Jix Hekyl Jix Hekyl was a male Pantoran who attended the Vocational School for Institutional Security on the planet Lothal during the reign of the Galactic Empire . In addition , Hekyl worked as a courier for the Gray Syndicate , a minor crime syndicate operating in Lothal ' s Capital City . Hekyl spent his time at the school in a computer lab on the lowest level , where he and some of his friends were visited by the new student Merei Spanjaf when she needed help with intrusion countermeasures . Hekyl at first laughed at the girl alongside his friends , but later told her she was looking for a snooper program and introduced her to a chain of individuals who led her to the Gray Syndicate . Using the snoopers supplied by the Gray Syndicate , Merei managed to hack into the Imperial Transportation Ministry and acquire the information she had been looking for . However , one of the snoopers failed to delete itself and the Imperial authorities launched an investigation into the data breach . In response , Jix tried to help Merei to evade the Imperial authorities . While he managed to changed her school photo , they failed to delete her repeater service account since it was held at a secure data storage warehouse . Jix survived an Imperial raid which decimated the entire Gray Leadership but was later arrested by the Imperial authorities following a failed second attempt to change Merei ' s school photo . Biography . Juggling school and slicing . The Pantoran boy Jix Hekyl attended the Vocational School for Institutional Security on the planet Lothal around five years before the Battle of Yavin . While there , some of the programming work he did was of a shady nature that meant he could not include it on his school transcript . Hekyl spent time in a gloomy computer lab on the school ' s lowest level with six other students , some of who wore tatoos and had unnaturally colored hair . During his free time , he also worked as a slicer for the Gray Syndicate , a minor crime organization led by Yahenna Laxo . Helping Merei Spanjaf . When a new V - SIS student named Merei Spanjaf needed to learn about intrusion countermeasures in order to monitor information at the Imperial Transportation Ministry , she visited the computer lab and was greeted by Hekyl , who asked who she was . When Spanjaf introduced herself and asked for help , the Pantoran and the other students joked about only working for the good of the Empire , and then laughed at her for being interested in trying something so complex while she was new . Having received no help , Spanjaf left the lab , but Hekyl caught up with her outside and claimed that he had only been joking before , explaining she was looking for a snooper program but warning her that using them was illegal . When Spanjaf persisted in her interest , Hekyl directed her toward an ex - student of the school named Bandis Yong , who in turn sent her to an old shopkeeper who put her in touch with the criminal Gray Syndicate . Subsequently , the Gray Syndicate ' s boss Laxo agreed to supply Merei with the snoopers in return for enlisting her services as a courier . While Merei succeeded in using the snoopers to infiltrate the Imperial data network on Lothal , one of the snoopers failed to delete itself and was subsequently detected by the Imperial authorities who launched an investigation . To complicate matters further , Merei ' s mother Jessa was made the head of the anti - intrusion team investigating the break - in . During her second visit to the Gray Syndicate ' s headquarters , Merei discovered that Jix was also working for the crime syndicate by helping to man their network terminals . Upon seeing Merei , Jix blushed in embarrassment out of guilt for getting Merei into debt with the Gray Syndicate . Later , Jix met Merei at school after she had returned from delivering messages to Laxo ' s associates . After learning that Laxo had made Merei his courier , he expressed regret at getting her involved with the Gray Syndicate . Merei then responded that it was her own fault for getting entangled with Laxo and that " it was worth it " since she had discovered the whereabouts of her boyfriend Zare Leonis ' missing sister . Jix then quickly deduced that Laxo was only enlisting Merei ' s services as a courier because something had gone wrong . Merei then admitted that the Empire had manged to find one of her snooper programs . During their conversation , Jix came up with two ways to make it difficult for the Imperial authorities to track down Merei : switching her photo in the V - SIS records and erasing her account at the repeater service Bakiska ' s . Since Bakiska ' s data center on Lower Gallo was well - guarded , Jix and Merei settled for tampering with her V - SIS photo . They reasoned that it would make it impossible if not difficult for the witness at the Transportation Ministry to identify Merei , who had infiltrated the facility disguised as a school girl from Phelarion School . Using his computing skills , Jix switched Merei ' s V - SIS photo with that of Hestia Tarleton , a pupil at the Young Ladies ' Seminary of Lothal Settlers . Later , Laxo rented Jix to a client for a special slicing job . Knowing that Jix had a good rapport with Merei , Laxo assigned her to escort him . Jix was also present when Laxo paid Merei a thousand credit s for her services , a large sum . During the trip , Jix rode on Merei ' s jumpspeeder and held his arms around her waist to maintain balance . Despite Jix ' s infatuation for Merei , he was aware that she already had a boyfriend : Zare . For the next few days , Jix continued to hitch a ride to work with Merei . On one such trip , Jix and Merei discussed