Atour Riten's story is that of a Human male commander and also a librarian. He found himself in the service of the Janissariad during the conflict known as the Balduran Civil War, and later, he became part of the Imperial Navy throughout the Galactic Civil War.
Atour Riten's birth happened sometime before 40 BBY. His time in the Janissariad, during the Balduran Civil War, gave him a dislike for politics and government. After the war concluded, he chose the path of an archivist, training at the Baobab Archives located on Manda. Later, he became an archivist for the Dorismus Athenaeum on Corellia and also for the Holorepository on the wheelworld called Arkam 13. Eventually, he began working for Library Galactica, where he remained for a period of 40 years. During his time as a librarian, his travels took him across the galaxy. He visited places such as the spice mines of Kessel, the remains of the Jedi Enclave situated on Dantooine, and the Bi-Boran Cluster, where he saw stars explode. Sometime after 19 BBY, Riten was in charge of the library at an Imperial military base located on Danuta. While managing this library, he started a habit of gathering sensitive information about officials, data they would prefer to keep secret, and storing it in a password-protected file with a 47-character password.
As a direct consequence of his information gathering, in 0 BBY, he was appointed to the position of Chief librarian aboard the Galactic Empire's Battlestation, known as the Death Star. This assignment was a way to keep him in a place where he wouldn't be able to release any sensitive secrets. He received the rank of Commander within the Imperial Navy, but it held little significance for him.
He arrived aboard the civilian transport ship Nordieus at Hangar Bay 1271 on the Death Star, which was still under construction and orbiting the planet Despayre. He then began his work in the Death Star Library located on Deck 106. While stationed on the battlestation, he often spent time studying the schematics of the Death Star. After approximately one month, Sector admiral Poteet provided Riten with a P-RC-3 librarian droid to assist him. He gave the droid the nickname of its model and reprogrammed it to ensure its loyalty was to him, not the Empire. He also programmed it to experience a firmware breakdown if it was excessively questioned about anything that could reflect negatively on Riten.
Although Atour considered himself largely apolitical, with little preference between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance, the destruction of Despayre and Alderaan by the Death Star's superlaser prompted him to dedicate the remainder of his life to bringing down the Empire. He instructed P-RC3 to scan the battlestation for any vulnerabilities, fully aware that the droid would likely be questioned about it and suffer a firmware breakdown.
Shortly afterward, the Millennium Falcon arrived in Docking Bay 327, having been captured by the battlestation's tractor beam while attempting to reach Alderaan, unaware of its destruction. The passengers entered the docking bay's control room, eliminated the two Imperial officers inside, and began using the computer to disable the tractor beam. This was detected by P-RC3, who informed Riten. He observed them through a security camera as one of the passengers, Luke Skywalker, convinced another, Han Solo, to assist in rescuing Rebel member Leia Organa, who was being held prisoner on the Death Star. Riten provided the turbolifts to the Detention Block with the necessary access codes to aid them.
Following this, he went to the Hard Heart Cantina, where he developed a plan to escape the Death Star. He overheard a group of individuals discussing the Empire's recent actions and approached them, revealing that he had access to important codes and other controls that would enable them to leave the Death Star. After explaining his detailed plan, the group agreed to join him.
Shortly after, during the Battle of Yavin, when the Rebel Alliance launched their attack on the Death Star, the group found their chance to escape. The initial plan was to use his P-RC3 to deceive Bay Door Control into granting their escape shuttle clearance to depart the Death Star, which would also allow him to escape with the group. However, P-RC3 was taken away due to its search for the Death Star's weak points, and Riten was forced to take the droid's place. He successfully tricked the controllers of the landing bay doors into allowing the shuttle to escape, even after one of the group members informed him that the Death Star was likely to be destroyed in the battle. Content with the fact that he had helped them escape, Riten died on the Death Star when the attacking Rebels caused it to explode.