Tanner Tanner was an Imperial soldier stationed aboard the " Imperial " - class Star Destroyer " Vector " . In 1 BBY , the " Vector " crew was exposed to a deadly virus , which killed the afflicted and subsequently reanimated them as zombies . Immune to the disease , Tanner and twenty - nine others sought shelter from the undead in a " Sentinel " - class landing craft docked within the Star Destroyer ' s hangar , eventually resorting to cannibalism to stay alive . During their tenth week inside the shuttle , they attempted to kill — and eat — Jareth Sartoris , an officer from the Imperial prison barge " Purge " , who was fleeing from the horde of undead , before brokering a deal with him for escape . Sartoris disabled a tractor beam that had been preventing the shuttle from fleeing as part of the arrangement , directing three fellow " Purge " survivors to the awaiting shuttle before he died . Tanner greeted the trio as they prepared to depart , but before the shuttle could get very far , he was killed by a zombie who had managed to board the craft . Biography . Tanner was a male Imperial soldier stationed aboard the " Imperial I " - class Star Destroyer " Vector " in 1 BBY . During that year , the " Vector " transported containers of a deadly virus , codenamed " Blackwing , " from the planet Meglumine to an Imperial testing facility on the planet Khonji Seven . However , during the journey , a few of the containers were breached , exposing the Star Destroyer ' s crew to the virus . Most died from the affliction — and were subsequently turned into zombies — but a few were immune to the airborne disease , Tanner being one of them . As the virus spread throughout the " Vector " , infecting its crew , Tanner and twenty - eight others , led by Commander Gorrister , sought shelter in a " Sentinel " - class landing craft docked within the destroyer ' s hangar . However , the group was unable to flee the " Vector " , for an active tractor beam prevented the shuttle from departing . Rather than face the horde of undead , the soldiers confined themselves within the craft in an effort to stay alive . Over time , Tanner and the others became little more than living skeletons . Starvation forced them to resort to cannibalism as they drew lots to see who would be eaten . As time went by , the initial group of thirty survivors had been reduced to a mere seven , Tanner included , as the others were killed and devoured . During the tenth week of their self - imprisonment in the shuttle , the Imperial prison barge " Purge " happened upon the derelict " Vector " near the fringes of the Unknown Regions . Salvage teams , sent to the Star Destroyer to recover parts needed to fix the barge ' s inactive engines , inadvertently brought the virus back with them to the " Purge " , where it quickly spread and killed all but a half - dozen aboard . One " Purge " survivor , Captain of the Guard Jareth Sartoris , chanced upon the surviving Imperial personnel within their shuttle as he fled from the undead . The seven attempted to kill and eat Sartoris , but he managed to gain the upper hand , throwing four of the men — Gorrister included — into the sea of zombies outside the shuttle . However , one of the three remaining men , White , managed to convince Sartoris to let them live and attempt an escape . A plan was formulated in which Sartoris would deactivate the tractor beam preventing the shuttle from leaving , and the remaining survivors — Tanner , White , and Pauling — would help him pilot the craft to safety once he returned . Sartoris succeeded in disabling the tractor beam and directed fellow " Purge " survivors Han Solo , Chewbacca , and Trig Longo to the awaiting craft , before sacrificing himself to ensure that the three made it safely to their destination . Upon the trio ' s arrival , Tanner greeted them and informed them of White ' s death . However , as the shuttle began its departure , one of the zombies managed to get aboard ; it killed and fed on Tanner and Pauling before it was destroyed . Personality and traits . An Imperial soldier , Tanner was one of the lucky few to escape from the horde of undead zombies aboard the " Vector " . In their self - imprisonment aboard the shuttle , the soldiers had plenty of water but a limited food supply , and eventually resorted to cannibalism to sustain themselves . Tanner managed to outlast many others , surviving for ten weeks as their numbers dwindled from thirty to seven . In this time , starvation had reduced him to nothing more than a living skeleton ; his skin had become shriveled and yellow ed , and his expression was pale . Still , he greeted the trio of survivors from the " Purge " with a smile , albeit an unnatural - looking one , given his appearance . Behind the scenes . Tanner was created by author Joe Schreiber for use as a minor character in his 2009 novel , " Death Troopers " . The character was given only two brief lines of dialogue before being killed off .