an astromech droid he nicknamed Whistler.[1][9] Horn's supervisor was Gil Bastra, a former partner of his father's.[1] Horn was a relentless investigator, using brute force to push through investigations, while Wessiri preferred subtlety, making them a powerful team.[9] Horn sometimes had to fly escort duty, which he hated.[1] He was, however, an excellent pilot, his skills honed by space missions in his CorSec T-65 X-wing starfighter.[11] Wessiri's husband, Diric Wessiri, often took an interest in their cases. In one, he became convinced that a suspect was innocent and badgered Horn and Iella to look for evidence of her innocence. They eventually found that Diric was in fact right, and arrested those who were truly responsible.[9]

Around six months after joining the Smuggling Interdiction Division, Horn and his father went on a mission in which they anticipated trouble. With Horn watching from a remote as Hal met with two other men, he found little to worry him and so relaxed. However, the bounty hunter Bossk entered the room and sprayed fire across the table at which Hal Horn was sitting, killing him and his companions. Horn rushed out, but could only hold his father's body in his arms.[1][11] Horn was impressed by his father's wake and the outpouring of respect for Valin Horn at it, so impressed that he hoped his life could be celebrated the same way.[1] However, without his father, he felt adrift emotionally. He made only one new friend during the rest of his time in CorSec, and she left him six months later.[11]

Horn tracked Bossk down and arrested him, but Loor turned him loose without so much as an arraignment, citing the Trandoshan lack of manual dexterity as making Hal Horn collateral damage in a valid Imperial warrant.[1] Horn was furious, absolutely loathing Loor from then onwards and suspecting that Loor had a hand in the death itself.[3][11] He longed to kill the man, but was talked down by Bastra, who became his primary mentor after his father's death.[1][9] Morose and constantly reliving the past, Horn's mind was only brought back to the moment when Wessiri and Bastra got him into a cantina brawl, helping him focus himself on living in the present.[4] Horn kept his father's lucky medallion and began wearing it as his own.[16] It was in fact a commemorative medallion marking Halcyon's ascent to the rank of Jedi Master, a secret family heirloom the full meaning of which Horn did not understand, although he valued it highly.[9]

When the Annual CorSec Awards Ball was gearing up in early 4 ABY, around six months after Hal Horn's death, the traditional pool system was changed. Usually, each male CorSec officer bought into a pool, the winner of which was originally given the right to take the Director's daughter to the ball. Over the years, it became a tradition in which a female officer offered herself as the prize, and the proceeds from the lottery system went to the Survivors and Orphans Fund. That year, however, the prize was, unknown to her, Chertyl Ruluwoor. A female Selonian, Ruluwoor was part of a transfer program with CorSec. No one wanted to have to take her to the ball, but Horn, miserable from his father's death, decided that there was no point in making anyone else suffer. He persuaded the significant others of all the other officers in the pool that the lottery was rigged to cause that officer's ticket to win the pool. He let them sell him their tickets, eventually gaining every single ticket in the pool. He gave all the proceeds to the Survivors and Orphans Fund and went all-out to make Ruluwoor's night special, flying across the planet to pick up the proper flowers. Ruluwoor made a stunning impression at the ball, and later she and Horn, who had hit it off, made love. While Horn enjoyed the experience immensely, he proved allergic to her fur and her skin was irritated by his sweat, resulting in an uncomfortable experience for both afterward. Knowing their relationship would not work out, they parted amicably.[11]

During one raid on a glitterstim dealer's warehouse, Horn was nearly shot in the resulting battle. Wessiri shot the man who had Horn in his sights, saving his life. Horn immediately felt grateful to Wessiri and began to think he was in love with her. In the emotional aftermath of the fighting, Wessiri reciprocated his feelings, but they were separated and debriefed before they could act on them. Horn did not see her until two days later, by which time the moment had passed and he realized their feelings were merely the result of the emotional aftereffects of battle.[1]

At some point during his partnership with Wessiri, Horn was assigned to protect heiress Siolle Tinta. They got along very well due to their similar views on art, and during the three days they spent together in a safe house, Horn came to believe he was in love with her. In short order, however, Wessiri caught the potential kidnapper after Tinta and she no longer needed protection. Horn quickly realized that their time together had merely been an infatuation that would not have worked long-term.[4]

Drifting into danger Edit

"I fear him because he can be relentless. He hates me because I freed the bounty hunter who murdered his father. Though not a crime, it is something for which he will not forgive me. Were he disposed toward murder, I would already be dead." ―Kirtan Loor, to Ysanne Isard, about Corran Horn [src]

Around ten months after the Battle of Endor, Horn and Wessiri were assigned to investigate the kidnapping of Fyric Fel, the two-year-old nephew of Imperial fighter ace Colonel Baron Soontir Fel. They went to the Fel estate, where Wessiri interviewed Fyric's parents, Todr and Ajai Fel. They gave up little information and were not particularly cooperative. Horn, after examining the crime scene, was convinced that the kidnappers were extremely skilled professionals. When three strangers pulled up to the estate and identified themselves as friends of the family coming for a visit, Horn was immediately suspicious of them. They were actually Wes Janson, Derek Klivian, and Isplourrdacartha Estillo of Rogue Squadron, sent to offer the Fels asylum in the New Republic, to which Soontir Fel had defected. While Horn asked Wessiri about the three, Loor arrived and took control of the investigation. After deflecting Loor's interest, Horn let the three Rogues go but asked them, if they were truly family friends, to convince the Fels to cooperate.[17]

Horn and Wessiri were able to find a source within the kidnapping gang who informed them that the kidnappers would be at an alley, where they waited. The Rogues arrived there for a meeting with the kidnappers, having been enlisted by Ajai Fel to aid them, but were attacked. Horn and Wessiri drew their blasters and entered the fight, but the ringleader of the plot, Ilir Post, fled. Estillo argued that Post was likely working for the Empire, as Loor had seemed keen to pull the pair of investigators off the case. Horn found that unlikely until Estillo suggested that Soontir Fel had defected, leaving Horn strongly suspicious that the group was from the New Republic. Though not happy about working with these agents, Horn was committed to rescuing Fyric and decided that, with the Empire against them, he would have to take what allies he could get.[17]

When they received word from their informant as to where Post was hiding, they raided his estate. They had to shoot their way across an open, guarded lawn, but before they entered the manor, Post appeared on a balcony holding Fyric and a blaster. He ordered them to withdraw, or else he would kill the child. Horn and the others were caught in a bind with no shot at Post, but knowing that if they withdrew, Post would likely open fire on them. Their dilemma was solved when a shot caught Post in the head, killing him. Fyric dropped several stories from the balcony, saved by Estillo in a diving catch. Horn was confused as to the source of the shot, but as they left, they found Todr Fel in the woods with a blaster rifle. He had shot Post knowing that Fyric would be killed if Post lived, and that there was a chance Fyric might live if Post were shot. Horn allowed the Rogue pilots to leave with the Fels and put off filing his reports on the incident as long as possible so that the Imperials would not be tipped off. When the Rogues departed the planet, their transport came under attack by TYE-wing uglies. Horn, having shadowed the ship in his X-wing, destroyed three of the fighters, allowing the ship to escape.[17]

Horn's division wished to focus on spice smugglers and other serious criminals, but around the beginning of 5 ABY, Loor ordered them to pursue Rebel shipping.[1][3] When they preferred to focus on what they felt were criminals actually hurting Corellia, Loor threatened to bring them up on charges of treason, his ability to do so amplified by the Imperials fleeing to Corellia in the aftermath of the defeat at Endor. Bastra, feeling they were in danger, worked up false identities for himself, Horn, and the Wessiris. In order to be clear of suspicion, Horn and Bastra made up files on a group of dangerous smugglers, which Bastra then accused Horn of murdering. They staged an argument and pretended that their friendship had been destroyed. With Loor convinced they hated each other, they were free to meet outside the office and set up their escape routes. Loor threatened to bring murder charges against him for the smugglers if Horn ever crossed him.[1]

With Horn knowing he was about to escape, he began openly defying Loor more often. Eventually, Loor sent Horn to investigate smuggler activity that was supposedly occurring in the system. Horn took his CorSec X-wing, with Whistler in the astromech socket, to investigate but found two flights of TIE fighters waiting for him, an ambush set up by Loor. He shot down a few of the TIEs and jumped into hyperspace.[1]

Transitional period Edit

On the run Edit

"I'm not a joiner, Captain. All I want is to be left alone. Your fight isn't my fight." ―Corran Horn, to Dromath [src]

Whistler had the complete files for the cover identities set up by Bastra, and Horn moved through several of them. Whistler encouraged him to join the fledgling New Republic, but Horn insisted that he simply wanted to lay low. During his time on the run, he always managed to fly once a week. He spent the majority of his time as "Eamon Yzalli" on Garqi—over a year—as the confidential aide to a succession of governors on the Imperial world.[1][18] As the last governor he worked under was frequently absent, he worked most closely with the military prefect, Mosh Barris. He hid his X-wing with Whistler in an abandoned building but visited the droid and took the fighter for night flights frequently, easily evading the local patrols. When his centrifugal debris extractor was damaged by a rdava-bird striking the intake, Captain Lai Nootka of the freighter Star's Delight brought Horn parts as well as a shipment of proton torpedoes for the fighter. However, the freighter's cargo was found by the Imperial authorities, creating fears of a Rebel presence on Garqi. Minor slicing attacks displaying New Republic crests inflamed those fears, though Horn knew they were only the work of dissatisfied students at Garqi Agricultural University. One of them, Dynba Tesc, had been arrested and was interrogated by Barris. Horn was convinced that when Barris realized she knew nothing, he would let her go, but Barris seemed convinced that Tesc was a genuine Rebel. Feeling guilty over the imprisonment of Nootka and his crew, Horn wanted to free them, but felt unable to without his X-wing in working order.[18]

As Yzalli, Horn spoke with Barris about Tesc's case, suggesting she might know no more than the little she had said. Barris was convinced that she was holding out, and that he could revive his dismal career by rooting out Garqi's Rebel cell. Barris mentioned that Kirtan Loor had been dispatched to Garqi. Already convinced by the Imperial attention to the world that it was time for him to move on, this development only alarmed him more; Horn knew that even despite the fact that he had grown a beard and dyed his hair blond, Loor would recognize him. Further driving him to action was Barris's intent to publicly execute Tesc as an example and in so doing drive her Rebel confederates to reveal themselves as they dispersed. Horn immediately hit upon a solution to his problem, and proposed to Barris that he schedule Tesc's execution for one week later. Horn would tell Tesc that he would arrange her escape, playing on his false identity's Alderaanian origins to convince her that he had decided to oppose the Empire. Gathering her, her Rebel friends, and the crew of the Star's Delight together, he would have them attempt to escape on the restocked freighter. Garqi's TIE complement could destroy the entire Rebel presence in one stroke as they fled, a kill ensured by sabotaging the ship's shields ahead of time. Horn would deliver the parts to the freighter, but in order to keep him from actually being on it, Barris would enter a notation of his execution in the Imperial system. The Rebel slicers, assuming that Yzalli had been found out, would alert their confederates to flee at once. As the slicers could access the Imperial system, neither Horn nor Barris could enter any information on the plan into the computer system. Delighted, Barriss approved the plan. In fact, Horn would use the parts to repair his fighter and use the supposed Rebels' escape to cover his own, allowing him to escape and free those he had brought into danger.[18]

Horn spoke with Tesc and told her of the escape plan, though he did not reveal his true identity or plans. He removed her from prison and had her pass herself off as "Kirtana Loor" in order to take the Delight's crew out of custody and to the Delight. Using only the TIE pilots he planned to shoot down as workers, he had the ship's cargo restored to it, minus the debris extractor he needed. He also had a duplex circuit in the shield system replaced with a triplex one—sabotage which could be repaired by giving the freighter's crew the proper codes. Everything was in place for an escape attempt the next day, around the time Loor would be arriving.[18]

The gathering of the crew and Tesc's cell of slicers went smoothly, and the Star's Delight began its escape. Horn's final act as Eamon Yzalli was to send a report to Loor stating that Barris had arranged the escape as part of a plot to turn Garqi over to the New Republic. With Yzalli's vague death report filed by Barris, Loor had Barris arrested. Horn wanted to send a message to the Delight with the shield codes, but Barris had deactivated his message account when he declared him dead. Now forced to intervene actively, he made his way to his freshly-repaired X-wing. There, he was shocked to have Whistler reveal to him that the droid, through HoloNet contact, had been the mysterious leader of Tesc's slicing ring, known as "Xeno" to the students. Horn launched, caught up to the freighter, and gave Nootka the shield code. He then quickly shot down two of the TIEs with proton torpedoes but had to dogfight with the last two. After shooting one down, he still had the best of the pilots on his tail. A trick maneuver using his repulsorlifts to bounce off the Star's Delight was able to put him in position to destroy the final TIE fighter and escape.[18]

Horn followed Nootka to a New Republic base, where the New Republic's Captain Dromath was extremely impressed upon hearing of Horn's performance over Garqi. He urged Horn to join the New Republic, but Horn, wary of becoming involved in the galactic struggle, maintained that he just wanted to be left alone. Dromath and Tesc told him that the New Republic needed him, and that he was better off fighting the Empire with others than on his own. When Dromath told him that the elite Rogue Squadron was being re-formed and was seeking pilots, Horn was intrigued. He realized that he missed having companionship, and that he would never be able to truly escape the Empire without the New Republic. He decided to join the cause.[18]

Becoming a Rogue Edit

"You've got the makings of a superior pilot, but you aren't there yet. You have the skills you need, but there is more to being part of this squadron than flying well. The training you get will be a bit different from the others, but your need to learn is just as great." ―Wedge Antilles, to Corran Horn [src]

In 6 ABY, Horn tried out for a position in the elite Rogue Squadron, which was being re-formed under the famous Corellian Commander Wedge Antilles. He trained for several months at Folor, where his roommate was Ooryl Qrygg, a Gand who always spoke in the third person. Used to being on his own, he was relatively distant from the rest of the trainees. Horn strongly disliked Bror Jace, a pilot generally considered his rival for the top position among the trainees, considering him arrogant and egotistical.[1]

Near the end of the training regimen, he flew his final iteration of the Redemption scenario, a classic piloting simulation in which he and three other pilot-candidates were required to protect the frigate Redemption while it was evacuated to the vulnerable corvette Korolev. The Imperial frigate Warspite meanwhile harassed them, deploying fighters and bombers. In an earlier simulation, Horn had flown one of the bombers, successfully destroying the Korolev. Horn, flying with Qrygg, Nawara Ven, and Rhysati Ynr, was now in command of the flight, and decided that he would operate by conventional wisdom, ranging ahead to engage the fighters himself while the other three provided a backstop that prevented Warspite from deploying fighters even closer. Horn was able to shoot down the first three TIE bombers, but as he engaged the last three, he found that one of the TIE fighters from the first wave was killing his companions. He desperately tried to bounce the last TIE bomber, which he suspected was piloted by Jace, off his shields, dealing it crippling damage, before he was able to engage the final TIE fighter. He engaged the fighter, launching a proton torpedo, which it dodged. As the TIE settled in behind Horn, he became convinced that the pilot had to be the legendary Antilles. He was able to break free of the pursuit and came around for a head-to-head pass. The other pilot's fire was able to distract his targeting sensors, keeping him from getting a lock, and Horn was rendered dead in space. He won the scenario, however, as his earlier proton torpedo finally caught up with the TIE and destroyed it. After the mission, he was approached by the other pilot, who was not Antilles at all. He congratulated Horn and departed, leaving Horn impressed by his skill but wondering as to his identity. He was in fact Captain Tycho Celchu, a former Rogue whom Antilles had brought in specifically to defeat Horn, as there was no other trainee significantly above Horn's flying level. Horn's run of the Redemption scenario turned out to be the highest of all the candidates'.[1]

After the simulation, Horn went to perform maintenance on his X-wing, where he was approached by pilot-candidate Lujayne Forge. She confronted him over his separation from the rest of the candidates, accusing him of holding the fact that she was from Kessel against her. He explained that he was merely used to isolation and found it difficult to trust others after his time on Garqi, and she invited him to drinks with the other cadets at the DownTime cantina, which he accepted. She also aided him with his maintenance, leaving him owing her a favor.[1]

In short order, Horn received a message telling him to report to the squadron briefing room. He had been selected for the squadron. At the briefing, he learned that the mystery pilot was Celchu, who would be the unit's executive officer. During the introduction, it was mentioned that two of the pilots had death marks against them. Horn, Qrygg, Ynr, and Ven speculated about who might have them, correctly identifying Riv Shiel as a likely candidate for the Empire's enmity. Horn was amused to learn from "Emtrey," the unit's military protocol droid and quartermaster, that he was the second recipient, Loor having followed through on his threat to use the smuggler incident against him. During Emtrey's search of records to confirm his story, however, the droid came across an Imperial report that Bastra had died. Horn was distraught at the loss of his mentor, but believed it might be a false report by Loor aimed at goading him.[1]

