Pauling was a crew member aboard the Star Destroyer Vector in 1 BBY, when it was sent to transport a sample of the blackwing virus to the world Khonji Seven. However, the virus leaked out, causing the majority of the ship's crew to turn into zombies. Pauling and 29 of the other crew members took shelter inside the Sentinel-class landing craft Freebird, in the Destroyer's hangar bay. However, they were unable to leave the Vector, as the zombies had activated the ship's tractor beam.
Pauling and the other crew members turned to cannibalism to survive. Ten weeks later, only Pauling and six others were left alive, when Jareth Sartoris, a crew member from the Imperial prison barge Purge, took shelter inside the Freebird. Some of the crew members tried to subdue Sartoris, so that they could eat him. However, Sartoris threw them out of a hatch and into the hangar, where they were killed by the zombies. He spared Pauling and two others, White and Tanner, promising them that he would go and turn off the tractor beam, then return and help them leave the Vector.
The smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca succeeded in turning off the tractor beam and Sartoris told them about the surviviors aboard the Freebird, shortly before he himself was killed. White left the shuttle and was killed saving Doctor Zahara Cody, leaving Pauling and Tanner as the only survivors of the original crew. Cody, Solo, Chewbacca and the child Trig Longo all boarded the Freebird and it took off and left the Vector. However, a zombie had somehow managed to get onboard the ship as well, and it killed Pauling and Tanner shortly after they had departed the Star Destroyer.
Pauling was a crew member aboard the Star Destroyer Vector in 1 BBY, when it was sent to transport a sample of the blackwing virus to the world Khonji Seven. However, the virus leaked out, causing the majority of the ship's crew to turn into zombies. Pauling and 29 of the other crew members took shelter inside the Sentinel-class landing craft Freebird, in the Destroyer's hangar bay. However, they were unable to leave the Vector, as the zombies had activated the ship's tractor beam.
Pauling and the other crew members turned to cannibalism to survive. Ten weeks later, only Pauling and six others were left alive, when Jareth Sartoris, a crew member from the Imperial prison barge Purge, took shelter inside the Freebird. Some of the crew members tried to subdue Sartoris, so that they could eat him. However, Sartoris threw them out of a hatch and into the hangar, where they were killed by the zombies. He spared Pauling and two others, White and Tanner, promising them that he would go and turn off the tractor beam, then return and help them leave the Vector.
The smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca succeeded in turning off the tractor beam and Sartoris told them about the surviviors aboard the Freebird, shortly before he himself was killed. White left the shuttle and was killed saving Doctor Zahara Cody, leaving Pauling and Tanner as the only survivors of the original crew. Cody, Solo, Chewbacca and the child Trig Longo all boarded the Freebird and it took off and left the Vector. However, a zombie had somehow managed to get onboard the ship as well, and it killed Pauling and Tanner shortly after they had departed the Star Destroyer.