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Celchu, Tycho

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Celchu was a graduate of the Imperial Naval Academy, even though he was a native of Alderaan. He was engaged to a woman named Mia who, along with most of Celchu's family, was killed when the Death Star destroyed the planet. Note that Mia is the name given in the first series of X-Wing: Rogue Squadron comics, although the X-Wing novels name her as Nyiestra. Tycho was calling home on his twenty-first birthday, and regarded the loss of transmission to be a simple glitch. After learning the truth about this atrocious act, Celchu left Imperial service and defected to the Alliance. He became a veteran of the Battle of Hoth, he flew an A-Wing in the Battle of Endor, and participated in the Battle of Bakura. His allegiance, though, was constantly questioned by the ranking officers in the New Republic, although the fighter pilots never waivered in their support of him. He was under constant surveillance by the New Republic, because of his ability to escape from Imperial capture time and time again. He showed an innate ability to pilot a TIE Fighter, which also didn't endear him to the higher-ups. It did, though, bring a level of respect among other pilots. Tycho assisted the Rogues and infiltrated the Imperial ranks on Cilpar. He also participated in the Rogues' mission to Mrlsst, but was witnessed killing the controllers of the Phantom cloaking device and stealing its plans. The tape turned out to be a clever fake designed to discredit the Rogues and secure the Phantom device for the Empire. Once the Phantom was proven to be a smokescreen, Tycho was freed from any guilt in the matter. He later fell in love with Winter, during the recovery of the Eidolon on Tatooine. He was later chosen to fly the initial scanning runs of the planet Coruscant, flying a stolen Imperial craft in a series of sensor runs in an effort to assess the planet's defenses. He was captured by the Empire and sent to Lusankya, where he was few prisoners who were not drugged, but rather allowed to remember his time there. He was then sent to Akrit'tar for three months before escaping and returning to the Republic. This time was secretly removed from his Republic records, further increasing the distrust among those members of the Command structure who weren't privy to the Coruscant mission. He later became a member of Rogue Squadron, following the Battle of Endor, but was not allowed to pilot a starfighter or any ship with weapons. It was believed that Ysanne Isard had implanted him with a hidden codephrase that activated subliminal programming, making him an extremely effective although unwilling spy. The fact that he remembered his time on Lusankya made him different enough from other survivors that it went unnoticed until Rogue Squadron infiltrated Coruscant. Shortly before the attack on Coruscant, Celchu was believed dead on Noquivzor. He suddenly reappeared, and helped the Rogues get onto the planet. There, Corran Horn supposedly witnessed Tycho meeting with Kirtan Loor, when Celchu was actually meeting with Lai Nootka. The circumstantial evidence, coupled with Horn's disappearance, left Tycho in custody for Horn's murder. He was certain to be convicted of the crime until Horn escaped from Lusankya and positively identified the true traitor in the Rogue Squadron as Erisi D'larit. Tycho eventually fell in love with Winter, partly because she was near him more often, but mostly because of their shared Alderaanian background. When the squadron resigned its commissioned with the New Republic, Tycho chose to paint his X-Wing in the colors of the Alderaan Guard unit that maintained order in his home town. Tycho eventually became one of the squadron's leaders, especially during the time Wedge formed and developed Wraith Squadron. After Wedge was promoted to General and Tycho was promoted to Colonel, Wedge relinquished day-to-day control of the Rogues to Tycho. Tycho remained as Commander of the Rogues for several years before getting married to Winter and ceding command to Gavin Darklighter. Tycho retired shortly after Wedge Antilles, although both offered assistance to Gavin during the Yuuzhan Vong crisis. He was called out of retirement during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the galaxy, retaining his rank as Colonel and commanding the starfighter defenses of the planet Coruscant. After the Yuuzhan Vong surrendered at Coruscant some five years after the invasion began, Tycho and many of his contemporaries decided to retire from military life once and for all.