Lira Wessex Lira Wessex ( née Blissex ) was the daughter of famous Galactic Republic engineer Walex Blissex , and an accomplished engineer in her own right . When she was still Lira Blissex , she designed the " Venator " - class Star Destroyer for the Galactic Republic , later using her success on that project and the political power she gained with her marriage to future Imperial Moff Denn Wessex to push her grand project , the " Imperial " - class Star Destroyer , into production . Against a storm of controversy , Wessex was vindicated when the " Imperial " - class proved successful . In later years , she further improved on her design with the creation of the " Executor " - class Star Dreadnought . When failings in Wessex ' s " Imperial " - class became apparent , she arranged to have her father captured , intending to have him interrogated for any details on starship design that could help her . Blissex was lured to the " Victory " - class Star Destroyer " Subjugator " on the pretense that his daughter was dying , only to be captured by the Empire . A Rebel attack forced a change of plans for Wessex , though , who set the ship to self - destruct to wipe them out . When Blissex and his Rebel companions escaped , Wessex was forced to flee the Star Destroyer without her prisoners . She was later approached by Doctor Vreen , an artificial intelligence expert from Cloud City who had helped design a droid capable of running a starship , and who proposed to her that it could be used to create a self - commanding vessel . Vreen demonstrated his droid , X0 - X1 , by connecting it to Cloud City ' s computer core , only to have it take over the city while she was there . Wessex was reunited with her father during this crisis , and she was forced to work with him to shut down X0 - X1 and save the city . Biography . Life in the Republic . The daughter of Walex Blissex , the starship engineer who designed the " Victory " - class Star Destroyer for the Galactic Republic , Lira Blissex followed in her father ' s footsteps . Blissex was the finest student that her father had ever trained , and she grew up to be a skilled engineer . Because Walex had never learned to use computers , Lira did much of his computer work in his stead . During the Clone Wars , design technology for warships improved by wide margins ; seeking desperately to create bigger , faster , and more heavily - armed and armored combat vessels , engineers on both sides competed in a frantic arms - race . While her father worked on the " Victory " - class Star Destroyer for Rendili StarDrive , Blissex was heading the development think - tank at Kuat Drive Yards , designing a number of wedge - shaped warships . Among these was the " Venator " - class Star Destroyer , an attack cruiser over a kilometer in length . The " Venator " record in the war was a source of pride to all its designers , but for Blissex it — and the rest of her successes — were stepping stones to the grander plans she had in mind . Her ultimate dream project was the " Imperator " - class Star Destroyer , which in the wake of her prior success she was able to green - light , using her father ' s work as the basis of its design . The first " Imperators " went active in time to serve in a few Republic task forces during the Clone Wars . Shortly before the end of the war , Blissex married Denn Wessex , a commander in the Republic Navy and a genius with technology as well . The new Empire . Now Lira Wessex , wife of one of the new Galactic Empire ' s first Moffs , the engineer used the newfound influence granted by her marriage to push through her Star Destroyer programs . Wessex saw the new Empire as an opportunity and gladly accepted the New Order , putting her at odds with her father , who did not like how the Empire used his ships — designed as peacekeeping tools — as mass - killing weapons of war . She eventually lost contact with Blissex , who went into hiding from the Empire and later joined the Rebel Alliance . Meanwhile , Wessex ' s words gained her a great deal of political clout , and she rapidly rose in stature within the Imperial military machine . Shortly after the end of the Clone Wars , testbed " Imperators " became active in classified Imperial facilities . But when Wessex proposed production of the " Imperial " - class Star Destroyer , the finalized and renamed version of the " Imperator " - class , a conflict erupted between several divisions of the Empire , military and civilian , over whether it was practical or even possible . Entire planets had smaller gross domestic products than the cost of a single one of these new warships . Heated debates over the vessel between the military strategists of the Imperial Navy , the Imperial Military Oversight Commission , and the soon - defunct Senate Budgetary Committee erupted , which risked destroying the Empire . But Wessex was ultimately proven correct when the " Imperial " - class at last went into production . At least one of the vessels she personally designed was the " Avenger " . At some point , she also acted as the chief naval architect of the repairwork