Horn was given the callsign Rogue Nine, and Qrygg served as his wingman. The next day, he and the rest of the Rogues were sent in to fly through a shooting range in the so-called Pig Trough, a Folor canyon. Horn flew it well, hoping to set a high score, but upon returning to the base and waiting as others completed the exercise and returned, he found that all the others had performed better than he had. Horn was puzzled, knowing the others should not be beating him so consistently. Eventually, he realized that Antilles had ordered Whistler to feed his telemetry back to the rest of the squadron, giving them information about the run and allowing them to score better. Horn was furious, feeling that he had been humiliated.[1]

When Antilles and Celchu entered the hangar, Horn angrily confronted his commanding officer. Antilles lectured him in return, telling him that he had learned a lesson about teamwork. His own score in the training exercise was immaterial; what was important was the cohesion of the squadron. He was a more talented pilot, but was no more important than anyone else. Chagrined, Horn accepted the truth of Antilles's argument. Afterward, he was approached by Celchu, who told him that his loner tendencies were keeping him apart from the squadron, and advised him to rectify them. Horn was surprised, however, when a guard escorted Celchu away after the conversation, leaving him wondering if the man was some sort of security risk. With the conversation over, he was approached by Rogue Erisi Dlarit, who told him the rest of the pilots were in DownTime and wanted to apologize. Horn attended, and told them not to feel bad for him; that it had been an important lesson for him to learn.[1]

The Rogues continued training, including an attack on General Horton Salm's training wing of Y-wings, in which the Rogues had an eight-to-one kill ratio. After one month of training as a squadron, the Rogues were assigned an astronavigation exercise. Horn was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and given command of the squadron's Three Flight, including Qrygg, Forge, and Andoorni Hui, and the Rogues were required to pack their gear, all of which made Horn think that their trip was more than an exercise. Their trip would have three legs, with One Flight plotting the first, Two Flight plotting the second, and Three Flight plotting the third. Each had various beginning and ending points with which to work, requiring them to work up multiple courses; however, Horn was able to eliminate most of them by the course of the first and second jumps, leaving him only two routes to refine. He decided to trim some time off the jump to the Morobe system by plotting a course nearer to the center of the Chorax system.[1]

This turned out to be the course they used, but it resulted in the squadron's being pulled out of hyperspace in the Chorax system due to the presence of an Interdictor cruiser, which was in the process of capturing a smuggling ship. Horn was nervous at the prospect of combat but engaged the TIE interceptors escorting the cruiser. He destroyed one fighter before he was struck by an ion cannon blast from the Black Asp, disabling his fighter. He was able to bring up emergency power and stop the spin he had been thrown into but was left floating and vulnerable. When the other Rogues drove off the Black Asp, it fled past Horn, with several interceptors in its wake. Tycho Celchu, flying the squadron's shuttle Forbidden, was able to get a missile lock on two of the interceptors, feeding Horn the targeting data and allowing him to shoot both down with proton torpedoes. The smuggler craft, which was affiliated with the New Republic, clamped Horn's X-wing and carried him on to Talasea in the Morobe system, Rogue Squadron's new base; the squadron had been put on active duty.[1]

Upon reaching Talasea, Horn debarked and found that the ship which had ferried him was the Pulsar Skate, captained by Mirax Terrik, the daughter of his father's old nemesis Booster Terrik, whom Hal Horn had sent to Kessel. Antilles, an old friend of Terrik's, had to defuse the situation. Walking away with Antilles, Horn asked why Celchu was flying an unarmed shuttle, had never had full-power weapons on his training Z-95 Headhunter, and had appeared to be under guard on Folor. Antilles told him that he had complete faith in Celchu, and that the matter was Celchu's business. Horn would have to ask Celchu if he wanted an explanation. However, since airing the matter could damage squadron morale, Antilles asked Horn to keep everything private, to which he agreed.[1]

Rogue rookie Edit

Activation Edit

"Release the squadron to me. I'm outbound and I'm going to play tag with that Lancer."

"This is treason, Nine. I'll have you shot."

"As long as it's Warden Squadron that's doing it, I don't mind a bit. Nine out." ―Corran Horn and Horton Salm [src]

Horn's fighter took two weeks to repair, at the end of which he was once more flying fighter missions escorting New Republic ships moving along the edge of the Core. Eventually, they were assigned to cover the repair and extraction of the frigate Battle of Yavin in the Hensara system. The Pulsar Skate and the CR90 corvette Eridain were also present for the mission. Horn was left flying air patrol over Hensara III while the other two flights covered the Battle of Yavin on the ground, where Imperial walkers were searching for it. However, a duty that Horn expected to be monotonous soon turned anything but when the Strike-class cruiser Havoc arrived and began deploying TIEs. Horn led Three Flight against thirty TIEs while the others rushed back up to aid him. He destroyed six fighters in the battle, becoming an ace, and Havoc was forced to withdraw.[1]

The pilots returned to Talasea, where they celebrated their victory. Jace, however, began hazing sixteen-year-old Gavin Darklighter, who had acquired no kills in the engagement. The squadron decided that a joking punishment was in order, and Ven presented the case to Antilles, Celchu, and Captain Afyon of the Eridain for a judgment. Celchu suggested that Darklighter be apprenticed to the best pilot, and the others agreed. It was assumed that Horn, by virtue of having one more kill than Jace at the Rout of Hensara and four more kills overall. Jace, however, argued that he was the best pilot by virtue of shooting down more of the targets he had faced. While Antilles dismissed an argument of percentages as irrelevant, Horn decided to show confidence in Darklighter. He offered to concede the title of best pilot to Jace and average his own kills with Darklighter's, leaving all three tied at five kills overall. Thereafter, he and Jace would compete head-to-head or with Darklighter averaged with Horn, whichever Jace preferred. Jace agreed to continue averaging Darklighter's kills—favorable terms for him—but had both himself and Horn share the title of best pilot. However, in a trick maneuver by Horn, the averaging eliminated Darklighter's position as worst pilot, forcing Ven to serve as Horn's and Jace's errand boy.[1]

One night, Horn was awaken from sleep by a distinct sense of unease. He was sleeping in an outlying, poorly-maintained hut, the result of a windstorm knocking a kaha tree into his and Qrygg's room at the main building. Horn crouched at the doorway, and when a stormtrooper entered, the unarmed Horn tackled him and used the Imperial's sidearm to kill him. He searched the man and found that the Imperials had been setting explosives in the base. With Qrygg returned from a walk in which he had killed another stormtrooper, Horn took the stormtrooper's weapons and set out for the main building with Qrygg. On their way, Qrygg killed another sentry and Horn took that man's breastplate. The pair slipped into the building, where they awoke and armed Darklighter and Shiel. Stormtroopers entered the hall, and Horn emerged from the other pilots' room firing. Darklighter emerged too soon, however, and took a shot. Horn left him to be tended to by the other pilots, who were awakened by the commotion, while he left to secure the hangar. He scattered a knot of troopers with a grenade, then began firing at the numerous troopers in the hangar while Qrygg and Shiel provided support from outside. His luck did not last and Horn was shot in the chest. Though the other Rogues were able to drive the stormtroopers off and disable the explosives, they had to evacuate the base, and Horn required an extensive session in a bacta tank.[1]

When Horn and Darklighter emerged from their bacta tanks, Antilles greeted them and informed them that Lujayne Forge had been killed in the attack. Horn attended Forge's funeral, and was well in time for the retaliatory attack on Vladet, from which the attack force had come. The Rogues escorted Salm's Defender Wing in an assault on the Imperial base there, but as Three Flight had lost Forge and had Hui still recovering, it was assigned to escort Warden Squadron, which would only be performing cleanup. However, while orbiting and waiting to go in, a Carrack-class cruiser and Lancer-class frigate arrived in the New Republic forces' exit vector. The Lancer-class was designed to present an intense challenge to starfighters, meaning that fleeing Vladet would be extremely dangerous. Horn, inspired by his experience at Chorax, suggested he fly against the Lancer, having the Y-wings of Warden Squadron, which would stand off out of the Lancer's range, target his homing beacon. By interposing the frigate between himself and the proton torpedoes at the correct time, they would strike the capital ship. Salm refused to assent to the plan, but Horn proceeded with it anyway. He successfully weaved through the Lancer's heavy fire, but two late-launched torpedoes maneuvered around the explosion which claimed the Lancer. Only Whistler's timely cutout of the homing beacon saved Horn from being killed.[1]

Despite the successful destruction of the Lancer, Salm remained incensed at Horn's defiance of orders. Horn was confined to quarters and was threatened with a court-martial. He was visited in his cabin by squadron-mates and friends. One of them was Erisi Dlarit, who explained that she felt immensely grateful to Horn for destroying the Lancer and saving her life. Horn rebuffed her romantic overtures, telling her that she was merely feeling the emotional aftereffects of combat. Immediately after she left, Mirax Terrik entered. She had heard Horn was in trouble and brought him a small care package of Corellian goods to cheer him up, including the traditional Corellian ryshcate. They shared the ryshcate and some of the Whyren's Reserve whiskey she had brought, and when she left Horn realized that he enjoyed her company and the ability to share their Corellian heritage.[1]

