Chaelt

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"So says the Pirate's Code."

―Chaelt —

Chaelt ( pronounced /tʃɛlt/) was an elderly human space pirate who served under Captain Silvo and Captain Brutus during the New Republic Era. A navigator of her crew's pirate frigate, she was pivotal in attaining the legendary planet of At Attin, an isolated world accommodating Old Republic credit mints.

Around 9 ABY, Chaelt participated in a raid on a merchant freighter. When the starship's cargo proved worthless to the crew, she witnessed a mutiny that ousted Captain Silvo and placed the mutineer Brutus in command. Following Silvo's apprehension, she was present on Borgo Prime, where she helped detain the Skeleton Crew—a group four younglings who claimed to hail from the legendary planet of At Attin. When locked in a brig, the children allied themselves with former Captain Silvo and joined forces to escape. After Silvo was arrested again, Chaelt played an active role in his trial. By invoking the Pirate's Code to secure his Right of Last Appeal, the woman enabled him to lead the way to At Attin and reclaim the leadership of the crew.

Biography

Empty vault, full mutiny

"I know these cycles have been lean. That some of you have all but given up on me, your good old captain. It's all forgotten now. Because at long last, I've brought you to the only thing that matters. Cold… hard… credits."

―Silvo, to Chaelt and other crew members — 20?cb=20250116042720

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A , Silvo, Chaelt, and Gunter aboard a merchant freighter — A Trandoshan, Silvo, Chaelt, and Gunter aboard a merchant freighter

Chaelt was a human^[1] female^[2] individual who worked as a pirate after the fall of the Galactic Empire. During the New Republic Era,^[1] she^[2] was affiliated with a pirate crew led by Captain Silvo,^[4] whom she knew very well and was on good terms with.^[5] The pirates lived off assaulting other starships from a massive frigate,^[1] which they utilized as their headquarters.^[3] On some occasions, the crew would stop by Starport Borgo, an asteroid infamous for underworld activity.^[6]

Around 9 ABY,^[7] Captain Silvo realized that some of^[1] his^[8] crew members had lost faith in him, doubting his leadership skills. As a means of reasserting his authority, Silvo decided to conduct a raid on a merchant freighter in the belief that it was transporting a shipment of credits. The pirates attacked from their frigate, using drill-like boarding tubes to pierce through the freighter's hull and enter the intercepted ship. While the boarding team clashed with the defending merchants, a group of spacesuited pirates disabled the freighter's cannons from space. Towards the end of the battle, the Shistavanen Brutus boarded the ship to gun down the remaining survivors. Turning back,^[1] he^[3] informed Captain Silvo that the ship was now under his control. Praising Brutus's work, Silvo marched aboard, flanked by Chaelt and Gunter. Chaelt walked at Silvo's right side, holding an axe-like melee weapon under her left arm and smiling as Silvo clapped his hands and demanded to be taken to the vault. Once there, he began interrogating the captain, ordering^[1] him^[4] to open the magnetically sealed vault while ignoring his repeated claims that there was no credit shipment.^[1]

When the merchant captain demanded that all the pirates vacate the vessel as per a New Republic decree, Silvo had him tossed out of an airlock and assigned the task of opening the vault to his underlings. Chaelt nodded her head as the captain boasted about his achievements, taking pride in having led his crew to "cold, hard credits" despite his earlier failures. However, when the vault door finally gave way, the pirates discovered that the freighter held only a single coin. Brutus shouldered through the crowd and picked the piece of metal, lamenting that the raid—which had claimed so many pirate lives—yielded no real wealth. Once he finished his speech, several crew members turned on Silvo, drawing their blasters and aiming them at him. Rather than join the mutineers, Chaelt and Gunter simply watched as Silvo resisted the traitors' attacks.^[1] The rebellion ended with Brutus emerging as the new leader^[6] and Silvo being captured for trial.^[8]

Asteroid mayhem and pirate hunt

Brutus: "How did they have our coordinates? How did they get past our cannons?"

Fern: "Why didn't you ask our droid before you shot it?"

Chaelt: "Ughhh."

―Chaelt countered Fern's response with an exasperated grunt. — 20?cb=20250116042720

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Chaelt stands among her fellow crew on Borgo Prime, holding an ion rifle.