Governor Arihnda Pryce ' s recent crackdown in the light of the rebel attack on the Empire Day celebrations . As a result of the crackdown , one of Laxo ' s warehouses and two of his gambling clubs had been raided by Imperial stormtrooper s . While other crime syndicates had been targeted , Jix mentioned that Laxo was unhappy since he owed credits to other more powerful gangsters and the raids had disrupted his flow of income . After Merei discovered that her mother ' s investigation team had narrowed the intrusion pattern from the Transportation Ministry to three repeater services , she contacted Jix to discuss her predicament . After Merei ruled out contacting Laxo for help , Jix came up with a plan to sneak a pulse - mag into Bakiska ' s warehouse in order to erase Merei ' s account data . Jix decided that they should bluff their way into the warehouse by claiming that they were on official business for Laxo . Having called a few favors , Jix had learned where the machine storing Bakiska ' s inactive and deleted accounts were stored . The following day , the two classmates put their plan into action and attempted to enter Bakiska ' s warehouse . However , they were apprehended by the local security thugs who evicted them from the premises . Since their actions had aroused the wrath of Laxo , Merei advised Jix to lie low while she dealt with Laxo herself . She also borrowed Jix ' s pulse - mag , which she used to delete that data stored at the Gray Syndicate ' s headquarters prior to an Imperial raid , which claimed the lives of Laxo and his associates . The sole survivor was Merei , who managed to mislead the authorities into believing that she had been kidnapped by the Syndicate in order to stop her parents ' investigation into the Transportation Ministry data breach . Captured . Following the Imperial raid on the Gray Syndicate ' s headquarters , Jix expressed anger towards his classmate Merei for her role in causing the deaths of several former associates . When he asked Merei whether she had tipped off the Imperial authorities , she admitted doing so but conceded that things had not turned out the way she had wanted . To allay Jix ' s concerns that multiple people had died , Merei responded that they were lucky to be alive and free of Laxo . She also saw it as a second chance for them to make a clean slate . Despite Merei ' s optimism , the two youths did not escape the gaze of the Empire for long . After a rebel cell known as the Spectres hijacked the Imperial Communications Center at Jalath , the Empire accelerated its crackdown on sedition and illegal activities on Lothal . Merei convinced an unhappy Jix to switch her V - SIS photo . Earlier , Merei had got Jix to switch her own photo with that of another student named Hestia Tarleton . However , Jix was unable to switch back the photos since the Imperial authorities had locked down the system . Despite their fears , Merei managed to pass through a meeting with an Imperial interviewer , who had been sent to their school to investigate illegal activities . The Imperial authorities had not been able to link Merei to the Transportation Ministry data breach since she had switched her photo with that of Tarleton . Later , Jix was interrogated by a seemingly friend Imperial official who questioned the youth about his knowledge of repeater services and info - houses . The official released him , leading Jix to believe that he had escaped the " long hand of the law . " When Jix related his interrogation experience to Merei , she revealed that the Imperial authorities had not asked her those questions . Shortly later , Jix was arrested by an Imperial officer and two stormtroopers , who had deduced that he was connected to the Transportation Ministry data breach . After class , Merei took her chance to escape offworld with her parents and the Leonis family . Personality and traits . Hekyl and his friends considered the computer lab they used their kingdom , and when Merei Spanjaf entered they played rough with her and refused to help . After catching up to Spanjaf once she had left the lab , Hekyl was out of breath and looked unhappy to be out in the sun . He apologized for his friends ' behavior , claiming neither he or they had meant what they said , and offered to help . While apologizing , Hekyl ' s cheeks blushed indigo . The Pantoran believed that what ever Spanjaf needed the snooper for was not his business and so did not ask , but warned her that getting a snooper would be risky and expensive . Hekyl had blue skin and yellow eye s . Jix also used his slicing skills to gain work with the Gray Syndicate , a minor crime syndicate operating in Lothal ' s Capital City . He later used them to help his classmate Spanjaf hack into the Imperial data network on Lothal and to evade the Imperial authorities . Hekyl ' s relationship with Merei deteriorated due to the latter ' s involvement in a raid on the Gray Syndicate ' s headquarters which killed many of his associates . However , he still agreed to help her to switch back her school photo . Unfortunately for Jix , his efforts were unsuccessful since the Imperial authorities had locked down the system . Despite his computer skills , Jix let his guard down when he was questioned by a seemingly friendly Imperial interrogator who questioned him about his knowledge of repeater services and info - houses . As a result , he was subsequently arrested him in connection with the investigation into the Transportation Ministry data breach . Equipment . While in the computer lab , Hekyl wore goggles and a headset . Behind the scenes . Jix Hekyl first appeared in " " a novel by Jason Fry which was released in 2015 .