The Battles of Borleias Edit

"Overwhelming odds, tough target, scant chance of survival—business as usual for Rogue Squadron." ―Corran Horn, to Wedge Antilles [src]

The Rogues' next mission was to assault a planet known by the codename "Blackmoon" in order to secure a stepping-stone to Coruscant. Salm's Defender Wing was to be involved, and both he and Antilles thought that the mission was likely to go wrong and that General Laryn Kre'fey, the mission planner, was far from thorough in his research and overconfident in his planning. As a result, Salm dropped all charges, deciding that it was more important that Horn be flying for the mission.[1]

His flight status restored, Horn participated in the battle. His Three Flight, still missing a replacement for Forge, was assigned to escort Warden Squadron in a bombing run to soften up the defenses after bombardment from Emancipator brought the Imperial base's shields down. However, Kre'fey called off the bombing run when the shield came down, citing the lack of heavy resistance. The Rogues were assigned to escort the assault shuttles in, leaving Horn with an extremely bad feeling. He was proved right when the base began firing its ion cannon, renewed its shields at twice their previous strength, and began launching fighters. Horn flew against the fighters, protecting the shuttles as they withdrew. Hui was killed in the dogfight, though Horn destroyed the interceptor which killed her. Horn and Qrygg saved the shuttle Devonian from a TIE attack, but in the process Qrygg was shot down and forced to eject. Horn and the few other remaining Rogue pilots had to hold off two more squadrons of TIE interceptors which had arrived from a previously unknown base on Blackmoon. They were only saved by the return of Defender Wing, which had been ordered out when the bombing runs were aborted. With all the extravehicular Rogues rescued, they retreated.[1]

The squadron returned to base on Noquivzor, where Lieutenant Judder Page, one of the commandos who had been on the Devonian, bought him a mug of lum in gratitude. While they spoke, Whistler reported that his information-gathering programs had been able to discover the actual location of Blackmoon—Borleias. Horn and Page had already realized that the extra power and reinforcement squadrons likely came from an additional base that the Imperials did not know about—a side operation by the proper base's commander. With Whistler's data, they confirmed that the side operation was likely the abandoned Alderaan Biotics facility, which the base commander, General Evir Derricote, had revived to sell Alderaanian goods on the black market. They also discovered that the power conduit between the two bases was exposed when it crossed a rift valley, giving them the ability to destroy it and cut the power. Horn and Page presented this information to Antilles and Salm, who took it to Admiral Ackbar and received permission for another strike. Rogue Squadron would destroy the conduit, while Page's Katarn Commandos would enter the conduit and capture both facilities. The position of the moon, however, would block any quick escape and, due to the timing of the strike, anyone left behind would run out of life support before reinforcements arrived. With Rogue Squadron depleted, it would be a volunteer mission.[1]

For operational security reasons, all the pilots other than Horn were told that they were striking a different planet. Horn volunteered for the mission, though he insisted that he fly as Antilles's wingman in the first run on the conduit. During the long rounds of simulations, Horn's tension with Jace came to a head, and Jace, who was one behind Horn in kills but winning their competition due to Darklighter's averaging, reverted to a head-to-head competition for the upcoming battle. The evening before they were to depart for Borleias, Dlarit invited him to sleep with her. Though he found her extremely attractive, Horn declined, stating he needed to be rested for the mission. When he returned to his quarters, he found Mirax Terrik sleeping in Qrygg's bunk; Qrygg was in the medical bay due to losing his arm to debris while extravehicular. Terrik expressed relief that Horn was not sleeping with Dlarit, but when Horn pressed her on the issue she denied any feelings for him. Horn was hurt, but suspected she might have denied them so strongly because the accusation was more true than she wanted to admit. They chatted and apologized for hurting each other's feelings, and Terrik, an expert in collectibles, noted that Horn's good-luck medallion was in fact a Jedi Credit, a commemorative medallion struck when a Corellian Jedi reached mastery. When Horn turned in to his own bed, Terrik began hinting that she might like Horn to sleep with her by asking if he was warm enough. Horn, however, said he was warm enough, feeling he would be using Terrik. She, in turn, asked him to hand her his spare blanket.[1]

The next morning, Terrik wore Horn's flight jacket and kissed him goodbye as he entered his fighter, but both maintained that they were only friends. They launched from Noquivzor and headed towards Borleias, approaching through canyons along Borleias's moon before they made their way to the surface under the cover of a meteor shower. During the approach, the fuel pump which would replenish his fuel tank from the auxiliary fuel pod attached to his fighter failed, meaning it would take longer to empty the pod and detach it. He and Antilles began their run through the rift canyon while the other four pilots held off the TIEs. They were pursued by a pair of TIE fighters, and misses by one pursuer led to debris striking his fuel pod and beginning a leak. Horn jettisoned it, with the explosion taking out the fighter. This left him dangerously low on fuel. Horn made his run against the conduit, but missed, as did Antilles. While Antilles returned for another pass, he ordered Horn out, as he had barely enough fuel to head back to base.[1]

Horn began flying back to base, but on his way out of the atmosphere, he noticed two TIEs making a run against the Devonian, which was landing Page's commandos. Horn turned back and destroyed one of the interceptors on his first pass, but had to dogfight with the second one, burning up enough fuel to make it impossible for him to return to Noquivzor. With nearly two more squadrons of TIEs launching, the others had to flee, and Horn was told to land on the moon's surface, where his life support system could concentrate the thin atmosphere, and wait for New Republic forces to arrive. He holed up in an inactive volcanic tube, and when a squadron of interceptors began a search pattern for him, he realized they would find him before reinforcements could arrive. He accepted that he would die, but prepared to take as many enemies as possible with him. When one flight passed over his hole, Horn ambushed them and flew out to begin engaging the other fighters. However, as he prepared to make his last stand, he was caught in a tractor beam. He found that Terrik and Celchu, concerned that operational security had been breached by Emtrey's listing of Alderaanian items on the squadron's sell list, had taken the Pulsar Skate to Borleias in an attempt to warn the squadron. When no ambush seemed forthcoming, they settled in on the moon, and when Horn emerged they flew to his rescue, with Celchu shooting down several of the interceptors around Horn as they fled.[1]

Rescued by the speedy Pulsar Skate, Horn arrived at Noquivzor before the rest of the Rogues. When they did arrive, he decided to play a prank on his squadron-mates, sending a live message to the Rogues as if it were a message pre-recorded in case of his death, but quickly broke the deception. He, Terrik, and Celchu had a small party ready for the others when they touched down. However, Jace had beaten Horn's tally of twenty-one kills by just one.[1] Jace did not have long to enjoy the victory, as he was presumed killed not long after when he disappeared on his way home to Thyferra.[1][11]

Readying to strike Edit

"I'm not saying I like it, sir, but in CorSec we made deals with criminals on a daily basis. The goal then, just as it is now, is to trade a lesser evil for a greater one. I'd just as soon use Zekka Thyne and some of this other scum as rancor bait, but if they'll help bring Iceheart down, I guess my reservations don't really mean that much. I'm good to go with this, Wedge. I think I'll be fine." ―Corran Horn, to Wedge Antilles [src]

The Rogues were transferred to Borleias, where they spent the next month guarding the world. There, Horn and Qrygg were given a suite of rooms—a private bedroom for each opening onto a small living room which Horn attempted to furnish as best he could. When Horn was patrolling over the world one month after its conquest, he felt deeply unnerved by the arrival of the Vengeance Derra IV over the world, a freighter which appeared to be unremarkable. Flying with Champion Five and Champion Six, Horn let the Y-wings handle the challenge to the ship as he made a pass to inspect the ship. When Champion Five reported that the ship had given the correct code on the second try, Horn was immediately suspicious, recalling a series of burglaries he had investigated in which the thief, who worked for the company which made the ROMs used in the locks, had built in a password which, when sent the first time, would send the actual password back to the thief for use on the second try. Horn thought that a similar capability might have been built into some of the Y-wing comm components by Imperial Intelligence agents. Horn ordered the freighter to stand by for boarding, but the ship would not stop. Instead, it released four TIE fighters and two TIE bombers. Horn let the Y-wings deal with the bombers as he engaged the starfighters, shooting down one. The Y-wings quickly eliminated the bombers, but Horn kept them from joining the dogfight, worried that the inexperienced pilots would only get in the way. However, when the TIEs took his shields down, Horn had to break away. The TIEs began attacking the Y-wings, and Horn had to shoot down one to save Champion Five. He expected to die, given that another TIE was on his tail, but Champion Six shot that fighter down with a proton torpedo. The Vengeance Derra IV fled.[11]

After returning, Horn met with Celchu. Celchu had recruited him to investigate Emtrey's odd functions. When told to shut up three times in succession, he entered a state in which all his memories could be accessed. He also had an odd skill in acquiring parts through the black market. Horn presented Celchu with the results of his inquiries, stating that Emtrey had been rebuilt at Echo Base on Hoth in 3 ABY by an officer of the Quartermaster Corps and given special commodities-brokering software. Due to Losca, the builder, dying at Hoth, no one else had been aware of Emtrey's abilities until Horn accidentally reactivated them by instructing the droid to "scrounge" a part on Talasea. Horn concluded that the droid did not seem to be a security risk. He did mention to Celchu that he had tried to slice the captain's file while having Whistler slice information on Emtrey. Celchu told Horn that if he wanted to know anything, he could have asked him, and explained that he had been captured while on a spy mission to Coruscant in 5 ABY. He was imprisoned in the notorious Lusankya prison, where Director of Imperial Intelligence Ysanne Isard turned prisoners into unknowing agents for the Empire. Not remembering their time in the prison, they were capable of being suddenly reactivated and causing great harm. Celchu, however, actually remembered his time in the prison and was adamant that he had not been broken. After transfer to a prison on Akrit'tar, he escaped and rejoined the New Republic, but few other than Antilles trusted him, leading to the security precautions around him. After considering Celchu's apparent sincerity and his repeated saving of his life, Horn decided to trust the man.[11]

Later, Horn received two bad pieces of news. The first was that the wreckage from Jace's fighter had been found; with an Interdictor operating in the area, it was presumed he had been pulled from hyperspace and destroyed. The second was confirmation of Bastra's death report, with the explanation that he had been killed at Loor's hands in an interrogation mishap. Shortly thereafter, Terrik relayed a report of the Vengeance Derra IV being in the GaTir system. Rogue Squadron departed to investigate. With the unit still short on pilots, Horn flew as the wingman to Captain Aril Nunb, a new transfer and the temporary squadron leader, as Antilles was absent at a conference on Noquivzor. Upon arriving, Horn recognized that the ship Contruum's Pride was moving in tandem with the Vengeance, transferring cargo. Nunb ordered the two ships to surrender, but they responded by launching TIEs. The Rogues shot down all the fighters and disabled both capital ships. The Battle of Mrisst was a clean victory for the New Republic.[11]

The reason for Antilles's presence at Noquivzor was that Rogue Squadron had been assigned to scout Coruscant for conquest, though this was revealed to no one beyond Antilles. First, however, they were assigned to travel to Kessel in order to free several Black Sun prisoners there. They would be inserted onto Coruscant, where they would cause disruption and serve as an auxiliary force for the New Republic. By taking the most dangerous inmates off the hands of warden Moruth Doole, they would be able to trade for the release of various political prisoners. Horn was extremely uncomfortable with the plan, especially when he realized Zekka Thyne would be one of the prisoners they would free. Horn suggested they simply leave Thyne and falsify records to state that he had died, but Antilles pointed out that the most dangerous Black Sunners would be the most effective against Isard's regime on Coruscant.[11]

Horn agreed to the plan, and Rogue Squadron took Kessel's moon base before clearing a landing area on the planet. Horn served as part of Antilles's negotiating team, looking over the list of prisoners and examining them as they were brought out. With him on that team were Kassar and Myda Forge, Lujayne's parents and instructors in a rehabilitation program for the inmates. Thyne was released and brought with him his lover, Inyri Forge, Lujayne's sister. Upon arriving in Rogue Squadron's temporary headquarters, Thyne taunted Horn, attempting to take credit for his father's death. Horn dismissed him. When Thyne left, Horn attempted to convince Forge not to leave with Thyne, but she insisted that she loved him and would go with him. Horn was able to find one prisoner to free who he thought could serve to reign in Thyne: Fliry Vorru, the notoriously corrupt former moff of the Corellian sector.[11]

New Republic hero Edit

Conquering Coruscant Edit

"You're going to send someone in at that target with the storm raging above it?"

[…]

"There's no pilot I know of for certain who can outfly lightning, but I'd sooner bet on Corran than against him." ―Tycho Celchu and Wedge Antilles [src]

Horn returned from Kessel and met up with Terrik on Noquivzor, where Rogue Squadron's base had been transferred. However, he was summoned to Antilles's office. There, he and Erisi Dlarit were informed that they had been assigned to infiltrate Coruscant and scout it for a New Republic invasion. Antilles did not know their cover identities and could not confirm if any other squadron members were being sent in, though Horn and Dlarit correctly assumed that that was the case. They were immediately flown away to begin their mission.[11]

Horn and Dlarit trained for some time in their assumed identities before they traveled to Coruscant aboard the starliner Jewel of Churba. Horn posed as the telbun servant to Dlarit's Kuati aristocrat. In her role, Dlarit treated him dismissively and abusively and Horn had to act subservient, wearing layers of uncomfortable clothes. He hated the role and was glad to reach Coruscant safely. There, they were picked up in a shuttle piloted by their New Republic Intelligence contact on Coruscant, Winter, though she went by the name Rima Borealis with Horn and Dlarit.[11]

They spent a week on Coruscant studying the security situation and medical facilities of Coruscant, preparing reports. Horn used his police experience to surveil the local constabulary and stormtrooper garrisons, checking their discipline and tactics. After a week, he, Dlarit, and Winter decided to examine the security in the Imperial Palace itself. He felt it risky, but decided that it was necessary to find information about how well the building was guarded if the New Republic were to capture it. The three spent time in the Grand Corridor, where Horn observed that security, while unobtrusive, was tight. During their conversation in the Grand Corridor, Winter indirectly brought up Celchu, with whom she had had a romantic relationship before his capture. Horn realized he had lost his trust in Celchu, a feeling which conflicted with the fact that he looked up to the man and caused him to be inordinately angry with Celchu. Winter told him some of Celchu's life story, noting that he had seen his entire family die when he was speaking with them by HoloNet when Alderaan was destroyed. At that moment, Horn noted Kirtan Loor walking past. Frightened of discovery and even more overwhelmed by the desire to kill Loor right then, Horn pulled Dlarit into a kiss to cover his face. When Loor had passed, he explained and apologized.[11]

Horn and Dlarit returned to their hotel room, where Dlarit, moved by hearing of Horn's father's death during Horn's outburst in the Grand Corridor, attempted to comfort him physically. Horn was extremely tempted, but realized that the two could never have a genuine relationship and that their attraction was little more than lust. He broke off the encounter and took a walk to attempt to sort out his feelings. He wandered deep into the underlevels of Coruscant, where he decided to focus on the mission and not stress about things that were out of his control. Realizing that he had made his way into a dangerous portion of the undercity, he decided to pause and headed inside a cantina called The Headquarters. There, he noticed Tycho Celchu in a booth. A cloaked figure was leaving the booth, and while Horn could not see him, he recognized his gait as that of Kirtan Loor.[11]

Convinced Celchu was a traitor, Horn rushed to report it, but was intercepted by several of Zekka Thyne's henchmen. Thyne himself appeared, and Horn knew the criminal leader intended to kill him. In desperation, Horn was able to fight his way free and steal a blaster from his captors, taking off on one of the swoops parked outside the cantina. Pursued by Thyne's thugs on more swoops, Horn fled upwards before realizing he made too easy a target. He flew lower, where it was more difficult to target him in the maze of alleys, and set up ambushes occasionally as he outdistances his pursuers. However, one swoop with a sidecar was able to attach a grapple to Horn's swoop. He shot the pilot, but the other swoop remained attached to his, weighing him down. He slammed the trailing swoop into a building, losing the swoop, but the cable and sidecar to which it was anchored remained attached. Horn was able to dismount and rushed into a warehouse, where he found Imperial stormtroopers in the process of a raid on the members of the Alien Combine. With them were almost all the other members of Rogue Squadron. Horn helped them escape and rescued Inyri Forge, one of the swoop riders pursuing him, from an Imperial attack. They withdrew to a place Asyr Sei'lar, one of the Alien Combine leaders, had as a safe house.[11]

Horn left the others there and made contact with Winter. He told her that he needed to speak with Antilles, who he knew had to be on the planet. He had to wait a few days before she took him to The Headquarters, where Antilles met with him. He told the commander that he had seen Celchu meeting with Loor, but Antilles said that Celchu had been at Noquivzor, which had been attacked by Warlord Zsinj. Celchu was presumed dead. In addition, Rogue Squadron had a new assignment: taking down Coruscant's planetary shields in preparation for an invasion. They proceeded to a planning session with Vorru, Thyne, and the Alien Combine leadership. More importantly to Horn, Iella Wessiri was present, now an agent for New Republic Intelligence. He also learned that Terrik was present, having smuggled the other Rogues onto the planet. In the planning session, they sought a way to gain access to Coruscant's central computer system. Horn came up with the idea of inserting falsified code onto one of the subsidiary memory cores used in the main computer. Those cores were manufactured in factories where several members of the anti-Imperial Alien Combine worked, giving them the access to reformat the cores.[11]

