|
Legends Article This page contains information from the Star Wars Legends continuity and may not be supported by the Dark Brotherhood.
|
- "Kill them all. There's no need to make any mistakes."
- ―Jesec Dirium
Admiral Jesec Dirium is a pirate Warlord that currently commands a large contingent of ex-Peace Brigade personnel turned pirate. After the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the galaxy, Dirium was appointed by the Peace Brigade to lead suppression raids on defenseless colonies that were planning to resist the Vong assault. A long time smuggler and pirate, Dirium has a large amount of space and combat experience although it has mostly been limited to minor battles against weaker opponents. Extremely prideful, the pirate Warlord worked on behalf of the Peace Brigade on the promise of riches and peace. Dirium had hoped to become wealthy enough to retire on a backwater world, far away from the continuing conflicts between the Yuuzhan Vong and the rest of the galaxy. When the Peace Brigade was dissolved at the end of the war, Dirium and his crew turned to piracy to fund their operations, which recently have put them against Taldryan.
Character History
Early Years
20 BBY to 3 BBY
- "Some day I'll get off this crater, just you watch!"
- ―Jesec Dirium
Jesec Dirium was born on the planet Aleron in 24 BBY. His father, Jeph Dirium, was a long time smuggler who had a long standing relationship with a waitress called Mirya Fhisan. Jeph and Mirya were "together" for several years when Mirya finally got pregnant with Jesec. After Jeph had learned about Mirya's pregnancy he never came back to the isolated world of Aleron. Mirya never knew Jeph had abandoned his family until several months after Jesec was born since he only visited the planet once every few months. Realizing that her baby's father was never returning, Mirya turned to drinking.
The young Jesec had little to do in Daekun, the capital of Aleron. The planet itself was sparsely settled due to its large desserts that spanned across most of the surface. In addition to the sweltering hot dessert, a heavy smog covered most of the cities due to heavy mining. Most of the planet's youth received a basic education before they went to work in the mines, helping various companies extract the valuable minerals and ores beneath the planet's surface. Bitter that his father had left him and his mother, Jesec vowed to leave the planet and make a name for himself amongst the stars. Working year-round since age ten, he managed to save enough credits so he could buy an old landspeeder. In addition to attending school, where he managed below-average grades, he raced through the countless canyons that were all over the planet. He continued to develop his driving skills until he dropped out of school at age sixteen; working full-time at the capital's spaceport, he learned how to fly freighters and light transports. The end of Jesec's teenage years were tragic when his mother suddenly died in a landspeeder accident, the official cause of the accident being 'massive intoxication.' Completely distraught, Jesec quit his job at the spaceport and bought passage to Corellia, hoping to jump start a career in smuggling like his father.
A New Start
3 BBY to 3 ABY
- "Just give me a ship and I'll get the job done for you."
- ―Jesec Dirium to his first employer
The FastBlast was Jesec's first smuggling vessel. It was a modified Corellian YZ-775 medium transport which he later used for piracy. The transport was eventually destroyed in a battle against the New Republic.It didn't take Jesec long to find work once he arrived on Corellia. Due to his extensive vehicle skills, he was hired by a small smuggling group to move cargo around the Corellian system. Jesec quickly learned astronavigation skills in addition to combat when he was forced to blast through Customs patrols setup by the Corellian Security Force (CorSec). Over the next two years Jesec climbed the ranks of the organization, eventually earning a promotion to captain of very own freighter. Using the FastBlast, he started making trips outside of the Corellian system and establishing contacts all over the Inner Rim territories.
While he was doing well in his role as a smuggling captain, Jesec felt he was capable of true leadership within the organization. His temper getting the best of him, Jesec exploded at his boss which resulted in his demotion to first mate aboard another freighter. Furious over his ship being taken away from him, Jesec contacted CorSec and ratted out his colleagues. Accompanying the CorSec agents to the smuggling organization's headquarters, Jesec stole his old freighter during the firefight and blasted his way off the planet. Knowing he would be forever black marked in the Corellian system, he decided to take his freighter into the Outer Rim where he would be able to start over.
Landing on Tatooine, he was immediately able to find work hauling spice for the infamous Jabba the Hutt. Making runs all across the galaxy, Jesec was able to expand his network of contacts while building his own wealth, which he was planning on using to establish his own smuggling group. His work for Jabba the Hutt continued for the next three years before he decided to go independent. Jabba was not keen on letting one of his best spice smugglers go and gave Jesec an ultimatum - either keep working for the Hutt or battle the rancor. Once again Jesec's pride got the best of him and while he told Jabba that he'd remain working for him, he secretly began plotting against the mighty Jabba.
