Rediaex'aere'zortiea

✦ Backstory

Born on the Chiss world of Csilla, he had a pretty normal childhood growing up - though as a teenager, he started to hang around the wrong crowd. From them, he learned how to slice and as he got better at it, he took to blackmailing public figures and the authorities - sometimes just for the hell of it to see if he could get away with it, and sometimes because he was hired to do so. After slicing what was supposed to be a secure government database, he was taken into custody - though instead of being arrested or "dealt with," his skills were put to use and he was trained for Csilla's secret police. He had his face minorly reconstructed for the first time to distance himself from his criminal past so his former allies wouldn't recognize him.

When the Ascendency made first contact with the Sith Empire, Xaerez took immediate interest as he'd never been off Csilla nor was familiar with the galaxy beyond Ascendency space. With the skills in their file, Imperial Intelligence requested him as the Ascendency started working more closely with the Empire. They were put through further, extensive training as an assassin and spy, as well as intensive mental training against Force techniques. They became a master of disguise - be it by dressing up and pretending to be someone they weren't, or going to the extreme with a disguise projector, vocal implants, and/or surgery to alter their appearance.

As he performed increasingly sensitive tasks for the Empire, his superiors began to grow concerned over his connections holding him back, as he'd disappeared from their watch for a time after his older sister's infant died of complications. He was given the choice to take out his "weaknesses" himself, or someone else would do it for him. Knowing their family could suffer under the hand of another, Xaerez took it upon themself to make the end for their parents, sister, brother-in-law, and few contacts from their criminal past, as quick and painless as possible with a well-placed sniper bolt between the eyes. They distanced themself from others after, and most would never come to know their full name or even core name. He spent a long time alone, refusing partners and working as Intelligence's rising star of a lone wolf.

Upon being named Cipher Nine farther down the line, his face was surgically reconstructed for the second time to completely sever ties with his former identity. It would be shortly before this that they'd meet Kaliyo, and take her as a partner per Keeper's orders - even if they very much protested the idea. Over the course of the year to follow, their team grows - much to their irritation, in the case of most of their companions. He preferred to work alone, and though they had their uses, he felt held back by a team that he had to hold his tongue around.

However, they'd soon see the pros to having others to watch their back - and, though they'd often butt heads with Kaliyo and didn't trust her or SCORPIO for a moment, they wouldn't deny that they were better as allies than enemies. He even began to open up some with Vector, feeling an odd sort of kinship with him that would blossom into the two having an almost sibling-like bond. This revelation would come to save his life as he marched to Darth Jadus' location to take care of the situation with the Eradicators. They're positive they wouldn't have survived the duel they started to distract Jadus if it hadn't been for Vector and Kaliyo at his back while Raina input the commands at the console to trap Jadus. However, though it was a victory on that front, Xaerez felt terrible guilt for allowing the Eradicators to fire in order to get Jadus to put his guard down, knowing they were responsible for thousands of deaths per the suggestion of Watcher Two.

It was there that Xaerez started to doubt the Empire. He took a step back and took a long look at what he served as guilt and anger began to twist his gut. Looked at the slavery, the hypocrisy, the Sith who could get away with whatever they wanted and the xenophobic officers he often served. And...when they were given the order to go undercover in Republic SIS with the cover story of "scarred agent wanting to switch sides," he began to see the story as closer to the truth than they wanted to admit. Before meeting with the SIS team he was meant to work with, he attempted to have his third and final facial reconstruction - however, the droids he used had been sliced and attempted to kill him. Only Lokin overseeing the event stopped it from happening, but the event resulted in the heavy scarring to one side of Xaerez's face; he now believes the slice was the work of either the Star Cabal, or a Sith who felt threatened by his actions against Jadus.

It was only upon meeting Agent Kothe for the first time that he discovered the brainwashing (officially "Castellan restriants") that he had no idea was in place. He began to grow bitter with Kothe and his team the longer he worked with them - all while growing increasingly suspicious of Hunter. The brainwashing - which they knew had been put in place by the Empire, while exploited by the Republic - had them growing rebellious and doing things for the greater good rather than what may benefit either faction. As long as their brainwashing wasn't triggered with an order, at least. They would grow desperate to break their conditioning, going so far as to re-inject themself with the serum used for it in order to reset it so only they would know their code-word.

In the end, however, they accepted Kothe's offer to join the SIS as a spy, as they saw the Republic as the lesser of two evils - but only under the condition that he never had to speak to Kothe again, no exeptions. From then on, his contact was Jonas Balker and his priority became to help end the war from within the Empire with as little bloodshed as possible.

In dealing with the Dread Masters and Makeb later down the line, Xaerez worked in the background - gathering information, striking when it wasn't expected, and just being the nameless shadow they were. They're unsure how Lana and Arkous managed to get into contact with them, but from there started an unintentional partnership with Darth Nox, the Wrath, and Grand Champion. By extention, that partnership soon grew to include the Barsen'thor, Hero of Tython, Havoc Squad, and the Voidhound as the threat of the Revanites reared its head.

Come the threat of the Eternal Empire, he joined up with Theron to help him with contacts, effectively disappearing from both the Empire and Republic over the years that the "Outlander" was missing. They were split up from their original team over that time - though Vector stuck around and Raina remained in contact, all while he and Theron would grow close and eventually begin a relationship. He would go on to become one of the Alliance's best spies, and come Onslaught he'd once more go undercover; taking on the disguise of "Agent Verdat" within the Sith Empire.

The disguise would last a few years, until they were discovered by Sith Interrogator Ehna'dissen and her partner Ataiqo. The interrogator would torture him within an inch of his life demanding to know what he'd told the Alliance, all while Ataiqo got into his head and pried any information from it that she could. To his horror, the key to his brainwashing that had gone long-dormant was among that information, and the pair would go on to trigger it when he was back on Alliance grounds.

Growing desperate as they begin hallucinating and having seizures, he does anything he can think of that can clue the others in on something being terribly wrong, even as he bites his tongue against his will, and words that aren't his own assure that everything is just fine. It's Lana, the only one familiar with the restraints and who ordered them no longer be used in the first place, who's able to put the symptoms together and figure out what's wrong with the agent. It's with Synnda tagging along from a Force shroud so Xaerez doesn't know he's there that the brainwashed agent follows the order to bring Theron to Ehna'dissen's location. They kill the interrogator after prying the code-word from her, freeing Xaerez from the commands she'd given them. It would be years of work and letting only a select few Force-users into his head for the last remnants of the restraints to be destroyed, and they're never quite the same after the event.