Bansu Ro

Bansu Ro was born on the Outer Rim Territories planet Lothal and lived during the reign of the Galactic Empire. He became estranged from his family after they sided with rebels against the Empire. Afterward, Ro joined the Imperial Naval Academy on the Colonies planet Carida as an Imperial cadet. There, he trained as a pilot under Flight instructor Yurib Nakan. He also formed a rivalry with fellow cadet Rac Syrmo, and both competed for the top rank on the class leaderboard, outdoing the rest of their class. However, the allegiance of Ro's family tainted his career, setting him on course to have a career making shuttle runs. In 4 ABY, though, the Empire's navy chose to commandeer Ro's entire class for its latest war effort. The Empire's 204th Imperial Fighter Wing specifically requested Ro and Syrmo, as the top two ranked of their class, to make up for their recent losses; the fighter wing had been impressed by Ro's aptitude tests.

Meanwhile, Ro and Syrmo flew TIE fighters in a training exercise, where their target was a deflector shield generator dome marked with the insignia of the Rebel Alliance against the Empire. During the exercise, both cadets flew at the dome together, each trying to make the killing shot on the shield generator, but the pair fired on and destroyed it at the same time. After the training exercise, Ro and Syrmo disembarked from their TIEs and argued over who had made the killing shot on the shield generator dome.

As Ro bragged about his intentions to outperform his fellow cadet, Nakan interrupted the pair, criticizing their constant arguing. The flight instructor then told Ro and Syrmo about their transfer to the 204th. Upon realizing they were still the top-ranked in their class after their last exercise, Ro and Syrmo argued about who had been more pivotal in destroying the dome. Nakan interrupted, telling the pair how well they could fly together would matter more in their new assignment than their class rankings.

Ro and Syrmo were ferried on a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle from the Ryleel Imperial Base on Carida to a Quasar Fire-class cruiser-carrier carrying the 204th's Squadron Five. Onboard the shuttle, Syrmo questioned if the 204th was supposed to be elite. Ro remarked that the unit was not elite enough to avoid casualties. When Syrmo mentioned his parents being unable to see their graduation, Ro bounced off of his comment and rekindled their debate on who was ahead in their class at Carida. Ro and Syrmo's shuttle then docked into the cruiser-carrier, and the pair exited to meet their new squadron.

The squadron commander, Second Lieutenant Commander Teso Broosh, was displeased that his squadron was receiving two cadets to replace their two fallen TIE pilots, Lyttan Dree and Zin Graw. Ro and Syrmo explained that their whole class had been transferred to the Imperial Navy and that they were the top-ranked cadets, but Broosh only asked about their combat experience, which the pair lacked. The squadron commander parted to fetch Ro and Syrmo datapads with Squadron Five's formations.

Squadron Five's Quasar Fire-class cruiser-carrier was en route to attack a mobile rebel recruitment base, and Broosh held a briefing with his pilots, including Ro and Syrmo. The squadron commander laid out his plan to hit the Alliance forces fast and hard after arriving out of hyperspace. After Broosh mentioned Graw, whose failed attempt to defect to the Alliance had led the Empire to locate the recruitment base, Ro quietly asked Syrmo who Graw was, which his fellow cadet did not know. Their commander continued his brief, discussing the possibility of taking prisoners with Flight Officer Ganem Kahi and detailing tactics before the squadron then exited the briefing room to begin their mission.

The cruiser-carrier exited hyperspace near the Alliance's recruitment base, a GR-75 medium transport, deploying a complement of TIE bombers with Squadron Five escorting them. Ro's squadron flew TIE interceptors aside from Ro and Syrmo, who flew standard TIE fighters. The interceptors targeted and disabled the transport's hyperdrive, blocking the recruitment base's ability to escape into hyperspace. The Imperial forces were then met with many T-65B X-wing starfighters, which outnumbered the TIEs. As Squadron Five moved to engage the X-wings, Broosh told Ro and Syrmo that the pair were lagging behind.

Ro stressed that his and Syrmo's TIEs were not as fast as the TIE interceptors, but Broosh advised him to compensate for his "lesser ship" and prove that he was top of his class. Squadron Five engaged with the X-wings to protect the TIE bombers. During the dogfight, Ro was pursued by an X-wing that he could not shake off. He called to his squadron for help, and Syrmo moved in to assist and destroyed the rebel fighter. Squadron Five then returned to formation, and, after shooting down at last two X-wings, the pilots helped the bombers destroy the rebel recruitment base while Ro and Syrmo proclaimed it was "For the Empire." Victorious, the squadron returned to the cruiser-carrier.

With Syrmo disappointed that he had failed to save a bomber, Ro assured him it was just a mistake. Syrmo expressed doubt that he was ready for active duty, but Ro told him that he could continue to save others like he had saved his fellow cadet. The pair were then interrupted by a voice over the intercom, which announced that a major battle between the Alliance and the Empire had caused the destruction of the Empire's new DS-2 Death Star II Mobile Battle Station and the presumed death of Galactic Emperor Palpatine. Broosh told Ro and the other pilots to await further orders, reminding them that there was still a command structure and that they were still an intact squadron.