Never known for being subtle, Jesec did the first thing that came to his mind; he decided to plant nergon-14 charges in Jabba's private hangar. Jesec sneaked out to the hangar during one of Jabba's grand parties and planted several charges around the hangar facility. After taking off in the FastBlast he remotely detonated the charges as soon as he was out of range. Unfortunately for the young smuggler, only one of the nergon-14 explosives detonated. The resulting explosion destroyed a light transport and damaged a cargo ferry which wasn't what Jesec was expecting. His "revenge" had been wasted and he became a laughingstock on Tatooine.
Once again Jesec Dirium had gotten himself into major trouble. Now wanted by various organizations throughout the galaxy, he was unable to find work hauling illegal cargo. While he had a fair amount of credits to his name, he would need to find work shortly in order to keep flying at full strength. With nothing left to do, Jesec resorted to piracy and began to raid small convoys. It wasn't the type of life he was expecting, but it paid well and some of the ships he plundered contained rare goods which fetched a fair price on the black market. Over the next two years he moved from one system to another, never staying in the same area for too long so as not to draw attention to himself. After several close calls where he was almost killed, Jesec considered retiring from piracy and starting his own legitimate shipping business. However, the more ships he plundered, the more he got sucked in.
Caught in the Middle
3 ABY to 16 ABY
- "You're not as good as you think you are, Dirium."
- ―An Alliance pilot commenting on Jesec's flying skills
Jesec dual wields a pair of blaster pistols after his old employers tracked him down on Tatooine in 16 ABY. The ensuing lightfight resulted in his left leg being hit by a stray blaster bolt which caused him to slightly limp for the rest of his life.Jesec got his big break after the Rebel Alliance managed to destroy the Death Star at Yavin IV. The Galactic Empire assembled a massive fleet of Star Destroyers in an effort to destroy the Rebellion before it got any bigger. A staggering amount of worlds declared open support to the Rebels following their victory at Yavin, and suddenly the Alliance required massive amounts of transport captains to ferry material across the galaxy. While Jesec wanted to remain neutral in the Galactic Civil War, the Rebel Alliance was paying good credits to move material from base to base until they established a permanent outpost on Hoth. It was dangerous work as Jesec had to maneuver the FastBlast through numerous blockades and ambushes.
Soon the Alliance began requesting assistance in raiding Imperial convoys and the pay was too good for Jesec to pass up. For helping to raid convoys and move the stolen supplies, each freighter captain would receive twenty percent of whatever they could carry. The raids began easy enough as large Rebel attack forces quickly overwhelmed the minimal escorts of Imperial convoys, but Jesec and the other pirate leaders found themselves pushed to their limits as the attacks grew more daring; at one point they raided a convoy only to have an Interdictor cruiser hyper into the system. Over half of the Rebel raiders had been destroyed before anyone knew what was happening. Only a pair of fighters and three transports made it out of the trap alive - Jesec's freighter had sustained heavy damage and he was grounded for two months as extensive repairs were performed on his medium transport.
Word soon leaked out about Jesec Dirium's siding with the Rebellion and he was placed on the Empire's most wanted list. Having no other choice, Jesec threw his lot in with the rebellion as a type of independent contractor. He would only move cargo once the battle was finished - no longer would he fight in battles directly. The rest of his career with the Rebellion was remarkable only in how unremarkable it was. For the next several years Jesec's only job was to haul cargo from one place to another, encountering little trouble in his travels. Two years later Jesec resigned from the Rebel Alliance when they decided to launch a surprise attack against the second Death Star which was floating above Endor. He figured it was safer to avoid the Empire's agents rather than launch a suicide attack against the galaxy's most powerful weapon. Amazingly, the Rebels destroyed the Death Star - again - and declared themselves a "New Republic," effectively turning from a maneuverable military outfit into an unwieldy government overnight. Countless worlds flocked to the banner of the New Republic as the Empire was forced to consolidate their holdings around Coruscant.
Jesec's career was virtually unremarkable for the next ten years as he legitimately hauled cargo across the galaxy for various factions - with Jabba the Hutt killed and the Empire having countless problems, he encountered few problems in his line of work. However, his past soon came back to haunt him. One day Jesec was at Chalmun's Cantina in Mos Eisley, Tatooine enjoying a drink while waiting for a contact. During his wait a trio of men entered the cantina and spotted him. Instantly recognizing them as his former smuggling employers back on Corellia, he jumped up and pulled out his heavy blaster pistols just as his old employers pulled their weapons out. A firefight ensued until local police forces stormed the building and shot down all three of Jesec's attackers. Unfortunately a stray blaster bolt had caught Jesec in his left leg, rupturing a lot of tissue and muscle. Given Tatooine's limited resources, he was unable to receive immediate medical care via bacta. While the resulting injury was minimal, the experience made Jesec furious and threatened to pull him back towards his old life of crime. Worried that his injury had caused him excessive public humiliation, the former mercenary and smuggler took a job that involved hauling spice from the mines of Kessel to Corellia.
The Ends Justify the Means
16 ABY to 24 ABY
- "Nobody likes a stinkin' turncoat!"
- ―A random prison inmate
The Good Fortune was a modified Action IV transport which was stolen by Jesec after he murdered its previous captain. The smuggler used the transport to establish his own smuggling and pirate organization within the Outer Rim Territories shortly before the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the galaxy.Luck was not with Jesec as he made his first smuggling run in years. After leaving the prison planet of Kessel he was pulled out of hyperspace by a New Republic customs patrol. Facing cargo seizure and a prison sentence, Jesec had no choice but to try and run for it. Shunting all of his ship's power to engines, Jesec tried putting as much distance between himself and the New Republic Interdictor Cruiser as possible ... he did not get far. The cruiser's Y-Wings were able keep up with the FastBlast and hammer down the transport's shields with proton torpedoes. The New Republic pilots were not counting on Jesec's lack of shield power and fired off too many torpedoes - realizing that his ship was about to be destroyed, Jesec ran to the ship's escape pod and was able to jettison out of the doomed ship seconds before it was annihilated. Forty minutes later the escape pod was brought on board and Jesec was stunned before he could get off a shot at his captors.
Thankfully the sentencing tribunal went easy on Jesec because of his prior service to the Rebellion. They slapped him with a 50,000 credit fine and a two year sentence in prison. Thinking he had gotten off light, Jesec chose to lay low in prison and bide his time until he got released early for good behavior. Unfortunately word had somehow gotten out that he was a snitch back on Corellia which the other inmates did not take too kindly. Over the next fourteen months Jesec endured many beatings and humiliations in prison while the prison guards chose not to intervene. Jesec swore revenge on one inmate in particular and two weeks before his release he paid an old contact off to smuggle a small amount of poison into the prison. Jesec saved the poison until his last day when he dumped it into the inmate's drink at his final breakfast. The slow acting poison took six days to reach its full potency and by the time the inmate had died a horrible, painful death, Jesec managed to get off the planet by chartering a flight to Ord Mantell.
Upon landing in Worlport, the capital of Ord Mantell, Jesec prioritized what he wanted to accomplish in the near future. First he needed to purchase another transport; the problem was that purchasing even the most basic of hulls would nearly drain all of his saved funds. Second, he needed to find a way to earn a steady source of credits to keep himself running. Finally, he made an oath to himself that he would finally track down his father and confront him. Satisfied that he had established reasonable goals for his near future, Jesec began the task of obtaining space-worthy transport.
Realizing he could not afford a new ship, Jesec made an ingenious plan. He arranged for a week-long charter with the owner of an Action IV transport. Posing as someone who was suffering a mid-life crisis, he pretended not to understand anything about flying. The pilot, a legitimate shipping captain, was taken aback by Jesec's eagerness to learn. Over the week's journey Jesec was able to learn everything he needed to know about the transport. During the final leg of the charter Jesec approached the captain from the rear and shot him in the back of the head. Using his blaster carbine, he killed several more crew members until there were only five left; just enough to fly the ship. Dumping the dead bodies out of the airlock, he had the crew fly him to the moon of Nar Shaddaa. Wishing to leave behind no witnesses, Jesec killed the crew after landing. With a ship to his name, Jesec contacted a few old friends who agreed to serve as crew on his new ship. Chipping in their credits, the group was able to modify the Action IV transport with improved shielding, a warhead launcher, and three concealed laser cannons. Satisfied with how his plans were so far successful, the ship was named the Good Fortune and Jesec began to build his smuggling business and start looking for his estranged father.