of the " Stellar Envoy " . Observing that the Imperial Navy lacked small craft to support TIE fighter squadrons launched from Star Destroyers , Wessex designed the " Raider " - class corvette . The 150 meter long vessel was fitted with multiple hardpoints to enable it to suppress Rebel starfighter attacks . Her pitch was successful and Kuat Drive Yards began manufacturing " Raider " - class corvettes in 6 BBY . Wessex was still not finished with the Star Destroyer design , though . Desiring to improve upon the " Imperial " - class , she realized that its power to intimidate stemmed from its immense size , and set out to create an even larger vessel that would dwarf the mile - long " Imperials " . During the early years of the New Order , she designed a prototype Super Star Destroyer that was was 12 kilometers in length , and the vessel entered construction in secret under the auspices of the Sarlacc Project . After the prototype was destroyed by a resistance group , Wessex renewed her efforts to produce a leviathan Star Destroyer . The result was the " Executor " - class Star Dreadnought , a 19 - kilometer - long warship that was built at Fondor and later saw service under the command of Darth Vader . The capture of Walex Blissex . Wessex ' s " Imperial " - class design , though based on Walex Blissex ' s work , proved to be inferior to his designs in several ways ; construction of the vessels was more expensive than Blissex ' s methods , and the result was less efficient in power use and operation . With 174 , 000 design flaws in the " Imperial " - class in total , this particular pair threatened to end the entire " Imperial " project . Realizing she had missed some important aspect of her father ' s work , Wessex arranged for her father to be taken into custody . Not only did she intend to extract whatever information she needed out of him , but she expected that Blissex ' s capture would increase the stature of her own family within the Empire . Wessex ' s husband Denn set out a number of holotapes throughout the galaxy with a message for Blissex ; his daughter , Denn claimed , was dying and wished to reconcile with her father before she passed away . Blissex was told to meet with the " Victory " - class Star Destroyer " Subjugator " , docked at Kwenn Space Station supposedly on a resupply mission . Accompanied by two fellow Rebels , Rexellian Marshall and Kan Deans , Blissex met with Captain Kolaff aboard the " Subjugator " , who promptly threw the three Rebels into the Star Destroyer ' s detention block . Unknown to Blissex , Wessex herself had accompanied the ship to oversee her father ' s interrogation , and after imprisoning the Rebels , Kolaff congratulated her on their success . Blissex ' s interrogation began , with an Imperial interrogation droid questioning him about the details of Star Destroyers . In the middle of it , though , the " Subjugator " fell under attack by an Alliance fleet named Task Force Starfall , who were unaware that Blissex was aboard . The first wave of Starfall ' s attack devastated the " Subjugator " , disabling several of the ship ' s systems , including many of its power systems , most weapons , all shields , the hyperdrive , and many of the sublight engine systems — and freeing the Rebels in the process . Kolaff diverted the remaining energy into the engines , making the ship appear more damaged than it was . When Wessex suggested that the ship was not in a promising situation , Kolaff told of her his plan to draw Starfall into a second attack wave and set the ship ' s self - destruct sequence to a three - hour timer so it would wipe the Rebels out when they arrived . Wessex provided the codes he needed to do so . When Blissex and the Rebels learned from the ship ' s computer systems that a self - destruct was imminent , they also discovered that it had been activated by a code known only to Blissex and his daughter , revealing to the engineer that Wessex was aboard and had been behind his imprisonment . Wessex , meanwhile , was still on the bridge with Kolaff awaiting the ensuing attack by Task Force Starfall . Unlike the captain , she was unconcerned with the fleet , focused only on her father . Though Kolaff , who had busied himself by sending several stormtrooper ambushes at the Rebels , believed them to be dead , Wessex was unconvinced , and ordered Kolaff to capture them alive before the ship self - destructed . Kolaff eventually grew tired of Wessex ' s underhanded tactics and set off after the Rebels himself . Wessex meanwhile went to the ship ' s hangar control tower to await the captain . Despite Kolaff ' s efforts , he was defeated by the Rebels in an AT - ST duel , allowing Blissex and the others to reach the hangar . Wessex ordered the troopers stationed in the hangar to attack , then began firing on the Rebels . When the tide of the battle turned against her soldiers , Wessex fled . She was pursued into a corridor , where she turned on her attackers and primed a thermal detonator . When Blissex appeared , she briefly hesitated before throwing it , only to be overrun by a wave of renegade