Jace Rucklin, who would later be known as DT-798, was a male human racer who lived during the time of the New Republic era. Rucklin, who was the leader of his own racing team, had desired Jarek Yeager's hyperfuel for a considerable period, and he viewed Kazuda Xiono's arrival on the Colossus as an opportunity to obtain it.
However, Rucklin's attempt to manipulate Xiono into stealing the fuel led to the destruction of his racer, and consequently, the loss of all his savings that he had invested in it. Rucklin decided to disregard his own culpability in the loss and instead placed the blame on Xiono, promising to retaliate against him.
Following the loss of his racer, Rucklin was compelled to accept a position in Doza Tower, where he cleaned and served food and beverages to the residents, in order to earn the credits needed for a new one. Growing disillusioned with the Colossus and its inhabitants, Rucklin eventually joined the First Order alongside Tamara Ryvora, and met his end while serving them.
By 34 ABY, Jace Rucklin was a racer residing on the Colossus on Castilon, where he maintained a race team that included himself, another human named Lin Gaava, and a Sullustan named Gorrak Wiles. Rucklin harbored ambitions of becoming a top racer, but rather than diligently working towards that goal, he preferred to take shortcuts, steal, and cheat whenever possible. One of his methods involved removing all "unnecessary" systems, including safety features, from his racer to enhance its speed. He and his team were aware that Jarek Yeager, a former racer on the station who owned a repair shop, likely possessed a supply of coaxium, and they sought to acquire it by any means necessary.
The arrival of Kazuda Xiono, the newest member of Team Fireball, was perceived by Rucklin as the ideal opportunity to obtain the coaxium. Xiono quickly gained a reputation for being naive shortly after his arrival on the platform, and Rucklin was confident that Xiono was unaware of his reputation as a lazy prankster. Consequently, he and his team awaited an opportunity to approach Xiono. They found one during Xiono's initial weeks on the platform when he visited Aunt Z's Tavern due to his frustration with Yeager's demanding workload and meager pay. Unbeknownst to Rucklin and his associates, Xiono's frustration partially stemmed from his role as a spy and a pilot in the New Republic Defense Fleet who had been recruited into the Resistance and deployed to the station by Yeager's longtime friend and mentor, Commander Poe Dameron, to monitor the First Order, as they were planning a full scale attack on the New Republic and were engaged in suspicious activities on the Colossus, and his membership in Team Fireball served as a cover.
Following a conversation in which Rucklin disclosed Yeager's past as a racer to Xiono, Rucklin challenged Xiono to a friendly speeder bike race. Unbeknownst to Xiono, Rucklin had instructed Wiles to sabotage the bike he was riding. This provided Rucklin with an opportunity to endear himself to Xiono during the race by rescuing him from the "accident." Consequently, when Xiono visited Rucklin's hangar later, Rucklin leveraged the incident to pressure Xiono into sneaking him into Yeager's private hangar to observe Yeager's racer, with the intention of stealing Yeager's hyperfuel. Upon entering the shop, they had to evade Yeager, his astromech droid R1-J5 ("Bucket"), and Xiono's colleague Tam Ryvora. They managed to avoid detection, and Xiono informed Rucklin that they would be unable to see the ship because the hangar door was locked. Rucklin surreptitiously stole the coaxium behind Xiono's back and quickly departed, claiming that they would have to try again another day.
Rucklin had signed up for a race that day, and he anticipated winning it with the coaxium. When Xiono later visited his hangar, Rucklin and his team promptly obstructed Xiono's view of the coaxium and declined his offer of lunch. However, Rucklin was unaware that even a small amount of coaxium could transform a ship into a flying bomb, and he added far too much while fueling his racer. When Xiono discovered the theft and the danger, he realized Rucklin was in peril and rushed to save his life. Rucklin's friends noticed something unusual with the racer's engines when he started them, but they were interrupted by Xiono and Dameron’s droid BB-8 entering the hangar. Xiono jumped onto Rucklin's racer to stop him, resulting in both of them being ejected. As the ejection seat's parachute had been removed, they nearly plunged into the ocean before being rescued by BB-8 and Yeager.
After being rescued, Rucklin disregarded his own fault in the loss of his ship and, fueled by anger over the loss of all the savings he had invested in it, chose to blame Xiono instead, asserting that no one would ever discover that he had stolen the hyperfuel. He was unaware that Yeager was within earshot when he made that statement. Rucklin ultimately vowed to retaliate against Xiono for the incident before storming off with his teammates.
As a result of the loss of his racer, Rucklin was compelled to find a new job, working as a servant in Doza Tower and the Aces' Lounge. There, he served drinks and cleaned for Captain Imanuel Doza and the members of the Ace Squadron. Rucklin encountered Xiono again when he was invited inside the tower by Doza's daughter Torra, who was feeling lonely and seeking a friend to spend time with, particularly since he started forming his dangerous alliance with the First Order to stop the ongoing pirate attacks. Upon encountering Xiono, Rucklin reiterated his intention to seek revenge on him for the loss of the racer, before Xiono and Torra departed from the lounge area.