Over the next three years Jesec's smuggling business became more successful and he was able to expand his fleet by hiring several new members and their ships. In addition to their regular smuggling activities, the group conducted regular pirate raids in the Outer Rim against neutral parties as Jesec wasn't willing to anger the New Republic again. Even better, Jesec's contacts had finally paid off - they had located his father. Jeph Dirium had retired back on Aleron, a planet that Jesec swore he never would return to. As he left for Aleron in the Good Fortune, rumors began to surface about a mysterious alien species that had suddenly appeared from beyond the galaxy.
After landing on Aleron, Jesec immediately made his way to the edge of Daekun where his father's home was. Without knocking he kicked down the door where he found his father passed out on the couch with several bottles of alcohol laying around the floor. Disgusted and disappointed, Jesec could not confront the man who abandoned him. Instead he merely tapped his dad on the shoulder and shot him between the eyes just as they opened. Without looking back Jesec walked out of the house and blasted off Aleron for the last time in his life.
Four months later all hell broke loose.
Securing a Future
24 ABY to Present
- "The only thing I want is early retirement. To hell with the rest of the galaxy."
- ―Jesec Dirium
The Bothan Assault Cruiser Conquest, flagship of Admiral Dirium's fleet, reverts to realspace within the Rybanloth System.The rumors of the hostile alien creatures turned out to be true. An unknown species known as the Yuuzhan Vong had begun their siege of the galaxy and were laying waste to everything the New Republic could throw against it. The entire galaxy was in chaos as worlds were evacuated in mass which turned out to be a profitable business for anyone with a fleet of ships. Always the profiteer, Jesec's organization turned from the business of smuggling illegal goods to the ferrying of people willing to pay for armed transport off their doomed homeworlds. Jesec was both amazed and terrified at this new threat; he respected their sheer firepower and determination to win no matter the cost, yet he also realized that victory against such a determined enemy would be almost impossible to achieve. With the free galaxy slowly shrinking over the next year, Jesec was presented with an interesting offer when he made a "rescue" pickup on the planet of Dathomir.
While not a highly populated planet, the chances of rescue by any faction were slim due to Dathomir's remoteness. Jesec doubted the Vong would even bother with such a world but apparently the planet was a powerful source of Jedi artifacts and other related material. The new Jedi Order was the first defense against the Vong invaders and were the only ones who could even come close to matching the combat skills of the alien invaders. This had turned the Jedi into an obsession of the Vong who considered killing a Jedi - or Jeedai as they called them - the ultimate honor and test of combat. Upon arriving at Dathomir's main trading outpost, Jesec visited the cantina for a drink where he was approached by a frail looking Human. The man would not offer his name but he told Jesec about an organization that was looking for battle tested individuals to help bring peace to the combat weary galaxy.
Initially Jesec refused - "I'm not a damn idealist!" he retorted - but the individual said everything Jesec ever wanted would come true. He could retire as a wealthy man on some distant planet far away from the war of the galaxy. A place the Vong would not reach in his lifetime. Intrigued by the offer, Jesec agreed to attend an informational meeting on Sullust. As the unknown Human left, he told Jesec not to bother waiting for the group wanting rescue. Realizing that he had been tricked into coming all the way out to Dathomir by this mysterious group, Jesec threw down the credits to pay for his drink and immediately contacted his partners, telling them to meet up at Sullust. Two weeks later the Yuuzhan Vong began their siege of Dathomir.
Arriving at Sullust four days later, Jesec and his crew met up with the strange Human that the smuggling captain had met on Dathomir who drove them across the port city. Walking into a large amphitheater, Jesec's crew was amazed that it was completely full of individuals, thousands of them. The leader of the group running the meeting identified himself as Reck Desh and said he was one of the primary leaders of a group called the Peace Brigade; an organization dedicated to help secure a safer future for the galaxy. The Brigade's goal, Desh said, was to placate the Vong by helping them win wherever the Jedi or New Republic, or anyone tried to stand in the Vong's way of conquering the galaxy.
