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Warning: This infobox has missing parameters: parents, pronouns, children, siblings, partners, families, feathers and unrecognized parameters: era
Wyan was a male individual who served as a major in the Imperial Army. He was the right hand of Colonel Mosh Barris who investigated a planet for smugglers when they came across an alien settlement. When the team was attacked by the resident of the settlement, Barris evacuated his forces back to the Venator-class Star Destroyer Strikefast.
Biography
The alien settlement
- "This is Major Wyan at the crash site, Colonel. Sorry to interrupt, but I think you'd better come see this."
- ―Major Wyan, responding to the first V-wing crash
Major Wyan was an Imperial Army officer stationed aboard the Venator-class Star Destroyer Strikefast during the early Imperial Era. While escorting Imperial cadets back to the Myomar Academy, the Strikefast was diverted to pursue smugglers. During the pursuit, the Strikefast stumbled upon an uncharted planet. Major Wyan was part of an Imperial landing party led by Colonel Mosh Barris that discovered an alien settlement in the middle of a forest clearing with several container stacks. Per the Unknown Alien protocols, the Imperials were required to study the site and search for alien life.[1]
While Colonel Barris briefed Captain Voss Parck, Majoy Wyan and several Imperial troops went to the crash site of one of an Imperial V-wing starfighter, which had been scouting the site. Wyan found that the pilot was missing and that his flight suit had been stuffed with grass, leaves, and red pyussh berries. In addition, the pilot's blaster, spare power packs, and concussion grenades were missing. Wyan informed his commanding officer Barris about the disturbing find before searching for the missing pilot. Their search turned up empty-handed and Wyan and his men returned to the Imperial encampment at dusk.[1]
Before Wyan and Barris could examine the flight suit in further detail, they were startled by two explosives along the perimeter of the Imperial camp. These explosions had been caused by the alien resident of the hut, the Chiss warrior Thrawn. Thrawn had been sent by the Chiss Ascendancy to establish contact with the Empire in order to forge an alliance to combat unknown "evil threats" lurking in the Unknown Regions. Thrawn had strapped two of the pilot's power packs to small animals with the intent of testing the Imperials. While Imperial Navy troopers searched the perimeter, Wyan chatted with Cadet Eli Vanto, who had been assigned by Captain Parck to study the mysterious inscriptions on the cargo containers.[1]
Wyan rightfully speculated that the explosions were caused by blaster power backs with the sturm dowels pulled out. When Eli suggested that the attacker was not a "savage", Wyan complimented Vanto and asked if the Cadet had found anything in the hut or storage crates that would give clues about their attacker's appearance or tech level. Eli suggested that the assailant was a humanoid based on the shape of the bed and design of the eating utensils. When Wyan asked about the power generators, Vanto added that the power generators were automated. When Wyan wondered about the motives of the attacker, Eli suggested that the attacker was trying to drive them away without wrecking his home. After asking how the attacker managed to infiltrate the camp, Wyan instructed Vanto to get back to work and find something useful.[1]
Asymmetrical warfare
- "So why the attack? And why such a puny one? If he's smart enough to figure out sturm dowels, he's smart enough to pop a grenade."
- ―Major Wyan pondering Thrawn's motives
By then, Colonel Barris had contacted Captain Parck to request some V-wings for a grid search. He instructed Major Wyan to take a squad and set up floodlights in the perimeter and to fine-mesh the hemisphere sensor screen. The major reminded the colonel that the perimeter was full of birds and small ground animals, which had almost caused him to fall a minute ago. Wyan warned that fine-meshing the screen too far would trigger alarms all night. Barris accepted Wyan's reasoning and ordered him to set up the lights. Before they could do so, a second V-wing fighter crashed into a monofilament line that had been set up by Thrawn.[1]
Major Wyan and his men managed to recover the pilot's body but found that his blaster, power packs, and concussion grenades had been stolen. Cadet Vanto then informed Colonel Barris and Major Wyan that he had found Clone Wars–era coins in the inner and outer shells of one of the crates. This led Wyan to speculate that the attacker had been stranded on the planet for several years. However, Barris was perplexed at why the hut's inhabitant would attack them instead of asking them for a ride back to civilization. Wyan suggested the attackers was on the run when he crashed or that he had come to the location voluntarily and wanted the Imperials to leave. Barris vowed to capture the mysterious attacker.[1]
By dawn, Colonel Barris' landing party had lost five navy troopers; three of whom had been incapacitated by concussion grenades and two others who had been killed in a friendly fire incident. In response, Barris requested the deployment of eighteen stormtroopers from the Strikefast. Shortly later, Thrawn began jamming their comlink channels. Fearing that the attacker was going to launch a major attack, Barris panicked and announced they were leaving. When Wyan reminded him that the Unknown Alien protocols required them to study the site, Barris ordered the landing party to bring the settlement and cargo crates aboard the Strikefast. Wyan reluctantly obliged.[1]
When the stormtroopers returned, Barris and Wyan noticed that one of them was missing. This spooked the Major and he agreed that it was best to leave. Per Barris' orders, Major Wyan brought the technicians and their "loot" aboard the shuttle first with the Imperial Navy troopers following in standard rearguard formation. When Wyan asked about the stormtroopers, Barris responded that they had their own troop carrier. At that point, one of the stormtroopers standing close to the hatchway of the transport exploded, leaving behind bits and pieces of armor. Shortly later, the stormtrooper's comrades retrieved their fallen comrade from the forest.[1]
Return to the Strikefast
Back aboard the transport, Captain Parck ordered Major Wyan and the rest of the landing party to report for debriefing while he brought Colonel Barris and Cadet Vanto to the hangar bay control tower. After dimming the lights, they waited for the attacker to emerge. Imperial stormtroopers then apprehended the attacker, who identified himself as the Chiss warrior Thrawn. During interrogation, Thrawn freely admitted attacking the Imperial landing party in order to test their combat capabilities. He convinced Captain Parck that he could serve as an adviser to the Emperor on the Unknown Regions. The Emperor accepted Thrawn's offer of service, setting the stage for Thrawn's career progression in the Imperial Navy. Thrawn ultimately was promoted to the rank of Grand Admiral due to his role in suppressing the Batonn sector insurgency.[1]
Personality and traits
- "I was reminding the colonel that there are a lot of birds flying around. Small ground animals, too—I nearly twisted my ankle stepping on one a minute ago. If we fine-mesh the screen to far, we'll have alarms triggering all night."
"Fine—forget the fine-meshing. Just get those lights—" - ―Major Wyan and Colonel Barris discussing tactics
Wyan was a human man who served as a Major in the Imperial Military. While coming under fire from Thrawn during an unscheduled exploratory mission, Wyan remained calm and level-headed unlike his commanding officer, Colonel Barris. Wyan was familiar with Imperial military technology and protocols. He advised Colonel Barris not to fine-mesh the hemisphere sensor screen due to the large number of small animals in the forests who would trigger the alarms. Wyan also gained a respect for Cadet Eli Vanto, whose examination of the crates and hut shed light on the identity and motives of Thrawn, who wanted to test the capabilities of the Imperials. Wyan was initially reluctant to abandon the Imperial camp and alien settlement due to the Unidentified Alien protocols. However, he relented after Thrawn detonated a suit of stormtrooper armor as a distraction to infiltrate the transport and reach the Strikefast.[1]
Behind the scenes
Major Wyan first appeared in Timothy Zahn's short story "Mist Encounter", which was published in Star Wars Adventure Journal 7 in August 1995. "Mist Encounter" explored Thrawn's first contact with members of the Galactic Empire in the Star Wars Legends continuity. Wyan subsequently appeared in Zahn's 2017 novel Thrawn, a rebooted Canonical origins story of the titular character which incorporated elements of the "Mist Encounter" story. His lines are told through the point of view of Eli Vanto, the novel's deuteragonist.
Appearances
- Thrawn (First appearance)