Zekka Thyne

"Aggressive and intelligent, although aggression is his default setting. Surprise him and he strikes out. Unpredictable beyond that."

- Fliry Vorru

Zekka Thyne, known to some as "Patches", was a half-Human, half-unknown alien, who was regarded as the most vicious vigo in Black Sun. Thyne was an intelligent and murderous criminal being groomed as Prince Xizor's chief associate on Corellia. Although rumored to be the heir-apparent to Xizor's criminal organization, he was also secretly serving as an Imperial spy to Kirtan Loor at the time.

Thyne was captured by Corran Horn and Hal Horn and imprisoned on Kessel, through a plan conceived by Darth Vader in an attempt to harm Black Sun and Xizor. He was later released by the New Republic, however, in a plot to unleash dangerous Black Sun officers onto Coruscant to disrupt the Imperial presence during a covert Rogue Squadron mission in the months prior to the planet's liberation.

On Coruscant, Thyne was captured by Kirtan Loor and returned to service as an Imperial spy. He arranged for Imperial forces to ambush Rogue Squadron during a covert mission, after which he attempted to personally kill Corran Horn. Horn was saved when Thyne was shot to death by his lover, Inyri Forge.

Rising Black Sun vigo
"What Patches lacks in brains he makes up for in feral viciousness."

- Corran Horn

Zekka Thyne joined the Black Sun syndicate during a time when a loose sense of honor the organization once had was starting to fade. As the Rebellion started to distract the Galactic Empire, Black Sun began utilizing more devastating tactics, such as using bombs in crowded cantinas to eliminate single targets. Thyne thrived in this environment. As a vigo of the syndicate, he was behind the murders of dozens of people, all of whom were rivals of Black Sun. This gave Thyne a reputation as a psychopath and loose cannon, making him a wanted man by CorSec and resulting in several bounties being placed on his head. It also won him the favor of Prince Xizor, who began grooming him as the heir-apparent to the criminal empire, according to rumors among CorSec officials and Corellian criminals..

Appointment to Corellia
"Those who are lying will pay the ultimate price for daring to deceive me."

- Zekka Thyne

In 7 BBY, Fliry Vorru, then a Moff in charge of the Corellian Sector, was sent to Kessel after being framed by Prince Xizor. With Vorru now powerless to stop him, Xizor was able to establish Zekka Thyne as his chief associate on Corellia. During this time, Thyne furthered his reputation as a brutal and dangerous vigo; he was rumored to have murdered a spice courier who confessed to borrowing credits from a payoff, even though she quickly repaid the loan with interest. As his power grew, Thyne developed a strong rivalry with Borbor Crisk, a smaller-scale criminal trying to wrest control of the Corellian underworld from Black Sun. CorSec also issued an outstanding warrant for Thyne's arrest. However, he was well protected by the four dozen armed men under his command and his heavily secured fortress.

Located east of Coronet City, Thyne's fortress featured double-thick walls, double-paned transparisteel windows, full spectrum surveillance systems and complete electronic sensing systems, including technology for tapping or jamming transmissions. The fortress was surrounded by mines, and E-web cannons were mounted atop defense towers. Thyne's personal office also contained a secret escape panel that led to a cave, where he kept secret or sensitive cargo Thyne obtained the deed to the fortress after the previous owner was sent to Kessel on spice smuggling charges. However, it was widely believed that Xizor and Thyne set the owner up with these charges in order to gain ownership of the fortress.

Spy for Kirtan Loor
"I would not be averse to seeing Thyne eliminated, but that is outside the purview of my immediate task."

- Thrawn, disguised as Jodo Kast, to Corran Horn

During the period prior to the Battle of Hoth, Zekka Thyne served as a spy to Kirtan Loor, who was serving as Imperial liaison to CorSec at the time. Although how his association with Loor began is unclear, it is possible that he was captured and agreed to assist Loor in exchange for leniency, as well as rewards. As Corran and Hal Horn discovered during a raid on his fortress, Thyne enjoyed backdoor Imperial connections that allowed him to ship spice past Corellian customs. Although the Horns never discovered these connections, Loor was almost certainly behind them.