Squadron Five eventually returned to the rest of the 204th, which found itself on the run as Imperial worlds began to fall to the Alliance—which reorganized into the New Republic—in the wake of the Emperor's death. The fighter wing took part in the genocidal campaign known as Operation: Cinder before eventually setting up a base of operations at the Outer Rim's Pandem Nai system. After a New Republic battle group drove the 204th from the system in a crippling attack, the fighter wing worked to rebuild again before battling the same battle group at the Deep Core's Cerberon system in 5 ABY.

Later that year, the 204th carried out a string of genocides on behalf of the Empire's loyalist forces against rogue Imperial factions, using the bulk freighter Yadeez as a flagship. However, the New Republic forces from Pandem Nai and the Cerberon system pursued the fighter wing through a series of systems. At the Inner Rim planet Chadawa, the 204th's next target, the fighter wing found itself enclosed under a cage of planetary mechanical rings that channeled radiation. In an effort to reach out to the pilots of the 204th, New Republic Starfighter Commander Wyl Lark began trying to speak to them over an open communications channel using names of 204th pilots that his side had learned of. Ro was the second pilot Lark tried to speak to, and the commander told a story in hopes that the TIE pilot was listening.

The 204th eventually escaped the Chadawa system and rendezvoused with the amassing Imperial loyalist forces at the Inner Rim planet Jakku. There, the fighter wing's personnel occupied themselves by visiting friends and family in other units or taking part in war games. At one point, a number of personnel had a social gathering in the Yadeezs hangar. Ro, who had acquired narcotics, found himself under the influence of the drugs and began sounding his grief over the victims of the genocides the 204th had caused. Soran Keize, the 204th's commanding officer at the time, and Creet, a TIE mechanic, helped Ro into a bunk, and Keize told the TIE pilot that there was no shame in serving with his comrades during the massacres.

Shortly after, the New Republic attacked and defeated the Imperial loyalist forces at Jakku. With the 204th defeated during the battle, Ro fled Jakku and soon found himself on the Expansion Region planet Freerock, which had become a haven for ex-Imperials like him. Four months after the Empire's defeat at Jakku, Ro, having found more problems for himself, sold his blaster and went to the Rim's Edge cantina, sitting in an alcove. That was where he was approached by Nath Tensent, a veteran pilot from the New Republic battle group that had repeatedly fought the 204th, who sat at his table. Ro turned down Tensent's offer to buy a drink, not recognizing his guest, who called Ro by his name. Ro was surprised Tensent knew his name, and the veteran summarized what he knew of the ex-Imperial's past.

Realizing who Tensent was, Ro reached for where he used to keep the blaster he had sold and questioned whether the veteran had been sent to hunt him and if Yrica Quell, a former TIE pilot who had betrayed the 204th, had given information on him. Tensent confirmed the second inquiry and revealed that he was no longer with the New Republic. Ro did not believe the veteran's latter claim, reaching for his vibroknife. The veteran then invited Ro to join his crew of freelancers, revealing that he had already recruited Creet and the 204th pilot Nord Kandende, whom Ro dismissed as an idiot. After Tensent's astromech droid, T5, interrupted him about some other business, Ro's visitor advised the ex-Imperial to consider the offer and visit the establishment Roderick's if he wished to speak more. Perplexed, Ro watched Tensent leave with the droid.

Bansu Ro was a human male with tan-colored skin and slick black hair that ran down his scalp. He gave a short and lean impression on Nath Tensent. Ro formed an intense rivalry with Rac Syrmo, competing for the glory of being the top-ranked cadet in his class. During an exercise, he attempted to push his fighter in front to get the winning shot on a shield generator dome and tried to take as much credit as possible for the victory after. With him and Syrmo still beating their class on the leaderboard, Ro was sure he had the top spot over his fellow cadet, repeatedly bragging about it to his classmate.

When Teso Broosh was dissatisfied that he was taking on two cadets into his squadron, Ro tried to downplay the concerns by assuring the squadron commander that he and Syrmo were the best in their class. However, the pair were speechless when asked about their combat experience. Flying with Squadron Five, Ro learned about his duty to protect his comrades in the Empire and lectured such to Syrmo after the other cadet felt guilty about a mistake he made that caused the death of another pilot.

The influence of narcotics led Ro to express open grief over the people that the 204th Imperial Fighter Wing had killed during genocides. After fleeing Jakku and becoming an ex-Imperial, he tried to stave off unwanted company like that of Tensent and prepared to draw a weapon when he realized the side the veteran had been on, distrusting his visitor. Ro was also weary of his surroundings during his meeting with Tensent, scanning for other possible enemies. He was initially skeptical of Tensent's offers, believing that he was trading his problems for other problems, but he was confused when the New Republic veteran finished pitching his offer and left Ro in peace.

A skilled pilot, Ro outdid almost all of his class at the flight academy and impressed the 204th with his aptitude tests. During the attack on the mobile recruitment base, he struggled to keep up with TIE interceptors in a TIE fighter, unable to compensate for their speed differences.

Ro wore a black TIE pilot flight suit with a control box when he flew a TIE fighter and white Imperial cadet uniform when he was not. At Freerock, he owned a vibroknife and a blaster, although he later sold the latter.

Bansu Ro first appeared in the fourth issue of the Star Wars: TIE Fighter comic series, written by Jody Houser, penciled by Rogê Antônio and Ig Guara, and published by Marvel Comics on July 17, 2019. Star Wars: TIE Fighter served as a crossover with Del Rey's novel trilogy Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron, written by Alexander Freed; Ro appeared in the trilogy's final installment, the 2021 novel Victory's Price.