How would famous sci-fi military leaders tackle the Death Star?

[montag01]

I'm just getting into military science fiction, and started wondering about how various famous military sci-fi characters would handle the Battle of Endor. For instance, what would Ender Wiggin, Honor Harrington, John Farragut or Black Jack Geary (to name a few) do in Admiral Ackbar's place, and using only the forces Ackbar has in the movie? I can't help thinking that someone like Ender would immediately send one of the ships directly down to the forest moon to do a suicide run on the shield generator if necessary. Would the Empire's bunker protect the generator if, say, the medical frigate crashed down on top of it? Perhaps after the battle, he'd be known throughout the galaxy as "Endor" Wiggin instead. :-)

I'm sure this conversation has probably been done before, but I couldn't find a trace of it and I wanted to use the topic to discuss military science fiction, description of tactics, and so on. I'd love to hear about new characters and book recommendations in the process.

[Robert D. Robot]

James T. Kirk would find, distract and seduce an attractive female junior imperial officer, enabling a landing party to disable the generator....

(I apologize, montag01, I could not resist. I wish I could offer a more serious answer that contributes to the discussion, but your question is intriguing and I am sure that some other folks will have more interesting and constructive ideas on this topic! I look forward to reading posts from others more knowledgeable on this...)

[Guy Gardener]

Wicket would have tricked it into "standing" between two logs tied to a rope tied to... Well that broke down quickly.

[Mistral]

The Dorsai would have orbited the largest ships around it-then suicided the engines to implode it.

[Admiral2]

Colonel Jack O'Neill would wait until Samantha Carter laid out a last-ditch strategy over the course of ten minutes and then say, "That's the plan then," and make a lot of quips until the thing blew up.

[ManOnTheWave]

Admiral2 wrote:

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Colonel Jack O'Neill would wait until Samantha Carter laid out a last-ditch strategy over the course of ten minutes and then say, "That's the plan then," and make a lot of quips until the thing blew up.

He would also note how this whole thing seems to be right out of that movie Tealc likes so much.

[Candlelight]

Admiral Adama would've just stared at it.

BOOM.

[Herkimer Jitty]

Upon learning of the threat, Commander Shepard would go around the galaxy recruiting a team of scientists, assassins, spies, and commandos.

Shepard would then dick around for a few months helping said team with all of their unfinished business, before braving the entire fleet to infiltrate the Death Star and blow it up from the inside.

[Emh]

John Crichton and his merry band of friends would storm the place with weapons and sharp quips blazing and hope to get out of the whole damn mess alive.

[SG-17]

Admiral2 wrote:

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Colonel Jack O'Neill would wait until Samantha Carter laid out a last-ditch strategy over the course of ten minutes and then say, "That's the plan then," and make a lot of quips until the thing blew up.

John Sheppard would find a hole and fly a nuke down it.

[Klaus]

Kimball Kinnison and the Lensmen would've cracked it between two planetoids of opposite intrinsic velocities, perhaps even superluminal. No stinkin' exhaust port required.

[Timelord_Victorious]

Zap Brannigan would throw wave after wave of ineffective fighter pilots at them until he was out of resouces, wave a white flag and declare a draw... that he's won.

[Admiral2]

Interrupting the fun for a serious analysis.

montag01 wrote:

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I'm just getting into military science fiction, and started wondering about how various famous military sci-fi characters would handle the Battle of Endor. For instance, what would Ender Wiggin, Honor Harrington, John Farragut or Black Jack Geary (to name a few) do in Admiral Ackbar's place, and using only the forces Ackbar has in the movie?

The problem with your question is that saddling the other commander with Ackbar's forces also saddles him or her with Ackbar's limitations. The attack on the Death Star was executed in the best way available: Commandos to take out the shield generator, a task force to engage the local Imperial fleet, fighters to get into the unfinished structure and attack a vulnerable part of the station. The plan was designed to exploit the enemy's weaknesses and the Rebellion's strengths, and even at that, the probability of success is less than optimal. A different plan, no matter who was commanding, would have even lower odds and might be even more costly, successful or not.

For instance, Ender Wiggin - or anyone for that matter - suiciding capital ships to do the job. First, it might not work - who knows how tough the shield is? - and second, even if the Rebellion is successful here, it will need all the ships it can hold on to to finish off the rest of the Imperial fleet and liberate Imperial worlds. You can't do that if you blow up most of your fleet destroying one space station.

If you let the other commander use his or her own resouces, that's a different story.

[Drago-Kazov]

William Mandella would show up after everybody got old and died and then he woul initiate the self destruct.

[TREK_GOD_1]

Admiral2 wrote:

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For instance, Ender Wiggin - or anyone for that matter - suiciding capital ships to do the job. First, it might not work - who knows how tough the shield is? - and second, even if the Rebellion is successful here, it will need all the ships it can hold on to to finish off the rest of the Imperial fleet and liberate Imperial worlds. You can't do that if you blow up most of your fleet destroying one space station.

Very good point. That's why the Rebellion at Yavin did not have capital ships there for the expected arrival of the 1st Death Star: resources of that kind were thin, and fighters not only stand a better chance of evading DS defenses, but are easier to repair and/or replace (as seen in Return of the Jedi as new fighter types were added to the fleet).