Hondo Ohnaka/Legends

"You don't survive in the Outer Rim by being stupid!"

- Hondo Ohnaka

Hondo Ohnaka was the captain of a party of Weequay pirates, known as the Ohnaka Gang, on the backwater planet Florrum. Born to a poor family, Ohnaka was sold as a child into slavery by his parents. Ohnaka eventually managed to escape the life of slavery by stowing away on an offworld ship, following which he formed a group of pirates on Florrum. Ohnaka's pirates flourished during the Clone Wars by dealing spice and receiving ransoms through kidnapping and extortion.

One of these kidnappings would eventually be Count Dooku, the Chief of State of the Confederacy of Independent Systems fighting against the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars. Realizing how valuable Dooku was, Ohnaka attempted to sell him to the Galactic Republic for a hefty spice ransom. The ensuing hostage crisis would also lead to the capture of the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. The Jedi and Dooku would manage to escape with the assistance of a batallion of clone troopers led by Representative Jar Jar Binks of the Galactic Senate. Ohnaka would later confront the Jedi once again on Felucia during one of his routine raids on an agricultural settlement, though the Jedi and a team of bounty hunters, led by Sugi, fought off Ohnaka and his pirate forces.

Early life
"As my sweet mother always said, 'son, if one hostage is good, two are better, and three, well, that's just good business!' Heh heh."

- Ohnaka about what he learned from his mother.

Hondo Ohnaka was from the planet Sriluur, his father and mother were poor swindlers and had sold Hondo as a slave to "honor" the Weequay god Quay. Hondo didn't believe in the power of the gods. He thought he was sold as a slave, because his parents were just poor, not because Quay wanted it. The young Ohnaka escaped slavery as a child by stowing away on a ship heading for Boonta.

On Boonta, he served as a cupbearer for Porla the Hutt. Hondo found out that the spice smugglers of Porla were asking strange prices for their spice and that they were always caught by the Republic when they were bringing the spice to Porla. He whispered an advice to his Master about these shady business deals. Porla was thankful to him and Ohnaka became Porla's personal adviser. Gained Porla's trust, he then ran off with several other servants on Porla's skiff, bringing along Starhawk Speeder Bikes, Ubrikkian tanks and weapons. He then ventured to Florrum, where he founded a base. At some time past he also became familiar with bounty hunter Jango Fett whom he described to be a good friend and honorable man. He also came to know Aurra Sing and had a relationship with her.

Pirate


During the Clone Wars, Ohnaka's band of pirates situated on Florrum grew in strength and chose to stay neutral. Hondo wore a Desevrar Infantry Helmet, Corellian-made pants and a cloak he stole from a Wroonian nobleman. He had also stolen several Flarestar-class Weequay ships and a Surronian cruiser from a collector on Farana. Ohnaka had a pet Kowakian monkey lizard named Pilf Mukmuk.

Ohnaka and his pirates were mostly active in the Outer Rim, stealing the cargo of ships and holding the passengers for ransom. Especially in the areas like Tion Hegemony and the Corporate Sector, they could do whatever they wanted. Ohnaka taught his men that killing was bad for the business, because nobody would pay ransom for anyone who was already dead. Later he began seeing some profit by working in the spice trade. Hondo already had some experience with it and a stolen spice cargo worth a 400,000 credits was enough to start Hondo's idea. Still not under the attention of either faction, having never done anything to draw undue attention to themselves, the group and its leader now had business dealings in both ransoming hostages and selling spice on the black market.



After Count Dooku, a Sith Lord and member of the Separatist movement, fled in his solar sailor from the forces of the Republic in a short skirmish, he was shot down and crashed onto the surface of Vanqor. Ohnaka found Dooku fleeing from the Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi and he attempted to sell a passage off the planet to Dooku. Ohnaka’s offer was taken by Dooku, who agreed to pay in order to escape from Skywalker and Kenobi, since the Jedi wished to take him to Coruscant for trial and imprisonment. Dooku claimed he was above material wealth and paid the price. He also made sure to hide his lightsabers so as not to show his status as a Sith Lord and important figure within the Confederacy, which could make the pirates choose to hold him for ransom.

Taking the Count to the planet Florrum, Ohnaka put the ship down in his organization’s base.

Ransom
"They are devious and deceitful and most importantly, stupid."

- Dooku to Obi-Wan and Anakin on Ohnaka and his pirates.

Before Ohnaka arrived on the planet with Dooku, he had instructed Mukmuk, his pet monkey lizard, to steal Dooku’s lightsaber and the other lightsaber Dooku was carrying (having stolen Anakin's while on Vanqor) on the journey. Having done so, Ohnaka then had his men surround Dooku, and take him prisoner. Dooku attempted to negotiate that if he could get proper means of communications, he could call someone to pay any ransom for him. But Hondo and his gang didn't survive the Outer Rim by being stupid. He knew that if Dooku contacted the Confederacy, their armies would crush them in order to get Dooku free of charge.