Rucklin later seized an opportunity when he witnessed Xiono sneaking into Doza's office. Xiono intended to copy the contents of a datapad that Stormtrooper Commander Pyre had given Doza, containing details of the Order's proposal to enhance the Colossus’ security, as Dameron wanted him and BB-8 to find any information about the deal the First Order wanted Doza to make with them. Determined to exact revenge on Xiono, Rucklin interrupted Doza as he was seeing Pyre off the platform, which angered Doza. Following Pyre's departure, Doza finally listened to Rucklin's account of the intruder. Due to his own suspicions of Xiono, he returned to his office with Rucklin.
Xiono was alerted to the threat of discovery by BB-8, and by the time Rucklin and Doza arrived at the office, he had concealed himself in a closet near Doza's desk. Rucklin heard Xiono gasp in shock upon realizing that Doza had an Imperial uniform stashed in the closet and attempted to open the door, but Doza prevented him, angrily stating that the closet's contents were private. Rucklin was then instructed to dispose of the office's garbage.
Torra's arrival in the office prevented Doza from inspecting the closet himself, allowing Xiono to escape. Rucklin later inadvertently saved Xiono's life when he and Torra were inside the trash incinerator, by throwing Doza's garbage in at precisely the right moment to intercept one of the incinerator's blasts.
During the "Bibo incident," Jace, along with the human Vic and the Theelin Jooks, urged Neeku Vozo to relinquish his new pet Bibo in order to appease an enraged rokkna sea monster. The sea monster turned out to be Bibo's mother, who was searching for her offspring.
During the First Order's occupation of the Colossus, Tam and the First Order Security Bureau Agent Tierny encountered Rucklin and Lin, who were being escorted away by stormtroopers because they got recruited to join the last remnant of the Galactic Empire like Tam would soon afterwards.
Following the Colossus' escape into hyperspace, Rucklin, Lin, and Tam, who was given the designation DT-533, became First Order TIE Fighter Pilot cadets aboard the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer Thunderer. After discovering Ryvora listening to a comlink message from Xiono, Rucklin convinced a conflicted Tam to report the comlink to the First Order, warning she would get into trouble if she was caught with it. He also claimed that Xiono and Yeager had taken advantage of Tam and endangered her life.
A stormtrooper brought the pair to Commander Pyre and Agent Tierny on the Star Destroyer's bridge. Tam told the two officers Xiono contacted her. Tierny convinced Pyre that the comlink could be used to track down the Colossus before dismissing the two cadets.
Rucklin and Tam were later in their barracks when Commander Pyre and Agent Tierny visited them, bringing news they tracked the Colossus to the Ileenium system. Tierny tried to exploit Tam's grievance with Xiono and claimed she made the right choice, inviting her to witness the end of their friends on the bridge. Before leaving, Rucklin elbowed her. Despite tracking down the Colossus, it escaped again into hyperspace after Team Colossus and Captain Kragan Gorr's Warbird gang salvaged coaxium from the wreckage of the Mandator IV-class Siege Dreadnought the Fulminatrix which Dameron’s friends destroyed during the evacuation of the Resistance base.
Rucklin, Gaava, and Ryvora took part in training with other cadets to become TIE pilots under the guidance of Lieutenant Galek. During a live fire exercise, Rucklin damaged his TIE and was going to crash into the star destroyer's hangar. However, he was saved by Ryvora when she slowed his TIE. Rucklin thanked her for saving his life but it cost her the chance to become squadron leader because she disobeyed orders to destroy the enemy by rescuing a lesser pilot who survived on their own merit due to being unaware the First Order was built on survival of the fittest so anyone who cannot do their job and die in the service to the First Order is natural because it becomes stronger by getting rid of the weak.
Later, Rucklin and Ryvora saw several stormtroopers escorting a member of the Resistance who was flying her X-wing to find the Colossus, Commander Venisa Doza who was Torra's mother and Captain Doza's wife and another one of Yeager’s old friends so Rucklin felt the owner of the rogue supertanker fuel depot lied to the two of them and was working with the Resistance from the beginning of its creation and when Ryvora thought Venisa looked familiar to her and asked Rucklin he felt that too, he said no so his colleague told him to forget she said anything. When Doza escaped with Ryvora as a hostage, Rucklin snuck on her. Rucklin held Doza at blaster point with an RK-3 blaster and ordered her to drop her stolen blaster. Doza dared Rucklin to kill her because if he did, then he would kill Ryvora too. Rucklin, despite his hesitation to kill Ryvora since he owed her his life in spite of what Lieutenant Galek told them, vowed the Resistance would lose the war. Doza tried reasoning with him as well by telling him to open his eyes to see killing innocent people was not winning. Rucklin said Doza did not know of anything because he felt she was an enemy of the First Order and the New Republic as corrupt. Doza let Ryvora go, but her astromech Torch sealed the blast door between her and Rucklin.
