Black Eight Squadron

After the Clone Wars concluded, the Sith Lord Darth Vader rose to the position of Supreme Commander overseeing the military forces of the newly established Galactic Empire. In addition to the 501st Legion, the Black Eight Squadron also fell under the direct command of the Dark Lord of the Sith. Under Darth Vader's direction, the Black Eight evolved into a premier unit within the Imperial Navy, particularly recognized for its unwavering obedience and ruthless tactics. Vader meticulously managed the unit's composition, personally selecting its leaders and TIE pilots, primarily to ensure the squadron maintained its formidable reputation. Consequently, service within the Black Eight was typically brief for all members, a detail often overshadowed by the secrecy surrounding their highly classified missions. Squadron members never disclosed the identities of their wingmates or the particulars of their operations, and outsiders rarely speculated about the squadron's activities. The primary objective for any Black Eight pilot was to ensure Vader's success in every mission, regardless of the circumstances.

By 3 BBY, the Black Eight Squadron was commanded by Juno Eclipse, a Human female officer who had joined the Imperial Navy after being the youngest cadet to graduate from the Corulag Academy. Impressed by her demonstrated loyalty and competence, Darth Vader appointed Captain Eclipse as the squadron's leader. Her wingmates included "Chaser" Cartha, Youngster, and Redline. Eclipse considered the Black Eight Squadron an elite unit and took great pride in her role as its commanding officer.

However, Eclipse's pride was short-lived. Shortly after her promotion, the Black Eight was assigned to invade the planet of Callos. While she initially followed orders precisely, executing a bombing raid on enemy targets, she was shocked and apprehensive about Darth Vader's subsequent command. Although the Callosians' ability to resist had been effectively neutralized, the Sith Lord instructed the Black Eight Squadron to proceed with a complete bombardment of the planet's defenseless population. Sensing her hesitation, Vader instead ordered Eclipse's squadron to destroy Callos's planetary reactor, stating that only then would the mission be deemed successful. Eclipse complied, believing she had prevented a genocide.

The Black Eight executed a precise attack on the reactor, each strike hitting its mark before defenses could be activated. However, the reactor's destruction released pollutants into the atmosphere, contaminating the entire planet and rendering it uninhabitable.

After the destruction of Callos, Vader reassigned Eclipse from the Black Eight Squadron, selecting her to be the eighth pilot of his secret apprentice's starship, the Rogue Shadow. Eclipse personally recommended Chaser as her successor, but Redline, whom she described as "psychopathic," was chosen instead. Youngster, known for his optimism, had followed Eclipse into the Black Eight and left to fly transport ships shortly after her reassignment. By 2 BBY, only a third of Eclipse's original teammates, including Redline and Chaser (ranked fourth), remained in the Black Eight; another third were listed as deceased, while the rest had advanced within the military hierarchy.

During the Galactic Civil War, in 1 ABY, Darth Vader reorganized the Black Eight Squadron. Responding to the Rebel Alliance's unconventional strategies, the Sith Lord decided to reform the Black Eight by replacing its pilots with non-military personnel. Believing that the new Black Eight would be more effective as an unconventional unit, unburdened by the Empire's rigid bureaucracy, Vader entrusted Commander Dorin Millavec, the fighter operations officer of the Imperial Star Destroyer Crucible, with overseeing the squadron's development.

Along with Nas Ghent, a smuggler who had previously served as a Separatist pilot during the Clone Wars, the squadron was composed of independent-minded pilots capable of operating outside the standard command structure. Millavec, tasked by Vader to search the Imperial penitentiary system for suitable candidates, recruited the squadron's members. Despite complying with Vader's orders, Millavec harbored resentment towards the Black Eight pilots due to their renegade backgrounds, particularly disliking Ghent for his disdain for military discipline.

Convinced that the Black Eight Squadron threatened his career prospects, Millavec secretly attempted to undermine Ghent's progress. During a test flight, Millavec assigned Ghent an outdated TIE/LN fighter with non-functional weapons and ordered the other pilots to eliminate their leader. However, Ghent destroyed his wingmates, becoming reinvigorated as a pilot due to Millavec's treachery. After Millavec claimed the attack was a test staged by Vader, Ghent vowed to make the Black Eight Squadron the best aerial unit in the Imperial Navy. As their rivalry intensified, Millavec released unstable psychopaths from incarceration, recruiting them as Ghent's new wingmates in another plot to assassinate the defiant TIE pilot.

Membership in the squadron required loyalty and ruthlessness, the defining characteristics of the Empire's most feared TIE fighter squadron. One way to maintain these characteristics was to ensure a high turnover rate for both leaders and pilots. Squadron leaders typically commanded the Black Eight for only a single month before being rotated to another unit. Their successors also had short tenures, with Juno Eclipse's leadership being even briefer.

While pilots were generally obedient, Eclipse's and Youngster's unease with Vader's brutal tactics led to their removal from the Black Eight. Chaser shared similar reservations, and although he remained with the squadron, he was effectively prevented from advancing beyond fourth place. Those who had no ethical concerns about using excessive force were rewarded with promotions, as seen with Redline's succession of Eclipse as squadron leader. Although the three former squadron leaders were listed as deceased by 2 BBY, Eclipse was still alive and serving as Starkiller's personal pilot.

The new structure of the Black Eight Squadron under Nas Ghent's leadership reflected its detachment from the standard chain of command. In accordance with Darth Vader's wishes, the squadron consisted of rogue pilots whose disregard for authority was seen as an unconventional asset by the Dark Lord of the Sith.

The Black Eight Squadron primarily utilized TIE/LN starfighters and TIE/sa bombers, but they also employed at least one TIE/IT Interdictor starfighter during their missions.

Jeremy Barlow suggested that a future Rebellion arc might involve Ghent recruiting BoShek into the squadron. However, Rebellion was ultimately cancelled in favor of Star Wars: Invasion.

There is some conflicting information regarding which squadron Juno Eclipse served in before being reassigned to the Rogue Shadow. In the video game version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, both PROXY and Eclipse's Databank profile indicate that she led the "Black Five Squadron," a detail also mentioned in the game's sequel. However, the first and second novelizations state that her unit was the Black Eight Squadron. As novelizations take precedence over video games in Star Wars Legends canon, this article identifies Eclipse as the leader of the Black Eight rather than the Black Five.