Although Chaelt was not directly involved in the mutiny, she did not challenge the new captain's authority. Shortly after, she and her crew arrived at Borgo Prime, where the pirates scattered, each going their separate ways. Meanwhile, the same starport saw the arrival of^[6] the Skeleton Crew,^[9] which comprised four younglings who had lost their way home: Fern, KB, Neel, and Wim. Pirate Vane happened upon Neel and Wim when they tried to use Old Republic credits for payment. During the ensuing conversation, the children revealed they were coming from the planet At Attin, a world known in pirate lore as the mythical "lost planet of eternal treasure." Although Vane dismissed their claims,^[6] he^[2] was intrigued by the currency they were attempting to pay in. By using a distraction, he children ran off, but Vane and a few other pirates quickly caught up. Ultimately, the Skeleton Crew was defended by the pirate droid SM-33, who helped them reach the landing platform.^[6]

Informed of the commotion, Captain Brutus—along with Gunter, Vane, Pax, and Chaelt—found the younglings attempting to board a space dinghy. After shooting down their droid SM-33, Brutus demanded to know what the children were doing in his starport, how they had obtained their coordinates, and how they had gotten through their cannon barrier. He passed his ion rifle to Chaelt, who subsequently aimed it at the children. Fern retorted that Brutus should have asked the droid before shooting it, a remark that Chaelt reacted to with a grunt. As Brutus was about to walk away, Fern called out and urged him to interrogate them right then and right there. Chaelt, still keeping the girl at gunpoint, remained vigilant until the captain ordered the younglings to be placed in detention, believing that a few days in a brig would make them reveal more information.^[6]

The four children were placed in the same brig as former Captain Silvo, with whom they shortly joined forces in escaping to^[8] the Onyx Cinder.^[10] With the ship constrained by fuel lines, Silvo found himself unable to break free except by jumping into hyperspace, a desperate maneuver that sent the snapped fuel line bouncing back on one of the platforms on the asteroid. With the asteroid drowning in chaos, Brutus ordered Gunter to put a bounty the runaway's head.^[8]

A live-saving intervention

"Equal time will now begin."

―Brutus, upon Chaelt's intervention — 20?cb=20250116042720

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Chaelt silences her fellow crew members besides Captain Brutus.

The search for Silvo led the pirate crew to the planet of Lanupa,^[3] where he had been located by Pokkit and immediately reported to Captain Brutus. Upon arrival, the pirates attempted to stop Silvo before he and the Skeleton Crew children could reach Captain Rennod's Lair, but the chase ended abruptly when they were caught in a trap.^[10] After Silvo had split up with his young companions, the pirates encountered him again as he emerged from the underground lair through an access hatch and swiftly arrested him arrested pending trial.^[3]

The Trial of Silvo took place within a grand hall on the frigate. A large gathering of pirates stood beside a table laden with fruits and beverages, awaiting Captain Brutus's verdict. To his left, Chaelt stood beside a throne-like structure, resting her right arm on a rifle as the captain pronounced the sentence.^[3] Brutus's proclamation of death by airlock met with tumultuous applause from the audience.^[2] With other pirates raising shouts of joy, Silvo looked towards Chaelt, who kept standing beside the judge with an uncheering face. Noticing Silvo's non-verbal appeals to intervene, Chaelt^[3] hesitantly^[2] turned away her gaze, only for their eyes to meet once again. At last, she shouted at everybody to wait. Standing up for Silvo's rights, she cited the Pirate's Code, invoking both equal time and the Right of Last Appeal. The crowd fell silent, and the woman peeked at her former superior one more time, then watching as Brutus growled and turned to Snee—the overseer of the trial, who shortly concurred with Chaelt. Since the Right of Last Appeal was to be honored, Brutus announced that equal time was now beginning. Chaelt took a deep breath and lowered her head as he struck a plasma-filled hourglass to monitor the defendant's allotted time.^[3]