"The Yuuzhan Vong have all but won," Desh kept saying. "The only chance we have is make sure they're not angry enough when they complete their victory so they don't slaughter us all!" The vast majority of the giant crowd kept murmuring their assent while others looked shocked and outraged. At the end of the meeting Jesec was approached by Desh who asked him if he was willing to become a Captain in the main Peace Brigade fleet. Always wanting his own command and fleet, the former pirate and smuggler quickly accepted.
As Jesec later found out the Peace Brigade was even bigger than he could have possibly imagined. While their fleet wasn't very large - a single New Republic battle group could effectively battle them to a standstill - the group's main weapons were espionage, political manipulation, and using guerrilla tactics to achieve their means. Jedi and key political leaders were either killed or kidnapped, and the Brigade always managed to have a spy or two in every single government or military entity. Given his past careers as a pirate, smuggler, and mercenary, Jesec was given command of a small task force of ships dedicated to disrupting military convoys.
Eventually the Yuuzhan Vong bit off more than they could chew. Spread out over the galaxy, the newly formed Galactic Alliance was able to launch hit and run attacks against smaller pieces of the Vong military. During Jesec's career he was eventually promoted to the prestigious Peace Brigade navy rank of Admiral - a rank that only five individuals held. Unfortunately Jesec was unable to enjoy the full benefits of his rank as the Galactic Alliance finally managed to break the Vong's stranglehold on the galaxy by defeating them at Coruscant. The impossible had happened as the Vong were all but wiped out and the few remaining survivors were banished on the mysterious planet of Zonama Sekot.
After the Vong's defeat Jesec and many other Peace Brigade officials became worried of what would happen to them. Many captured Brigade members were already put on high profile trials that led to their executions. Hoping to escape capture, the newly minted Admiral took control of whatever remaining naval forces the Peace Brigade had and led them to the outer rim where they spent months biding their time and praying on small convoys and other entities to support their fleet.
With the Galactic Alliance forming a special Peace Brigade task force that would hunt down whatever Brigade members it could, many of Jesec's men considered abandoning his fleet to go into hiding. Jesec could not blame them as the group had little wealth to their name and they were barely scraping by. One evening the Admiral received an encrypted message telling him to visit a certain cantina on the planet Eriadu. His curiosity intrigued, Jesec made haste to Eriadu for the meeting. Walking into the run-down cantina, he noticed the only occupant aside from the bartender, sitting in a booth. Looking around for a source of attack, he slowly made his way over to table where the cloaked figure was sitting.
Two months later the rag-tag fleet of Admiral Jesec Dirium traveled through hyperspace to the Rybanloth System to prepare for battle against Clan Taldryan. Their mission was to recover a valuable and powerful object located within the system. While their initial attack caught the Brotherhood's First Clan off guard, Taldryan quickly reacted to the attack and brought in their fleet. Dirium's fleet could not withstand the sheer firepower that Taldryan brought to the battle and was quickly dispatched with the exception of Dirium himself who was captured during the engagement. He was brought back to the Kr'Tal system where he was relentlessly interrogated for days. While most assume Dirium was killed after divulging what information he knew, Clan Taldryan has not officially confirmed his status, and thus his ultimate fate remains unknown.
Character Information
Physical Appearance
Jesec is a fairly tall and lightweight Human male with no distinguishing physical characteristics. While he has been a smuggler and pirate for his entire adult life, Jesec still tries to maintain an air of dignity about himself by wearing paramilitary and semi-professional clothing. Still, he retains the look of a pirate by his wild black hair (which is starting to gray) and his tendency to go without shaving for months at a time. He is never without at least two types of weapons: usually a heavy blaster pistol and a vibroblade tucked into his right boot. The Admiral walks with a slight limp that resulted from injuries to his left left during a shootout at Chalmun's Cantina in 16 ABY; the limp is small and does not hinder the pirate in most situations.
Demeanor
While Jesec is usually calm and collected, in some situations he has a tendency to explode in rage and anger. Due to his father leaving his mother before he was born, Jesec constantly feels the need to validate himself to anyone that doubts his ability in combat or otherwise. He was never a very successful smuggler - or pirate for that matter - but he did well enough to boost his ego and confidence. The Warlord is prideful, but will not hesitate to retreat from a combat engagement if the odds are not in his favor. Jesec prefers brute strength tactics as opposed to coming up with a plan and executing it at a specific time. Generally, he will go in "guns blazing" instead of thinking up a plan or any tricks. Due to his prideful nature, Jesec would rather die in battle than to surrender and spend the rest of his life in a cell.