Horn and the others continued work growing their underground movement, building stocks of weapons and equipment. During that time, he was approached by Gavin Darklighter. The young man looked up to Horn as a mentor, and thought that Horn might be able to give him guidance on the issue of interspecies relations. Darklighter had become attracted to Sei'lar, a Bothan. Horn explained that while interspecies relationships might not be right for anyone, if there was genuine love, any problems could be worked around. Terrik and Wessiri arrived during the conversation, however, and Wessiri told the story of his relationship with Ruluwoor. Horn was worried that Terrik might look down on him for it, but she was more amused than disturbed.[11]

When the cores were to be picked up, Horn and Terrik worked with some Black Sun enforcers to secure their exit in case things went wrong. Things did indeed go wrong, when the Empire raided the warehouse where the transfer was taking place. Horn's bad feeling about the transfer was vindicated when stormtroopers blew the door into the office where he and Terrik were watching the transfer. Horn and Terrik shot the stormtroopers who raided the office and fled to the garage, where they found the Black Sun members fleeing in airspeeders, pursued by stormtroopers on speeder bikes. One of the stormtroopers tried to attack Horn, but Horn was able to knock him off his speeder bike. When one of the Black Sun airspeeders returned with a speeder bike pursuing, which Horn and Terrik eliminated, Forge, piloting the airspeeder, gave them a ride out. Horn was convinced Thyne had betrayed the group, and when Forge took them back to the Black Sun rendezvous, Thyne was there. He leveled a blaster at Horn and Terrik, but Horn told Forge that Thyne had betrayed them. Thyne admitted it, telling Horn that his Imperial contact was Kirtan Loor. Realizing that Thyne had sold her out and left her to die as well, Forge shot and killed him. As he died, Thyne tried to taunt Horn, telling him that someone else in the unit had already sold them out to Loor before Loor even contacted him. Horn immediately suspected Celchu.[11]

Horn reunited with the others, where he learned that the Rogues had been given only two days to bring down the shields. The New Republic fleet was coming. In addition, Celchu was with the others. Antilles had brought him to Coruscant as secret backup, so he had not been at Noquivzor after all. Horn's suspicions of Celchu were inflamed. Antilles explained that Celchu had been meeting with Lai Nootka at The Headquarters, not Loor. Every single one of their supply caches had been raided by Imperials, except the one that Celchu had set up himself, the one the Rogues were currently using. Antilles told Horn that he was absolutely certain Celchu was not a traitor.[11]

The Rogues, boosted by the presence of Winter, Wessiri, Terrik, Sei'lar, and Forge, began a planning session to determine how they would bring the shields down on such short notice. Darklighter proposed that they create a massive storm to bring down power. They could do so by redirecting an Orbital Solar Energy Transfer Satellite to boil off one of Coruscant's reservoirs. In order to redirect the orbital mirror, however, they had to take control of one of the subsidiary control centers. To that end, Horn suggested they take control of the construction droid operating nearby and send it rampaging towards the center, which would be evacuated. They could then shut down the droid and take the control center unopposed. Antilles approved the plan and assigned Horn to fly cover in one of the Z-95 Headhunters Celchu had procured during his time on the world. After checking out his Headhunter for the mission, he spoke to Terrik, telling her that he found her attractive and wanted to get to know her better. She agreed to make their relationship a romantic one. After she left, Horn was approached by Celchu. Celchu told him that he was not a spy and asked Horn to believe him. Horn did not and told the captain that when he returned from flying, he would make it his mission to track down the spy in their midst. Celchu accepted that, telling Horn that he had nothing to fear from an investigation, and left.[11]

Horn flew solo, serving as the leader to the four other Headhunters providing air cover. Once Antilles took control of the construction droid and reoriented it, a squadron of TIE fighters was sent against them. He shot down several fighters before destroying an E-Web emplacement that had Antilles and his team pinned down inside the construction droid, then protected Antilles as he transferred from the droid to the control facility. The successful redirection of the OSETS begot a massive storm which brought down the inner layer of Coruscant's shields. However, that activated a new, previously hidden power grid that reinforced the outer shields. Antilles, Celchu, and Winter were able to pinpoint a substation for the new power grid, deep in the middle of the colossal storm, and sent Horn to destroy it. He was pursued by two TIE interceptors, one of which struck a walkway. He evaded the second long enough to fire a concussion missile at the substation, but it did not penetrate enough to do damage. Antilles, monitoring, got the idea to use his access to the Imperial system to slave the pursuing interceptor's trajectory to Horn's next missile shot. Horn fired his last concussion missile, which was followed by the slaved interceptor, destroying the substation and bringing down the shields. With the New Republic fleet arriving, the TIEs shifted their focus to the space defense, leaving Horn free to return to base. On his way, he noticed a strange blip on his sensors. Fellow Rogue Pash Cracken saw nothing, but Horn went to investigate it anyway. His controls locked up, however, with Isard's agents using overrides to take control of his fighter, push it into a turn sharp enough to knock him out, and have him captured by waiting Imperial forces. A building was destroyed on his flight path, making it look as if he had struck it and been killed.[11]

Captivity Edit

"I won't break." ―Corran Horn, to Ysanne Isard [src]

He was assumed dead by the New Republic and posthumously lionized as a hero of the New Republic and the defining figure of the Liberation of Coruscant. A memorial was erected at the presumed site of his death, and a massive, well-attended service was held one week after his "death," in which he was held up both as a hero and as a victim of the Empire, a focal point for New Republic mourning. The green, black, and gray CorSec color scheme used on his flight suit and fighter was adopted for new Rogue Squadron uniforms as well. Celchu, having had the override codes for Horn's Headhunter, was arrested on charges of Horn's murder and treason, creating a highly-publicized trial.[9][11] While Celchu was vilified as a traitor, and Wessiri served gathering evidence for the prosecution, Whistler determined that Horn had been wrong about Celchu and offered to help the defense to make sure the true culprit did not go unpunished.[9]

Horn awoke on what he thought to be a transport, where he was met by Ysanne Isard herself. He was defiant, but she confidently informed him that she would break him at her Lusankya facility, to which she was taking him. She also told him that she had seeded Coruscant with the Krytos virus before she let the New Republic capture it, causing a horrible plague among several nonhuman species.[11] Horn was taken to Lusankya, where he was heavily drugged. In the first phase of Isard's brainwashing, he was put in a simulator in which he flew a TIE interceptor. Disoriented, amnesiac, and disinclined to question his surroundings, he took pleasure in flying and following orders. He shot down two TIEs, then two Uglies, easing him into the true focus of Isard's brainwashing: orders to shoot down two X-wings. While flying, he noticed that they had the Rogue Squadron crest emblazoned on them. He froze, though in his drugged state he was not conscious why, and his simulated TIE was destroyed. He was rebuked by Isard for his failure, and he apologized, seeking to prove himself worthy.[9]

He was later drugged and put into the simulator again, forgetting his previous experience. From the beginning of this session, however, he was wracked by a sense of unease. He felt manipulated and disliked it. When two X-wings appeared, labeled as piloted by Tycho Celchu and Kirtan Loor, Horn realized that Loor was no pilot and Celchu's performance did not match his flying style at all. Putting together the facts, he realized that he was being brainwashed by Isard and ended the simulation. Isard appeared and told him that his ordeal was far from over, but Horn remained defiant. Even her promise of an intense narco-interrogation did not daunt him, as he knew that he did not possess any serious New Republic secrets. When Horn did not divulge any valuable information, Isard resorted to torture.[9]

Torture yielded no results, and when it became clear Horn would not break as Isard wished, she had him incarcerated with the general population of Lusankya. One of the prisoners, Urlor Sette, took him to see the leader of the Rebel prisoners, a man known only by his first name of Jan. Horn did not realize that he was the legendary General Jan Dodonna of the Clone Wars and Rebellion. He also met the Imperial leader, General Evir Derricote, the former Borleias commander and the architect of the Krytos virus, now imprisoned by Isard. Horn questioned Dodonna on several points about Lusankya's security setup and immediately began planning to escape.[9]

Horn spent one week with the general population, laboring during the day in making gravel. At the end of that week, he made his first escape attempt, intending to ride the conveyor belt on which the gravel was taken out of the quarry in which they worked. Knowing that the guards had their blasters set to stun, he expected that even a failed attempt would provide him with knowledge with which to make a second attempt. However, he was singled out by a guard before he even reached the conveyor belt. The guard struck Horn with his blaster, and Horn retaliated by reflexively throwing his bucket of gravel into the guard. He refused to take the guard's weapon as he fell, knowing that would only get the other prisoners killed in a failed attempt to fight their way out of the prison. He was stunned by the other guards, and remained paralyzed but awake.[9]

