Jae Mordant’s optional conversation appears during Cycle 13 of “The Umbaran Connection,” while the main objective still reads “Investigating Rhy Cesca.” She does not come to you, and the marker on the HUD only tells you she is somewhere in the Den. She is standing in the back room with the tactical map screens.
Quick answer: From the main base area, follow the corridor past the hangar into the rear room lined with computer monitors and tactical map displays, then interact with Jae standing beside the large map screen.
When the “Talk to Jae” objective appears
The prompt shows up on the Den’s HUD as an OPTIONAL entry underneath the active mission block. At that point the cycle counter reads CYCLE 13, the mission header reads THE UMBARAN CONNECTION, and the tracked task is “Investigating Rhy Cesca” with 1 Cycle remaining to complete. The PERSONNEL panel may also be flagging a New Recruit Available and Cross Training Available at the same time, which is easy to confuse with the Jae prompt since both sit in the same corner of the screen.
Because the objective is optional, nothing forces you into it and nothing stops you from launching a tactical mission first. Missions and operations on the galaxy map only stay available for a limited number of cycles, though, so it is worth clearing the conversation before you advance the clock.
Route to Jae inside the Den
You control Hawks in third person while walking around the base, so this is straight navigation rather than a menu selection. The Den sits inside a hangar on the Rings of Kefrene, and the walk takes well under a minute.
What the conversation covers and how to confirm it worked
Interacting triggers a cutscene. Jae tells Hawks she has picked up an encrypted distress signal from Kinro Billix, her former castellan, and explains that he is her oldest and most trusted advisor, the man who helped her set up her citadel and stayed with her when nobody else did. Hawks, predictably, has no idea what a castellan is.
The confirmation is a change on the HUD. Once the dialogue ends, the optional “Talk to Jae” entry is replaced by a new objective reading “Launch Operation for Jae: Kinro Decryption.” If that line has not appeared, the conversation did not complete and you should approach her again.
Kinro Decryption is an operation rather than a tactical mission, so it runs from the galaxy map interface instead of dropping you into combat. Operations are funded with resources and you can have more than one running at a time, unlike tactical missions, which end the cycle.
Common reasons the objective does not trigger
| Symptom | What to check |
|---|---|
| No “Talk to Jae” prompt on the HUD | The optional objective is tied to Cycle 13 of The Umbaran Connection, while “Investigating Rhy Cesca” is the active task. |
| Cannot find Jae anywhere in the open base | She is not on the hangar floor. She stands in the rear room with the monitors and tactical map screens. |
| Talked to the wrong character | Support characters and custom operators also idle around the Den. Jae is the one positioned at the large map display. |
| Objective still reads “Talk to Jae” after the scene | The cutscene was cut short. Re-approach her until the objective changes to Launch Operation for Jae: Kinro Decryption. |
Note: Every authored operator can be found and spoken to around the base between missions, and their conversations feed into the bond system. Jae’s chat here is the entry point to her personal thread, so skipping the cycle entirely means skipping the operation it unlocks.
Who Jae Mordant is and why she matters in the squad
Jae was born into House Mordant of Shu-Torun and left to build her own mining citadel on Luunata, where she ruled as Ore-Baroness until Fathom and the Infinite Coil handed the planet to the Separatists. She is the reason the Republic hired Zero Company in the first place, and getting Luunata back is her entire motivation.
Her unique talent is Final Shot, which has her step in automatically to finish off low-health targets without spending action points. Upgrading it raises the health threshold she reacts to and increases how many Final Shots she can make per turn, which is why she is worth fielding regularly once the talent is levelled.
One thing worth remembering before you take her into the field: authored operators live under the same permadeath rules as custom recruits. Three injuries on standard difficulty and the character dies for good, with story consequences that carry forward. Jae is no exception, so the personal thread that starts with this conversation only continues if she survives.