droids fleeing the damaged areas of the ship . Wessex was swept away and the Rebels were able to escape . Before the " Subjugator " self - destruct sequence detonated , she made it to the shuttle " Tatium " and escaped the vessel , sending a message to her husband to inform him of the failure of her mission and confirming their rendezvous at a set of prearranged coordinates . The X0 - X1 crisis . In the wake of the incident on the " Subjugator " , Wessex grew to hate Rebels and her father even more . At some point , she had a set of borg implants installed in her skull that allowed her to interface with computers . Wessex continued to think of new starship developments ; at a party in Cloud City ' s Holiday Towers , she mentioned a wish to build a starship that could command itself , an idea that was overheard by Doctor Vreen , an artificial intelligence expert who until recently had been working at Cloud City ' s Bioniip Laboratories . Vreen pulled Wessex aside and told her of a project he and his partner Issan Len had been developing , a droid called X0 - X1 that could command a starship by itself and had proven itself in simulations as an adept tactician . Wessex , whose reputation had taken a blow with her failure on the " Subjugator " , was interested ; however , she kept Vreen ' s information to herself , intending to personally present the droid to the Empire once it had proven itself . Vreen ' s plan to prove his creation ' s worth to Wessex involved stealing the droid , connecting it to Cloud City ' s computer core , and ordering it to convert the city into a weapons platform . He believed that if it were to prove capable at this , it would be trivial for it to command a starship . However , he underestimated the droid ' s programming , and after being connected to the core , X0 - X1 decided that the most efficient way of carrying out its directives was to take over the city entirely , converting all its inhabitants into droids . It enlisted Vreen to carry out this plan by designing a type of droid known as an Evolution Droid , capable of turning organic beings into droids that could be controlled by X0 - X1 . The day after Vreen connected X0 - X1 to the core , Wessex returned to Cloud City under a pseudonym , intending to meet Vreen at the Royal Casino . X0 - X1 learned of this from Vreen , but unable to track Wessex due to her assumed name , found another means of locating her . A group of Rebels — including Walex Blissex — had come to the city to meet with Issan Len , who had intended to give the droid technology over to them . X0 - X1 had killed Len via the protocol droid F - 3PO first , though , and now planted misinformation about Len ' s murder via a reception droid at Bioniip Laboratories , where the Rebels were visiting in their investigation of the murder . The droid told them that F - 3PO belonged to Wessex and informed them that she could be found at the Royal Casino . Meanwhile , Lando Calrissian , who knew of Wessex and Vreen ' s deal and also suspected her of involvement in the murder , disguised himself and went to the Royal Casino . Wessex played several games of sabacc with him as Calrissian unsuccessfully tried to draw information from her . As her appointment time with Vreen passed , Wessex began to wonder what had happened to him ; she checked her hotel desk for any messages from him , and upon returning to the casino ran into her father and the other Rebels . Wessex wondered whether the Rebels were responsible for Vreen ' s lateness and decided to stay in the casino with them , feeling herself to be safer from them there than in the streets . She probed the group for any information on the whereabouts of Vreen , suggesting that she could turn them into the Cloud City authorities ; when asked about F - 3PO , she denied that she had ever owned the droid . At last X0 - X1 put its plan into action ; with all parties who knew of its existence gathered together in the casino , it launched an attack on them . The sabacc table interference field spread to neutralize the weapons of everyone seated at the table , shortly before a massive H4 - 5D Heavy Labor Droid came crashing into the casino . As the Rebels fought the droid off , Wessex fled . She made a transmission to Captain Orsk of the Star Destroyer " Dauntless " , informing the captain of the attack and insisting that the mission continue to be kept a secret unless she was not heard from in 24 hours . Not long after this , X0 - X1 triggered a blackout across Cloud City and began ordering its droids to load canisters of Evolution Droids into the air vents . Wessex later met with Helm Iskraker , a thief who had worked with Vreen before and had been present at the fracas in the casino . After the two compared their notes about Vreen , Wessex hired Iskraker to steal the serial numbers of the locks that barred the way to the computer core from Bellum , a forger who Vreen had used to make copies of the keys for those same locks . Wessex then hired several mercenaries , and along with them went to hangar bay 487B , where Iskraker ' s ship " Erratic Orbit " was docked . As