Kell Tainer

Kell Tainer's birthplace was Alderaan during the Galactic Empire's rule, though his family went by the Doran name then. Kissek Doran, Kell's father, was a Rebel Alliance member and a starfighter pilot in the Tierfon Yellow Aces. During a mission, Doran abruptly retreated, endangering the other Rebel starfighters due to his apparent cowardice. Wes Janson, a fellow member of the squad, was forced to eliminate Doran to protect the mission. The Doran family, including Kell, experienced deep emotional distress, not only from Kissek's passing, but also from the circumstances surrounding it.

Shortly before the Battle of Yavin, Kell was employed by Mazzic, a smuggler, and partnered with Winter, an undercover Rebel operative. Soon after the Battle of Yavin, Mazzic dispatched them to assist Han Solo in a heist on Wukkar.

As an adult, Tainer enlisted in the New Republic, which replaced the Rebel Alliance. Stationed on Sluis Van, he worked as a fighter-craft mechanic before joining the commandos, where he received demolitions training. While serving with the Katarn Commandos, he showed a talent for unarmed combat and underwent further training in this area.

Despite his achievements, Tainer sought to redeem his family's reputation by becoming a successful New Republic starfighter pilot. He began practicing in starfighter simulators, but he was haunted by two incidents. First, Tainer crashed a Z-95 Headhunter, and second, he damaged an X-wing fighter with a rough landing. Tainer blamed unresponsive controls for both incidents, a claim that was later interpreted as a reluctance to take responsibility for his failures. As a result, his chances of becoming a starfighter pilot were dwindling.

Prior to joining Wraith Squadron, Kell served with distinction in Judder Page's Katarn Commandos during the second Battle of Borleias. He planted explosive charges under fire on Borleias and was later commended for his efforts.

In 7 ABY, Tainer saw one final opportunity to restore his father's honor by joining a starfighter squadron. He volunteered for and was chosen as a pilot candidate for a new unit being formed by renowned ace Commander Wedge Antilles. Upon reporting for a preliminary meeting with Antilles, Tainer discovered that Antilles' executive officer was Wes Janson, the very man who had killed Tainer's father. Upon confirming Janson's identity, Tainer immediately requested to withdraw his application. Antilles, however, insisted on knowing the reason, and Tainer was compelled to reveal the truth.

After Antilles had a private discussion with Janson, Tainer was brought back to face the two officers. Antilles asked Tainer to remain in the unit because of his valuable skills, even though the former commando was seething at being in Janson's presence. Antilles also warned Tainer that this was his last chance as a pilot—and to clear his family name of cowardice. This statement triggered Tainer's anger, but Antilles remained unfazed and asked for Tainer's decision. Tainer chose to stay in the new unit and transferred to Folor Base to begin the training and evaluation process.

In his first simulator exercise as a pilot candidate, Tainer was paired with Thakwaash pilot Hohass Ekwesh for a simulated starfighter combat exercise. However, the intelligence they received about the nature of the defense they were conducting was incorrect. Tainer quickly took the lead and organized the other three pilots into a skilled last-ditch effort to protect the base. Ekwesh had different ideas, charging recklessly into combat and getting destroyed. Tainer and the other three pilots successfully survived the simulated attack, but the results were surprising to Tainer. Although Tainer's performance was commendable—shooting down five fighters and thinking well under pressure—the scoring system awarded Tainer's score to his wingman and vice versa. Ekwesh's poor combat choices left Tainer with a score of zero. The pilot was infuriated, both at Ekwesh and at Janson, whom he believed was purposefully trying to sabotage Tainer's chances of flying with the squadron.

Following the simulator run, Tainer and the other three pilots went to DownTime, the cantina on Folor Base. There, Tainer met Tyria Sarkin and the Gamorrean pilot Voort "Piggy" saBinring, the other two pilots from the simulator run. Ekwesh apologized and explained that his species had multiple personalities depending on the task, and that Ekwesh's pilot mind was known for being undisciplined. Tainer was still unhappy but accepted the apology—he was otherwise occupied admiring Sarkin, whom he considered the perfect female pilot. While in DownTime, Tainer was also introduced to two other pilot candidates, former doctor Ton Phanan and former holodrama star Garik "Face" Loran. Phanan quickly irritated Sarkin with his bold flirting, to Tainer's disappointment, but he resolved to spend more time with her later.

