Theron Nett was a human who served the Alliance to Restore the Republic as a rebel pilot in Red Squadron during the Galactic Civil War against the Galactic Empire. Stationed in the Great Temple on the moon Yavin 4, he and the pilot Ralo Surrel often flew as wingmates to Red Leader Garven Dreis. In 0 BBY, Nett witnessed fellow pilot Puck Naeco teasing their squad mate Col Takbright in the squadron's ready room after a briefing on the approaching Death Star superweapon. Dreis then informed the squad of who would be flying against the Death Star and assigned Nett and his astromech droid R2-X2 the callsign Red Ten.
During the ensuing battle, Nett and Naeco flew as wingmen to Dreis in first flight. Early in the fight, TIE/ln space superiority starfighters targeted Nett and fellow pilot John D. Branon, killing the latter. After a failed attempt by the rebel Gold Squadron to hit the Death Star's vulnerable thermal exhaust port, Nett, Dreis, and Naeco then began their own attempt and entered the battle station's meridian trench. During the trench run, Nett was shot down by "Backstabber," a wingmate of the Sith Lord Darth Vader.
Nett and R2-X2 (pictured) flew as Red Ten at the Battle of Yavin.
Theron Nett was a human pilot who flew for the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War. He served as a member of Red Squadron, a T-65B X-wing starfighter squadron within the Massassi Group of rebels based in the Great Temple, the Alliance's headquarters on the moon Yavin 4. Nett and fellow squadron member Ralo Surrel often flew as wingmates to Red Leader Garven Dreis.
In 0 BBY, the Galactic Empire's Death Star superweapon entered the Yavin system in order to destroy the rebel headquarters. As it approached, a briefing was held at the temple to inform the Alliance's pilots of a vulnerability in the Death Star: a two-meter wide thermal exhaust port that, if hit with a proton torpedo, would destroy the whole battle station. Nett's R2 series astromech droid, R2-X2, attended the meeting, and afterward, Nett gathered in Red Squadron's ready room with the Mon Calamari engineer Kelemah and fellow pilots Col Takbright, Puck Naeco, and John D. Branon.
Theron Nett flew as wingmate to Red Leader Garven Dreis.
When Naeco began teasing Takbright about his nickname, "Fake Wedge," Nett exchanged an amused glance with Branon before Takbright convinced Naeco to drop the subject. The group then discussed statements made at the briefing by the squad's newest pilot, Luke Skywalker, before the real Wedge Antilles and other pilots entered the room.
When Dreis entered, the pilots all took a seat before he revealed the duty roster of pilots that would fly in Red Squadron against the Death Star. Nett was given the callsign Red Ten and assigned to the first flight as Dreis's starboard wingmate, with Naeco substituted for Surrel as port wingman and Red Twelve. After Dreis gave a brief speech, Nett and the other pilots filed out of the room and began heading to their X-wing starfighters in the hangar.
Nett spotted the trio of TIEs that pursued first flight through the trench.
After launch, Dreis called for a check-in as the squadron approached the Death Star, and Nett was the first to respond. The squadron then locked their s-foils in attack position and, after passing through the magnetic field, put their deflector shields on double front and accelerated to attack speed. To draw fire off of the BTL-A4 Y-wing assault starfighter/bombers of Gold Squadron, Red Squadron then cut across the battle station's axis and began taking fire from turrets on the station's surface. After TIE/ln space superiority starfighters were launched from the station, a group of them targeted Nett and Branon early in the attack and killed the latter. Three of the Y-wings then made the first run on the Death Star's meridian trench to try and reach the exhaust port, but all were destroyed by the Sith Lord Darth Vader, who piloted a TIE Advanced x1 alongside two wingmen in TIE/ln fighters.
With the first run failed, Dreis called for what remained of Red Squadron to rendezvous at point 8-6-1 and then began his own run on the trench with Nett and Naeco. As the turrets in the trench began firing on them, Nett stated that they should already be able to see the exhaust port. Dreis then ordered that they look out for the fighters that had foiled Gold Squadron's trench run, but Nett reported that there was too much interference and asked Skywalker, who was flying as Red Five outside the trench, if he had a visual. Skywalker spotted Vader and his wingmen and pointed them out to Nett, who then spotted the Imperials as well.
Nett's X-wing was destroyed by the TIE pilot Backstabber in the Death Star trench.
Entering firing range, Dreis ordered Nett and Naeco to hold the Imperials off for a few more seconds, but with no means of firing back at the pursuing TIEs, the pair could only increase their rear deflector shields and begin maneuvering to try and prevent Dreis from being hit. Despite this, Vader quickly shot down Naeco. Nett then urged Dreis to fire, as the Imperials were right on his tail, but the Sith's wingmate "Backstabber" opened fired and destroyed Red Ten's starfighter, killing Nett and R2-X2.
Dreis then took the shot, but it impacted on the station's surface instead of entering the exhaust port. Vader then killed Dreis, but Skywalker ultimately managed to make the shot during a third trench run and destroyed the Death Star. In 1 ABY, Nett and the other members of Red Squadron lost at that battle were commemorated during a toast made by Skywalker in Mess Hall IV in the Mako-Ta Space Docks.
During the Battle of Yavin, Nett wore an orange flight suit with a white flak vest. His K-22995 light flight helmet was painted black and white and had a yellow circle above each brow with a tapering diameter of dots. He flew a T-65B X-wing starfighter.
The symbol on Theron Nett's helmet
Theron Nett first appeared in the 1977 original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, in which he was identified only as Red Ten. The character was portrayed by an uncredited Robert O'Mahoney, and his scenes were shot on Stage 8 at Elstree Studios between June 17 and June 28, 1976. In the film, footage of a different pilot portrayed by Chris Matthews is shown when Nett's X-wing is destroyed. This pilot was later identified as Puck Naeco, whose starfighter is shot down before Nett, so the shot is counted as a continuity error.
In the new Star Wars canon, Nett's name was first used in 2015 on a card released in the Star Wars: Card Trader app. The name originated on cards in the 1998 Special Edition Limited set of the Star Wars Legends continuity's Star Wars Customizable Card Game produced by Decipher, Inc. A New Hope - The Film Novel, a 2015 adaptation of A New Hope written by Lucile Galliot and Thierry Arson, erroneously describes Vader as Nett's killer rather than Backstabber.
Theron Nett is a playable character in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.
Theron Nett appears as an unlockable character in the non-canon 2022 video game LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, where he gives players the quest "Theron Lies the Problem." Players encounter him flying in an X-wing in Endor Space, where he will ask them to urgently bring a crate of supplies back to the rebel headquarters on Yavin 4 for him as a favor, as he had forgotten that he already had a mission when he agreed to make the delivery. He will explain that the supplies are needed to save some rebels in peril and warn the player that they might encounter Imperial forces patrolling the route to Yavin.
If the player accepts, Nett then transfers the supplies to the player, who then pulls them behind their starship as they make the hyperspace jump to Yavin. During the journey, the player is twice pulled out of hyperspace, each time forced to destroy a group of TIE fighters in an asteroid field. Upon reaching the Yavin system, the player will encounter a trio of rebel pilots who accept the delivery of supplies. Disappointed in Nett for shirking the delivery duty on to someone else, the pilots wait for him to arrive and apologize, but when he still has not arrived several moments later, they thank the player and reveal that the supplies are additional medals, as the base has run out after the last ceremony. The mission then ends, making Nett available for purchase as a playable character.
- LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga