Duno Dree

Druno Dree, a male human, was born in the year 12 BBY. His father operated a freight business. Dree assisted his father on a part-time basis, piloting in-system freighters and developing a degree of skill as a pilot. During this time, Dree was also enrolled in a school for a minimum of six years. Throughout those six years, Dree continued to work for his father, accumulating a total of three years of actual flying experience.

Dree yearned for adventure and envisioned having stories to share with his future children. Around 5 ABY, shortly after the fall of the Galactic Empire, he departed from his father's business. He eventually acquired a CR90 corvette starship and encountered Qu Rahn, a Jedi Master.

Master Rahn, a Jedi, had discovered the location of the mythical Valley of the Jedi and decided to form a team to explore it. The valley was located on the planet Ruusan. By 5 ABY, Dree had joined Rahn's team, which also included Cee Norley, a weapons expert from the Rebel Alliance, and Rolanda Gron, a technologist of the Klatooinian species. By this time, Dree had begun to falsely claim that he was twenty years old, despite actually being seventeen, and exaggerated his piloting skills. Rahn had also started calling him "Druno." Dree also developed feelings for Norley, a slender woman for whom he cared deeply. However, he hesitated to express his emotions to her.

Rahn's team required one more member: Nij Por Ral, an expert in ancient linguistics. Por Ral was on the planet Dorlo, translating inscriptions on ancient ruins discovered by miners employed by the SoroSuub Corporation. Rahn sought to recruit Por Ral to assist in deciphering any glyphs found in the Valley of the Jedi. The team arrived on Dorlo, landed, and camouflaged Dree's transport. What Dree initially considered a simple mission quickly turned into a struggle for survival. They were being pursued by agents of the Empire, led by Jerec, a Dark Jedi and Rahn's rival in the search for the valley. Rahn and the team successfully located Por Ral and convinced him to join their quest.

The rebel team began their return to the corvette using a skimmer. They were eventually forced to abandon the skimmer and continue on foot. The group paused to rest, at which point Dree complained that they should have continued using the skimmer, asserting that he could have flown them to the ship and back multiple times. Rahn acknowledged Dree's confidence but explained that using the skimmer would have allowed the Empire to track them via its heat signature, leading to their capture. Norley criticized the others for not being up to the task, and mentioned that Dree wasn't up to the task because of his young age. With time running out, Rahn devised a plan for Norley to stay behind and create a diversion, allowing the others to escape.

With Norley staying behind, the rest of the team returned to the corvette. They removed the camouflage and boarded the ship as Dree took control. To expedite their escape, Dree skipped half of the takeoff procedures. Concerned about Norley, he expressed his belief that she should not have been left behind. Rahn urged him to leave the system, emphasizing that Norley's actions would be in vain otherwise. Realizing Norley's sacrifice (she managed to destroy a pursuing Imperial skimmer before being killed), Dree located the last Imperial skimmer and fired upon it. Although no shot connected, he flew low enough to catch the skimmer in his slipstream, causing it to crash, though most of its occupants survived. Dree exited Dorlo's atmosphere but encountered TIE fighters and Jerec's Super Star Destroyer, the Vengeance. Dree attempted to evade the starfighters, unaware that he was being led into a trap.

Dree's corvette was caught in the Star Destroyer's tractor beam, with the young pilot struggling to control the runaway power plants. The indication that an assault shuttle was coming to them, made the young pilot wish that he was back home with his family. Rahn realized that they were about to be boarded, at which point Dree promised to not go down without putting up a fight. An assault shuttle docked with the corvette, and a commando team led by Jerec's Dark Jedi follower Boc Aseca attempted to coerce the crew off of the ship. After sixty seconds of waiting the Imperial commandos filled the corvette with coma gas. Rahn tried to get everyone in protective suits, but the gas took its effect and knocked everyone aboard the ship unconscious. The imperials loaded their bodies onto stretchers and took them back to the Vengeance.

The corvette was subsequently destroyed by the warship's gunnery crews, who used it for target practice.

Upon regaining consciousness, Dree and the others were escorted to the ship's bridge as an orderly recited military jargon. They were then handed over to Captain Sysco, an Imperial officer, who informed Jerec that the prisoners were ready for interrogation. Jerec, surrounded by his six Dark Jedi followers, met with the rebels and sarcastically assumed that Dree and the others were Rahn's servants. Gron spoke up, stating his name and that he was not going to divulge any information. The Dark Jedi called Pic, who had been perched on the shoulder of his symbiotic twin Gorc, lunged at Gron and stabbed the Klatooinian in the throat with a dagger and rode the body to the floor. With the stakes clear, Jerec gave the others his demands: Tell him the location of the valley and be granted a merciful death, or suffer. Jerec was denied, and threatened the life of Por Ral via the Dark Jedi Yun. Rahn chose death, and Por Ral was executed, leaving Dree and Rahn as the last ones standing.

