Brentin Lore Wexley

Brentin Lore Wexley was a human male who relayed messages for the Alliance to Restore the Republic prior to the Battle of Endor. Residing on the planet Akiva, Brentin married Rebel pilot Norra Susser, and they had a son, Temmin. Early into Temmin's childhood, Brentin was discovered by Imperial forces and was arrested for assisting the Rebellion.

Brentin was imprisoned at the bleak Imperial prison of Ashmead's Lock on Kashyyyk, where he was held in stasis for years. He was also forcibly implanted with an inorganic bio-chip which turned him into a drone of Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax. Brentin was subsequently freed by Norra and Temmin, who had joined the New Republic. However, he was still enthralled by Rax and his agent Windom Traducier. Wexley and the other former Ashmead's Lock inmates were used in an attack on the New Republic leadership on Chandrila. After escaping Chandrila, Brentin joined forces with his nominal enemy Grand Admiral Rae Sloane to hunt down and kill Rax.

Background
Brentin Lore Wexley was a human man who lived in the planet Akiva's capital city Myrra during the Age of the Empire. He was the husband of Norra Wexley and the father of Temmin Wexley. He played the valachord and his son Temmin shared his passion for playing old jaunty miner songs. Brentin was a member of the Rebel Alliance and was personally responsible for transmitting rebel messages across the Outer Rim Territories. In addition, Brentin received covert training from the rebels including how to operate a bacta patch gun.

Imperial capture
Due to his rebel activities, Brentin was arrested by the Empire. Before being taken away by the Empire, Brentin told his son to be good to his mother. Brentin then joined his wife in the living room where he told her that the Empire was coming for him but not for her. At that point, two stormtroopers and an Imperial officer entered the room and arrested Brentin, who did not offer any resistance. When Norra tried to get between the troopers and Brentin, one of the stormtroopers slammed the butt of his blaster rifle into her head. Enraged by the assault on his wife, Brentin struck one of the stormtroopers only to be stunned. At that point, the Imperial officer showed Norra a datapad displaying the arrest warrant for her husband before leaving her to mourn the loss of her husband.

The stormtroopers then led Brentin into the back of a bala-bala speeder. Temmin followed his father and pleaded with the Imperials to spare his father. The officer then pointed his blaster at the boy and told him that his father was a criminal. When Temmin protested that this was not justice, the officer threatened to shoot him dead. At that point, Norra grabbed her son and dragged him back inside their home. Brentin was not seen again by his family until a year after the Battle of Endor.

Ashmead's Lock
Due to his involvement in the Rebel Alliance, Brentin Wexley was imprisoned at the formidable automated prison of Ashmead's Lock on the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk, which had been reduced to a planetwide slave labor camp. There, Brentin was locked in a stasis pod alongside a hundred other rebel prisoners. Ashmead's Lock was an old Predori ship which had been repurposed by the Siniteen prison architect Golas Aram as a black site for the Empire's political prisoners. The prison was managed by SOL-GDA, an automated computer system which was powered by the life energies of the prisoners.

When Temmin turned twelve years old, Norra left the boy in the care of her older sister Esmelle and her wife Shirene and left Akiva to find Brentin. Later, she joined the Rebel Alliance and became a starfighter pilot. Back on Akiva, his son Temmin became an independent businessman who specialized in junk-dealing. Following the Battle of Endor, Norra returned to Akiva and reconciled with her son. Temmin and Norra then joined forces with the bounty hunter Jas Emari and the former Imperial loyalty officer Sinjir Rath Velus to rescue the New Republic pilot Wedge Antilles from Imperial custody and disrupted an Imperial emergency summit on Akiva. Following the Rebellion on Akiva, Norra and Temmin resolved to find Brentin, using data cubes they had stolen from the Sullustan crime lord Surat Nuat.

At some unknown point, the Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax, a protege of Emperor Palpatine forcibly inserted inorganic bio chip implants into the heads of Brentin and the other Ashmead's Lock inmates. Rax wanted to use the prisoners as unwilling drones in a contingency plan to assassinate the New Republic leadership.