Whatever the circumstances and regardless of Thyne's personal intentions, his cooperation with Loor contributed to some degree to Black Sun's downfall. The Imperial kept his involvement with Thyne a secret, which he later used as leverage to once again turn Thyne into his spy during Rogue Squadron's covert reconnaissance mission on Imperial Center.

Imperial scheme and capture
"No matter where you go, I'll find those double diamonds of yours. Count on it."

- Corran Horn

In 2 ABY, Thyne came to the attention of Darth Vader. As a means of harming his rival, Prince Xizor, Vader concocted a scheme with Grand Admiral Thrawn to eliminate Thyne and frustrate Black Sun's operations in the Corellian Sector. Thrawn captured the Hopskip, a smuggler vessel running blasters to Rebels on Derra IV. Disguised as the bounty hunter Jodo Kast, Thrawn and the crew traveled to Corellia, under the guise that they were delivering unknown cargo to Borbor Crisk. In fact, Thrawn intentionally allowed his de facto partners to be captured, posing as a hired gun for Thyne.

This allowed Thrawn to infiltrate his fortress, where he planned to assassinate Thyne. However, Thrawn encountered disguised CorSec investigators Corran and Hal Horn he modified his plan to allow the Horns to capture Thyne. By taking this route instead of killing Thyne, Thrawn was able to further distance Darth Vader and the Empire from the plot to eliminate him. Thrawn was aided by Colonel Maximilian Veers, who stormed the fortress based on mission information provided by Thrawn that indicated Thyne was harboring Rebel insurgents. Most of Thyne's soldiers were not present at the fortress at the time of the assault because Thrawn had arranged for them to pick up the cargo.

Thyne attempted to flee via the secret panel in his office, but the Horns pursued him. He ambushed Corran and took him as a hostage. However, the reflection of the vigo's gold eyes proved to be a liability, even in the dark cave&mdash; Hal used his rudimentary control of the Force to disable Thyne, accurately firing a stun shot to his eye. Thrawn had the Hopskip traced after its release, leading the Imperials straight to a Rebel Alliance convoy. For his assistance in arranging the capture of Zekka Thyne and gathering intelligence that led to the Battle of Derra IV, Darth Vader rewarded Thrawn by giving him command of the Dark Lord's Noghri.

Imprisonment on Kessel
"There are a few on here who really shouldn't be allowed off Kessel, unless we're going to dump them in the Maw on our way out of here."

- Corran Horn

Zekka Thyne was tried and sentenced to the Imperial detention facility on Kessel. Although convicted on smuggling charges, he was not formally charged with the many murders associated with him. Darth Vader's plan was never traced back to the Empire. Prince Xizor tried to slice files in order to get Thyne off of Kessel, but Kirtan Loor made this impossible when he accidentally altered the structure of the files with Thyne's information. Corran Horn described this error as "the only good thing Loor ever did." During Thyne's time in prison, Xizor was apparently killed by Darth Vader, which crippled Black Sun to an extent from which it would never recover.

On Kessel, Thyne met Inyri Forge, daughter of prison rehabilitators Kassar and Myda. Thyne took advantage of the disillusionment she felt from her life on Kessel and the negative connotation associated with her by living there. Although Inyri would later admit that she had underlying reservations about Thyne's character, she desired the respect that Thyne seemed to give her, and it in turned helped her respect herself. Thyne and Inyri became lovers, and she became his cutter, a spicer term for someone trustworthy enough to handle their spice.

Release from Kessel
"Oh, forgive me, I've forgotten the Rebels are all sweetness and light. Then again, you're here taking someone like me away from this place. Expediency wins over purity, it would appear."

- Zekka Thyne to Wedge Antilles

After serving about five years on Kessel, Zekka Thyne was released along with 15 other Black Sun officers, as part of the New Republic mission to liberate Coruscant in 6.5 ABY. During the Provisional Council's planning of the liberation, Borsk Fey'lya formed a plan to free several Black Sun officers from Kessel and bring them into Coruscant, where they would bring disparate parts of the criminal organization together and work to sabotage the Empire, during which time Rogue Squadron could infiltrate the planet, collect reconnaissance and bring down the planet's shields.

