The "All Aces Battle Royale," or simply the "All Aces," was a race hosted every ten cycles for ace pilots on the ocean planet Castilon. During the Cold War between the First Order and the Resistance in 34 ABY, the event was hosted on the Colossus refueling station, and many pilots—including Pamarthens, individuals from the planet Hosnian Prime, and the First Order operative Marnia Un'la'na—were among the aces who traveled to Castilon to participate.

Under the pseudonym "Bolt-Shatterer-K," Resistance spy Kazuda Xiono flew in the race using a borrowed backup racer and attempted to remain close to Un'la'na's ship to intercept a transmission she was sending to the First Order. He and several other pilots—including Ace Squadron members Torra Doza, Hype Fazon, Freya Fenris, and Bo Keevil—began the race together, flying out after announcer Jak Sivrak's announcement. After successfully capturing her data transfer using an encryption recorder, Xiono was knocked out of the race and crash-landed. Un'la'na won the race's top prize and set a new time record for the course, and Xiono later took the transmission he had captured during the event and delivered it to the Resistance.

Prelude[]

Every ten cycles, the "All Aces Battle Royale" race, also known simply as the "All Aces," was hosted for ace pilots on the supertanker fuel depot Colossus stationed on the ocean planet Castilon. Over time, some individuals began considering the event one of the largest within the Outer Rim, even compared to the difficult Dragon Void Run race, and several racers were often eliminated within the first few minutes in their efforts to win the top prize. The event generally resulted in many pilots traveling to the Colossus for a few days to participate, which Z'Vk'Thkrkza "Aunt Z"—the proprietor of Aunt Z's Tavern—became accustomed to.^[1]

Not long before an "All Aces Battle Royale" was set to be hosted during the Cold War between the First Order and the Resistance^[1] in 34 ABY,^[2] several Pamarthen pilots, aces from the planet Hosnian Prime, and the First Order operative and pilot Marnia Un'la'na traveled to the Colossus to participate alongside the platform's own aces. The Resistance spy Kazuda Xiono was confused by the sudden influx of activity and learned from Aunt Z what the "All Aces" was and her opinion that the race made the Dragon Void Run seem like a children's speeder race in comparison. After learning that Un'la'na was using the race as a cover to send a transmission to the First Order, Xiono stole a Hosnian Prime pilot's backup racer to participate in the event under the pseudonym "Bolt-Shatterer-K" to try to intercept it at the suggestion of Resistance pilot Poe Dameron.^[1]

The race[]

Following the announcer^[1] Jak Sivrak's^[3] command to begin the race, numerous pilots began flying alongside each other. Ace Squadron pilots^[1] Torra Doza, Hype Fazon, Freya Fenris, and Bo Keevil^[4] flew out from the Colossus with the other participants in their racers^[1]—Blue Ace, Green Ace, Red Ace, and Yellow Ace, respectively.^[4] Un'la'na's ship pulled ahead of the others with Xiono not far behind, as the former attempted to gain enough lead to send her transmission to the First Order safely. Sivrak continued announcing for the race, indicating that several pilots had already been taken out. When Xiono closed the distance between them, he had his astromech droid BB-8 use an encryption recorder to capture the message but was knocked further back when another craft hit his vessel.^[1]

As Xiono fell behind another ship, he struggled to regain his spot near Un'la'na's vessel. The First Order operative, unaware of the spy's intentions, continued maintaining her lead in order to win the event. Sivrak announced when Un'la'na took the lead to the crowd watching, indicating that the new pilot "Bolt-Shatterer-K" was nearing her position. Moments after intercepting the last of Un'la'na's transmission, Xiono collided with Fazon's ship and was forced to pull out of the race and crash-land, which Sivrak mentioned to the event's spectators. Meanwhile, Un'la'na kept pulling ahead and won the race and its top prize, setting a new time record for the course.^[1]

Aftermath[]

After the race, Xiono recovered the data of Un'la'na's race transmission from his damaged ship's data log backup and delivered it to Dameron. Dameron and Resistance General Leia Organa reviewed the data and thanked Xiono for retrieving it during the race to land a blow against the First Order. The Resistance spy also returned his borrowed racer to its owner, who was shocked to see their backup racer in its hangar in such a damaged state.^[1]

Behind the scenes[]

The "All Aces Battle Royale" race first appeared in "All Aces Battle Royale," a comic story written by Kevin Burke and Chris "Doc" Wyatt and illustrated by Valentina Pinto. The story was published by IDW Publishing in the sixteenth issue of the 2017 Star Wars Adventures comic series,^[1] which was released on December 19, 2018.^[5]

Appearances[]

• "All Aces Battle Royale" — Star Wars Adventures (2017) 16 (First appearance)

Sources[]

• Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition

Notes and references[]