Jelcho

During the Republic Dark Age, specifically in the final century of the New Sith Wars, lived Jelcho, a male Givin. This era witnessed the Galactic Republic shrink to a mere rump state, centered around the Core Worlds and Colonies, as numerous Sith Lords seized control over vast stretches of the galaxy. As Jelcho matured, he found himself under the dominion of the Sith Lord Odion, the autocratic ruler of the Odionate. This fiefdom had emerged from the wreckage of the Chagras Hegemony in 1040 BBY. Odion, who styled himself as the "destroyer of the universe," became the central figure of a nihilistic death cult, whose adherents were known as Odionites. He was convinced that the mere existence of other sentient beings was a source of personal torment and that true peace could only be achieved through the annihilation of all life in the galaxy. Furthermore, Odion actively encouraged his followers to sacrifice their lives to satiate his nihilistic inclinations. Implementing a policy of "species segregation" within the Odionate, Odion forcibly assigned his subjects, including Jelcho, to occupations that he deemed best suited to their species. Given the Givins' natural aptitude for navigation, Jelcho was employed as a navigator aboard Odion's command ship, the Sword of Ieldis.

In 1032 BBY, Jelcho was involved in what became known as the Chelloan affair. Jedi Master Vannar Treece and his independent team of Jedi "knight errants" discovered that Daiman, Odion's estranged younger brother and a Sith Lord himself, was extracting baradium, a highly explosive substance used in the creation of various munitions, on the planet Chelloa. Daiman was transporting substantial quantities of baradium to his war forges located near the front lines. Following the collapse of the Chagras Hegemony, the Grumani sector had become embroiled in a second series of family disputes known as the Second Charge Matrica. These conflicts were deliberately instigated and supported by Vilia Calimondra, the matriarch of the Calimondra family, solely to prevent any of her grandchildren from challenging her authority over her own empire. Vannar, a long-standing adversary of the Sith, aimed to disrupt a portion of the Chelloan baradium production before Daiman could use it to shift the power balance within the Grumani sector. Daiman, on the other hand, sought to break the stalemate and gain a decisive advantage over Odion. Gorlan Palladane, a former Jedi Knight and mining leader, was the source of this intelligence leak. He and Skodo, a Rodian mechanic, utilized a stolen transmitter to reactivate a single interstellar routing station to transmit their message to the Jedi Master. However, Odion's agents intercepted the transmission and alerted their master. Upon learning about Daiman's baradium mining operations on Chelloa, Odion ordered an invasion of the planet. He deployed a fleet of kinetic corruptors with the dual purpose of extracting the volatile baradium compound and then destroying Chelloa. The vast amount of baradium present on Chelloa's surface meant that the planet could become a massive explosive if all the baradium deposits were ignited. Initially, Treece's Operation Influx successfully infiltrated the Daimanate and landed on Chelloa. With the assistance of Palladane and the local miners, the Jedi party secured control of the spaceport at Jenith. However, Odion's forces then launched an attack, deploying one of his kinetic corruptors. During the ensuing battle, Treece was personally killed by Odion himself, while the remaining Jedi perished in an explosion caused by the kinetic corruptor. The sole survivor of the Chelloan debacle was Kerra Holt, a novice Jedi Knight and a young Human woman who had escaped Odion's destruction of her homeworld, Aquilaris Minor, in 1042 BBY. Since then, she had become a sworn enemy of the Sith and a devoted Jedi Knight. She was given shelter by Palladane and attempted to assassinate Daiman. However, Daiman managed to convince Kerra that Odion posed a greater threat to Chelloa because he planned to destroy the planet with his fleet of kinetic corruptors aboard The Spike, a large mobile war forge. The Jedi woman then hijacked one of Daiman's starfighters and headed towards the space station. Her mission coincided with a failed Daimanate starfighter attack on Odion's fleet. In reality, Daiman had launched a feign attack in an attempt to provoke Odion into launching a ground invasion.