After a brief silence, the defendant shifted the focus from his own guilt to the broader issue of the hunger for credits, which he claimed was a struggle faced by his former subordinates. Chaelt observed as Silvo disregarded the protests of some pirates and instead posed a rhetorical question, asking how long his listeners had been hungry. This question prompted a protest from Brutus, who insisted that Silvo immediately finish his speech, remarking that the words of a dead man were worthless. In response, Silvo pointed to the hourglass near Chaelt, arguing that, since the plasma was still flowing, his allotted time had not yet expired. Turning to the audience, Silvo urged them to envision a place where credits were limitless and directly addressed several pirates, including the Quarren Glerb and the human Kona. While acknowledging his past transgressions, he vowed to make amends and pulled out an Old Republic credit coin, which he tossed into the air. He asserted that he knew the source of these coins, claiming to have accessed Captain Tak Rennod's datalog. When Brutus pointed out that Tak Rennod had long been deceased, Silvo began singing a pirate shanty recounting the renowned pirate's fate and his arrival on At Attin,^[3] an isolated Jewel of the Old Republic rumored to contain an inexhaustible supply of Old Republic credits.^[8] Other crew members soon joined the singalong. Finally, the former captain commended Brutus, the current captain, as a highly capable First Mate but proposed himself as the new leader. Although his suggestion was rejected, Brutus chose to spare his predecessor's life, stipulating that the death sentence would be carried out should At Attin fail to yield any treasure.^[3]

Confirmed coordinates, unresolved tensions

"This is At Attin? It's a toxic maelstrom. Is this right, Chaelt?"
"Position's correct, cap'n."

―Brutus and Chaelt over At Attin — 20?cb=20250116042720

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Under Brutus's command, Chaelt served as the frigate's navigator. Guided by the coordinates provided by Silvo, the pirates finally emerged from hyperspace at At Attin. With a massive maelstrom drifting outside the viewport^[11]—which the crew did not know was in fact the planet's Barrier^[12]—Captain Brutus was skeptical about the planet's existence and so he turned to Chaelt. The elderly woman, who was sitting at the navicomputer, confirmed that the position was correct.^[11]

Brutus soon went on to notice that a maelstrom of such magnitude would obliterate any ship attempting to breach it. Concluding that At Attin was nowhere near a treasure planet, the captain ordered that Silvo be airlocked immediately, a death sentence he had promised to perform if his guarantees were undelivered. The convict, however, persuaded the captain to hold off the execution until one of his pilots verified if the maelstrom was just a camouflage, as he insisted. Initially conceding to Silvo's proposal, Brutus ordered proceeding with the sentence after the volunteer Glerb had died while exploring the storm in a snub-fighter. When locked in the airlock, Silvo continued to plead with the crew,^[11] making his executioner hesitant about pressing the launch button.^[13]

A game-changing button push

"Wait! Something on sensors, Captain. A ship out of hyperspace."

―Chaelt, informing Brutus of an approaching starship — 20?cb=20250116042720

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Chaelt presses a button to open the airlock and let Silvo back aboard.

In light of the delaying execution, Brutus started threatening the executioner before moving on to airlock Silvo himself. When he was about to press the launch button, Chaelt screamed out one more time, again ordering everybody to wait. The woman informed the captain that she had detected something on sensors, a starship none other than the Onyx Cinder, with the Skeleton Crew children on board. When Brutus ordered firing the ship, Silvo interrupted, and Chaelt swiftly let him back aboard by pressing a dedicated navicomputer button, again saving his life. Looking at the others, Silvo announced that he knew how to reach to At Attin, pointing to the Onyx Cinder as the key to the planet.^[11]

Following Silvo's release, the Onyx Cinder was pulled aboard with a tractor beam and rested in the freighter's hangar. When Brutus and several other pirates went down to see the intercepted vessel, the Skeleton Crew caught the captain in a lift claw as he walked up the entry gangplank. With Brutus trapped by the enemy, Silvo took the opportunity to reclaim the leadership and shot Brutus down. The Skeleton Crew, however, managed to regain control of the vessel and get back to space, making for At Attin through the massive maelstrom. However, neither the children nor the pirates realized that Silvo had made it back aboard before takeoff.^[11]

