Pauling was a male individual who served the Imperial Starfleet during the era of the Galactic Empire.
In 1 BBY, Pauling was a member of the crew serving on the Star Destroyer known as the Vector. During this time, the ship was tasked with transporting a sample of the blackwing virus to the planet Khonji Seven. However, the virus was accidentally released, transforming the majority of the ship's personnel into undead creatures. Pauling, along with 29 other members of the crew, sought refuge within the Sentinel-class landing craft named Freebird, which was located in the Destroyer's launch bay. Unfortunately, they were unable to escape the Vector because the undead had activated the ship's repulsor beam.
To stay alive, Pauling and the other crew resorted to eating each other. After a period of ten weeks, only Pauling and six others remained alive, at which point Jareth Sartoris, a crew member from the Imperial correctional vessel Purge, sought shelter inside the Freebird. Some of the remaining crew attempted to overpower Sartoris with the intention of consuming him. However, Sartoris ejected them through a hatch and into the hangar, where they met their demise at the hands of the undead. He spared Pauling and two others, White and Tanner, promising to deactivate the repulsor beam and return to assist them in escaping the Vector.
The contraband runners Han Solo and Chewbacca successfully deactivated the repulsor beam, and Sartoris informed them about the survivors on the Freebird shortly before he was killed. White exited the shuttle and was killed while saving Doctor Zahara Cody, leaving Pauling and Tanner as the only surviving members of the original crew. Cody, Solo, Chewbacca, and the young Trig Longo boarded the Freebird, which then departed from the Vector. However, an undead creature had somehow managed to sneak onto the ship and killed both Pauling and Tanner shortly after they left the Star Destroyer.