The next simulator run Tainer experienced was an ambush on a volcanic world. Tainer's craft was damaged in the engagement, but he survived, unlike Ekwesh, who was once again destroyed without a kill. Following that run, Tainer was once more paired with Ekwesh. This time, as the Thakwaash's pilot mind started to break formation and attack recklessly, Tainer placed a target lock on his wingman's fighter. This was enough to keep Ekwesh's attention and restrain his pilot mind somewhat. Tainer ended the run with only two kills due to a surprise shot from a TIE Interceptor—flown by Wedge Antilles—but was congratulated by Janson for his "unorthodox tactics in personnel management."

Over the following weeks, the pool of pilot candidates was narrowed down, and Tainer remained in contention for a spot in the new unit. This did little to ease his mind when around Janson; he would tense up in the officer's presence. One day, while in DownTime discussing how many of the pilots had black marks on their records or were on their last chance at flying starfighters, several pilots, including Tainer, received comlink messages instructing them to report to the briefing amphitheater. The new unit's roster had been selected, and Tainer was among those chosen. In the briefing room, Tainer was recognized for his commando skills and for having the highest cumulative score during the training runs. Tainer was also assigned the callsign "Gray Five" and, unsurprisingly, Ekwesh as his wingman. However, Tainer was placed in charge of the squadron's Two Flight, which pleased him. As he left the briefing amphitheater, Tainer found Sarkin shocked and dejected. She told him that she was last, and though he tried to console her, his efforts were thwarted by her asking him if he'd ever been last in anything. As he hadn't, it was difficult for him to sympathize.

Tainer later worked in the X-wing hangar on Folor Base with the unit's chief mechanic, Cubber Daine. They spent a significant amount of time performing maintenance on the new fighters and painted a dismal picture of the ships' readiness to Antilles when the commander inquired about their status. In reality, the fighters were not nearly as broken down, but Daine, Tainer, and the mechanic team had deliberately exaggerated the time needed for maintenance to create more leisure time. While they were working, the famed Corellian freighter Millennium Falcon arrived, carrying General Han Solo and Chewbacca. Tainer saw them from a distance but soon left with Daine to play sabacc.

Tainer continued to train, this time in an actual X-wing. During a target practice run involving proton torpedoes, Tainer was surprised by a sudden failure in his targeting systems, resulting in a clean miss. Adding to the tension he felt after being placed in charge of Two Flight, he was not happy. After the run, he returned to base and relentlessly pounded a training dummy with unarmed strikes to vent his anger. Ekwesh confronted him and told him that his constant self-flagellation over failure was unhealthy and invited him to join the other pilots in DownTime to relax. Tainer, after learning that Sarkin was there, agreed. There, he joined the other pilots in sharing stories of practical jokes to make the reticent pilot Myn Donos laugh, which they succeeded in doing. Their merriment was eventually cut short when they were reminded of various tasks to be done, including studying for a hyperspace navigational exercise.

The next day, Tainer met Sarkin alone for breakfast and confessed his love for her. She immediately rejected his advances, telling him that he had fallen in love with a fantasy woman, not the real Tyria Sarkin. Tainer reluctantly realized she was right and left. Shortly thereafter, the unit received their official designation as Wraith Squadron. That same day, Tainer and the rest of the squadron took off for their hyperspace exercise, heading for a star known as Doldrums. While the squadron was forming up, communications specialist Jesmin Ackbar detected transmissions on an Imperial channel. As other members of the Wraiths suggested ideas to analyze the source of the signal, Tainer suggested that the squadron's code-slicer, Bothan Eurrsk Thri'ag, slice into the governmental records of the nearby world of Commenor and look for anomalies. Thri'ag's efforts yielded results, informing the squadron that an Imperial Star Destroyer, Implacable, was inbound to attack Folor Base. With this information, the Wraiths returned to Folor Base to set up a quick defense.