Ohnaka demanded a ransom of 1,000,000 credits in spice from the Republic to be paid in order to claim the Count. Ohnaka felt he could sell the spice on the black market for a higher price, and so make an even bigger profit. Chancellor Palpatine of the Republic discussed this with both Ohnaka and other officials in the Republic, before reaching the decision to comply with his demands.

Palpatine sent Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker to confirm that Dooku had been captured by the pirate gang. Arriving at the base, Kenobi and Skywalker were able to identify the hostage as being Dooku. Having verified his presence to the Chancellor, Hondo invited the two Jedi to a banquet with his pirates to "celebrate a successful transaction." Ohnaka, however, drugged the drinks he intended to give to the two Jedi.



Ohnaka gave the drugged drinks to the two Jedi, but they sensed the deception and switched their drinks with two other pirates. Mukmuk saw this, and so he put the drug in the ventalation shaft, which rendered everybody in the room unconscious. Ohnaka proceeded to take the Jedi as hostages too, and had them locked into the same cell as Dooku. When the two Jedi awoke, they found themselves as prisoners in the same cell as Dooku. Ohnaka meant to ransom the two Jedi as hostages in addition to Dooku, so he could triple the amount of credits.

The Republic, knowing Dooku to be on the planet, had sent Senator Kharrus and Representative Jar Jar Binks with a spice ransom to Florrum, in addition to a number of clone troopers of the Diplomatic Escort Group. Ohnaka didn't know that Turk Falso, his lieutenant, wanted the spice for himself and that he arranged to have their craft shot down by fellow pirate Barb Mentir with Flarestar-class Weequay ship.

Mentir succeeded and killed Kharrus and the clone pilots within the ship. During this time, the three prisoners tried to escape. Ohnaka, however, was able to make sure that they were recaptured before they could escape, and he had them confined with armed guards. Hondo thought the ship carrying the ransom was merely delayed, while it had in fact been shot down.

Falso wanted to know if Mentir had the spice with him, but Mentir answered him that the shuttle had crashed in the Doshar fields. Falso was angered and decided to get the ransom himself. He rounded up some Weequays and they went to the crash site on swoop bikes. They attacked the ship and stole the spice inside. However, the clones followed the swoops by riding on skalders, creatures native to Florrum. The clone troopers retained the spice back and they killed all the pirates, except Falso who returned to Ohnaka. He wanted to cover his deceit to Ohnaka, so he told Ohnaka the Republic hadn't sent the ransom, but an army instead. He believed the lies and he agreed with Falso to send several tanks to destroy the clone army.

Hostage escape


After the third time the hostages tried to escape, Ohnaka had the three escapees recaptured again and brought Dooku back to his cell. Hondo had Obi-Wan and Anakin brought out to be tortured, using electricity. Meanwhile, Jar Jar Binks met with the pirates inside one of the tanks, to negotiate with the pirates, but he managed to destroy one of them and knock out the power lines to the pirate stronghold. The remaining two tanks were captured and used as transports to Ohnaka's pirate outpost. Hondo was now without power in his own base. The resulting power outage freed Anakin, Dooku and Obi-Wan. Hondo was taken hostage by the two Jedi, who used him as a shield to ensure that they weren't attacked by Hondo's pirates. Dooku killed the guard in front of his cell and Falso and his accomplice, after escaping in the ship the two pirates were planning to escape in.

When it became apparent that Dooku had escaped, the Jedi set Hondo free, wanting no unnecessary hostilities from the pirates. Having been spared his life by the Jedi, Hondo ordered his men not to fire upon the Jedi. Hondo praised the Jedi for their nobility, he promised that he and his pirates would allow them to leave unhindered. Hondo was warned by Obi-Wan that Dooku now knew the location of their base, and wouldn't be as forgiving as the Jedi toward those who had imprisoned him.

Battle of Florrum
"You bring unwanted attention to our little world here, bounty hunter.''" " Hondo! Extend a neighborly hand to a Weequay in need, would you?" "''Oh, but of course! We will offer our hospitality. And determine who wants you so badly, and for how much!"

- Shahan Alama is greeted by Hondo Ohnaka

Shahan Alama, a Weequay bounty hunter and member of Cad Bane's posse had to go into hiding from the Republic, because of his involvement in the Senate hostage crisis on Coruscant. He took his Flarestar-class Weequay ship to the Outer Rim Territories, when his ship was spotted by a Separatist Munificent-class star frigate. The captain of the frigate recognized the Weequay ship as the same type of ship used by Hondo Ohnaka's pirate gang. He knew that Count Dooku had been kidnapped by the gang and thought that Alama was a member of the gang. The captain knew Dooku wanted payback and ordered to open fire on the craft. Alama headed to the surface of Florrum to escape the firing frigate.

