Jad Bean

During the Galactic Civil War, Jad Bean, a human male, was a trooper serving in the Imperial Navy of the Galactic Empire against the Alliance to Restore the Republic. In 4 ABY, he was stationed on the Death Star II superweapon as it underwent construction in the Endor system. Bean was at a console in the overbridge control center, functioning as both a flight controller and a shield operator, when the Imperial shuttle ST 321, carrying Darth Vader, the Sith Lord, approached the battle station after its departure from the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Avenger.

Captain Yorr, the shuttle's pilot, contacted Bean's station through comms and requested that the Death Star's security shield be lowered for landing, providing blue code clearance. Bean told Yorr that the shield would be deactivated upon confirmation of the code's transmission. After a short time, he received it on the console while the Imperial officer Lieutenant Endicott, the overseer of the overbridge, observed. Bean then activated a switch, sending a signal to the Death Star's shield generator on the moon Endor, which temporarily deactivated a section of the station's shield. This allowed him to clear the shuttle to land in one of the station's hangars. Endicott watched the shuttle land through a viewport and then instructed Bean to inform Moff Tiaan Jerjerrod, the station's commander, of Vader's arrival. Jerjerrod then personally greeted Vader as he disembarked. On one occasion, Bean was also at a workstation on the overbridge while Jerjerrod was standing on the floor in front of him.

Following Vader's arrival, Sheev Palpatine, the Galactic Emperor, also arrived on the Death Star, which prompted the Alliance Fleet to attack the Death Star in an attempt to eliminate Palpatine and the superweapon. The Alliance ultimately defeated the Empire, and its fleet destroyed the Death Star's reactor core, starting the countdown to its destruction. Bean was among the Imperials who escaped and survived the battle, although the Emperor perished, along with Endicott and Jerjerrod.

The Empire then collapsed in 5 ABY. From its remnants, the First Order eventually emerged to oppose the New Republic, the successor to the Alliance. Bean joined the First Order's military and became a TIE series flight instructor, also serving as commander of Zeta Squadron. He had the callsign Zeta Leader and the nickname "Scorch." Initially viewing the members of the squadron as a group of grunts, he spent years training with them, striving to mold them into a team of pilots. When the squadron was about to fly its first official mission for the First Order, Bean gave a speech in which he discussed the L-s9.6 laser cannons of their TIE/fo space superiority fighters in detail, but emphasized that the pilots themselves were the most important weapons, not the cannons. While flying for the First Order, Bean once piloted a TIE/se Bomber alongside two TIE/fos, pursuing an enemy vessel over a cloudy location.

In 34 ABY, Zeta Squadron participated in the Battle of Starkiller Base, where the Resistance destroyed the First Order's Starkiller Base superweapon. Humiliated and eager to prove their worth, the squadron then fought in the Battle of D'Qar, during which a First Order fleet attacked the Resistance as it evacuated from its base on the planet D'Qar. During the battle, Bean flew against the Resistance's MG-100 StarFortress SF-17 heavy bombers, which were ultimately destroyed while targeting the Mandator IV-class Siege Dreadnought Fulminatrix. However, the dreadnought was also destroyed. This allowed the Resistance to escape and survive.

Bean harbored a hatred for the Resistance and displayed a fanatical dedication to the First Order's cause, more so than many of its other pilots. He put great effort into training the members of Zeta Squadron, working with each one, and was confident in their laser cannon proficiency by the time they embarked on their first official mission. He considered the pilots of the Empire to be brave, but he believed that the L-s1 laser cannons they used were only adequate at best by the time he served the First Order, given technological advancements. During a pre-mission speech to Zeta Squadron, he deviated from the script and told the pilots that they were more dangerous than their weapons. Bean had fair skin, green eyes, and brown hair.

While on the Death Star II, Bean wore a black fabric uniform that included gloves and a belt, along with the distinctive helmet of an Imperial Navy trooper. While flying for the First Order, he wore a black flight suit and piloted both a TIE/fo space superiority fighter and a TIE/se Bomber.

Jad Bean's initial appearance in Star Wars canon was in the original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, which premiered on May 25, 1983. Stuart Fox played the character, who was only identified as "Operator" in the script, without receiving credit. Fox filmed all of Bean's scenes on Stage 7 of Elstree Studios on April 1, 1982, which was the final day of main stage shooting for the film in the United Kingdom. Fox also returned to provide automated dialogue replacement for the film at Mayflower Recording Studios in London on January 25, 1983.

Bean appeared in additional scenes that were ultimately cut from the final version of the film. In one scene, Bean is shown at a workstation on the overbridge during the Battle of Endor when Jerjerrod receives orders from the Emperor to destroy Endor if the Empire's shield generator there is destroyed. Jerjerrod objects, pointing out that there are still Imperial battalions on the moon, but the Emperor reiterates the order, and Jerjerrod reluctantly agrees before glancing at Bean.

In another scene, Bean is still at the workstation when Endicott informs Jerjerrod that the bunker has been destroyed. Jerjerrod pauses and then reluctantly orders the station to be positioned to destroy Endor, which Endicott relays to Bean as an order to begin rotating the station's main batteries. In the final scene, Bean informs Jerjerrod from the workstation that the rebel fleet has moved to attack an unfinished section of the Death Star. Jerjerrod orders him to concentrate all firepower on that sector, after which Bean begins a countdown until the Death Star is in position to destroy Endor. Once the station is in position, Jerjerrod does not respond, and Bean repeats himself before Jerjerrod gives the order to commence firing, which Bean carries out.

In Star Wars Legends, Bean appeared before the film's release in its novelization by James Kahn, which was published on May 12, 1983. The character was first identified in Legends in the 2013 reference book Death Star Owner's Technical Manual, written by Ryder Windham. Windham included the character's name as a tribute to his friend Jad Bean, who had founded a website dedicated to Galoob's Micro Machines Epic Collections series of toys and the Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire Micro Machines set that Windham had worked on.

In the current Star Wars canon, a character with the Zeta Leader callsign was initially featured on a card in the TIE/fo Fighter Expansion Pack for the Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game, produced by Fantasy Flight Games and released on December 17, 2015, although no link to Bean was established. The nickname "Scorch" was first used on November 7, 2018, in a preview article for the TIE/fo Fighter Expansion Pack released as part of Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition. "Scorch" was identified as the nickname of Zeta Leader on a card in the expansion pack, which was also included in the First Order Conversion Kit for the game, both of which were released on December 13, 2018. Finally, the 2019 TIE Fighter Owners' Workshop Manual, another reference book by Windham, first used the name Jad Bean in canon and retconned the "Scorch" character as being Bean.

In Return of the Jedi: Beware the Power of the Dark Side!, an adaptation of Return of the Jedi written by Tom Angleberger and released on September 22, 2015, Bean is incorrectly described as rushing to inform Endicott that Vader's shuttle has arrived. The lieutenant then orders a petty officer, rather than Bean, to inform Jerjerrod of the Sith's arrival, while Bean returns to his chair. This contradicts the events depicted in the film.

Bean is an unlockable character for the First Order faction in the 2020 mobile game Star Wars: Starfighter Missions. Two alternate cosmetic decals are available for the character's black TIE/fo space superiority fighter. One skin gives the starfighter horizontal navy blue and light gray stripes, while the other adds turquoise coloring to the two central segments of each wing and stripes of the same color running horizontally across the cockpit.