A human male known as CR978 functioned as a TIE fighter pilot for the Galactic Empire's Imperial Navy during the Galactic Civil War. In the aftermath of the Battle of Hoth, CR978, along with three other pilots, was dispatched to capture the Millennium Falcon after its escape into the Hoth asteroid belt. Lieutenant Commander Ciena Ree of the Empire, stationed aboard the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Executor, offered support to the quartet of pilots. Despite her assistance, CR978's TIE/ln space superiority starfighter collided with an asteroid, resulting in its destruction.
During the Galactic Civil War, the human male identified as CR978 served the Galactic Empire as a TIE fighter pilot within the Imperial Navy, fighting against the Alliance to Restore the Republic. He found himself stationed on one of six Imperial-class Star Destroyer vessels, which journeyed to the Hoth system with the objective of attacking Echo Base, the Rebel's base situated on the planet of Hoth. The Alliance was compelled to retreat from the superior Imperial forces present on Hoth's surface. However, the Imperial fleet was unable to prevent the Rebel transports from fleeing due to the protection of a ion cannon located on Hoth. In the wake of the Empire's victory, the Sith Lord Darth Vader gave the order for a minimum of three of the six Imperial-class Star Destroyers to pursue and capture the YT-1300 light freighter specifically, known as the Millennium Falcon.
As the Falcon was pursued by the three Destroyers, it made its escape into the Hoth asteroid belt, found within the Hoth system, with the intention of evading them by concealing itself. Unable to give chase effectively itself, the Star Destroyer on which CR978 was stationed deployed him, along with three fellow TIE pilots–JA-189, OL-701, and NA-811–in TIE/ln space superiority starfighters. Entering such a belt in an unshielded craft was essentially a suicide mission for the four pilots, and Lieutenant Commander Ciena Ree was tasked with providing supplementary navigational assistance to CR978 and his comrades from the bridge of Vader's personal flagship, the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Executor. As the four TIEs pursued the Falcon through the asteroids, Ree cautioned CR978 that he needed to elevate his craft to avoid a collision with an asteroid. However, the pilot was too slow to react, resulting in his vessel's destruction upon impact, sending his remains into space and causing his death.
CR978's three comrades, JA189, OL701, and NA811, also met their end through crashes, enabling the Falcon to conceal itself and ultimately evade the Imperials entirely. Ree, disheartened by the loss of the four pilots, was taken by surprise when she received a compliment on her efforts from the commanding officer of the Executor, Admiral Firmus Piett. Given that the Admiral had assumed the pilots had no chance of survival from the start, he was impressed by Ree's ability to prolong their survival beyond what they would have achieved on their own.
CR978 made his initial appearance in the original release of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, and is notable as the sole TIE pilot to do so. CR978's identification was first established in the novel Lost Stars, authored by Claudia Gray and published in 2015.