Meanwhile, a Republic task force, using a Acclamator I-class assault ship under the command of Jedi General Aayla Secura, was scouting the area. Clone Commander Bly reported Alama's unallied craft to Secura, who ordered the commander to take a LAAT/i gunship and gather more information through a reconnaissance of the planet. Bly took of in the gunship with a squad of clone troopers, accompanied by several other gunships to the surface of Florrum. In the subsequent battle between Alama, the Republic and the Confederacy, Alama was shot down by Bly's gunship and crash landed on Florrum. Alama then met Ohnaka and asked him for help. Ohnaka offered him their hospitality so he could determine who wanted him so badly, and for how much.

Skirmish on Felucia
Some point following the Dooku hostage crisis on Florrum, Ohnaka had another run in with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker on a spice farm on Felucia, which Ohnaka's pirates routinely raided. The Jedi were accompanied by a band of four bounty hunters led by the Zabrak mercenary Sugi, hired by the Felucian farmers to defend them against further pirate attacks. Ohnaka offered to buy out the mercenaries, but Sugi rejected his offer. The pirate demanded the Felucians to have the harvest ready for him in the morning before leaving the village and regrouping with the pirate forces.



The Jedi spent the following day training the Felucians to defend themselves, which caught the attention of a scout sent by Ohnaka to investigate. However, Sugi discovered the scout and sent one of her accomplices, Embo, who brutally killed the fleeing Weequay. When the scout failed to return, Ohnaka led his men into battle from the cockpit of a repulsortank. While his men charged the village on speeder bikes, Ohnaka opened fire on the village atop a cliff, killing the bounty hunter Rumi and wounding Embo.

Skywalker eventually took action and lept to the cliff, forcing Ohnaka to brandish his electrostaff in a duel against the Jedi. Skywalker eventually gained the upper hand and kicked Ohnaka off the cliff, but the pirate managed to cling on to the cliffside for his life. Ohnaka pleaded to Skywalker for his mercy, and Skywalker saved Ohnaka's life. Ohnaka quickly double crossed Skywalker and pushed him into the way of the repulsortank's turret, but Skywalker quickly jumped off the cliff before the ensuing explosion, giving Ohnaka time to retreat.

Back on Florrum
"Couldn't handle her, could you? Well, don't be ashamed. You're not the first man to bail out from under her command."

- Hondo, to Castas, about Aurra Sing

After returning to Florrum, Aurra Sing, Hondo's former lover, visited him alongside a young Boba Fett and Castas. Aurra asked him to help with some business by making sure that if Mace Windu would arrive, he could not escape. Hondo refused, saying that he wouldn't trouble them when trying either. Some time later, Castas was shot by Aurra, which eventually led to Plo Koon and Ahsoka Tano knowing that they were at Florrum. After arriving there, Hondo welcomed them, telling that Aurra and Boba were waiting in the bar. After an encounter in the bar, Aurra Sing stole an air speeder, and was chased by Ahsoka, who had stolen another. Then Plo Koon and Boba Fett exited, Plo asking Hondo to convince Boba to tell where the two hostages, including admiral Kilian, where being kept. Hondo convinced Boba by telling that it was what his father would have done. Boba told, and the hostages were saved. Once again Jedi left Florrum after talking to Hondo.

Personality and traits
"You know what I always say... speak softly, and drive a big tank."

- Hondo Ohnaka

Although his morality was skewed, as a pirate, Hondo Ohnaka seemed to believe in a vague, but consistent form of honor. Even as the leader of a pirate gang, Ohnaka only used torture as a last resort. Ohnaka claimed that he had learned many things from his mother, even quoting her at one point. Hondo also had a passion for antiquities, he wore a Desevrar Infantry Helmet and he was proud of his collection of Flarestar-class Weequay ships and his Surronian cruiser. He was also apparently friends with Jango Fett. He also had part-time relationship with Aurra Sing.

During the skirmish on Felucia, Hondo proved himself to be skilled with an electrostaff, managing to fend off the powerful Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker, though he was unable to defeat him.

Behind the scenes
Hondo Ohnaka was portrayed by veteran voice actor Jim Cummings.

Appearances

 * The Clone Wars: Hunting the Hunters (Part 1)
 * The Clone Wars: Hunting the Hunters (Part 1)
 * The Clone Wars: Hunting the Hunters (Part 1)

Notes and references
Hondo Ohnaka Hondo Ohnaka Hondo Ohnaka