Derdram was a Human male who served in the Galactic Empire's Navy by 3 ABY. He had joined Imperial Intelligence and was assigned to the organization's Internal Security Branch by 3 ABY. By then, he had become a corporal, and was assigned to the Executor, an Executor-class Star Dreadnought which served as the flagship of the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader. Derdram's role aboard the Executor was to ensure the physical safety of Imperial personnel from Rebel Alliance saboteurs.
Derdram aboard the crew pit of the Avenger
In 3 ABY, following the Battle of Hoth, Derdram was stationed in the crew pits of the command bridge aboard another Imperial starship, Captain Lorth Needa's Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Avenger, part of Vader's personal Star Destroyer fleet Death Squadron. After the Battle of Hoth, the Avenger pursued the fugitive YT-1300 light freighter Millennium Falcon through the Hoth system. At one point during the pursuit, the Falcon caused the Avenger to almost collide with another Star Destroyer. The Avenger chased the Falcon into the Hoth asteroid field, and suffered significant damage when it traveled into the asteroid field to search for the Falcon. When the Avenger pursued the fugitive Falcon into the neighboring Anoat system, the freighter charged the bridge, causing Derdram and others aboard the crew pits to dive for cover and setting off alarms throughout the Avenger.
With the Millennium Falcon no longer detected by the Avengers sensors, unbeknownst to Derdram and the others aboard the Avenger, the freighter had simply landed on a blind spot of the Star Destroyer's conning tower. When Darth Vader demanded an update on the pursuit of the Falcon, Needa decided to personally apologize to Vader for the evident loss of the Falcon, taking a TIE/sh VIP shuttle to the Executor and being executed by Vader for the failure. The Star Destroyers of Death Squadron ultimately dispersed into hyperspace in search of the Falcon, not knowing the freighter was still hiding on the Avengers conning tower. The Avenger prepared to go to hyperspace in the opposite direction of the rest of the fleet, emptying its garbage into space beforehand. The Falcon took the opportunity to escape by floating alongside the garbage, evading the Imperial fleet.
During his Imperial service, Derdram wore a black Imperial Navy crewman's uniform.
Ralph Morse and other Avenger extras seen on the Executor in reused footage
Derdram first appeared in the 1980 original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, in footage shot on Stage 5 at Elstree Studios at some point between April 24 and May 2, 1979. While not credited in the film, Ralph Morse recalled playing the character. Towards the end of the film, Ralph Morse and other extras from the Avenger are visible on the Executor when footage of the former Star Destroyer was reused for a later scene.
The Derdram character would be named on a card in the Dagobah Limited expansion set of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game in 1997. While the lore establishes Derdram's role aboard the Executor, the image is a still of Ralph Morse from the Avenger scenes of The Empire Strikes Back. Because of the card using an image from the Avenger scenes to represent Derdram, this article only assumes Derdram is the character aboard the Avenger, and avoids making a clear link to the character on the Executor.
- Star Wars Customizable Card Game — Dagobah Limited
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia