Zakarisz Ghent

Zakarisz Ghent was a slicer and associate of smuggler Talon Karrde. While highly intelligent and skilled in his area of expertise, Ghent was also incredibly naïve and absent-minded.

Ghent earned a reputation as a legendary computer slicer during his time with Talon Karrde's crew, and as a result he eventually became Chief of Cryptography for the New Republic.

Biography
Born on the planet Baroli, Ghent's gift with codes and numbers was prodigious. He first came to prominence at the age of twelve, when he single-handedly cracked the Imperial ILKO code in two months&mdash;a project that took the Rebel Alliance's entire top slicer team a full month.

The crux of his early life, however, occurred shortly after the Battle of Endor. Still in his teens, he was lured to the Mid Rim world of Chibias, and blackmailed into joining a New Republic plot to decrypt the control node of a Star Destroyer. However, the plot was foiled when Ghent encountered the fugitive Emperor's Hand Mara Jade; the pair went their separate ways after the event, but before leaving the planet, Ghent was intercepted and recruited by Talon Karrde.

During the Thrawn Crisis, Ghent was brought in by Karrde after Admiral Ackbar was imprisoned by the New Republic on suspicion of taking bribes. Karrde suspected that Ackbar had been framed and that the funds found in Ackbar's account had been placed there by a slicer, and wanted Ghent to prove his suspicions. Loaned to the New Republic's investigation, it took Ghent a mere two days to clear Ackbar of any wrongdoing.

Trapped on Coruscant by Thrawn's cloaked-asteroid blockade, Ghent was enlisted by the New Republic cryptologists to break the Imperial battle encryptions; he also "guarded" his friend and associate Mara Jade while she was hospitalized. Though his value as a guard was questionable as he tended to ignore most things that weren't binary, Mara appreciated the thought. By the time Ghent's month-long stay on the capital was up he had broken the Imperial code, in addition to slicing the pulse transmitter encrypt code that was used by Delta Source, an Imperial Intelligence system acquiring information directly from the New Republic headquarters. This led to the discovery, and eventual termination of the costly intelligence leak.

Later during the conflict, Ghent assisted Leia Organa Solo's infiltration the planet of Wayland by rigging the Wild Karrde with a fake Imperial transponder code, allowing the ship and her passengers to penetrate the planet's defenses.



Thanks in part to his actions during the Thrawn Crisis, Ghent gained many valuable contacts in the upper echelons of the New Republic’s government. After Thrawn's death he joined New Republic Intelligence, and eventually worked his way up to the position of Chief of Cryptography for the New Republic, initially based aboard the Dreadnaught Peregrine under General Garm Bel Iblis.

In 19 ABY, Crypt Chief Ghent salvaged a scrambled transmission, addressed to General Garm Bel Iblis, from Admiral Gilad Pellaeon to extend peace between the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic once and for all. Later that year, he traveled to the Ubiqtorate base at Yaga Minor (in an Imperial disguise provided by Pellaeon) to retrieve an Imperial copy of the Caamas Document, an assignment that nearly resulted in his death when Bel Iblis, unaware of his presence, nearly destroyed the room he was in. During this time, he developed a social conscience after two days of moral discussion with Elegos A'Kla onboard a starship.

Ghent remained with NRI during and after the war with the Yuuzhan Vong. In 35 ABY he was called to Ossus by Luke Skywalker in an effort to solve some programming glitches with R2-D2. During the repairs, he was able to unlock holograms that showed Luke his mother, Padmé Amidala, for the first time, and how she died. However, Mara Jade found that Ghent was installing camera bugs in the New Jedi Temple under the orders of Chief of State Cal Omas. Luke Skywalker again trusted Ghent and let him finish his work on R2-D2.

Behind the scenes
Ghent's first name was not revealed until the novel Balance Point, released almost a decade after his first appearance in Heir to the Empire.

It is likely Zakarisz Ghent originates from the same Human sub-culture as the Padawan Ekria, since both share the same distinctively blue hair and facial markings. A more unusual coincidence is that both were expert slicers.

Ghent may have been a descendant or relative of Dhagon Ghent, a doctor on Onderon in 3,951 BBY, though this is unlikely due to the fact Dhagon was a doctor (and a bad one at that), and that he did not share Zakarisz's facial markings and hair.

Paul Ens posts at the official site discussion boards under the name "Ghent."

Appearances

 * Star Wars Galaxies
 * Handoff
 * Heir to the Empire
 * Dark Force Rising
 * The Last Command
 * Champions of the Force
 * Children of the Jedi
 * Specter of the Past
 * Vision of the Future
 * Balance Point
 * Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
 * Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
 * Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen
 * Dark Nest III: The Swarm War