During the raid on The Spike, Jelcho was stationed on the command bridge of the Sword of Ieldis, with Odion himself in command of the ship. Odion instructed Jelcho to maneuver the Sword of Ieldis to target the trailing wave. The superior firepower of Odion's gunships decimated the majority of Daiman's starfighters, forcing the remaining ones to retreat. Odion was aware that his younger brother knew about the destructive capabilities of his kinetic corruptors but expressed his bewilderment that Daiman would only send a small token force of starfighters. Jelcho reported that the Daimanites had been recalled back to Chelloa and also expressed his surprise at Daiman's change of tactics. Odion replied that Daiman probably became bored and was not taking the fighting seriously; vowing to crush Daiman's forces. Jelcho witnessed a starfighter pilot, later revealed to be Kerra Holt, ejecting from her starfighter. While the Daimanite starfighter did not pose a threat, Odion ordered his gunners to destroy the spacecraft to satisfy his blood lust. He then reminded the Givin crew that they could do some target practice in order to instill blood lust into these Odionite navigators. At the end of the battle, Odion ordered Jelcho to dock the Sword with The Spike after they had cleared the warzone. Meanwhile, Kerra infiltrated The Spike and headed to the factory complex. There, she overpowered and reprogrammed a labor droid known as GAD-3. While Kerra and GAD-3 were hiding beneath a catwalk at Pod Seventeen, Odion and Jelcho arrived at the facility. The two were greeted by a Verpine Odionite and Jelcho complained that they had been kept waiting since there had been no droid stationed outside the station. That droid turned out to be GAD-3 who had already been reprogrammed by Kerra. However, Odion was unaffected by the delay and told the Givin to pay more attention to bigger things like finishing construction of the Corruptors and loading them aboard landing ships. Odion commented that Daiman had been making "strange moves" within his territory and he wanted to know more intelligence about his military plans on Chelloa. Odion then asked Jelcho about their local informant who had informed them about Daiman's baradium operations. This source turned out to be Gorlan Palladane. Jelcho had also received a new transmission on his datapad which lead him to question the reliability of the source. He then played the transmission in the presence of his master Odion. During the recording, Palladane claimed that Daiman's mining operations had been permanently shut down which meant that the planet was no longer a concern for the Sith Lord. However, Odion refuted the source's assertions as a lie since his forces had only knocked out one mine. This led Odion to conclude that either the source or Daiman was trying to play games with them. In response, Odion ordered Jelcho and his entourage to load all the kinetic corruptors into the landing ships and reiterated his command to destroy the planet. Odion wanted to deny any of his enemies including the Jedi and the Republic access to Chelloa's baradium deposits. He was also pleased that the Jedi strike force had been wiped out much earlier. Odion remarked cheerfully that Jelcho should have seen the death throes of his late enemy Vannar Treece, a perennial foe of the Sith. He further disparaged the slain Jedi as a "crying coward" who was little better than the people he had come to save. At that moment, Odion sensed the presence of a Jedi hiding under the catwalk. Despite Jelcho's cries for caution, Odion activated his lightsaber and recklessly destroyed the catwalk in an attempt to flush out the Jedi intruder, who turned out to be Kerra, the last survivor of Treece's ill-fated mission. Odion engaged Kerra in a lightsaber duel which caused extensive interior damage to The Spike's facilities. At the climax of the fighting, Kerra managed to create a diversion that allowed her to escape the mobile space factory by ordering the reprogrammed GAD-3 to deactivate the overhead containment fields which exposed much of the station to zero-gravity space. Jelcho attempted to stop the labor droid but it was too late. The sudden exposure sucked several droids and workers into space where they were destroyed by compression. Further destruction was averted only by Jelcho reactivating the emergency shielding. As with all Givin, Jelcho had a tough exoskeleton that could seal all external orifices for protection against depressurization, allowing him to survive in hard vacuum. In the midst of the chaos, Holt hijacked a construction shuttle, incapacitating the pilot and then fleeing into space. Meanwhile, Odion ordered his entourage back to his flagship Sword of Ieldis. Understanding his Jedi opponent, Odion knew that Holt would return to confront him which was proven right. In an ensuing cat-and-mouse race in space, Holt;s shuttle engaged Odion's gunship. Anticipating that Holt was going to ram her shuttle into his ship, he ordered his crew to open fire. However, the duel was interrupted by an incoming transmission from Lord Daiman. In a live broadcast from his Chelloan headquarters, a furious Daiman revealed to Odion that he had seized and tortured his informant, Gorlan Palladane. In response to the intelligence leakage, Daiman had ordered a military crackdown on all mining settlements on Chelloa with his troops destroying Jenith. Witnessing the plight of her friend, Holt aborted her run by doing a quick jump into hyperspace and returned to Jenith to save Palladane. The Sword's gunners attempted to shoot Kerra's shuttle but it was too late. A dejected Jelcho lamented his failure to destroy the Jedi woman and apologized to Odion, claiming that he and his fellow Givin did not deserve to live and that they would be willing to accept death as punishment. To the relief of Jelcho, Odion chose to spare his crew due to the intelligence on Daiman's mining operations he had discovered from Holt. Rather than using his kinetic corruptors to destroy the surface of Chelloa, the Sith Lord ordered his elite Lightning Guard to be loaded into landing ships to capture Daiman's factories near the baradium mines. Odion also planned to conquer the entire Chelloan system and annex to his interstellar principality—the Odionate. All this played into Daiman's hands.

