Ruescott Melshi

Ruescott Melshi was a human male who, growing up, came to resent the Galactic Empire, the successor state of the Galactic Republic. By 5 BBY, he was imprisoned and forced to labor at the Imperial Prison Complex on the moon Narkina 5, producing complex machinery bound for the Empire's secret superweapon, the Death Star. He met fellow inmate Cassian Andor during his stay, warning him not to maintain hope about escaping. Soon after an incident occurred on another prison level, rumors spread that the Empire had killed a whole unit of prisoners.

After their imprisoned colleague Ulaf suffered a stroke and was euthanized, Andor discovered that the Empire had been covering up that a prisoner meant to be released had been transferred between levels instead. As a result, the manager of Melshi's room, Kino Loy, rallied the room's inmates to start an uprising the next day. The prisoners successfully fought their way out, helping the rest of the prison escape as well. Afterward, Melshi and Andor fled through Narkina 5's canyons. They were netted by two aliens when trying to steal their quadjumper, but the aliens sympathized and helped them escape to the planet Niamos. There, Melshi parted ways with Andor in hopes of doubling their chances of spreading the word about the prison on Narkina 5.

Melshi joined the Alliance to Restore the Republic and its Special Forces during the early years of the Galactic Civil War against the Empire, eventually becoming a sergeant. He and Andor, who had since become an Alliance Intelligence captain, continued to be friends. A veteran soldier and a respected commander, Melshi led his troops by personal example. In 1 BBY, he helped Andor rescue Kleya Marki, the assistant of the late rebel leader Luthen Rael, from the planet Coruscant, as she had intel about the existence of the Death Star. Shortly thereafter, Melshi led a rebel extraction team to rescue Jyn Erso—the daughter of Galen Erso, the Death Star project's chief engineer—from a labor camp on the planet Wobani.

After Erso's liberation, the Alliance employed her to make contact with her father, discovering that he had deliberately left a crucial weakness in the Death Star's design as an act of sabotage. In an effort to retrieve the Death Star schematics needed to pinpoint that weak spot, Melshi helped Andor assemble a ragtag group of volunteers dubbed "Rogue One." Despite not having received sanctioning from Alliance High Command, the squad set off on a mission to the Imperial security complex on the planet Scarif, where the Empire stored the plans. During the subsequent battle on the planet, Melshi and the rest of Rogue One obtained the Death Star plans, but they all gave their lives to ensure the mission's success.

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