Special Forces Trackers Unit

For other uses, see Pathfinder.

"That's us. First in, last out, and broken furniture in between."

The Special Forces Tracker Unit^[4] also known as the SpecForce Pathfinders, the Alliance Pathfinders, the Rebel Pathfinders, and its members simply being referred to as the Pathfinders, were a special forces unit in the service of the Alliance to Restore the Republic and later a Special Forces unit in the service of the New Republic. The Pathfinders were commandos who were trained in infiltration. The group used guerrilla tactics to infiltrate areas they were trying to capture or liberate.

History[]

"I hate space battles. I mean, we're soldiers. Pathfinders. We're useless unless the ship gets boarded. All we can do is wait to see if we blow up."

―Needle^[10]

Battle of Endor OFL — A pair of Pathfinders spotted by Imperial forces during the Battle of Endor.

Euwood Gor was an Alderaanian who served as a Pathfinder. However, he eventually "went native," abandoning much of his prior life to instead join anti-Imperial efforts on the planet Onderon. In the process, he fell in with the extremist Saw Gerrera's Partisans.^[3] Gor remained with the Partisans all the way up to the Jedha insurgency,^[6] during which Gor met his end as a result of the DS-1 Death Star Mobile Battle Station when it unleashed its power via the destruction of Jedha City.^[11] Shortly after that event,^[6] the Pathfinders, under Sergeant Ruescott Melshi,^[3] joined other volunteers as part of Rogue One, a unit organized by Captain Cassian Andor and Sergeant Jyn Erso. They undertook a mission to steal the Death Star's plans from the Citadel Tower's data vault on Scarif.^[6]

Following the rebel retreat in the wake of the Battle of Hoth, several Pathfinders, including Needle and Kes Dameron, were stationed as part of the Fourth Division.^[10] Dameron, Needle, and fellow Pathfinder Frell undertook a heist at the Imperial Museum a short time later as part of Operation Starlight, during which the Pathfinders—along with rebel associates Landonis Balthazar Calrissian and Lobot—moved to steal the museum's Autonomous Translator Module, Mark II to use its knowledge of the out-of-use Trawak language for use in new rebel codes. During the mission, Needle sacrificed himself by allowing himself to be captured, to which the museum curator responded by ordering the rebel be put to death.^[12] General Han Solo used the Pathfinders as his strike team during the Battle of Endor^[1] and on a raid at the Wretch of Tayron.^[7]

Recruitment and training[]

"We're not crazy. We're Pathfinders. There's a difference."

―Needle^[13]

Although members of the Pathfinders hailed from a vast array of planets, many of them came from Outer Rim worlds subjugated by the Galactic Empire. Contrary to their Imperial foes, the Rebel commandos did not benefit from Academy training. Nevertheless, they were trained by former Imperials like their leader General Crix Madine.^[14]