The Wraiths landed on an ice field while transports were loaded and prepared to launch for an evacuation of the base. Tainer suggested that the squadron engage the Star Destroyer to buy time for the transports, but his suggestion was inexplicably rejected by Antilles, leaving Tainer embarrassed and seething. In fact, the New Republic had set up a decoy base on the opposite side of the moon to distract Implacable. Only when the Imperial warship realized it had been duped did the Wraiths and other starfighters from Folor Base launch to protect the transports. When word reached the starfighter commanders, Wedge Antilles and General Edor Crespin, that one of the transports was having engine trouble, they assigned Tainer, Ekwesh, and two A-wing fighter pilots to fly ahead, using a fissure called the Pig Trough for cover. The plan was for the four fighters to serve as spotters, signaling the rest of their squadrons, who would power down inside the Pig Trough, to emerge and wreak havoc on the Imperial fighter screen.

Tainer and Ekwesh raced the two A-wings to a vantage point inside the Pig Trough, and the X-wings outflew the A-wings to reach there first. Once at their destination, they powered down and waited for the Imperials to arrive. Once the hostile forces were spotted, they sent a transmission back to Folor Base. The sight of Implacable concerned Tainer, as he knew the warship could cause significant damage. To distract it, Tainer devised a diversion in which he and the other three pilots would fly close together to mask their sensor signature and pretend to be Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa on the Millennium Falcon. Tainer hoped that posing as Rebel dignitaries would distract the Star Destroyer. His ploy worked, distracting Implacable long enough for the last transport to depart. Shouting verbal insults at Implacable as the Star Destroyer futilely attempted to destroy them, Tainer and the other three pilots escaped to rendezvous with their respective units.

During his time in Wraith Squadron, Tainer matured as both a person and a soldier. On a mission to round up pirates, he performed dangerously risky maneuvers in a futile attempt to save the life of squad mate Jesmin Ackbar. He fell in love with Flight Officer Tyria Sarkin during the unit's formative weeks and months, despite her initial rejections. Additionally, he came to terms with his loathing of Janson. Years before, Janson had been forced to shoot down Kell's father's Y-wing when the neophyte pilot's fit of panic jeopardized the entire Tierfon Yellow Aces squadron. The humiliated Doran family changed their name and emigrated from their native Alderaan to Sluis Van, where Kell spent most of his formative years. After treating Janson with what appeared to be barely-restrained hostility for weeks, Tainer realized that he couldn't fault the older pilot for protecting the lives of others. This realization came after he discovered that Janson did not kill people for a single mistake, thanks to Janson's efforts to hide the currently catatonic condition of Myn Donos. Kell then revealed that he was not truly angry at Janson, but actually fearful of him.

Tainer played a critical role in the successful evacuation of Folor base. He deceived Admiral Apwar Trigit by making him believe that he and his wingmates were actually Rogue Squadron and the Millennium Falcon, which bought time for New Republic personnel to escape. He also created the Lunatic vessel, which was used to successfully capture the Zsinj-aligned frigate Night Caller in the Xobome System. Tainer also owned an R2-series astromech droid named R2-D609, which he called Thirteen due to a programming error that caused the droid to answer thirteen when asked for a random number. After overcoming an initial panic attack, he fought in the Battle of Ession, which ultimately resulted in the destruction of Trigit's Star Destroyer, the Implacable. This panic attack had occurred twice before, manifesting as a psychosomatic malfunction (frozen controls) in his X-wing. This was the main reason for the black mark on his previous record, but he eventually overcame it and became an ace in the battle, shooting down five enemies.

When Wraith Squadron went undercover as the pirate mercenary group the Hawk-bats, Tainer played the role of Lieutenant Dissek, the bodyguard for General "Kargin." Tainer's fabricated backstory for Dissek was that he was an Alderaanian with an expertise in hand-to-hand combat, trained under a woman named Qatya Nassin (Shalla Nelprin). Face described her as being capable of killing a Wookiee barehanded, and Kell provided the gruesome details. While disguised as Dissek, Tainer wore a wig with flowing red hair. During a meeting on the Iron Fist, "Dissek" was provoked by a stormtrooper, and sticking to the arrogant personality he had assigned to the character, Tainer knocked the trooper unconscious. "Dissek" claimed that the action was simply a reflex, and the stormtrooper's superior, General Melvar, accepted the explanation, simply impressed by "Dissek"'s skill. The name Dissek was likely derived by combining the first and last names of Kell's father, Kissek Doran. He participated in the Battle of Kuat and the Battle for the Razor's Kiss. Kell continued to serve throughout the Zsinj campaign, flying in a TIE/IN interceptor as "Drake One" and participating in the final battle of the campaign. Additionally, when the Wraiths became an intelligence unit, he joined immediately.