Iskraker handed over the computer box with the serial numbers , they were interrupted by Blissex and his Rebels ; intending to stop X0 - X1 themselves , they sought the serial numbers as well . While her mercenaries kept the Rebels distracted , Wessex fled the hangar . She ran onto a narrow ledge encircling Cloud City , where a misstep meant a fall of miles into the clouds of Bespin . Wessex paused briefly to connect the computer box to her cranial implants and download the numbers , then continued to flee from the Rebels , who had now moved out onto the ledge . Unfortunately for her , she was knocked off the ledge by a gust of wind and caught hold of an antenna , allowing the Rebels to catch up ; before letting them help her up , Wessex dropped the box with the serial numbers into the cloudscape , ensuring that the Rebels needed her if they were to get to X0 - X1 . Knowing the serial numbers to the locks , Wessex would be able to help the Rebels find the correct sequence of doors that would take them to the computer core and X0 - C1 . Wessex and the Rebels made their way back into the city , to the first door on the way to the core , while she and they exchanged information on why they had each come to Cloud City and what all the events that had taken place meant . The Rebels had a plan to destroy X0 - X1 by injecting a batch of reprogrammed Evolution Droids into the droid . Unknown to the Rebels , Wessex was being watched over by a group of hired thugs from the district of Port Town . When at last they reached the door , near K ' cri ' s Cafe , Wessex confirmed that it was the right one with the serial numbers and the party sliced their way in . Wessex helped them find the second door and subsequent ones , as the party foiled and evaded a number of traps and barricades laid out by X0 - X1 ' s droids . At last they reached the final door before the core , which Wessex opened with the lock pattern stored in her implants . After a brief attempt at fighting X0 - X1 , Blissex had an idea for defeating it : shutting down all power to the core , an act that Wessex pointed out would also cause Cloud City to plummet . This gave them thirty seconds to deactivate the droid ; after Blissex shut down the power , the Rebels were successful in disabling it , and he turned it back on again , bringing Cloud City back to its normal altitude and ending the threat of the Evolution Droids . Wessex at that point drew a blaster and took her father hostage as her hired thugs poured into the room and held off the other Rebels . At that moment , Lando Calrissian , his aide Lobot , and members of the Bespin Wing Guard poured into the core . Calrissian informed Wessex that he had overheard her message to the " Dauntless " , which he said had never made it out of the system due to interference . Calrissian threatened to reveal that she had been involved in a rogue mission and suggested that they keep the entire matter between themselves . Wessex conceded and was escorted from the core by Calrissian ' s guards . Personality and traits . Lira Wessex was motivated by ambition and power , willing to do anything to advance within the ranks of the Empire . Even with her accomplishments , Wessex was continually prepared to move onto grander projects , refining and expanding on her previous work . She was cold and aloof — even masculine — used to being obeyed and capable of using her words to affect great political change . Though Wessex was considered to be beautiful , her strength made a greater impression on those around her . She was relentless in her pursuits and a stern taskmaster . Wessex was also an accomplished and intelligent engineer , and she desired to step out of her father ' s shadow and prove her own worth as a starship designer . Dedicated to her work , she even had borg implants installed in her skull to aid her in calculations when designing starships . While her father rejected the ideals of the Empire and New Order , Wessex embraced them wholeheartedly , having great faith in Emperor Palpatine and seeing his New Order as an opportunity for herself . When Blissex joined the Rebellion , Wessex became willing to deceive and betray him for her own ends , even torturing him for information she needed . After the incident on the " Subjugator " , she came to hate Blissex and his fellow Rebels all the more , and ultimately was willing to kill him if necessary . Behind the scenes . Though Lira Wessex was named in 1987 ' s " The Star Wars Sourcebook " , written by Bill Slavicsek and Curtis Smith , as the inventor of the " Imperial " - class Star Destroyer — a piece of information repeated several times throughout reference books such as the " Imperial Sourcebook " and " The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels " — she has only actually appeared in two sources : " Starfall " and " Crisis on Cloud City " , both released in 1989 . An of Wessex from " Crisis on Cloud City " was originally a concept drawing of Leia Organa in Cloud City , drawn by Ralph McQuarrie for . For " Starfall " inclusion in the compendium " " , new art of Wessex was included .