Kin Kian (Human)

For other uses, see Kin Kian.

"Gray Leader standing by."

―Colonel Horton Salm, while Kin Kian was serving as his gunner^[2]

Kin Kian was a Human Rebel pilot who served in Aggressor Squadron and Rogue Squadron. In 4 ABY, he participated in the Battle of Endor, serving as the gunner for Gray Leader Colonel Horton Salm's BTL Y-wing starfighter as part of the Alliance Fleet component that attacked the Galactic Empire's second Death Star battlestation in the Endor system. The battle ultimately ended with an Alliance victory, with Gray Leader surviving and the Death Star being destroyed.

Biography[]

Alliance service and preparing for the Battle of Endor[]

KinKianEntersBriefing-ROTJ — Kin Kian (center) approaches his seat at the pre-Endor briefing.

The Human Kin Kian^[1] served as a Rebel pilot during the Galactic Civil War fought between the Alliance to Restore the Republic and the Galactic Empire.^[2] He was a part of Aggressor Squadron, although he left the squadron^[1] by 4 ABY. By that year,^[3] Kian had also joined Rogue Squadron as a pilot.^[1]

In 4 ABY,^[3] Kian was one of the Rebel pilots who attended a briefing aboard the MC80 Home One type Star Cruiser Home One, where the Alliance High Command discussed plans for destroying the Empire's second Death Star battlestation. They planned for the Alliance Fleet to attack the Death Star in the Endor system, while a strike team would travel to the Forest Moon of Endor to disable the deflector shield generator protecting the orbiting Death Star. In the subsequent Battle of Endor, Colonel Horton Salm led Gray Squadron, flying a BTL Y-wing starfighter with the call sign of Gray Leader.^[2] Kian was also aboard Salm's Y-wing starfighter in the battle, where he was assigned as the gunner.^[1]

Alliance victory[]

"All wings report in."

―General Lando Calrissian, to Gray Leader and the other fighter wings^[2]

As Gray Leader's gunner, Kian was present with other Alliance starfighters assembled in the Sullust system. The fleet was led by General Lando Calrissian,^[2] and Gray Leader was ordered to disable capital ships between Calrissian and the Death Star.^[4] Gray Leader made the hyperspace jump to the Endor system, with Salm checking in after Calrissian requested all fighter wings do so. Initially advancing toward the Death Star—anticipating that the deflector shield was already down—Gray Leader and the other starfighters broke off from the attack just as the Imperial Navy's fleet appeared in Sector 47 to counterattack the Alliance: the strike team had not yet deactivated the shield, and the Empire had planned a trap for the Alliance.^[2]

Colonel salm — Gray Leader, for whom Kin Kian served as a gunner

The strike team managed to disable the Death Star's deflector shield, prompting Gray Leader and other Alliance starfighters to follow Calrissian into the Death Star's superstructure to destroy the station's reactor core. The Alliance fighters entered the superstructure through an access shaft, pursued by Imperial TIE/IN interceptors and TIE/LN starfighters. Calrissian ordered several of the Alliance starfighters to head to the Death Star's surface to draw off some of the pursuing Imperial starfighters, with Gray Leader being among the starfighters to follow Calrissian's order. Calrissian managed to destroy the Death Star,^[2] and Salm survived both the Battle of Endor and the subsequent four-hour fleet battle.^[5]

Personality and traits[]

Kin Kian was light-skinned with blond hair and dark eyes.^[2]

Equipment[]

Kin Kian wore an orange Rebel flight suit and a white flight helmet with blue Alliance Starbird symbols.^[2]

Behind the scenes[]

Gray Leader's Y-wing starfighter first appeared—with Kin Kian as the gunner—in James Kahn's novelization of the original trilogy film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi.^[6] The novel was released May 12, 1983,^[7] before the film was released May 25 the same year.^[8] Kian's scenes were filmed throughout the week of February 16, 1982 at Stage 5 of Elstree Studios.^[9]

In 2000, Decipher, Inc. first named Kin Kian in the Death Star II Limited expansion for the Star Wars Customizable Card Game. In addition to naming Orris's extra on Home One, the card game established he was Gray Leader's offscreen gunner during the Battle of Endor.^[1] The character's name was previously used for Kin Kian, a Sullustan gunner for Aggressor Wing in the twenty-third issue of the Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron comic-book series, which was released by Dark Horse Comics^[10] on October 1, 1997.^[11]