Horn was taken to a medical facility, where he lay on the floor while the guard was treated. With his ear pressed to the floor, he clearly heard feet marching on the other side of it. While Horn was kept under observation in the medical ward, he realized that the likeliest explanation for what he had heard was that the gravity on the prison floors was reversed. Artificial gravity had the prisoners walking on what would otherwise be the ceiling, and so any attempts to escape upwards would only lead them deeper into Lusankya. It was by going down, from their perspective, that prisoners could actually escape aboveground. When he returned to his living quarters, he shared his discovery with Dodonna and Sette. He spent a week persuading them to allow him to make an attempt to prove his theory. They eventually agreed and had the other prisoners stage a fight to provide a distraction while Horn threw a rock at the ceiling. It did not come down, the artificial gravity being outweighed by natural gravity at that distance from the floor. Horn's theory was correct.[9]

Horn offered Sette and Dodonna the chance to escape with him, but they both declined. He made some preparations and tested his ability to fit through the gate before he finally made his actual escape effort. He made his escape at night, going with Sette to the latrines. There, he soaked his tunic in water to reduce his infrared signature and Sette walked back to their quarters to make those monitoring the sensors that one person had gone to the latrines and returned. Horn squeezed through the loosely-secured gate into the quarry. There, he was attacked by Derricote, who had noticed his experimental stone-throw and resolved to keep an eye on Horn and foil his escape in order to redeem himself to Isard. Dodonna, however, followed Derricote and attacked him, giving Horn enough time to kill the Imperial. Horn offered Dodonna another chance to escape, but Dodonna felt he had a duty to the other Rebel prisoners. Dodonna returned, and Horn dragged Derricote's body with him under the conveyor belt, where he crawled out into a room with access to maintain the belt machinery.[9]

Horn traveled into the properly-oriented portion of the prison, which he found to be far more well-appointed than he expected. He dumped Derricote's body into a garbage chute, and upon exploring the facility in which he found himself, could find no way out other than a turbolift that required a code to operate. He was trapped in the opulent area, when stormtroopers arrived and began searching it methodically. Horn was forced to hide in a cabinet, but he knew a look inside would reveal his presence. As he heard the stormtroopers searching the other cabinets next to his, he willed them to grow frustrated and give up, as Derricote, whom Dodonna had reported missing, would not fit inside. The stormtrooper checking his cabinet gave it only a cursory look, stopping before his gaze reached Horn. With that area cleared, the stormtroopers departed.[9]

He emerged into the library, where he searched the datacards to find the trigger to the escape tunnel he was certain had to be built into the area. He found only a hold-out blaster hidden inside a false box of datacards. With that avenue failed, he tried accessing the computer terminal there. He was able to call up his own record from Lusankya, which declared him "unsuitable for conversion." He accessed Celchu's record, and found the same designation. Celchu had not been converted in Lusankya; he was not the spy. Horn considered the issue carefully, and came to the conclusion that only one person could have given Jace's course to Thyferra to the Imperials and known Horn's Headhunter override codes: Dlarit, who was from Thyferra and had checked out Horn's Headhunter with him before they flew.[9]

Annoyed by the hologram of Emperor Palpatine, which appeared when a certain spot on the library floor was stepped on, Horn realized that the hologram kept people off the spot. Horn stood on it, inside the hologram, long enough for the lift built into the floor to activate and carry him down to a tunnel-shuttle system. Horn boarded the shuttle, which took him to another lift. That lift brought him to an abandoned room full of Jedi relics, which he explored. He cast off his ratty tunic, donning Jedi robes from a mannequin. His attention was caught by a display which held a Jedi credit identical to his lucky medallion. He got the hologram associated with the exhibit to play, showing Jedi Master Nejaa Halcyon with his apprentice—a boy who looked extraordinarily like Valin "Hal" Horn. Shocked, Horn appropriated the items from that exhibit, including his grandfather's lightsaber. While there, however, three soldiers entered the room. Horn was able to kill all three, two of them with the lightsaber.[9]

After doing so, Horn realized that the Jedi memorabilia and the Coruscant time he heard on the standard time channel that he could pick up on one of the dead men's comlinks signaled that he was, in fact, on Coruscant. He used the comlink to contact Whistler, who guided him to the courthouse where Celchu's trial was ongoing. His entrance to the courtroom proved extremely shocking. Horn apologized to Celchu for suspecting him and was sworn in as a witness. Horn testified that Celchu was not the traitor, as proven by the files in Lusankya, but the trial was interrupted by horrible news. The Lusankya prison had been inside an Executor-class Star Dreadnought of the same name, and with Horn escaped, Lusankya erupted from where it had been buried within the Coruscant cityscape, killing untold civilians as it escaped from Coruscant with Isard aboard. With it went Dlarit, who was exposed as Isard's spy within the squadron.[9]

The Bacta War Edit

"This isn't about revenge. It's about obligations I have to people. People who helped me, other prisoners were on the Lusankya when it blasted out of here. I promised them I'd come back for them. Well, we know where they are: Thyferra. It's time we go get them." ―Corran Horn, to Luke Skywalker [src]

Horn rejoined Rogue Squadron and spent the next ten days hunting down the last remnants of the Palpatine Counter-Insurgency Front, an Imperial terrorist group that had been headed by Kirtan Loor after the New Republic's capture of Coruscant. Loor, having failed Isard, had actually defected to the New Republic. He was shot, however, by Diric Wessiri, a Lusankya agent who had reemerged during Horn's captivity. Iella Wessiri, protecting Loor, shot and killed her husband before she knew who was attacking.[9] Horn had to comfort her, helping her through her grief as she had helped him deal with his in the wake of his father's death.[16] Horn, having known the encryption key Loor used in his CorSec days, was able to decode the disk of data Loor had left behind, leading to the exposure of the PCF cells. Isard, meanwhile, took Lusankya to Thyferra, where she was installed as its leader in a coup.[9] Horn was also told initially that Terrik had been killed in an ambush of a convoy and was devastated. He was quickly informed that she had in fact survived, as she had been secretly diverted to another destination. Horn and Terrik began a serious romantic relationship and quickly began cohabiting.[16]

Ten days after Horn's reemergence, a ceremony was held celebrating his return and announcing Celchu's innocence, rehabilitating his reputation by claiming he had been aware that his trial was a deception to draw out the true spy. At the reception following the ceremony, Horn was approached by Luke Skywalker. Horn had returned Halcyon's memorabilia to the museum after his escape, but Skywalker gave him the lightsaber back, telling Horn that his researches had revealed that Nejaa Halcyon was Horn's grandfather, explaining Horn's family history. He offered Horn the chance to train as a Jedi. Horn was extremely honored, but he refused, saying he had to deal with his obligation to free the other Lusankya prisoners first. Councilor Borsk Fey'lya, who was present, informed him that there would be no action against Thyferra; as Isard's installation was an internal political matter, the New Republic would not interfere for fear of frightening off potential members. Horn was outraged, and resigned in protest to take action himself. Almost all the rest of Rogue Squadron followed suit.[9]

It was only then, planning to rescue the prisoners, that Horn realized Jan had been Jan Dodonna while watching a HoloNet special on heroes of the Rebellion. While Horn had begun the movement to unseat Isard, he let Antilles run it. Antilles and Celchu began planning their campaign against Isard, marshaling resources for use in their war against Isard. Horn recruited Wessiri into the cause, gaining one more ally, along with Winter and Terrik, for the Rogues. At their first operational meeting, Horn was assigned to travel to Tatooine with Terrik and Darklighter in order to buy up Huff Darklighter's remaining inventory from the Eidolon Imperial supply cache, which Rogue Squadron had encountered on Tatooine years earlier.[16]

They traveled to Mos Eisley aboard the Pulsar Skate and from there proceeded to the Darklighter estate near Anchorhead. At the home of Gavin's uncle, they waited in a library while Huff dealt with another client. Huff came out to tell them he would speak with them presently, and Horn mentioned that he knew of Huff's smuggling activities, bringing pressure against the Tatooinian water magnate. He also told Huff why they were there, at which point Huff mentioned that his other visitor was looking to buy the same items. Horn attempted to intimidate the other bidder by playing on Terrik's father's reputation, but was confused when the other man just laughed. Terrik informed him that the other man was Booster Terrik. Mirax calmed her father down, and upon learning that Antilles, whom Booster Terrik treated like a son, wanted the cache, Booster insisted that Huff let them have it. Later, they spent time at an impromptu Darklighter family reunion as the Darklighters gathered to see Gavin. Among the family members, Horn was overwhelmed by sorrow for the loss of his own family, but Jula Darklighter, Gavin's father, was able to speak with him and help him set aside his grief.[16]

