| Jon "Dutch" Vander | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Race | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Rebel Y-Wing Pilot |
| Aliases | Gold Leader |
| Status | Deceased |
| First Appearance | Page 869, A New Generation |
| Last Appearance | Page 896, A New Generation |
Jon "Dutch" Vander was a Rebel Y-Wing bomber fighter pilot who flew under the call sign of Gold Leader, and was one of the only fighter pilots on the Peace Moon run to speak "Basic" (Space English) with no thick, exaggerated accent.
A New Generation[]
The Falcon arrived at the Rebel base on the fourth moon orbiting the gas giant planet, Yavin. At the base, Princess told General Willard that the Senate had the Peace Moon blow up Naboo and that R2 had the entire data on the Peace Moon downloaded. R2 addressed all the other Rebels (including Han, Chewbacca, 3PO, Princess, and Luke) at a briefing. He told them that the entire Moon was being powered by the Lost Orb of Phanastacoria, and that was the only way the Moon could get the energy to blow up a planet. Han asked how it was connected. R2 explained it was all being channeled by conduits on either side of the Orb. Han speculated that if the Orb got bumped while it was powering up to destroy a planet, the results could be catastrophic. This gave Luke an idea on how to destroy the Moon, and Han agreed. Give the Moon a planet to destroy, then as it powered up, fire a torpedo down a thermal exhaust port, and kaboom. 3PO was alarmed at the idea of giving the Moon a planet to blow up. Han pointed out a heavily populated Moon would do.
On Yavin, General Dodonna took over the briefing. Unfortunately, he was a long-winded gasbag that Chewbacca had to translate for, to reveal that the Peace Moon had just arrived and was heading their way. Han recommended retreat, and Chewbacca agreed. Princess pointed out they didn't have time to evacuate everybody, that their only real option was to stay and fight. Luke asked what firepower they had. Gold Leader answered that they had 4 squadrons of one-man fighters, a total of 32. Princess said they'd need to fire a torpedo into the thermal exhaust port. R2 tried to argue against destroying the Peace Moon, arguing that they could take it over instead. R2 claimed all they had to do was kill Darth Vader, use the Force to take over the clones, have them kill their superior officers, and the Peace Moon would be hi- er, theirs. He pointed out that Luke was the son of Anakin, so he could take over the clones. Luke pointed out he didn't know how to do that. 3PO added that he probably didn't want to. R2 pointed out to Princess that she wanted Luke to use the Force. She replied not to give R2 a superweapon. Princess pointed out the flaws in R2's plan: who was going to kill Vader, how was anybody going to even get near the Peace Moon, and Luke was too "chicken-livered" to use the Force. R2 pointed out her plan had the second flaw, too. Princess replied that was still two less flaws than R2's plan. 3PO asked R2 to figure out how their fighters could fly to dodge the Peace Moon's guns. R2 eagerly agreed since that would help validate his plan as well. This was the most complicated vector optimisation problem he'd ever had to solve. R2 chose to shut down all of his external systems and convert to full processing power, which would keep him out of the conversation for awhile.
Princess volunteered to lead the attack fleet. Dodonna offered in his long-winded way to be liaison between the fighters and the command center. Princess vetoed that because she claimed that she'd need Dodonna to do a thing. That she'd explain later. Luke decided he'd lead the attack itself. The pilot sitting next to Luke, introduced himself as Wedge, and told Luke that even though Wedge was next in line of command, he'd support Luke all the way. This only makes Luke quite suspicious of Wedge. Princess ordered all pilots to their fighters. She asked R2 if he'd made his calculations. R2 didn't respond, indicating he was still calculating. Princess decided he'd have to finish the calculations on the fly, and ordered Luke to take R2 to his fighter, an X-Wing.
Princess and 3PO took up their positions in the command center as the X-Wing fighters and Y-Wing bombers headed off to fight the Peace Moon. Luke ordered the fighters with him to report in. In addition to Biggs and Wedge, there was Red Ten who spoke in Space French, Red Seven who spoke in Space Spanish, Porkins who spoke in Space Welsh, Red Nine who spoke Space Estonian, and Red Eleven who spoke in Space Basque. 3PO translated for them all, even though all they were saying was their ship numbers and "standing by". R2 was still dormant as they began to approach the Peace Moon. The Moon opened fire on them, which Red Four reported in Space Japanese which 3PO translated. Luke dodged the blasts and shot the stations on the Peace Moon firing at them.
R2 came to life, having finished his calculations, and transmitted the vectors to the other fighters. All Rebel fighters were now flying to the formation R2 had specified. R2 apologized to Porkins. Porkins asked what, just before getting shot down by the Peace Moon's guns.
At the command center, Del Goren, speaking in Space Kanarese that 3PO translated, warned the Rebel fighters that enemy fighters were heading their way.
Luke fired at a PIE fighter. He missed, because his guns were firing a little to the left. Luke ranted about what a piece of junk his fighter was. Princess told him to quit complaining, the Rebellion was on a shoestring and he actually had the best ship in the bunch. R2 offered to compensate for Luke. Biggs told Luke a complicated way that he could manually compensate. Luke chose to beg for R2's help. Luke fired again at the PIE fighter and destroyed it.
Luke was being fired at from behind by a PIE fighter. Wedge offered to rescue Luke, but since Luke didn't trust Wedge, that didn't make Luke any less worried. Wedge fired and hit the PIE fighter.
R2 directed Luke to the "Gungaboo River Valley" because it had the lowest fixed gun density on the way to the target, the thermal exhaust port. Luke asked where that was and R2 told him it was that squareish trench, explaining that the Peace Moon was never fully landscaped. Princess asked if R2 calculated the PIE fighters in his vector. R2 said no, the Rebel fighters were just going to have to dodge. Princess ordered the X-Wings to engage the PIE fighters and the Y-bombers into the valley, pointing out that as bombers, they were the best fit for the target.
The Y-bombers consisted of three one-man fighters: Gold Leader who spoke "Basic", Gold Two who spoke Space German, and Gold Five who spoke Space Finnish. 3PO tried to translate between them, but it ended up making no difference, since Vader came in behind them. First Vader shot down Gold Two, then Vader shot down Gold Leader.