Tank left his home of dusty Tatooine for an education at the Imperial Academy. He hoped to be a pilot, but though he was good by Tatooine standards, he didn’t pass the cut. So, hoping for a life of meaning, Janek Sunber, leaving his childhood nickname behind, carried on in the infantry branch of Imperial service.
Sunber had an excellent work ethic and quickly made Lieutenant. This distinguished him from those who earned rank through politics or family ties. He wasn’t afraid to get down in the dirt to help the troops. He valiantly led a defense against the Amanaman when the group was attacked. Unfortunately, the General who promoted him from Lieutenant to Commander was killed. The only other surviving officer refused to confirm this, due to jealousy.
While his missions in the field went well, his assignment to Kalist VI, a prison mining colony, did not. He was uncomfortable discovering humans as slaves. He clashed with a fellow officer who planned to assault a female prisoner, and when he stopped him, found himself up on charges.
Eventually Sunber ran into his old friend Luke Skywalker when Luke was undercover for the Alliance. The shock of discovering Luke was a Rebel, as and Biggs had died for the Rebellion left him in doubt. But having set his course, he still was unable to accept that those he had fought to serve were the villains.
SPOILER
Spoiler
Torn between loyalties, he confessed that he knew the young rebel and offered up what he knew. Vader then sent him to infiltrate, using his friendship with Luke to pretend he was a rebel sympathizer. Luke, trusting him, violated orders to help him join the Rebels. Sunbar then tried to take the Princess and Luke prisoner.
Ultimately the plan failed. Whether Sunbar survived this was left a mystery. An escape pod was launched that might’ve been him. However, because Rebellion comics were cut short, this was not confirmed.
Relationships:
As a boy, he was friends with Luke Skywalker and Biggs Darklighter and enjoyed flying. Besides this, nothing is known of his life on Tatooine.
It is known that his grandfather was a slave.
Janek Sunber Stories
He was first mentioned as ‘Tank’ by Luke Skywalker in A New Hope.
He is in the following comics:
Empire 16-18, 36-40
Rebellion 0-5
Unfortunately, Rebellion was put on hiatus and never came back, so we never found out his final fate. One thing I noticed about Janek Sunber was he failed to ask the obvious question: why. What would make his friend, who had planned to go to the academy, join the rebels instead? He is late in confronting some of these issues, of hearing the other side. It would’ve been nice to find out (presuming he survived) how he handled this.
