Denish Wraive

Born approximately two centuries before the Galactic Civil War between the burgeoning New Republic and the crumbling Galactic Empire, Denish Wraive engaged in aerial combat until reaching the age of roughly 120 years. During the conflict, Wraive became a member of the 61st Mobile Infantry, an infantry division within the New Republic, commonly referred to as Twilight Company. Around 5 ABY, this company collaborated with the New Republic's battle group, commanded by General Hera Syndulla aboard its flagship, the Acclamator-class transgalactic military assault ship Lodestar, for a campaign targeting Galactic Empire forces situated in the Deep Core's Cerberon system.

Twilight Company initiated a ground assault across the ecumenopolis planet Troithe, but the unit became fragmented following the arrival of the Empire's 204th Imperial Fighter Wing, which devastated the battle group, destroyed the Lodestar, and subsequently attacked the company. Wraive regrouped with a surviving contingent of New Republic forces in Troithe's Highgarden District, under the command of Sergeant Carver. The remnant's aerial support was limited to New Republic pilots Lieutenant Wyl Lark and Lieutenant Nath Tensent, who decided to establish a makeshift squadron utilizing available personnel with prior air experience. Possessing such experience himself, Wraive was among the five most qualified candidates Lark identified, alongside Sergeant Vitale, the Houk Gorgeous Su, the human Ubellikos, and the insectoid Prinspai.

As the remnant moved into a series of subterranean tunnels to reach the Scar of Troithe continent aboard a convoy of unarmed ground vehicles, Tensent managed to recover an Alpha-3 Nimbus-class V-wing starfighter and four Humble HoverCat airspeeders, with the V-wing being assigned to Vitale. These vehicles were quickly restored to operational status by engineers. While the convoy proceeded through the tunnels, Lark conducted training exercises with Wraive and the other squadron members, discussing previous encounters with the 204th. Only two pilots were permitted to take breaks at any given time, parking their aircraft on the convoy's mining transports. During one such break, Wraive described the villages preserved in stone within the tunnels, prompting Gorgeous Su to repeat rumors about subterranean ghost civilizations.

After Su declared it was "game time", the squadron engaged in Who? What? Where?, where each participant described who first heard of their death, the cause of death, and the location of death. Wraive questioned Su's plan to fly her HoverCat into the 204th's command ship, expressing doubt about the airspeeder's capabilities. He went next, providing a detailed narrative about saving his grandchildren and suffering heart failure near the end of the Galactic Civil War. However, the game was interrupted when a 204th scout flew over the caravan in a TIE/ln space superiority starfighter. Lark pursued the TIE, which attempted to collapse a tunnel onto Lark's RZ-1 A-wing interceptor but was destroyed in the process.

Despite the 204th's discovery of the caravan, Carver insisted that the convoy continue its journey. Lark communicated the situation to Wraive and the other pilots, emphasizing that their priority was to protect their forces rather than defeat the 204th or retake Troithe. Some time passed before 204th reinforcements arrived, specifically the TIE scout's squadron. Su spotted the squadron during reconnaissance, and Lark ordered Tensent and Wraive to remain with the caravan, hoping to rescue the Houk. Carver, however, had different plans, detonating the rearmost ground vehicle to collapse a tunnel entrance and block the TIEs. Su was killed in the ensuing brief pursuit.

The caravan continued through the tunnels, halting six hours later to address an overheating repulsorcar. Upon reaching the Scar of Troithe, the personnel concealed themselves within a canyon. Wraive, Vitale, Ubellikos, and Prinspai spent their evenings together following Su's death. They reviewed Lark's combat strategies and stayed informed about news from their Twilight Company comrades.

Lark and Tensent attended another meeting with Carver and other senior personnel, where they determined that their next target would be the Core Nine mining megafacility, a location in the Scar of Troithe used by the 204th for operations. The pair then gathered Wraive and the rest of their squadron to discuss the planned attack on Core Nine. Lark outlined the attack strategy, promising further details once the ground assault plan was finalized. He then advised Wraive and the other three new pilots to rest, and they retired to bed shortly thereafter.

Soon after, allied forces reported that all of the 204th's squadrons were converging on Core Nine. Carver presented a plan, and the New Republic forces began moving towards the megafacility. Less than two hours later, Lark's squadron, including Wraive, approached Core Nine in their aircraft, and Wraive and the other pilots checked in as requested by their squadron commander. Lark provided some motivational words that Nath humorously translated, eliciting laughter from the other pilots. With their commander leading the way, Wraive and his comrades followed as they entered a system of canyons converging on the Core Nine facility.

As the 204th's available TIE fighters at Core Nine prepared to launch, Lark ordered the others to stay close and disrupt the enemy with laser fire, with Wraive noting that the challenge was to prevent the TIEs from intercepting Lark's squadron. The pilots then followed Lark's lead in unleashing a barrage of fire on the deploying 204th fighters, breaking their formation. After Tensent created a crack in Core Nine's wall, the 61st forces began charging from the canyons. On Lark's orders, Wraive and the squadron scattered downwards, drawing TIEs away from the ground forces.

Lark asked Wraive if he could provide support to the infantry, but the soldier-turned-pilot, with two TIEs pursuing him, declined the request. Lark then flew into Wraive's flight path and shot down one of the pursuing TIEs, providing Wraive with a brief respite. The battle continued, and Wraive and the other squadron members received further instructions from Lark as time passed. By the time all of the 204th's squadrons had joined the battle, Lark's squadron took the fight into open space, advancing into the swarm of TIEs, resulting in the deaths of Ubellikos and Prinspai.

However, the New Republic forces were soon reinforced by General Hera Syndulla, the commander of the Barma Battle Group. Syndulla arrived aboard the MC75 Star Cruiser Temperance with the New Republic's Vanguard Squadron. The Temperance unleashed turbolaserfire to disperse the 204th's TIEs. Wraive's airspeeder engine soon overheated, forcing him to withdraw from the battle. Despite his absence, the New Republic forces drove the 204th from Core Nine, with the fighter wing escaping on a bulk freighter from the facility.

Within the following days, the New Republic gained control of much of Troithe. Wraive, Vitale, and Lark later mourned the loss of Su, Ubellikos, and Prinspai one evening. The next day, many New Republic personnel celebrated their victory over Imperial forces on Troithe, with a ceremony followed by a social gathering. Wraive, Vitale, and the soldier Twitch placed bets on when rioting in the Old Skybottom District would end, while Lark attempted to involve his comrade Chass na Chadic in the conversation.

Following the events on Troithe, Wraive and Vitale, as the remaining members of Lark's squadron, established Wild Squadron, a squadron comprised of R-22 Spearheads, modified X-wing starfighters, and two V-wings flown by Vitale and a new addition, Lieutenant Itina. Wild Squadron operated as part of a starfighter wing commanded by now Starfighter Commander Wyl Lark aboard Syndulla's new flagship, the New Republic refitted Star Destroyer Deliverance. This wing also included the BTL-A4 Y-wing assault starfighter/bombers of Hail Squadron and the X-wings of Flare Squadron. Wraive served as Wild Squadron's commander, using the callsign Wild Leader, and piloting his own starfighter.

Several months after the Cerberon campaign, Syndulla's forces defeated Imperial blockades in the Nythlide Array. Subsequently, the forces journeyed to the Croynar sector, where Tensent had received information that the 204th had traveled. Wild, Hail, and Flare Squadrons, led by Lark, exited hyperspace near Midgor, discovering an Imperial convoy, belonging to a faction that had broken away from Imperial loyalists, that had been crippled by the 204th.

The Deliverance tracked a series of communication signal bursts, leading Syndulla's forces to encounter the 204th in multiple star systems. Wild Squadron participated in these encounters, although it did not directly engage the fighter wing in all of them. During a pursuit within the G'Tep'Noi system, where both forces navigated between moving stone walls, Lark reminded Wraive and Vitale of the tunnels beneath Troithe. As the engagement continued, a TIE fighter targeted Wraive, firing upon and shattering a nearby asteroid, showering Wild Leader with shrapnel. The squadron commander survived, and the TIE passed on, with the 204th escaping once again.

Denish Wraive's initial appearance was in the 2020 novel Shadow Fall, the second book in the Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron trilogy penned by Alexander Freed.