During a mission to eliminate Imperial admiral Kosh Teradoc on Ryvester in 13 ABY, Tainer posed as an Imperial Navy Special Forces trooper while several other members of the Wraiths set up a meeting with Teradoc in a club outside his base. Tainer's presence was part of a fake raid that persuaded Teradoc to flee with an explosive that Tainer had disguised as a valuable gem-laden artifact. Their ruse was successful, and Teradoc took the artifact back to his base, where the explosive was triggered when he reached his vault. Tainer stood guard while the other Wraiths made their egress from the club and was the last one out, having been tackled by one of Teradoc's guards. Ekwesh came to his aid, allowing Tainer to make his way to their getaway speeder. The Wraiths were also able to rescue Mulus Cheems, a gemologist whom Teradoc had brought to authenticate the piece. Once the Wraiths and Cheems were aboard the speeder, Targon drove them to a nearby marina, where they stole Teradoc's yacht and departed onto the open waters. With the danger passed, Tainer dumped his Imperial trooper disguise overboard and joined his fellow Wraiths as they appropriated Teradoc's food and drinks for an impromptu celebration.

He eventually married fellow Wraith Tyria Sarkin sometime before the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. Tyria later left the military to focus on her Jedi training and was eventually confirmed as a Jedi Knight. Tainer and Tyria also had a son, Doran, who was also Force-sensitive. Sometime prior to 19 ABY, Tainer instructed fellow Wraith Hohass Ekwesh on the techniques needed for demolition work, which Ekwesh used to sabotage Imperial-held Mulvar Sensor Station prior to the conclusion of the First Galactic Civil War. Circa the Yuuzhan Vong War, Tainer and his wife had a daughter, Jesmin Tainer, who was named after Jesmin Ackbar. Like Doran, Jesmin was Force-sensitive. Doran and Jesmin were largely raised apart from each other, and Jesmin eventually was trained as a Jedi, joined the Antarian Rangers, and assumed the identity of bounty hunter Zilaash Kuh before joining Wraith Squadron herself in 44 ABY.

During the first few years of the Yuuzhan Vong War, Tainer continued to serve in the Wraiths, who made numerous attempts to break through Vong-occupied territory near the enemy-created frontier from Vortex to Bimmisaari. He saw little of his wife, as the Tainers had a long-distance marriage; Tyria traveled extensively through remote areas, teaching Doran the ways of the Jedi. However, it was an arrangement that Tainer accepted, and he endured the long months of separation while relishing the celebration when the family was reunited.

After the Battle of Coruscant, he traveled with the rest of the Wraiths to Borleias to assist his former commander, General Wedge Antilles, in his fight against the Yuuzhan Vong. While on Borleias, Tainer, in addition to his other duties, put his mechanical skills to work repairing starfighters that had been damaged in skirmishes with lingering remnants of Yuuzhan Vong forces. On one such occasion, he aided Jedi Master Luke Skywalker in performing maintenance on Skywalker's battle-damaged X-wing.

Shortly after this, due to his visions of darkness he had witnessed there, Skywalker initiated the organization of an expedition headed for Coruscant. Upon learning of Skywalker's intentions, Iella Wessiri Antilles, the chief intelligence officer stationed on Borleias, offered assistance, providing personnel from her department which included several members of the Wraiths. Consequently, Wraith members such as Bhindi Drayson, Baljos Arnjak, Elassar Targon, Kell Tainer, and Garik Loran, the Wraith leader, were assigned to participate in the expedition. Besides Skywalker, Mara Jade Skywalker and Tahiri Veila, two other Jedi, alongside scientist Danni Quee, also decided to join the mission to Coruscant. The Wraiths brought a variety of specialized equipment for the infiltration, including disguises made of vonduun crab armor, imitation amphistaff weaponry, surveillance droids disguised as fungi, and orbital insertion pods disguised as orbital debris or coralskipper husks. The expedition members were then boarded onto an aging freighter named Record Time, piloted to Coruscant by Lando Calrissian, a businessman and former general of the Rebel Alliance.

Emerging from hyperspace above Coruscant, Record Time was immediately attacked by Yuuzhan Vong warships. After simulating the freighter's disintegration and ejecting debris, Calrissian launched the orbital insertion pods containing the infiltration team. These pods then plummeted thousands of meters towards the planet's surface, their descent slowed by repulsorlifts within the pods. Although some members of the expedition were jostled during the fall, and Tainer's pod crashed through a building's roof, landing several floors below the others, everyone emerged unscathed and prepared to commence their mission.

Tainer, along with the others, began exploring the devastated galactic capital, donning Yuuzhan Vong disguises that made the infiltration party appear as Yuuzhan Vong warriors. On one occasion, they stumbled upon a hunting party of warriors. Despite being initially deceived by the disguises, the Yuuzhan Vong demanded that the infiltrators yield the right-of-way, a gesture no true Yuuzhan Vong warrior would make. Consequently, a battle ensued between the New Republic group and the Yuuzhan Vong, with the Jedi leading the charge. Tainer, for his part, launched a bomb onto a walkway connecting two buildings and suggested a swift retreat to the Jedi while firing his blaster at the Yuuzhan Vong. The resulting explosion eliminated most of the warriors and destroyed the walkway, preserving their presence on Coruscant as a secret—for the time being.

Shortly after this encounter, they came across a group of Coruscant survivors, emaciated and ragged, who charged at them wielding crude weapons. Following Bhindi Drayson's advice, the party retreated. Once they were a safe distance away, Drayson explained the importance of maintaining the secrecy of their disguises, a sentiment echoed by Skywalker. The Jedi Master then led a small group back to find the survivors, having first removed their disguises. Tainer remained with the rest of the party, which he was relieved about, as the sudden sprint had left him winded. Despite his temporary exhaustion, he couldn't resist teasing Tahiri Veila, the youngest Jedi on the trip, sarcastically referring to her as his Aunt Tahiri.

Skywalker's encounter with the survivors led them to a facility from which his sensation of darkness originated. Upon investigating the area, the group discovered a concealed laboratory and air purification center. While most of the Wraiths and the Jedi entered the laboratory to investigate, Tainer and Targon were assigned to guard the perimeter. The exploration team soon discovered that the laboratory was isolated and still powered. They decided to use it as their headquarters, even though Skywalker had discovered that a three-meter dark-side entity had forced its way out of the laboratory using a lightsaber. To prevent the entity's return, Tainer and Targon secured the exit hole by welding a thick metal sheet over it. He also assisted in cleaning one of the laboratory's rooms to make it more habitable and deployed holocams to monitor the surface and gather astronomical data.

The group operated from the abandoned laboratory for an extended period, establishing contact with the survivors, searching for a means of escape, and, in the case of the Jedi, pursuing the three-meter entity, who they eventually identified as a cybernetically enhanced Dark Jedi known as Lord Nyax. Most of the infiltration team ceased wearing their Yuuzhan Vong disguises, even during missions, as there were few warrior patrols in the vicinity of their base. However, Tainer and Loran insisted on wearing their armor on all missions, claiming it made them look dashing, although Master Skywalker suspected it was a competition between them to see who would concede and admit discomfort first.

During one particular mission, Tainer, along with Targon, Loran, and the three Jedi, assisted in locating a group of ragged Coruscant survivors frantically clearing debris, a task they were mentally commanded to do by Lord Nyax. A group of Yuuzhan Vong warriors entered the building and began attacking the workers and Nyax, who easily defeated both them and their Jedi-hunting voxyn. The three Jedi descended from their observation point to engage Nyax, while Tainer and Loran located someone who had accompanied the Yuuzhan Vong warriors: Senator Viqi Shesh, the treacherous New Republic senator. Tainer lifted Shesh into the air and as he did so, a locator beacon fell from her clothing, which Loran then seized. Tainer restrained his captive's hands and, together with Loran, debated who to shoot first—Nyax or the Yuuzhan Vong. Instead, they descended to examine what the survivors were excavating, bringing their struggling prisoner with them.

They soon discovered that the survivors were clearing rubble from a functional construction droid and were nearing completion. No sooner had Loran relayed this information to their Jedi allies than the droid activated and began tearing through the cityscape. The resulting structural damage forced Tainer and Loran to release Shesh and hold on to prevent themselves from falling from the unstable catwalk they were standing on. The Jedi rejoined them, having failed to defeat Nyax. Tainer was tasked with using the locator beacon recovered from Shesh, hoping it would lead them to a functional ship. As it turned out, the demolitions expert did locate a spaceworthy transport, Ugly Truth. The ship was built into a starscraper and its escape shaft was blocked by tons of rubble, but Tainer's explosives quickly cleared the obstruction. On Skywalker's order, the Wraiths and Danni Quee were instructed to board the ship while the Jedi dealt with Nyax. During the Jedi's duel with Nyax, the Dark Jedi managed to use the construction droid to unleash a wellspring of Force energy beneath the ruins of the old Jedi Temple, which gave Tainer an unsettling feeling. After everyone but the Jedi—and Arnjak, who had decided to stay on Coruscant—were aboard, Tainer blew out a side wall to release Ugly Truth. He then returned to pick up the Jedi, who had mortally wounded Nyax. Skywalker was unwilling to leave the area until Nyax was dead, so the transport hovered nearby after Masters Skywalker and Veila scrambled aboard the ship. However, thanks to bombardment by Yuuzhan Vong warships, coupled with Nyax's projection of his own pain through the Force, the Jedi soon realized that Nyax was dead—Tainer also sensed the Dark Jedi's pain.

With Nyax dead, Tainer steered the ship away from the location where Nyax had been defeated, as numerous Yuuzhan Vong ships were approaching the area. Before taking the ship into space, he returned to where Ugly Truth had been docked, as an open comlink they had left there had picked up sounds of sniffling. They found Shesh there, crying, and were preparing to apprehend her when Shesh noticed a severely injured Yuuzhan Vong warrior, Denua Ku, following her with the intention of killing her. Rather than face death at his hands or be captured, she jumped off the edge of the building, falling to her death. Ku collapsed a minute later, and Ugly Truth then departed for space. Upon their return to the Borleias system, Tainer and Skywalker navigated the ship through the Yuuzhan Vong blockade and successfully landed at the New Republic garrison.

Tainer participated in the final Battle of Yuuzhan'tar, joining forces with Shamed Ones and resistance fighters on the ground, collaborating with both Wraith Leader Garik Loran and Judder Page. Tainer was part of a group that helped rescue Colonel Jagged Fel, a downed pilot, and soon after reunited with his long-lost comrade Baljos Arnjak, who had survived his time on occupied Coruscant. Ultimately, after being pushed back on Coruscant's surface and in orbit, the Yuuzhan Vong were defeated on Coruscant, bringing the Yuuzhan Vong War to an end.

Tainer was among a group of retired pilots who assisted Lando Calrissian in saving Kessel from destruction by alien explosives planted underground. He helped modify proton torpedo warheads to use thermal detonators to prematurely detonate the explosives, which only posed a threat to the planet if detonated in a specific sequence. After the successful completion of the operation, Tainer and the other pilots were thanked by Calrissian and his wife during a celebration.

Kell Tainer was originally created by Aaron Allston for X-Wing: Wraith Squadron. Tainer later appeared in two more X-Wing series books by Allston, X-Wing: Iron Fist and X-Wing: Solo Command. The character also made appearances in the two books by Allston for the New Jedi Order series, The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream and The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand, as well as a minor appearance in the series' final book, The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force, by James Luceno. Tainer was also depicted and mentioned in two reference works about the X-wing series, Wraith Squadron: The Dirty Dozen of Star Wars and Who's Who in Rogue Squadron. Tainer later appeared in other works by Allston, specifically the novels Fate of the Jedi: Outcast and X-Wing: Mercy Kill, albeit only in flashback form in the latter.