With Booster Terrik joining them, they returned to the Yag-prime space station in orbit over Yag'Dhul, where their guerrilla force was now based. While Horn owned his own fighter, the other eleven had been owned by the New Republic—until they were listed as surplus and sold to Celchu, along with their astromechs and Emtrey, in an act of quiet support. When the maintenance crew also resigned and joined the Rogues, they finally had a viable strike force. They used it against Isard, striking one of her bacta convoys in a pirate raid. Horn, with his CorSec background, was uneasy at the idea of pirating a convoy, but accepted that it was a necessary action to bring down Isard. Horn's flight eliminated the convoy's fighter defenses, convincing the freighters to surrender and deliver their bacta to New Republic and unaligned worlds in need of it. Horn and Qrygg led a pair of freighters to Halanit, where the bacta relieved the small colony from a virus sweeping through it.[16]

Luke Skywalker, hoping that Horn would reconsider his decision, sent him some basic Jedi training material, information about lightsaber techniques, and stories of the Jedi Knights' law-enforcing tradition. Horn studied the material and found himself frequently wondering about his instincts. Any feeling of discomfort could be an omen of disaster, a fact which had him second-guessing himself. Horn's next assignment was to infiltrate Thyferra. Taking the captured freighter Mimban Cloudrider to Thyferra, he and Mirax Terrik were to help insert Wessiri and Elscol Loro's team of anti-Imperial resistance fighters to organize the native Vratix against Isard.[16]

During the trip in the Mimban Cloudrider, Horn used Skywalker's material to practice with his grandfather's lightsaber, which he had been carrying with him. They arrived at Thyferra and took a shuttle down to the surface, where Horn, in the spaceport, attracted the attention of a suspicious stormtrooper who thought he recognized him. The stormtrooper tried to take Horn in for questioning, and Horn tried to use a mind trick to obtain his freedom. It failed, forcing Horn to draw his lightsaber and kill the stormtrooper. When more stormtroopers arrived, Horn cut his way through the ceiling of a refresher to attack the troopers on the balcony above. There, he killed two before another tackled him. Horn went over the balcony railing and lost consciousness after hitting the floor, breaking his back and gaining multiple other internal injuries.[16]

Their Thyferran contacts were able to fight off the Imperials, and Horn was evacuated to one of the Vratix Ashern resistance facilities. There, he was put in a bacta tank and healed. Upon emerging, he was shocked to see Bror Jace. The X-wing destroyed by the Black Asp had been a decoy, designed to simulate his death so he could aid the Ashern, with which his own faction of the bacta cartel, Zaltin Corporation, had allied. With the team inserted, Horn and Terrik returned to Yag'Dhul with Jace. Jace was able to use his Ashern resistance contacts to slice the navigation computers of some of the bacta freighters in another convoy and lead them into an ambush. As Isard had started using her three Star Destroyers to guard the convoys, keeping Lusankya at Thyferra, the convoys were now too well-protected to strike directly. The Rogues, supplemented by a squadron of Twi'lek warriors under the command of Tal'dira, whom the Rogues had met during Horn's imprisonment, waited in ambush for the three diverted freighters. The first ship to surrender was the Xucphra Rose, which Horn and Qrygg escorted to Halanit. Horn also collected the names of the crew's family members on Thyferra in order for them to be taken to safety; Isard had threatened to kill the dependents of anyone who cooperated with the Rogues.[16]

After Horn, Qrygg, and the two Twi'lek pilots working with them returned, the Corrupter struck Halanit in retribution for their accepting stolen bacta. Horn participated in the retaliatory attack on Qretu 5, a bacta-producing Thyferran colony. Horn made one run against the factories before dealing with several TIEs which had launched and then securing the spaceport from which they had deployed. After that mission, the Rogues continued flying a relentless schedule of missions harassing Isard's convoys. The harsh pace of missions left Horn exhausted, and his mood was only worsened by the fourth anniversary of his father's death, a date which always depressed him.[16]

The Terriks arranged for shipments of various supplies from smuggling king Talon Karrde, the first of which was to be transferred to the small fleet of freighters the Rogues operated at the Graveyard—the ruins of Alderaan. Before the transfer could be started, however, they were ambushed by the Corrupter and the Interdictor Aggregator, pinning them in place. Horn, like the rest of the Rogues, stood off to release a proton torpedo barrage using telemetry from Antilles. Celchu made a second run, and Antilles ordered Horn to prepare to make a third if the Corrupter survived. Antilles made a run against the bridge and the long-lost droid-operated Alderaanian War Cruiser Valiant, responding to Celchu's Alderaanian identify friend/foe beacon, emerged from the Graveyard and targeted the Corrupter, destroying it. Another torpedo run by Celchu against the Aggregator drove the Interdictor off. Returning to base, Horn helped analyze their security situation in order to make sure whoever had betrayed the meeting point was one of Karrde's personnel.[16]

Defeating Isard Edit

"It was a great shot, Tycho. If I couldn't get her, well, your claim predated mine."

"Corran, we got her. That's all that counts." ―Corran Horn and Tycho Celchu [src]

On Elshandruu Pica, Horn served as a spotter for the team assigned to target Captain Sair Yonka of the Avarice, one of Isard's three remaining captains. Horn, Antilles, and several other Rogues raided the cottage where Yonka was having a romantic rendezvous, and Antilles bribed Yonka to defect, bringing the Avarice, renamed Freedom, with him. Following that, Horn made a circuit through the Polith system to confirm rumors that Isard was rounding up Vratix to execute within two weeks. After he reported back to Antilles, the commander ordered him to escort Karrde's final shipment in to the station directly. Horn protested that this would reveal their location, but Antilles told him that that was part of his plan. For security reasons, Horn would not be told the entirety. After delivering his report, he got into an argument with Booster Terrik, which Antilles had to defuse by pointing out that Mirax loved them both. Horn put aside his sense of enmity towards Terrik and accepted that he did not need to consider seeing him as his father's foe. During the escort mission, Horn spoke with Mirax Terrik about his wish that he could have learned about his Jedi heritage from his father, at which point Whistler revealed that Hal Horn had recorded a holographic message to him and stored it in Whistler. Horn declined to play it at that time, feeling he was not ready for it.[16]

Returning to the station, they knew Isard's spy would give them away. They expected her forces to arrive within two days, at which the Rogues would flee. Antilles, Celchu, and Booster Terrik had set up a special situation at the base to deal with Isard's ships. Though Horn was not told, a gravity well projector and tractor beams would pin the ships in place while hundreds of missile targeting units painted the ships with missile locks, forcing them to stand down. They had one night before Isard's capital ships would arrive, and Horn, realizing that he loved Terrik and would never find a woman he loved more, asked her to marry him. To his great joy, she agreed.[16]

When the Lusankya and Virulence arrived, the starfighters and freighters departed on a vector for Thyferra. They did not travel all the way there, however, instead rendezvousing with Yonka's Freedom, which carried them to Thyferra, fully supplied and rested. By the time they arrived there, the Lusankya had already returned, the Virulence having interposed itself between the station and Lusankya, allowing the Star Dreadnought to escape. The Rogues engaged the Thyferran Home Defense Corps TIEs launching from the surface, then made a torpedo run against the Lusankya. Each X-wing fed its missile telemetry to the freighters standing off, which had been equipped with the actual missile launchers to which the sensor systems on the Yag-prime station belonged; the threat to the Lusankya there had been nothing more than a bluff.[16]

During the battle, Horn, Qrygg, Celchu, and Ven were assigned to destroy a Lambda-class shuttle that was fleeing Thyferra, one which appeared to be carrying Isard. Horn targeted the TIE interceptors guarding the shuttle first. Dlarit was one of those pilots, and Horn targeted her after she shot down Ven, forcing him extravehicular. He killed Dlarit, then pursued the shuttle. He hailed it and Isard replied, but when he tried to attack it she explained that it was an upgraded model. His lasers would not penetrate its shields in time for him to prevent it from escaping to hyperspace. While he was out of proton torpedoes, he targeted her with his torpedo systems to activate her lock-avoidance software and force her to juke. Thus distracted, she could not proceed as swiftly outside Thyferra's gravity well. She realized he was bluffing and made to flee, to which Horn responded by planning to ram the shuttle. This proved unnecessary, as he had accidentally struck the button to broadcast his telemetry, and Celchu was able to use it to launch torpedoes that destroyed the shuttle.[16]

Meanwhile, the Virulence, having surrendered to Terrik and Pash Cracken's intervening A-wing flight group, returned to Thyferra under Terrik's command and carrying Cracken's fighters. With their assistance, the Lusankya was crippled to the point that it surrendered. Thyferra's government