Ember Chankeli was a Human female who contracted Dass Jennir for a job on Cato Neimoidia and owned an inn on her home planet, known as Telerath. She would later accompany Jennir on his travels and become his lover.

Biography[]

She was born and living on Telerath, in a town of Noua that mostly dealt business in the tourist trade. But the things changed when a gang of slavers moved in and made the town its headquarters, resulting in most of the businesses failing – Ember's included. Ember wanted to clear the town of the gang and to restore it to what it once was. To do so, she posted an ad in a cantina on Cato Neimoidia, where off-record jobs were posted. Several individuals tried to acquire the job, including a Chistori thug and a young Human male, but it was former Jedi Dass Jennir who proved to be able to perform the job. Ember left him some advance credits and the datachip with coordinates of the city and agreed to meet him there in two weeks since their first meeting.

When Jennir arrived on Telerath he found out that the slavers led by a Chagrian named Musori wasn't the only gang in the town – the second one was a spice running gang led by a couple of T'surr and the two gangs were constantly after each other. After learning about that, Jennir realized that his employer told him only half the truth. In fact, Chankeli hired Jennir to take care of the slavers in order to make space for the spice runners.

In the middle of the night, while Jennir was attending to Dado, who lost his right hand attempting to join Musori's gang through their head enforcer Mors Demanna, Ember slipped away to inform the spice gang leader, Ken-Kiba, of her beliefs that Jennir can be easily manipulated; on the side, she also brought Ken-Kiba a sentient slave for him.

However, while she was out, Jennir made it to Telerath's second moon, where he freed the slaves from Ken-Giree, Ken-Kiba's brother and pinned his death on the slavers.

The next morning, Ember returned to her inn to inquire if Jennir had had his breakfast. When Tam said that he wasn't in his room the last time she checked, Ember let out her fury at Nikollane, who was more occupied with her son, before she saw Jennir walking with Mors Demanna; she commented: "This is going better than expected". Ember later guessed that he must have been recruited into Musori's gang. Nikollane voiced her opinion that Jennir shouldn't be running around with the people who harmed her son, which resulted in Ember striking her. She threatened to sell both her to the Hutts and dump her son into a canal if either of them interfered in her plans.

Later, Jennir returned to Ember's inn, announcing that the gang problems would be resolved. Then suddenly, Jennir rushed off after Nikollane informed him that Dado intended to rat him out to Musori. A suspicious Ember then demanded answers from Nikollane. Ember then went to Ken-Kiba, who was in the midst of a gang war with Musori, and brought him and his gang back to her inn, where Jennir was about to urge her slaves to leave. As Ken-Kiba began to avenge himself upon Jennir, Nikollane activated the inn's trapdoor to enable him to escape. Enraged, Ken-Kiba had Ember and all her slaves locked up, determining that it was in fact she was manipulating him, not Jennir.

After suffering at the hands of the spicers, Ember was rescued by Jennir after a showdown with Demanna, and she followed Jennir as he made his way to finish the battle with Ken-Kiba and his followers.

The events damaged Chankeli's reputation, so it seemed impossible for her to continue in her old life. She asked Jennir that she would be allowed to accompany him on his travels. After this was agreed, the two broke into the direction on the planet Vondarc where Chankeli wanted to visit her family. During the flight, they were attacked by Imperials, after which they crashed on the barren wasteland of the planet Prine. In search of civilization, Chankeli confessed to her Jedi companion that she had no family at all on Vondarc, but this merely was a pretext to accompany him on his journeys. When they were both separated, Chankeli was kidnapped by a group of slave traders.

While Jennir was following the caravan of slavers, he was being followed by Falco Sang, a bounty hunter hired by the family of Dezono Qua to avenge his death at Jennir's hand. Eventually, both Jennir and Sang caught up with the slavers, and while the Jedi attempted to rescue Ember, the bounty hunter watched for a chance to kill him. He shot the repulsor on the transport carrying Ember and a young girl named Maddie, causing Ember to fall off. She told Jennir to leave, and after he left with Maddie, the bounty hunter apprehended her and let the surviving slavers leave.

Ember suggested that they work together to capture the Jedi, but Sang saw through her attempt at subterfuge and instead used her as bait to draw Jennir into a trap. Ember was tied to a pole and gagged; if she tried to warn Jennir, she would be shot by his droid Izee. However, Jennir was more cunning than Sang had anticipated; he sent in H2 disguised as himself to make Sang reveal his location, then using telekinesis brought him out into the open. Sang ordered Izee to shoot Ember, but H2's chassis partially blocked the shot, leaving her wounded but not dead. Izee then attempted to shoot Jennir, but the Jedi deflected the shot with his lightsaber, causing it to rebound and destroy the droid. After Sang fled, Jennir attempted to heal Ember, but with uncertain results due to his emotional state and limited gifts in Force healing, and passed out.

Thankfully, the pair were rescued by the crew of the Uhumele, who were searching for Jennir, and were given medical attention. When Jennir walked into the room, the two unexpectedly kissed, prompting the crew to give them some privacy. Jennir then broke off the kiss, reminding himself that as a Jedi he should be mindful of his emotion. However, Ember didn't mind. She then remembered that Maddie was left unaccounted for. Jennir went to talk with Captain Schurk-Heren to return to Prine. In the meantime, Meekerdin-maa provided Ember with new clothes that previously belonged to Crys Taanzer, albeit not in her size. Sadly, Heren refused to return to Prine, as an Imperial battlecruiser was searching the planet. After the crew adjourned, Jennir told Ember that the mount he used during the rescue was helping guide Maddie back home, but he worries that he may have destroyed her hope of ever seeing them again. The pair then embrace as Jennir lamented how dangerous the galaxy is becoming.

Behind the scenes[]

The appearance of Ember is based on a friend of Randy Stradley named Kimber.^[1]

Appearances[]

• Dark Times 13 (First appearance)
• Dark Times 14
• Dark Times 15
• Dark Times 16
• Dark Times 17
• Dark Times—Out of the Wilderness 1
• Dark Times—Out of the Wilderness 2
• Dark Times—Out of the Wilderness 3
• Dark Times—Out of the Wilderness 4
• Dark Times—Out of the Wilderness 5
• Dark Times—A Spark Remains 1
• Dark Times—A Spark Remains 2
• Dark Times—A Spark Remains 3
• Dark Times—A Spark Remains 4
• Dark Times—A Spark Remains 5

Notes and references[]