It was revealed Rucklin was given the designation DT-798. He and Ryvora went with Commander Pyre who had an important on of the First Order’s key refueling stations the Titan for a supply run at the order of Lieutenant Galek. On board the Titan, Rucklin thought it was an improvement to the Colossus and found Xiono and Neeku in disguise as technicians and called in security. Despite Xiono's pleas to get a needed component back to the Colossus, Rucklin told him that he should have been smart and chose to join the First Order like he and Tam did instead of let Dameron recruit him to serve in the Resistance after serving as a pilot in the New Republic Defense Fleet. Rucklin was then ordered to lock down the area and seal the hyperdrive chamber. However, Xiono and Neeku escaped with the deflector. Rucklin asked Ryvora if she was glad to join the First Order after he thought he was getting promoted to Commander for turning in Xiono; she said yes but sympathized with her friends.
Rucklin was pleased to hear the First Order took most of the major systems and was close to securing the galaxy when he found Ryvora standing in the hangar bored of waiting around so he decided to scare her by imitating Galek and asking her why her helmet was off again and promised her they would get their chance to get back out into the field again when the spider probe droids he heard about were on the hunt found the Colossus. Rucklin and Ryvora boarded their TIEs again when Pyre, Tierny, and Galek found the Colossus at the planet Aeos Prime. Rucklin was ordered by Galek to disable the Colossus before it escapes. Rucklin saw the Aces taking on the Thunderer head on which made Tam realize Kaz, who became the newest member of Ace Squadron, was leading the attack. Unfortunately, the Colossus escaped again and Tam got promoted by Tierny to Second Squadron Commander for her skill and bravery in saving her commanding officers from Xiono when Pyre inquired with Galek about who was the impressive pilot who saved them.
At the planet Dantooine, Rucklin was ordered by Galek to destroy three shuttles of Resistance recruits attempting to escape with the help of a convoy comprised of Hype, Kaz, Torra, and her mother’s squadron so he felt his day got a whole lot better when he saw Ace Squadron colluding with the Resistance. After Galek got killed by Venisa to save Kaz, Rucklin told Ryvora she was in charge. Despite Ryvora's order to let the shuttles go, Rucklin destroyed one in triumph. Despite his success, the others escaped. Rucklin was angrily jealous that Tierny promoted Ryvora again but this time to squadron leader and lieutenant and how funny it was that everything always worked out for her.
After being accused of treason by Tierny when Tam defected from the First Order, Rucklin got arrested, despite his protests. He revealed the Colossus was in the Barabesh system, but it was too late to save his skin, as Pyre and Tierny did not trust him anymore but decided to investigate to see if his intelligence was true since they had one more chance to kill their enemies or Supreme Leader Kylo Ren would kill the two of them.
During the final battle with Team Colossus, Rucklin tried to stop Kaz, Tam and their friends when they were on board the Thunderer, so as to prove to his commanding officer’s that he was loyal to the First Order. However, he was knocked out by Tam and the Thunderer got destroyed. Rucklin died with Pyre and the crew when the Thunderer got destroyed by Ace Squadron and Jade Squadron while Tierny met her end at the hands of Ren for being weak and he called off the hunt for the Colossus.
Rucklin was a male human characterized by blond hair, green [eyes](/article/eye], and a fair complexion. He exhibited no qualms about resorting to theft and deceit to secure victories in races, and he was prepared to endanger others physically to manipulate them. Furthermore, he had all systems he deemed superfluous, including safety mechanisms like the parachute in his ejection seat, removed from his racer in an effort to maximize its speed.
Despite Xiono saving his life, Rucklin held him responsible for the destruction of his racer and denied having stolen Yeager's coaxium fuel. Rucklin harbored enduring resentment towards Xiono and attempted to implicate him in trouble with Captain Doza. However, his scheme was thwarted when Captain Doza declined to permit anyone to search his wardrobe. Rucklin later implored Neeku to surrender his "pet" to a rokkna sea monster to avert the destruction of the Colossus.
Following his enlistment in the First Order, Rucklin's animosity toward Xiono drove him to persuade Tam to report her comlink. Rucklin subsequently elbowed Tam after Agent Tierny commended her for her assistance and extended an invitation to witness the demise of their friends on the bridge of the Thunderer. Over the course of his service to the First Order, Rucklin grew increasingly ruthless and callous, to the point where he felt no reservations about witnessing the destruction of the Aeosian village that aided the Alliance to Restore the Republic and one of the Resistance’s cells, deeming the Aeosians "subversives" who received their just deserts, dismissing Tam's assertion that some were innocent by arguing that they were not if they harbored "criminals."
He became increasingly arrogant, evidenced when he assumed he would get promoted to Commander like Pyre after revealing Kaz's identity, only for them to jump away before getting captured. He as well underestimated the strength of the Resistance and the Colossus, taunting Yeager, Kaz, and Tam that they lost and that he'd revealed its location, after which he got knocked out by Tam. Later, the shields on the Thunderer were disabled and the Colossus’ residents fought back while the Imperial remnant got defeated during and after the Battle of Exegol.
Jace Rucklin is a character conceived and developed for Star Wars Resistance. Elijah Wood provides his voice.