The Essential Guide to Force Exile/Helsi D'brisse

Helsi D’brisse was one of the youngest Mistryl team leaders ever, and her superiors made sure she knew it. She was typically sent on easy missions with plentiful assets-partially because Helsi was notorious for underestimating her opponents and partially because she wasn’t that highly trusted. Despite her half-dozen successfully completed missions before she was twenty-five, Helsi was looked down upon as impetuous and hot-headed, a label she somewhat deserved. She also preferred working alone, mostly because that meant she didn’t have to share the credit for a successful mission or be responsible for the actions of anyone but herself. By far, she preferred assassination to kidnapping or serving as a bodyguard; it was much easier to kill someone to keep them alive, after all.

However, when one of the Eleven Matriarchs, Palla D’sephone, ordered her to take a team of Mistryl Shadow Guards to track down an elusive scientist named Sarth Kraen and forcibly recruit him into Mistryl employ, Helsi had little other recourse. She soon found out that she had more than she bargained for, as she didn’t like most of the women she was working with and Kraen proved to be oddly hard to find. Her team finally tracked him to the planet of Commenor and infiltrating the trade world was laughably easy.

From there, it was almost all down hill from there. Helsi and her five companions tried a stealthy night assault, but that only cost her the group’s sniper and intrusion expert. This initial failure stunned Helsi, but she was resolutely determined to continue in her mission. However, a foolhardy attempt by one of her team-members to brazenly seize Kraen in broad daylight ended in failure. Though the other Mistryl survived, the local law enforcement redoubled their security and moved the Kraens to a remote location, which took time to locate.

Helsi played for time with Palla, but she knew she needed to grab Kraen fast. Once again, the Mistryl attacked the safe house under cover of darkness, though Helsi once again led from the back, preferring to let her teammates deal with the bodyguards. The Mistryl were repulsed, though, by a group of bodyguards and Helsi was not only shocked&mdash;she was furious. The idea of well-trained Shadow Guards being defeated by security guards was a serious blow to her vision of Mistryl superiority. Two of the guards were actually former ARC troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic and therefore worthy opponents, but she could hardly have known that. Her eagerness to finish the mission quickly kept her from pausing long enough to conduct adequate surveillance.

She did know that Sarth Kraen was friends with a local law enforcement official, Annita Daowot. The same night as the failed attack on the safe house, Helsi stole into the city of Munto and single-handedly captured the unsuspecting Annita. Helsi delivered a sinister ultimatum: Kraen would turn himself over, or Annita would be killed. Kraen agreed, bringing along a sizable computer core to the docking bay she specified, but what Helsi didn’t know was that she hadn’t met Sarth Kraen, she’d met his brother Selu, disguised as Sarth. Selu, a Jedi Knight, was the reason the first two Mistryl abduction attempts had failed and now she allowed him into her ship and took him back to Emberlene. Furthermore, she failed to thoroughly scan Selu’s computer core, which would have determined that it was actually a sizable bomb. She was simply too elated and weary to put the proper effort into the necessary caution. After all, Sarth Kraen was a nearly harmless scientist.

On Emberlene, Helsi presented “Sarth” to her superior, who was pleased with her success, though not with the heavy casualties&mdash;all of her team had been killed. However, not two hours later, Palla learned of Selu’s deception and ordered one of her acolytes, Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress, to kill Selu. However, Asajj betrayed Palla, slaying her with a lightsaber, giving Selu enough time to recover his own concealed lightsabers and do battle with Asajj. Several young Mistryl, including Helsi, tried to attack both of the Force-wielders, but even their formidable commando skills were insufficient against the power of the Force. Helsi D’brisse was beheaded by Asajj Ventress, dying instantly. A few minutes later, her body and much of the Mistryl defensive network were vaporized when the bomb Selu had brought was detonated.

Appearances

 * Force Exile II: Smuggler