In 1 BBY, Captain Wells commanded Freighter 2716, which was tasked with transporting a large kyber crystal and several indentured civilian technicians to a rendezvous point in the Tonnis sector. These resources and personnel would be used to build the Death Star, the Galactic Empire's secret superweapon to rule the galaxy. Well's ship also included several stormtroopers and a squad of elite death troopers commanded by DT-F16. En route to the Tonnis sector, Freighter 2716 stopped at Faos Station.
Unknown to Wells and their personnel, the Partisans' leader Saw Gerrera learned about the freighter's connection to the Death Star and infiltrated it with several members of the Spectres rebel cell: Ezra Bridger, Sabine Wren, and Chopper. The rebels soon discovered that Freighter 2716 was carrying several indentured civilian technicians. By accident, they discovered the kyber crystal and dispatched most of DT-F16's squad. DT-F16 however managed to escape and inform Captain Wells that Saw's rebels had seized the crystal.
Wells alerted Director Krennic and obeyed DT-F16's orders to purge the escape pods and send her all security personnel aboard. Wells managed to jettison the escape pods in hyperspace, preventing the civilians from escaping. Despite deploying stormtroopers, they were unable to subdue the rebels and secure the crystal. DT-F16 warned Wells that the two of them would be in trouble if they failed. Freighter 2716 eventually arrived in the Tonnis sector where it rendezvoused with Captain Slavin's Star Destroyer in deep space. Wells informed Slavin about the rebel infiltrators and Slavin ordered his crew to secure the freighter.
However, Saw had destabilized the kyber crystal in an effort to deny the Empire the crystal and to destroy the Imperial ships. Saw, the rebels and the civilians escaped in a U-wing and a stolen Imperial shuttle. Wells along with DT-F16 and Slavin were killed when the kyber crystal exploded and engulfed both the freighter and Star Destroyer.
Captain Wells was a human Imperial Navy officer with brown hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. They remained aboard Freighter 2716's bridge and delegated the fighting to DT-F16 and the stormtroopers aboard the ship.
Wells first appeared in "In the Name of the Rebellion," a two-part episode that served as the third and fourth episodes of the fourth season of Star Wars Rebels. They were voiced by David Shaughnessy, who also voiced Mich Matt and an unidentified Imperial officer. Although they was unnamed in the episode itself, their identity was included in earlier drafts of the script.
Wells shares the same design as Commander Woldar, an officer who served under Thrawn.