During the ground invasion of Chelloa, Jelcho remained behind on The Spike while his master Lord Odion led the assault on the planet. Odion's forces landed near the spaceport town of Arboth and quickly wiped out Daiman's token resistance. They were about to seize the mobile munitions complexes for themselves when the vehicles suddenly shed their metal hulls to reveal that they were actually kinetic corruptors. Daiman had shipped a fleet of kinetic corruptors to Chelloa with the intention of destroying the planet's surface in order to deny its valuable supply of baradium to his enemies. This "scorched earth" tactic also involved the deaths of Chelloa's civilian population. Odion and his troops were trapped on the surface and his entire Lightning Guard contingent was wiped out by the magma flows triggered by the kinetic corruptors. Meanwhile, Kerra and Palladane, who had escaped Daiman's prison, managed to evacuate much of Chelloa's population—63,000 individuals—on a make-shift fleet of transports known as the Freedom Fleet. During the evacuation, Odion was grievously wounded during a duel with Kerra and Palladane. At the climax of the fighting, Palladane personally pushed the Sith Lord into the engine thrusters of an ascending transport. Both men were badly burned and Palladane later succumbed too his wounds but Odion managed to escape because of his jetpack. After several days, Odion was rescued and brought back to The Spike for medical treatment. Several cyborg surgeons began removing chunks of his armor that had become fused to his skin. While Odion was undergoing burns treatment, Jelcho and the Bothan spy Narsk Ka'hane gave an intelligence report about the Chelloan affair. While Jelcho and Odion were probably aware that the Bothan was an independent intelligence operative, they did not know that his true master was the Calimondra family matriarch Vilia Calimondra, the de-facto manager of the Sith warlords in the Grumani sector. Jelcho reported that the Freedom Fleet had left the Daimanate for the Republic. He also tried to paint the Chelloan debacle as a victory by claiming that Daiman had lost significant vessels and slaves. Finally, he claimed that the Chelloan invasion had been a victory because Daiman had been denied access to his prized baradium deposits. However, a furious Odion rejected Jelcho's optimistic report by citing the destruction of an entire legion of his Lightning Guard. He was also in an excruciating state of pain due to his burn injuries. When one of Odion's surgeons pleaded with the Sith Lord to remain still so that he could remove the shards of armor without causing further pain, the furious Sith Lord screamed that he wanted to remember the pain so that he could exact vengeance against Vannar's successor, Kerra. Following the Chelloan affair, the Odionate fleet returned back to Odionate space to recuperate. Kerra's actions also attracted the attention of the Calimondra family matriarch Vilia Calimondra. However, the Sith Lord tolerated the Jedi since she wanted to give her grandchildren some experience in dealing with a Jedi to prepare them for a future invasion of the Galactic Republic where they would again have to contend with the Jedi Order.