Upon his arrival on the planet, Silvo posed as an emissary for the Galactic Republic and demanded an audience with "the Supervisor," whom he quickly discovered to be only a droid. Having destroyed the machine,^[12] the man^[14] obtained ship access from^[12] Undersecretary^[1] Fara, allowing him to contact the pirate crew and order an invasion. As the frigate descended to the surface, the pirates launched a massive aerial bombardment, with several crew members landing via dropships to take some townsfolk prisoner. However, Silvo's plan to take control of the planet and turn it into his personal credit mint ultimately failed when the Skeleton Crew managed to bypass the Barrier and alert the New Republic. With the Barier disabled by the Skeleton Crew younglings and their parents, reinforcements arrived in the form of a squadron of X-wing and B-wing starfighters. The X-wings unleashed a barrage of^[12] laser^[15] fire on the pirate frigate, while the B-wings used their high-powered converging lasers to carve through the vessel's upper structure. Consumed by a chain of explosions,^[12] the bombarded frigate began drifting out of control. In a panic,^[15] the crew abandoned the bridge, and the wreckage of the destroyed ship eventually came to rest in a local water canal.^[12]

Personality and traits

"Wait! Wait! What of equal time? Right of Last Appeal. So says the Pirate's Code."

―Chaelt, in defense of former Captain Silvo — 20?cb=20250116042720

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A light-skinned, elderly human^[1] female,^[2] Chaelt had an aged face with deep wrinkles and a weathered complexion, as well as a prominent second chin that reflected her stout build.^[6] She moved with a distinctive waddling walk, a side-to-side motion influenced by her heavyset posture.^[1] She styled her brown hair^[6] with gray roots^[3] into two long, thick braids extending over her left shoulder.^[6] In addition, she sported sizable tattoos on her arms, accentuated by the masses of flesh dangling from her upper arms.^[3]

Chaelt occasionally manifested nonconformist attitudes. During Silvo's trial, when the defendant non-verbally pleaded with her to intervene,^[3] she struggled with an internal conflict,^[2] attempting to avert her gaze from the former captain's imploring eyes. For all her hesitation, she finally spoke up, utilizing her resonant voice to silence the audience.^[3] A man Chaelt knew very well, Silvo could soon count on her help once again. With his execution delayed, she took an advantage of Brutus's inattention and opened the airlock that Silvo was locked in. By letting him back aboard, she saved his life one more time.^[11]

Equipment

"[growling] What's a litter of runts doing in my starport?"

―Brutus, handing an ion rifle to Chaelt — 20?cb=20250116042720

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Dressed in sleeveless armor-like clothing, Chaelt's outfit included a crisscross pattern of ammunition belts over her chest and an armored pad on her left shoulder. Around her waist, she wore a utility belt adorned with a glowing device with color-changing lights,^[3] holding up a dark skirt with a pair of trousers underneath.^[1]

Chaelt could occasionally be seen carrying an axe-like melee weapon, as when she clutched it under her left arm during the raid on a merchant frigate.^[1] On another occasion, she utilized an ion rifle passed to her by Captain Brutus. Rather than shooting, however, the woman simply used it to keep an enemy at gunpoint pending apprehension.^[6] She was also equipped with a rifle during Silvo's trial, resting her right hand on it as Captain Brutus was about to pronounce his verdict.^[3]

Behind the scenes

"There's this moment where Jod is just staring at that motherly pirate and they have this moment, and I remember seeing online that people were thinking, 'Is he using a mind trick on her?' And it's like, 'No, they just know each other really well.'"

―Christopher Ford on Chaelt's relationship with Silvo^[5]

Chaelt was portrayed by actress Dale Soules.

Chaelt first appeared in the two premiere^[16] episodes of the live-action television series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, "This Could Be a Real Adventure"^[1] and "Way, Way Out Past the Barrier",^[6] which aired on December 2, 2024.^[16] The character was played by Dale Soules,^[6] whose involvement in the series—as well as her character's name—had been revealed by Entertainment Weekly as early as September 18, 2024.^[17] On the premiere day, Soules co-authored an Instagram post encouraging her followers to watch her performance in the series, adding that missing her would be a "Wookie [sic] mistake."^[18]

In an interview for Entertainment Weekly, series creator Christopher Ford referred to Chaelt as a "motherly pirate" and confirmed that Silvo did not use a mind trick on her in "Zero Friends Again," a fan speculation he had happened upon while reading online discussions of the show. Instead, Ford simply noticed that Silvo and Chaelt knew each other "very well."^[5]