Zesh Harko
Operator
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Yellow-green skin decorated in geometric tattoos. Long black hair, sometimes braided. He often wears battle fatigues with cobbled together pieces of armor, a scout helmet, and occasionally a red cape.
INVENTORY
The clothes on his back.
PERSONALITY AND BELIEFS
Zesh values freedom, independence, and devotion to purpose. His pride is tempered by deep compassion among like minded people, although he cannot shake the knowledge that he is different from them. He is a cunning commander and charismatic speaker, choosing his moves and words carefully, with emphasis on effectiveness. He detests slavery and subjugation in all of its forms as well as xenophobia.
Others view Harko as a pointless extremist. A radical terrorist that thrives on taking lives and sowing destruction, sustained only by conflict, doing very little to change the status quo. Some soldiers and warriors see Zesh’s hit-and-run tactics as dishonorable and cowardly. A snake that would rather kill you in your sleep than fight face-to-face.
He is willing to cross moral and ethical lines to achieve his goals. His methods are harsh and he is not afraid of collateral damage. Zesh was trained to violate rules of engagement and he continues to do so, committing what many consider to be war crimes.
More sympathetic critics see Harko as a tragic figure. A brave, sincere and determined man who is also obstinate, narrow, and dogmatic. His desire to bring justice to the downtrodden by crushing tyrannies has convinced him that violence is a virtuous act. His experimental conditioning instilled a remarkable detachment to violence. He derives no pleasure or power from it, viewing it simply as necessary means to a greater end.
Zesh believes that his ideology aligns with that of the living force, seeking a balance that results in the greatest good, even if it contradicts the Jedi code. However, his actions have led many to view him as a fallen dark jedi or grey jedi. Zesh disagrees. He vehemently opposes the power-hungry aspects of the dark side and views neutrality as capitulation. Despite his unorthodox view of the force, Zesh continues to live an ascetic lifestyle, devoid of material comfort and everyday desires.
STRENGTHS
Jedi/Solider/Spy
Zesh’s spec ops training honed him into a razorsharp weapon of espionage. He is martially skilled in hand-to-hand combat, lightsaber forms, starpiloting, marksmanship, explosives, poisons, stealth and battlefield strategy. He was also drilled in soft skills. He is trained in etiquette to build rapport and blend in with groups ranging from local farmers to high society. He speaks five languages.
Leads From The Front
Trained (some might say brainwashed) to be fearless, Zesh often leads from the frontlines. He often undertakes dangerous, possibly suicidal, missions completely on his own. This inspires his comrades, knowing that Zesh would never order them to do something he would not himself do and would eagerly lay his own life on the line to save one of theirs.
WEAKNESSES
Paranoid
Having lived in a cloak-and-dagger world for all of his known life, Zesh has become intensely paranoid. He is constantly skeptical and suspicious of strangers. This has also led him to hesitate on taking decisive action, instead delaying until he can be certain that he isn’t walking into a trap that oftentimes is not there.
Ideologue
Zesh is a singularly focused individual. He has been drawn towards the rebel struggle as a means of winning an asymmetric war, not against any single enemy but the very idea of tyranny. He is prepared to die for his perfect vision of the future because he has no life to return to. No family. No friends outside of his comrades. This makes him impractical and often blind to compromise that could benefit him or save lives.
Manchurian Candidate
The full extent of his experimental hypnosis conditioning is largely unknown. There is no telling what triggers are still dormant in his psyche, waiting to be activated.
HISTORY
Early Life
Zesh has no memory of his life before or during his time with the Jedi Order. It is assumed he was found by the Jedi at a young age and taken in for training. After passing the trials, he was selected or volunteered to become a Jedi shadow for a secret unit to combat rising Sith influence.
After receiving specialized training and their records being erased from the Jedi archives, Zesh and the other recruits of this secret unit underwent an experimental force hypnosis that erased much of their personal memories outside of their mission-critical skills. This was assumed to have been done to remove possible subconscious triggers like attachment, fear, and sadness that had historically led shadows to fall to the dark side, considering their proximity to evil and their morally grey activities. It is rumored that this experiment was later deemed a failure and the project was scrapped.
Zesh was given the codename Harko. Along with five other members of the newly dubbed Acklay Unit, he was deployed in conflict zones around the galaxy. The unit would work against the enemies of the jedi and galactic alliance by gathering intel, spreading propaganda, training insurgents, assassinating Sith and Imperial elite, carrying out enhanced interrogations at black sites, and committing acts of sabotage.
For political and humanitarian reasons these activities could not be tied back to the Galactic Alliance. They only took orders from an illegal black-budget division of the SIA and one enigmatic Jedi Master named Pharon Xer.
Zesh was given the codename Harko. Along with five other members of the newly dubbed Acklay Unit, he was deployed in conflict zones around the galaxy. The unit would work against the enemies of the jedi and galactic alliance by gathering intel, spreading propaganda, training insurgents, assassinating Sith and Imperial elite, carrying out enhanced interrogations at black sites, and committing acts of sabotage.
For political and humanitarian reasons these activities could not be tied back to the Galactic Alliance. They only took orders from an illegal black-budget division of the SIA and one enigmatic Jedi Master named Pharon Xer.
At age 29, Harko and another shadow codenamed Kram were deployed onto Wistril to conduct Operation Mothersound. The direct aims of the operation were to eliminate the threat posted by an experimental Imperial weapon and to assassinate an Imperial commander. Zesh's first mission was to rendezvous with an SIA informant codenamed Baksteen at a safehouse they had established planetside. After successfully stealing the plans for the empire’s weapon and destroying the prototype, the team received orders to not assassinate the Imperial commander and abort the mission.
Zesh and Kram were to pull out of Wistril immediately. After boarding a transport, Zesh sensed dark movement in the force. Fearing they had been trapped, the duo prepared to take control of the ship. At the front of the cabin two Sith inquisitors attacked. In an act of sacrifice, Kram closed and locked the door separating herself. Zesh could only look on through the window in the door as the inquisitors made quick work of his partner. The locked door gave Zesh just enough time to open the emergency hatch and leap from the shuttle, falling into the ocean below.
After barely surviving the fall and floating his way to shore, Zesh returned to the safehouse. Inside he found Baksteen bound to a chair being tortured by a pair of ISB agents. Zesh dealt with them and freed his colleague. Baksteen explained to Zesh that they’d been sold out. Given up in a deal between the SIA and ISB. With his dying breath he begged Harko to run.
Zesh fled to Telos and then Dantooine while attempting to make contact with the other members of the Acklay Unit to no success. He contacted Master Xer who ordered Harko to return to their headquarters immediately and booked him a shuttle. At the spaceport, just a few steps before boarding, Zesh felt something was off. The SIA agents urged him to enter the shuttle. Zesh refused and ran.
Zesh and Kram were to pull out of Wistril immediately. After boarding a transport, Zesh sensed dark movement in the force. Fearing they had been trapped, the duo prepared to take control of the ship. At the front of the cabin two Sith inquisitors attacked. In an act of sacrifice, Kram closed and locked the door separating herself. Zesh could only look on through the window in the door as the inquisitors made quick work of his partner. The locked door gave Zesh just enough time to open the emergency hatch and leap from the shuttle, falling into the ocean below.
After barely surviving the fall and floating his way to shore, Zesh returned to the safehouse. Inside he found Baksteen bound to a chair being tortured by a pair of ISB agents. Zesh dealt with them and freed his colleague. Baksteen explained to Zesh that they’d been sold out. Given up in a deal between the SIA and ISB. With his dying breath he begged Harko to run.
Zesh fled to Telos and then Dantooine while attempting to make contact with the other members of the Acklay Unit to no success. He contacted Master Xer who ordered Harko to return to their headquarters immediately and booked him a shuttle. At the spaceport, just a few steps before boarding, Zesh felt something was off. The SIA agents urged him to enter the shuttle. Zesh refused and ran.
Harko fled to the planet Troska where he still had contacts with an insurgency cell he helped train there. He met the new leader of the Troska Liberation Front, Dr. Bayani Galán, an older and charismatic man. At the time, Troska was not directly controlled by the empire but they had a considerable military presence there to protect the valuable fuel refineries. While Galán was the cadre commander, he showed an immediate respect for Harko and confided in him that although the TLF had accepted alliance support in the past, they opposed the direct control of the alliance and empire in their system.
Zesh also met a young freedom fighter named Sola Uoka. For the next year they fought against the imperial anti-insurgency force, the Sable Brigade, led by a young Major Kato Faust. With the help of Harko, the TLF started to see more success in their guerilla campaign. Galán began to openly speak out against both the empire and alliance, delivering speeches via communication networks and rallies.