As a Sith devotee, Jelcho would again become ensnared into the machinations of the two warring Sith brothers: Odion and Daiman. After Odion recovered from his injuries, he sought revenge against Daiman for the affront on Chelloa. The Sith Lord hired the Bothan spy Narsk Ka'hane for a mission to infiltrate the Daimanate capital of Darkknell and gather information on Daiman's starship, Convergence, which was under construction at the Daimanate Dynamic Testing Facility and subsequently, to destroy the ship. Using a Cyricept Personal Concealment System, Mark VI stealth suit, Narsk infiltrated the testing facility and downloaded the Convergence's technical readouts onto a datapad. Leaving several baradium thermal charges with the ship, Narsk left the facility. However, he was intercepted by the Jedi Kerra Holt, who hoped to obtain the Mark VI for her own use against Daiman. After a chase through the streets of the city Xakrea, Holt incapacitated Narsk and activated his remote detonator, which caused the destruction of the testing facility. Taking Narsk's Mark VI and detonator, Holt left the Bothan in a garbage bin, where he was captured by Daiman's police, the Correctors. Despite Narsk's initial denials, Daiman rightfully suspected that Odion had a hand behind the destruction of the facility. In revenge, he concocted an elaborate plot to ambush and destroy his older brother once and for all. He brought Narsk to his fortress, the Sanctum Celestial, where he contacted the Quermian Ayanos Bactra, a neutral Sith Lord who preferred to gain power through corporate bureaucracy rather than military might. Daiman had recently allowed one of Bactra's corporations, Industrial Heuristics, to recruit students from Darkknell and elsewhere in his territory—known as the Daimanate—in exchange for the fruits of the students' research. Daiman requested an arxeum, a mobile university dedicated to the science of war. In exchange, he allowed Industrial Heuristics to recruit students from the Daimanate and also granted Bactra's forces safe passage through the Daimanate to strike at Vellas Pavo, a gadolinium-rich planet. Bactra agreed to deliver the arxeum and the students to the volcanic world of Gazzari, on the frontier of Daiman's border with the Odionate—Odion's territory. Intending to lure Odion to Gazzari, Daiman allowed Narsk to listen in on his conversation with Bactra and secretly ordered the bonds holding the Bothan spy to be loosened, so that Narsk could escape and tell Odion what he had overheard. With the help of Holt, who sneaked into the Sanctum with Narsk's Mark VI, the Bothan escaped into the junkyard and made his way to a spaceport where he found passage offworld to a neutral world. There, he met several Odionites and hitched a ride back to the Odionate. Meanwhile, Daiman recruited the services of several mercenaries to execute the ambush including Brigadier Jarrow Rusher, Mak Medagazy, Kr'saang the Togorian, and a Nosaurian mercenary. Upon arriving on Gazzari, they assembled a series of Kelligdyd laser cannons on the eastern ridge of a massive bowl crater several kilometers across. Daiman's forces, invisible from orbit due to the thick clouds of volcanic ash, lined the ridge on all sides, surrounding the crater, where the trap set for Odion was to be sprung. As part of the plan, the Industrial Heuristics arxeum and transports would land in the caldera. Odion's forces would then appear and the mercenaries would keep them at bay until Daiman's regular forces and fleet arrived from hyperspace. Daiman planned to trap Odion's fleet on Gazzari and then eliminate Odion during the battle. Unknown to Daiman and the other participants, their perennial Jedi opponent Kerra had secretly stowed away on his flagship Era Daimanos.

As Daiman had expected, Odion took the bait since he saw an opportunity to eliminate his estranged younger brother once and for all. While the Sith Lord was enraged that Narsk had failed to steal the military secrets, he spared the Bothan spy since he had revealed that Kerra had returned to the Grumani sector. Despite Narsk's warnings that Daiman had planned a trap, Odion was more concerned with satisfying his nihilistic blood lust and assembled a large invasion force. It consisted of one-quarter of the Odionate home fleet, large ground units, and the giant mobile siege platform known as the Death Spiral. Jelcho would again serve as navigator aboard Odion's flagship Sword of Ieldis. Narsk was also present since the Sith Lord felt that he would need the Bothan to blow up more enemy assets. From their first meeting aboard the Sword of Ieldis, Jelcho and the Bothan spy Narsk Ka'hane took an immediate dislike toward one another since the latter regarded the former's species as physically unappealing. Nevertheless, the two men served the same Sith master and had to keep their own prejudices to themselves. Upon arriving within the Gazzari system, Odion ordered Jelcho to do a scan for Daiman's forces. Although they saw no trace of Daiman's fleet in the system, they did spot about a dozen of Bactra's ships near Gazzari's sun, where they could observe the events on the planet from a safe distance. Bactra had already arrived on the planet with the arxeum, which landed in the crater along with four transports filled with hundreds of students, impoverished younglings who had been recruited from the Daimanate. Although Odion knew that Bactra had just delivered the arxeum, he ordered his fleet not to fire on the Quermian's forces since he intended to attack his estranged younger brother Daiman, whom he regarded as his main rival. He also intended to track down his perennial Jedi foe: Kerra, whom he regarded as a dangerous threat to his nihilistic ambitions. After sighting Bactra's fleet, Odion contacted the Quermian, and Bactra informed him that the deal with Daiman had taken place, and that the Bactranites were no longer concerned with the fate of the arxeum. Bactra's fleet then remained in the Gazzari system, observing the battle between the Daimanites and the Odionites. The Odionate flotilla then formed an orbital perimeter around the planet and awaited the arrival of Odion's most important weapon, a massive siege tower called the Death Spiral. Once the Death Spiral exited hyperspace behind Odion's fleet, the Sith Lord ordered his Thunder Guard units to their transports. He then boarded his own transport, ordering Jelcho and Ka'hane to come with him. During the subsequent Battle of Gazzari, Odion's forces including the Death Spiral landed inside a crater. In the subsequent fighting, Odion's forces engaged Daiman and his mercenaries, destroying all four transports and significantly damaging the arxeum. The mercenaries bombarded the Death Spiral with cannon fire, but were unable to destroy the tower, which deployed several speeder bikes, airspeeders, and walkers from its base. Unable to withstand the firepower of the Death Spiral, Daiman's mercenaries were forced to retreat and the Death Spiral inflicted heavy casualties on Daiman's mercenaries. Meanwhile, the Odionate's Jedi adversary Kerra resurfaced on the battlefield. After fighting several Thunder Guards and stealing their speeder bikes, Holt shepherded the students off the battlefield to the cliffs of the crater.

He was equipped with a blaster and a speeder bike, simultaneously reinforcing his bleak, nihilistic outlook. Before departing, however, he inquired of the Bothan spy as to why the pronoun "he" was employed, rather than "we," when the topic of Odion's bombardment of the crater was raised. Narsk's allegiance to Odion was called into question by Jelcho, but the Bothan pressed him to concentrate on completing his "duty." Narsk Ka'hane departed Odion's transport after Jelcho was no longer present, proceeding south of the Death Spiral in the hopes of finding a clearer signal. However, he delayed delivering the message, as Odion and Daiman were closing in on one another on the battlefield, preparing for a duel. In the meantime, Jedi Knight Kerra attempted to destroy Daiman's command dome using a baradium nitrate detonator, unaware that it was still attached to a bandolier around her torso. However, Tan Tengo, a Sullustan student whom she had befriended on Darkknell, intervened, distracting Kerra and preventing her from setting off the explosives. Kerra quickly realized the bandolier was still on her person and abandoned her initial plan to assassinate Daiman. Concurrently, Jelcho piloted his speeding bike across the battlefield, eventually encountering Kerra and Tan. However, Holt noticed Jelcho's speeder bike and utilized the Force to push the bike to the ground telekinetically. She then incapacitated the Givin by kicking him in the jaw, rendering him unconscious. Subsequently, Kerra used a bandolier to secure the