Family reunion
In 5 ABY, Brentin's wife Norra and son Temmin and their rebel team joined forces with the rebel smuggler Han Solo to infiltrate Ashmead's Lock. Han wanted to rescue his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca, who had been locked away at Ashmead's Lock during a failed mission to liberate Kashyyyk. While the rebels had forced Aram to provide information about the prison, he omitted to give them the pass word needed to bypass SOL-GDA. SOL-GDA dispatched security droids to "incorporate" the prisoners but Han and Jas Emari managed to shut it down by severing the cable that connected the stasis cells to the computer system.

After shutting down SOL-GDA, Norra's team and Solo proceeded to free Chewie and the other Ashmead's Lock prisoners. After being freed from his cell, Brentin found his wife and son. Norra was so shocked to find her husband that she almost fell over and had to be supported by Temmin. After being freed, Brentin followed his teenage son Temmin to Jas Emari's ship Halo where Temmin proceeded to repair his damaged B1 battle droid companion Mister Bones. Brentin and the other prisoners with the exception of Chewbacca later accompanied Norra and Temmin aboard Han Solo's ship the Millennium Falcon to Chandrila, the capital of the New Republic.

During the journey, the haggard Brentin took the opportunity to re-bond with his son. When the newly-repaired Mister Bones recognized Brentin as Temmin's father, he urged the two to hug each other but to be careful not to hurt each other. Brentin recognized Bones as the old B1 battle droid that his son had been fixing. Temmin confirmed this was the case and told his father that he had rebuilt the droid using parts from the Millennium Falcon. He also praised Temmin and his wife Norra for becoming pilots and joining the Rebellion. Upon landing in Chandrila's Hanna City, they were greeted by several New Republic officials including Princess Leia Organa, Captain Wedge Antilles, Chancellor Mon Mothma, and Admiral Gial Ackbar.

Unknown to Brentin and his rescuers, their escape played into the hands of Fleet Admiral Rax. The Fleet Admiral then put into action his plan to attack the New Republic leadership. His undercover agent Windom Traducier, who served as a New Republic Senate Guard, erected a transponder at the top of the Hanna City opera house. This transponder was used to relay Rax's commands to the unwilling prisoners. Rax timed his attack to precede Grand Admiral Rae Sloane's upcoming peace talks with the New Republic. To rally support for the New Republic, Chancellor Mothma had organized a celebration called Liberation Day and made the Ashmead's Lock prisoners the focal point of the holiday. These developments played into Rax's hands.

False dawn
A month after his liberation from Ashmead's Lock, Brentin struggled to rebuild his relationship with his wife Norra and son Temmin. While Brentin could still work with tools and crack jokes, he was unable to gain a rapport with his family. In the weeks after his liberation, Fleet Admiral Rax began transmitting faint signals into the heads of Brentin and other prisoners. This interfered with their thought patterns and made it hard to concentrate. Rax and his agent Traducier also used these signals to compel Brentin to go on frequent walks throughout the day. Brentin began to arouse Temmin's suspicion when he insisted on walking alone.

Temmin blamed Brentin's strange behavior on his mother Norra, who had also begun to be suspicious of Brentin's erratic behavior. As a result, Temmin began to quarrel with Norra and skipped his starfighter training lessons. While Norra was unable to pin down what was wrong with her husband, she confided in her friend Captain Wedge Antilles. She thought that her husband's strange behavior was caused by his imprisonment at Ashmead's Lock.

On the evening before Liberation Day, Brentin and his son worked together on building a valachord that Temmin had bought. Due to Rax's signals, Brentin struggled to wield an arc-driver. Unable to concentrate, Brentin decided to go for a walk. Temmin decided to follow his father on that walk. Brentin eventually met Windom Traducier at a pier in Hanna City's dock. When Traducier saw Temmin, he ordered Brentin to deal with the intruder. Unable to kill his son, Brentin instead stunned him and locked him inside a crate.

Later, Brentin returned home to spend time with his wife Norra. After apologizing for his lateness, Norra asked Brentin about his son's whereabouts. Brentin claimed not to have seen their son before dressing into a simple, formal white suit that had been provided by Chancellor Mothma's people. Brentin reassured his wife that Temmin would join them for the ceremony. He remarked that his son was much older now and missed seeing him grow up. He also complimented Norra for joining the Rebellion in his stead. Brentin then reaffirmed his love for his wife and asked if she was okay. After embracing and kissing his wife, the two headed towards the Old Gather-House and Senate Plaza for the Liberation Day celebrations.

Attack on Chandrila
Brentin and his wife Norra gathered with the other Ashmead's Lock prisoners at the Senate Plaza, which lay at from of the Old Gather-House. The former prisoners were greeted by Chancellor Mothma and numerous New Republic military officers and senators. Temmin and his companion Mister Bones then arrived and tried to warn Norra but were blocked by several Senate Guards. Chancellor Mothma then proceeded to give a speech lauding the Ashmead's Lock prisoners for their contribution to the Rebellion. When Mothma commended Brentin for his role in transmitting rebel messages across the Outer Rim, he raised a concealed three-shot hold-out blaster and fired at the Chancellor.

Before Brentin could released all his ammunition, Norra yanked his hand upward. Brentin was horrified by his actions and began crying and apologizing. Reacting instinctively, Norra kneed him in the stomach. Brentin then hit her with the pistol. The other prisoners including Jonda Jae-Talwar and Esdo also began attacking New Republic officials and officers. Norra tried to pursue her husband but Brentin fled to the far right of the plaza. Brentin then ran into his son Temmin, who remarked that his mom was right that he was not himself.

Brentin tried to protest but found himself raising his pistol at his own son. When Temmin accused him of killing people, Brentin protested his innocence. Temmin then accused his father of being an Imperial agent. Despite Brentin's protests, Temmin challenged his dad to shoot him. Brentin then pointed the pistol at his own head. Temmin tried to save his father and tackled him to the ground. Brentin managed to break free of his son and punched him in the stomach before fleeing across the skybridge to a nearby docking platform.

An unlikely ally
"If you didn't do this, who did?" "A man named Gallius Rax. At least, that's the name he gives. You want whoever did this to you, go have at him..."

- Brentin and Sloane forging an alliance against a common enemy

Brentin stowed aboard a HHG-42 Bulkstar that had been stolen by Grand Admiral Sloane. Sloane had fallen out with Fleet Admiral Rax after disagreeing with his violent and unethical tactics on Chandrila. Once the ship had reached hyperspace, Brentin confronted Sloane in the cockpit. Since she was an Imperial officer, he assumed that she had been responsible for the recent attack on Chandrila. Sloane protested her innocence and pointed out that she had also been set up by Fleet Admiral Rax. Enraged, Brentin fired his pistol at her but missed.

Calming down, Brentin listened as Sloane explained that Gallius Rax had been the true mastermind behind their predicaments. Brentin then demanded that she take him to Rax. After seeing that Sloane was hurt, Brentin took pity on her and pointed out that there was a medkit under her seat. After examining the blaster wound on her band, Brentin used a scatterblaster to paste bacta on her wound. Brentin had learned this skill from the Rebel Alliance. Sloane agreed to help Brentin but told him that finding Rax would not be straight forward.

After Sloane received information from the bounty hunter Mercurial Swift that he had discovered that Rax had come from the planet Jakku, the two traveled to the desert planet, which was located in the Western Reaches. After landing, Brentin and Rax visited a bar owned by Corwin Ballast in an attempt to find information about Rax. Ballast yielded no information but Brentin and Rax soon got their answer when they witnessed Rax's Super Star Destroyer Ravager exiting hyperspace with a massive Imperial armada.

Travelers on Jakku
"We could have helped him [RK-242]." "There was no help for him."

- Brentin and Sloane struck up a tense alliance

Brentin and his former adversary Sloane spent several months searching for information about Gallius Rax, who had since proclaimed himself Grand Counselor and brought the Imperial remnants to Jakku. During their travels, Brentin and Sloane encountered an old Anchorite named Kolob, who revealed that Gallius had once been an orphan who ran away and guarded a mysterious facility in the Valley of the Eremite near the Plaintive Hand plateau. Brentin questioned Kolob about the location of the facility and learned that it was far away. He and Sloane also learned that the Hutt crime lady Niima was guarding the only pass to the Plaintive Hand and kidnapping local orphans for Rax.

In order to collect more information, Brentin helped Sloane to build a crude listening device which they use to eavesdrop on Imperial conversations. The two befriended a disillusioned stormtrooper named RK-242, who had been beaten up for questioning Rax's orders. From the trooper, Brentin and Sloane learned that Rax had brought the Imperial remnants to Jakku so that the planet's harsh conditions would build them into a tougher and more cruel force. While the trooper revealed that Rax had established a main base beyond the Goazon Badlands, he was unable to provide them with any information about the mysterious facility in the Valley of the Eremite. After the soldier had told Sloane all he knew, Sloane shot him in the head. When Brentin protested that they could have helped the broken man, Sloane responded that "there was no help for him."

To reach the Plaintive Hand plateau, Brentin and Sloane sought an audience with Niima the Hutt. When Sloane identified herself, Niima was initially hostile since she had already struck a deal with Rax. Niima ordered her slaves to strip them, shear them, and break their minds. However, Sloane managed to convince Rax to break her agreement with Sloane by claiming that the mysterious Plaintive Hand site held a weapon more powerful than the Death Stars. Niima accepted Sloane's counter-offer and announced they would be leaving at dawn.

Journey to the Plaintive Hand
For over a week, Brentin and Sloane traveled with Niima's caravan to the Plaintive Hand. While traveling through a valley, Sloane expressed impatience at the slow pace of the journey. He tried to remain optimistic and joked that their fates were married to the Hutt's. When Sloane advocated stealing a wheel-bike, Brentin expressed his preference for staying on their current course. When Sloane remarked that she was motivated by a desire for vengeance against Rax, Brentin told her that his primary motive for embarking on this journey was to prove to his wife and son that he was no longer a puppet of Rax.

Unable to reconcile their differences, Sloane proceeded with her plan. She knocked out a guard and stole his blaster. However, a wheel-bike driver saw her and alerted Niima. Niima ordered her slaves to attack Sloane. Due to her Imperial combat training, Sloane managed to hold the attackers at bay. Unwilling to abandon his ally, Brentin entered the fray and tackled the slave behind her. Brentin fought the salves off with a machete and helped Sloane to his feet.

Niima then charged at the two trouble-makers, intending to crush them with her massive serpentine body. However, the caravan soon came under attack from Imperial turbolasers. One of Counselor Rax's Sentinel droids had learned about Sloane's presence in the convoy. In order to prevent Sloane from reaching the Jakku Observatory, he had ordered the facility's turbolasers to bombard the convoy. Brentin and Sloane managed to escape the bombardment by fleeing into the eastern pillar of the Plaintive Hand plateau.

Personality and traits
Brentin Lore Wexley was a loving husband and father to his wife Norra and son Temmin. He was sympathetic to the Rebel Alliance and was arrested by the Empire for his dealings with the Rebellion. Before being arrested by the Empire, Brentin counselled his to be good to Norra. He also did not resist arrest because he did not want to endanger his wife and son. Brentin also played the valachord and liked playing only jaunty miner songs.

Due to his long-term imprisonment at Ashmead's Lock, Brentin was emaciated, had pale skin, and bloodshot eyes. Due to the trauma of his imprisonment and the signals from Fleet Admiral Rax, Wexley was unable to rebuild his relationship with Norra and Temmin. Brentin was horrified and ashamed at being forced by Rax's signals to attack New Republic officials. He was also traumatized that he had to resist signals urging him to kill his son Temmin during the attack on Chandrila.

Following the attack on Chandrila, Brentin reasserted control over his mind and body. While he was initially hostile towards the Imperial Grand Admiral Rae Sloane, he agreed to work with her after she revealed that his true tormentor was Rax. Sharing a common enemy, the two joined forces to hunt down and kill Rax.

Skills and abilities
Brentin was skilled with tools and machinery. He passed these skills to his son Temmin. Brentin's skills with machinery led him to relay messages across the Outer Rim for the Rebellion. In addition, Brentin knew how to turn a scatterblaster into an improvised bacta patch gun.

Behind the scenes
Brentin is a minor character who first appeared in a flashback scene in Chuck Wendig's 2015 novel Aftermath. The scene was told from the point of view of his son, Temmin Wexley.

Appearances

 * Aftermath
 * Aftermath: Life Debt
 * Aftermath: Empire's End