Thus, Commander Wedge Antilles made a deal with Moruth Doole, warden of the Kessel facility, to give the New Republic political prisoners in exchange for getting rid of problem prisoners. Antilles would allow the political prisoners to return to galactic life or to join the New Republic, and he would use the problem prisoners in the campaign for Coruscant. Among the "bad prisoners" was Zekka Thyne, whom Antilles noted that Doole feared and was anxious to be rid of, prompting him to ask for more political prisoners in return.

Corran Horn, now serving as a pilot for Rogue Squadron, tried to discourage Antilles from taking Thyne in the first place, and suggested slicing files to make it appear Thyne was dead so that the New Republic would not demand his release. When this request was denied, Horn instead recommended that prisoner Fliry Vorru be pulled off Kessel to keep Thyne in line. Antilles, and Vorru, agreed to this arrangement.

Doole informed them that Inyri, sister of former Rogue Squadron pilot Lujayne, was to be released along with Thyne. Inyri saw this as an escape from Kessel, thus causing her adoration of Thyne to grow. Antilles made an offer to her family to make arrangements so that Inyri would not be permitted to stay with Thyne. Myda wanted to take the offer, Kassar insisted that Inyri must make her own decision, and even expressed hope that Inyri might be able to change Thyne for the better.

Presence on Coruscant
"Now I have a blaster and am just full of ideas about what I can do with it."

- Zekka Thyne to Corran Horn

During his time working with Rogue Squadron on Coruscant, Thyne repeatedly attempted to psychologically attack Horn, trying to take responsibility for the death of Hal Horn. Although Corran did not completely disregard the idea, he doubted Thyne was involved as the murder took place more than a year-and-a-half into Thyne's prison term. He did not allow himself to be bothered by the comments.

Some time later, Thyne found Corran Horn alone in a cantina in the Alien Protection Zone, and tried to take the opportunity to eliminate him. Thyne attempted to shoot him with a blaster pistol, but Horn escaped, leading to a speeder bike chase that resulted in the deaths of a handful of Black Sun officers.

The chase ended when the bikes accidentally interrupted an Imperial raid on the Alien Combine. Several members of Rogue Squadron were present at the time, having been captured by Asyr Sei'lar. A firefight between the Combine, Rogue Squadron and Imperial stormtroopers broke out, during which Thyne attempted to flee for his own safety. He did not make any attempt to help or check on Inyri, who was rescued by Corran Horn and Gavin Darklighter.

Return to Imperial spy status
"You will be my eyes and ears within the Alliance community here. I want to know their plans. I want timetables, suppliers, personnel rosters, anything and everything. If you give me what I want, I let you live."

- Kirtan Loor to Zekka Thyne

However, Thyne was captured during the fight by the Empire and brought to Kirtan Loor, who was now serving as an Imperial Intelligence officer. Loor once again recruited Thyne as a spy, establishing him as his "eyes and ears" among Rogue Squadron during their mission on Coruscant. When Thyne resisted, Loor threatened to leak Thyne's past spy associations with Loor to Black Sun slicers, which would have almost certainly have resulted in Thyne's death.

Loor also gave permission for Thyne to kill Corran Horn if given the opportunity. Although he said this was for Thyne's protection and as a reward for his services, Loor actually wanted Horn killed out of fear for his own life, since he had previously released Bossk, the bounty hunter who killed Corran's father. Loor had Thyne released and sent back to Rogue Squadron, but not before having Thyne inflicted with a non-lethal blaster injury to the abdomen so that it would appear that he had escaped capture.

Although Thyne continually relayed information to Loor, much of which was useful, he was unable to inform him about a crucial plan Rogue Squadron formed to bring the planetary shields down. Thyne did attend the meeting during which the plan was formed, but as a result of a confrontation he started with Corran Horn, Fliry Vorru punched him in the abdomen and smashed his head against the table. As a result, he suffered a concussion and thus did not remember the meeting.

Death
"In all the time I was with him, I knew that he was not the sort of person I had been raised to expect."

- Inyri Forge, after shooting Zekka Thyne

Thyne discovered and informed Loor about a Rogue Squadron mission to infiltrate an Imperial warehouse. Thyne was assigned guard duty for the mission, but he abandoned his post because he did not want to risk being shot when the Imperials launched their counter-attack against Rogue Squadron.