Trembling with fear, tears streamed down Dree's face. When Jerec repeated his demand for information about the valley, Dree looked at Rahn, and their eyes met. Rahn instructed Druno to answer for both of them. Dree's eyes widened as he straightened up, faced Jerec, and gave the Dark Jedi a resolute "No." Knowing his fate was sealed, Dree closed his eyes and awaited death. Aseca stepped forward, getting close enough for Dree to smell the Twi'lek's breath. Aseca's hands moved swiftly and snapped Dree's neck, causing his body to fall forward onto the ground.

Following Dree's death, Jerec forcibly extracted the information he sought from Rahn's mind. After a brief final stand, Rahn was beheaded by Jerec. Despite Jerec's promise of suffering for defiance, Aseca's execution resulted in Dree's immediate death. Dree and the others were avenged when the rebel agent Kyle Katarn confronted Jerec at the Valley of the Jedi and defeated the Dark Jedi for good.

Duno Dree was a self-assured young pilot who had a tendency to exaggerate certain aspects of himself. Although he was seventeen during his final mission with Rahn, he claimed to be twenty years old. He was also aware that he was not as skilled a pilot as he portrayed himself to be. However, Rahn appreciated Dree's bold statements, remarking on one occasion that such talk was characteristic of a true pilot. Rahn also considered Dree, whom he sometimes called Druno, a friend. Despite his confident claims about his piloting abilities, Dree struggled to express his deep feelings for Norley. When Norley separated from the group to buy them time, Dree became concerned about her fate after they reached the corvette. After concluding that Norley was likely dead, Dree vowed that the Empire would pay for her death. In a rash decision, he located the skimmer carrying Norley's killers and attempted to destroy it with cannon fire. However, he missed every shot. He still managed to destroy the Imperial skimmer, though, as it had been caught in his slipstream. When his ship was ensnared in a tractor beam, Dree recognized the futility of his situation and lamented that it was too late to tell the truth, express his feelings to Norley, and remain in his father's business.

Although he had flown for his father for three years, Dree did not believe it was enough experience to escape the Imperial ships that attacked him as he made it off of Dorlo. This was proven as he allowed TIE fighters to coerce him into a carefully laid trap that only Rahn managed to point out after it was too late. Dree touted bravery, vowing to fight any Imperials who tried to board his ship. He was never able to do such a thing, though, as everyone was knocked out with gas before the boarding commenced. On the bridge of the Vengeance, Dree attempted to counsel Rahn, stating that, for the time being, they were still alive. Upon seeing Jerec for the first time, Dree questioned who the man was while describing his appearance. As the session continued, Dree grew visibly and emotionally shaken as his body shook and as tears rolled down his cheeks. When confronted with the option of giving in to Jerec's demands or holding out, he looked to Rahn, who told him answer for the both of them. Dree's voice was filled with determination as he denied the Dark Jedi for the last time. Although Jerec could not physically see Dree, due to being a naturally blind Miraluka, he sensed the boy's determination.

Dree was a human male with dark-red hair that he kept in a crew-cut, freckles on his nose, and peach-fuzz on both cheeks. He also had a scar on his forehead.

Dree piloted a CR90 corvette during the mission to Dorlo. The ship adequately suited the team's needs, with protective suits and forward laser cannons. The blockade runner had red striping on the sides of the "head" and "abdomen" areas. It was destroyed by the Vengeance's gunnery crew. Dree also carried a blaster during the mission, and planned to use it against the Imperials when they boarded his ship. However, he was knocked out with gas before that could happen. He wore orange clothing when he died.

Duno Dree initially appeared as an unnamed character in the opening cutscene of the 1997 video game Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, portrayed by an uncredited actor. His name and backstory were revealed in the 1998 novella Dark Forces: Rebel Agent by William C. Dietz. Dree appeared as a supporting character in the book's second chapter, with several point-of-view paragraphs, but only one line of dialogue. Dree also featured in the full cast audio adaption, voiced by Michael Paul Levin. In the audio drama, he was referred to as Druno and given significantly more lines, expanding on his personality. Dree also received an entry in 2008's The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia. Dree is unique as the only one of Rahn's companions to appear in all three versions of the Jedi Knight story.

There are some notable discrepancies between the different adaptations of Jedi Knight. Firstly, Dree has dark red hair in the video game, while the novella describes him as having dirty-blonde hair. Secondly, neither Dree or Nij Por Ral are executed in the audio adaption. Rather, Rolanda Gron is killed, and Rahn is beaten and killed soon after, leaving the fates of Dree and Por Ral ambiguous. This article assumes that Dree had red hair as seen in the game, seeing that the game has been the only source to depict an image of Dree. Due to the fact that Dree is killed in two of the three tellings, this article gives both the game and the novella precedence over the audio adaption, as both sources agree on the timing of Dree's death being right before Rahn's.