Cracken, Pash

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Homeworld:
  Contruum

• Species:
  Human

• Gender:
  Male

• Vehicle:
  X-wing fighter

• Affiliation:
  Rebel Alliance, Rogue Squadron, New Republic, Galactic Alliance

• 

From the Expanded Universe

The son of an Alliance war hero, it wasn't long before Pash Cracken's esteem grew to rival that of his father, General Airen Cracken. At a young age, Pash showed exceptional piloting skills, flying solo by the age of 13. Being schooled in morality by his father, he also knew of the evil that was the Galactic Empire, and wanted to join the fight against tyranny.

He left Contruum with his father, and the elder Cracken encouraged young Pash to enroll at the Imperial Academy on Vensenor. The Sector Academy campus had long been a fertile recruiting ground for the Rebellion. Airen Cracken provided his son with a false identity to pursue his education free of Imperial attention.

While Pash Cracken was already an amazing pilot, he proved to be an exceptional tactician as well. His plans were unorthodox and often reckless, but in repeated combat simulation, they were unbeatable. Pash also became a capable leader, inspiring a devotion in his teammates that was testament to his command skills.

Pash graduated in the top one percent of his class, and was immediately commissioned into the Imperial Navy, where he served as a wing commander. He and his entire wing of 72 starfighters defected to the Rebel Alliance. The details of the defection remained classified, but it was a scandalous to the upper echelons of the Imperial Navy, and Lord Vader himself was said to have taken interest in this debacle.

Pash's group was dubbed the Cracken Flight Group, and was stationed at the Alliance base in the Xyquine system. Cracken's pilots distinguished themselves inn hit-and-run raids against Imperial shipments. When Xyquine needed to be abandoned, Cracken came up with the ingeniously simple tactic of feeding disinformation to eavesdropping Imperials that misdirected Imperial blockades attempting to stop the fleeing Rebels. Pash's tactic of subtracting the number two from the second digit of the transmitted exit vector coordinates was dubbed "The Cracken Twist."

Shortly after the Battle of Endor, Cracken's Flight Group were reassigned to the Generis system in the Atrivis sector, where they served in the protection of the Outer Rim comm center. When Rogue Squadron announced that it was seeking pilots to fill vacancies, Captain Cracken applied, leaving stewardship of his group to Wing Commander Varth. On his very first mission as a Rogue, he was instrumental in bringing down the forward and aft shields and disabling the Vengeance, the Star Destroyer that was being used for the assault on the Rebels on Nar Shaddaa. He assisted in the removal of Black Sun extremists from Kessel before being sent undercover to Coruscant. Cracken assisted the Rogues in their gambit to drop the shields protecting Coruscant from New Republic attack.

Once Coruscant was firmly controlled by the New Republic, Cracken returned to Generis to resume command of his group. During Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign against the New Republic, the Outer Rim comm center fell to Imperial attack.

Pash Cracken continued to serve the New Republic military in the years that followed. In the years of fighting the Yuuzhan Vong, combat attrition saw him achieve an acting rank of General from his official rank of Major. As part of General Wedge Antilles' battle groupat Bilbringi, Cracken commanded the capital warship Memory of Ithor. That massive vessel fell to Yuuzhan Vong forces, and Cracken was captured and held prisoner on Selvaris before being rescued by Galactic Alliance forces.