Although Inyri Forge was at the warehouse during the mission, Thyne did not warn her about his betrayal or the imminent Imperial attack. As a result, she was nearly killed when a stormtrooper pursued her airspeeder on a 74-Y speeder bike. She was only saved when Corran Horn and Mirax Terrik provided assistance. Forge then brought Horn and Terrik to a backup location Thyne had provided her.

There, Thyne expressed no relief that Forge was alive, and instead pulled a blaster carbine on Horn. It was revealed that Thyne was working as an Imperial spy and that he planned to kill Horn and provide his body to Loor in exchange for safe passage and a new identity on a new world. Before he could kill Horn, however, he was shot in the abdomen by Inyri Forge, who finally realized that Thyne only respected her to the point where she was useful to him.

In his dying breaths, Thyne once again tried to allude that he was responsible for the death of Hal Horn, but Corran saw through the ruse. In an attempt to haunt him after his death, Thyne instead told him there was at least one other spy in Rogue Squadron, although he did not know the identity of that spy; it was, in fact, Erisi Dlarit, one of the Rogue pilots. Corran assured Thyne, however, that this news did not only not haunt him, but also served as a warning to him about an enemy he had not previously realized existed. With this, Zekka Thyne died.

Post-death
"There, I will haunt you."

- Zekka Thyne's last words

Although Thyne did not torment Corran Horn following his death, he unknowingly caused some posthumous trouble for the New Republic and, more specifically, Tycho Celchu.

Thyne's dying warnings to Corran about an Imperial spy heightened suspicions he already had about Celchu's potential role as a brainwashed Imperial agent. This would result in a confrontation between Horn and Celchu shortly before the First Battle of Coruscant, which was later used as evidence when it appeared Horn was killed during the battle. This confrontation would serve as primary evidence for the prosecution when Celchu, in fact innocent, was arrested, after which he was charged with treason and Horn's murder. Thyne's legacy proved a further problem during Celchu's trial when prosecuting attorney Halla Ettyk used Thyne as a way of casting doubt of Wedge Antilles' ability to identify an Imperial spy, implying that he was also unable to determine whether Celchu was a spy as well.

Personality and traits
"He's got sharp ears, sharper teeth and the sharpest sense of retribution you've ever run into this side of a Wookiee bearing a grudge."

- Corran Horn

In temperament, Zekka Thyne was extremely aggressive, often using threats and intimidation to get his way. Thyne had a tendency to lash out, especially when surprised, and thus could be very unpredictable. Despite this apparent lack of self-control, Thyne was quite intelligent. He had excellent vision and reflexes, and was very skilled with the use of vibroblades.

Thyne had flesh that came in two shades of colors, with light blue patches of skin that seemed to be layered over another whitish-pink color. This appears to be the a result of the cross-breeding of a Human and an unknown alien species. His skin was mottled and patchy, earning him the nickname "Patches," although he was not called this to his face except when being taunted by enemies. The most dominant of his blotches cut from the bridge of his nose under his cheekbone to his left ear, and then back up to the midline of his skull, which Corran Horn felt gave the impression of one massive black eye that was slowly fading." Thyne had a wiry build and appeared to be congenitally hairless; he was clean shaven and completely bald. He had sharply pointed ears, similarly serrated pointed teeth, and cat-like red eyes with slender black diamond pupils outlined in gold specks, which reflected slightly in the dark.

Thyne had an appreciation for art, although his taste was considered questionable by such people as Corran Horn and Thrawn. The works displayed at his Corellia fortress were mostly excessive nudes and relied heavily on a color scheme of pinks, purples and harsh shades of green. Thyne was known to "correct" works that did not include this scheme.

Behind the scenes


Zekka Thyne was created by Michael A. Stackpole, and first appeared in the novel X-wing: Wedge's Gamble. Stackpole is the only author to date to have featured Zekka Thyne in writings; although Thyne was a central character in Side Trip, which was co-written by Timothy Zahn, Thyne himself was only featured in the portions of the story written by Stackpole.

Although Thyne is a mixture of Human and an unknown Alien species, he is portrayed in the computer game Star Wars Galaxies as a Bothan, of which he has no genetic factors whatsoever.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Galaxies
 * Side Trip
 * X-wing: Wedge's Gamble
 * X-wing: The Krytos Trap
 * X-wing: The Bacta War