Zakarisz Ghent Zakarisz Ghent was a slicer and associate of smuggler Talon Karrde . While highly intelligent and skilled in his area of expertise , Ghent was also incredibly naïve and absent - minded . Ghent earned a reputation as a legendary computer slicer during his time with Talon Karrde ' s crew , and as a result he eventually became Chief of Cryptography for the New Republic . Biography . Born on the planet Baroli , Ghent ' s gift with codes and numbers was prodigious . He first came to prominence at the age of twelve , when he single - handedly cracked the Imperial ILKO code in two months — a project that took the Rebel Alliance ' s entire top slicer team a full month . He was on Corellia after 0 ABY and before 4 ABY . The crux of his early life , however , occurred shortly after the Battle of Endor . Still in his teens , he was lured to the Mid Rim world of Chibias , and blackmailed into joining a Rebel Alliance plot to decrypt the control node of a Star Destroyer . However , the plot was foiled when Ghent encountered the fugitive Emperor ' s Hand Mara Jade ; the pair went their separate ways after the event , but before leaving the planet , Ghent was intercepted and recruited by Talon Karrde . During the Thrawn Crisis , Ghent was brought in by Karrde after Admiral Gial Ackbar was imprisoned by the New Republic on suspicion of taking bribes . Karrde suspected that Ackbar had been framed and that the funds found in Ackbar ' s account had been placed there by a slicer , and wanted Ghent to prove his suspicions . Loaned to the New Republic ' s investigation , it took Ghent a mere two days to clear Ackbar of any wrongdoing . Trapped on Coruscant by Thrawn ' s cloaked - asteroid blockade , Ghent was enlisted by the New Republic cryptologists to break the Imperial battle encryptions ; he also " guarded " his friend and associate Mara Jade while she was hospitalized . Though his value as a guard was questionable as he tended to ignore most things that weren ' t binary , Mara appreciated the thought . By the time Ghent ' s month - long stay on the capital was up he had broken the Imperial code , in addition to slicing the pulse transmitter encrypt code that was used by Delta Source , an Imperial Intelligence system acquiring information directly from the New Republic headquarters " for something to do " . This led to the discovery , and eventual termination of the costly intelligence leak . During this time , he also sliced himself a code to get into the New Republic ' s war room . When Leia asked him why , he said he was bored . In his introduction to the crypt team , he was under their impression that their best encryption - breaking routines were a " silly drill . " Later during the conflict , Ghent assisted Leia Organa Solo ' s infiltration the planet of Wayland by rigging the " Wild Karrde " with a fake Imperial transponder code , allowing the ship and her passengers to penetrate the planet ' s defenses . Thanks in part to his actions during the Thrawn Crisis , Ghent gained many valuable contacts in the upper echelons of the New Republic ’ s government . After Thrawn ' s death he joined New Republic Intelligence , and eventually worked his way up to the position of Chief of Cryptography for the New Republic , initially based aboard the Dreadnaught " Peregrine " under General Garm Bel Iblis . Caamas Document Crisis . In 19 ABY , Crypt Chief Ghent salvaged a scrambled transmission , addressed to General Garm Bel Iblis , from Admiral Gilad Pellaeon to extend peace between the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic once and for all . He delivered the message in person to High Councilor Leia Organa Solo on Pakrik Major and then accompanied her aboard the Millennium Falcon to meet with Pellaeon at Pesitiin . During their discussion , he surprised both of them by volunteering to go to the Ubiqtorate base at Yaga Minor ( disguised as an Imperial Lieutenant , with a uniform and cover identity provided by Pellaeon ) to retrieve an Imperial copy of the Caamas Document . He explained that his journey to Pakrik Major with Caamasi Trustant Elegos A ' Kla had deeply impressed on him the need to use one ' s talents for the greater good whenever possible . This assignment nearly resulted in his death when Bel Iblis , unaware of his presence , nearly destroyed the room he was in during the latter ' s data raid on Yaga Minor . Both the assignment and the raid might also have been futile , since the base ' s copy of the Caamas Document ( if one existed there ) had been altered weeks earlier by Major Grodin Tierce during his visit to Yaga Minor . Yuuzhan Vong War and Later Life . Ghent remained with NRI during and after the war with the Yuuzhan Vong . In 35 ABY he was called to Ossus by Luke Skywalker in an effort to solve some programming glitches with R2 - D2 . During the repairs , he was able to unlock holograms that showed Luke his mother , Padmé Amidala , for the first time , and how she died . However , Mara Jade found that Ghent was installing camera bugs in the New Jedi Temple under the orders of Chief of State Cal Omas . Luke Skywalker again trusted Ghent and let him finish his work on R2 - D2 . Behind the scenes . Ghent ' s first name was not revealed until the novel " " , released almost a decade after his first appearance in " Heir to the Empire " . Former director of Lucas Online Paul Ens posts at the official site discussion boards under the name " Ghent . "