unconscious Jelcho to his bike before jamming the bike's accelerator. Following this, she sent the bike careening into the Death Spiral's speeder bays. Once Jelcho and the explosives were inside the Death Spiral, Holt detonated the explosives using the detonator stolen from Narsk, resulting in the destruction of the siege tower. The resulting explosion resulted in Jelcho's death and the destruction of the Death Spiral in a massive conflagration, reducing the deadly siege platform to a smoldering, metallic wreck. ### Legacy Jelcho's death allowed him to realize his Odionite beliefs by "ending the pain" of his own existence. His demise also had significant geopolitical ramifications for the Grumani sector and the Second Charge Matrica. The destruction of the Death Spiral, caused by his fiery end, ultimately led to the Bactranate's downfall, as Ka'hane successfully delivered Calimondra's message to Odion and Daiman without interference from the Death Spiral's massive presence. Consequently, Odion and Daiman finally received Calimondra's orders and commanded their forces to cease fire. Following discussions between Odion and Daiman, the two Sith Lords ordered their forces to attack the Bactranate fleet before invading the Bactranate. The Bactranate quickly fell to the combined forces of Odion, Daiman, Malakite, and Lioko within days. Vilia then redistributed its former territories and corporate assets among her grandchildren during the subsequent Bequest. Odion inherited Bactra's former capital, Jutrand, while Daiman assumed control of Industrial Heuristics, a major producer of war materiel. However, Odion contested Daiman's acquisition, asserting his claim to the corporation based on its location in Jutrand. As compensation, Vilia offered Odion three legions of Trandoshan slave warriors. Despite Odion's acceptance of the deal, tensions persisted between the two brothers. Odion later collaborated with the Hutt interloper Zodoh, who attempted to conquer the Daimanate later that year. With Jelcho's death, the former Tarro mercenary and de facto General Beld Yulan replaced the deceased Givin navigator as Odion's right-hand man and confidant. For Kerra, Jelcho was simply another Odionite minion who needed to be eliminated as part of her campaign against the Sith warlords in the Grumani sector. Meanwhile, Kerra and the students encountered Brigadier Jarrow Rusher and the remnants of his brigade. She then persuaded Rusher to allow her student refugees to board his ship, Diligence—a starliner repurposed as a troop transport. They then fled Gazzari aboard the Diligence, jumping into hyperspace in an attempt to find a safe, neutral location for the student refugees. This led them into contact with the Sith domains known as the Dyarchy and the Arkadianate. ## Personality and traits Jelcho was a staunch supporter of the Sith Lord Odion, sharing his nihilistic perspective and appetite for violence, death, and destruction. His unwavering loyalty to Odion prevented him from questioning the Sith Lord's directives, even when they endangered himself and his fellow soldiers. On one occasion, Jelcho even offered his life after failing to capture Jedi Knight Kerra Holt, a persistent adversary of Lord Odion. Jelcho's dedication to Odion and his nihilistic philosophy led him to interpret the disastrous Odionate defeat during the Chelloan affair in a positive light. Despite the destruction of the Odionate's elite troops on Chelloa and Odion's severe injuries sustained during a battle with Kerra, Jelcho attempted to console his liege by emphasizing that the destruction of Chelloa had deprived Lord Daiman of his vessels, slaves, and the planet's significant baradium resources. Jelcho's message offered little solace to Odion, who was consumed by his burns and his hatred for Kerra. Jelcho's fanatical devotion to Odion caused him to disregard the Bothan spy Narsk Ka'hane's warnings during the Battle of Gazzari that the Odionate forces were walking into a trap. Ultimately, Narsk exploited Jelcho's fanatical devotion and nihilistic beliefs by provoking him into joining the fighting on Gazzari. Jelcho's decision ultimately led to his demise, as he fell into Kerra's hands, who decided to use him to destroy Odion's siege weapon, the Death Spiral. Jelcho's death during the explosion fulfilled his desire to die for Lord Odion's glory. ## Powers and abilities Jelcho was a capable military commander who was willing to sacrifice men and resources in accordance with Odion's nihilistic worldview. As a Givin, Jelcho possessed a hard exoskeleton that enabled him to survive exposure to Zero-G space. He was also proficient in piloting a speeder bike and wielding a blaster. ## Behind the scenes Jelcho made his debut in the first story arc of John Jackson Miller's Star Wars: Knight Errant comic series, which was published from October 2010 to October 2012. He also appears as a minor antagonist in Miller's 2011 spinoff novel Knight Errant, where his dialogue is presented from the perspective of the Bothan spy Narsk Ka'hane.