A pirate and starship thief known as Black Jack was a major problem for the New Republic. The New Republic placed a bounty of 25,000 credits on his head for crimes including piracy, stealing New Republic property, sabotage, and abduction.
Starship theft was Black Jack's area of expertise. Stories circulated that even when he was young, he possessed the ability to hot-wire ion drives. Jack's pirate crew would sneak onto ships, concealing themselves within cargo areas or maintenance tunnels, and then usually seize control of the vessel with as little violence as possible. They had a reputation for hacking into shipboard computer systems to introduce viruses, or for releasing sedative gases into the life support systems to incapacitate the crews. He was known for his leniency, resorting to lethal force only when defending himself. The crews of ships that he and his pirates commandeered typically ended up adrift in jettisoned escape pods on their way home. The fate of the ships Jack stole remained a mystery, despite his impressive record of several hundred stolen vessels. Some believed he sold them on the black market to other criminals or unsuspecting legitimate business owners. Others speculated that he was amassing a pirate armada to create a criminal empire. Furthermore, he never operated from a designated flagship, instead being frequently observed on ships he had previously hijacked.
New Republic intelligence suspected Jack of collaborating with the Galactic Empire. A number of ships that had been stolen from the New Republic were discovered among Imperial fleets, leading New Republic agents to suspect his involvement. These suspicions arose from alterations he made to his crew, as well as interactions he had been observed having with shady individuals in clandestine docking bays. Defective diagnostic systems in starships and illicit starship modifications also suggested this connection.
Black Jack, sporting a large, lengthy, thick, and curly beard, usually dressed in flashy attire, accentuated by a vibrant sash around his waist and another on his head to mask his receding hairline. In contrast to his second-in-command, Happy Go Lucky, Jack was generally regarded as a cheerful individual with a lighthearted and amusing disposition.