Salen was a Human of the male variety, and he held the position of chief engineer aboard the Republic cruiser known as the Esseles. His service occurred during the era of the Cold War, a period of tension between the Galactic Republic and the resurgent Sith Empire.
During the attack on the ship, Salen and his fellow engineers found themselves trapped within the engineering deck. As a team was working to fight off the invading Mandalorian and Imperial forces, Vepp, who was one of Salen's subordinates, proposed a reactor reset as a means of disabling the security locks. Salen responded by explaining to Vepp that resetting the reactor would result in the engineering compartment being vented, which would send the entire engineering crew into the vacuum of space. Instead, Salen suggested that the spacers reroute power generators, thus avoiding the need to depressurize the engineering section. However, Ambassador Vyn Asara, feeling the urgency of the situation, pressed the defenders to proceed with the reactor reset to bypass the lockdown. Ultimately, the spacers decided against sacrificing the crew when there was another possible path. Salen later recounted these events to First Officer Haken.
Salen's character was developed for the game Star Wars: The Old Republic, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. BioWare released the game on December 20, 2011. He is featured in the Republic Flashpoint known as Esseles. Haken expresses displeasure if players opt for the dark side choice, which involves venting the engineering compartment and causing the deaths of the engineers.