Dr. Galán was not a military man but rather an academic. Formerly a university political-science professor, he left his position to take an active role in the grassroots political process. His doctrine was rooted in the idea of planetary independence. He saw the galactic expansion of the alliance, empire, and Sith Order serving the same masters of greed and control. While quality of life increased on the core worlds and imperial capitals it always came at the expense of the outlying systems that form their spheres of influence.
Harko greatly admired Galán. Despite not being force-sensitive, the doctor embodied everything Zesh believed the force to be. A balanced power of peace and passion for change, immune to the will of any single doctrine. For the first time since his memory-erasure Zesh felt that his actions were not only effective but positive. His training had transformed him into a stoic tool but under Galán he did not feel like a soulless shadow. He felt that his actions, despite their violence, brought real and lasting change that benefitted not only Troska but the galaxy at large.
Zesh also met a young freedom fighter named Sola Uoka. For the next year they fought against the imperial anti-insurgency force, the Sable Brigade, led by a young Major Kato Faust. With the help of Harko, the TLF started to see more success in their guerilla campaign. Galán began to openly speak out against both the empire and alliance, delivering speeches via communication networks and rallies.
Dr. Galán was not a military man but rather an academic. Formerly a university political-science professor, he left his position to take an active role in the grassroots political process. His doctrine was rooted in the idea of planetary independence. He saw the galactic expansion of the alliance, empire, and Sith Order serving the same masters of greed and control. While quality of life increased on the core worlds and imperial capitals it always came at the expense of the outlying systems that form their spheres of influence.
Harko greatly admired Galán. Despite not being force-sensitive, the doctor embodied everything Zesh believed the force to be. A balanced power of peace and passion for change, immune to the will of any single doctrine. For the first time since his memory-erasure Zesh felt that his actions were not only effective but positive. His training had transformed him into a stoic tool but under Galán he did not feel like a soulless shadow. He felt that his actions, despite their violence, brought real and lasting change that benefitted not only Troska but the galaxy at large.
During a cease-fire parlay with the Sable Brigade, in a small village called Salym, the temple designated as the neutral meeting place was bombed, killing both parties, including Dr. Galán. Both sides blamed each other for the attack. Cha believed it was actually SIA sabotage meant to keep the conflict going. The Acklay Unit had conducted a similar mission in the past.
Following Galán’s death, the TLF split into two factions. One supporting a GA-sympathetic leader and the other faction supporting Zesh. After losing the political power struggle, Zesh, Sola and a dozen other members left the group and planet.
Following Galán’s death, the TLF split into two factions. One supporting a GA-sympathetic leader and the other faction supporting Zesh. After losing the political power struggle, Zesh, Sola and a dozen other members left the group and planet.
The splinter faction became nomadic rebels, taking the name the Sons of Galán in honor of the fallen leader. For the next several years they traveled the galaxy, gathering intel, sabotaging facilities, and fighting in various actions. All while fleeing from the major galaxy powers. They gained new recruits and equipment as they went, eventually forming a formidable arsenal of weapons and vehicles. At the height of their strength, they won a decisive tactical victory on Ketaris and pulled off a convoy heist that crippled an imperial crackdown on Jabiim.
During an uprising on Baltizaar, two days after Harko’s 32nd birthday, the Sons of Galán and a local revolutionary movement became pinned down by the ruling regime after a failed offensive. The resistance claimed that the galactic alliance had promised to intervene and provide air support to the rebels. The alliance never arrived. The revolutionaries were wiped out and Zesh held the line at a final barricade while the remaining Sons of Gaán escaped. Harko had expected to die but was instead incapacitated, captured, and frozen in carbonite for transfer off-world.
During an uprising on Baltizaar, two days after Harko’s 32nd birthday, the Sons of Galán and a local revolutionary movement became pinned down by the ruling regime after a failed offensive. The resistance claimed that the galactic alliance had promised to intervene and provide air support to the rebels. The alliance never arrived. The revolutionaries were wiped out and Zesh held the line at a final barricade while the remaining Sons of Gaán escaped. Harko had expected to die but was instead incapacitated, captured, and frozen in carbonite for transfer off-world.
STORY ARCHIVE
Hypnopompia
The Headhunter
Last edited: