Even Tang Xiao was surprised. "Locked himself inside an escape pod? How did he manage that?"
Admiral Qiyala nodded grimly. "That's right. It's an unbelievable outcome."
Let's briefly sort through what happened aboard the FateSpinner... At first, Darth Malthael fought his way into the warship from the hangar platform. Then the Marines inside the ship moved in to eliminate him, but he slaughtered his way straight through them, first destroying the hyperdrive engine before charging into the bridge.
Then, during his telepathic exchange with Jikstus, Jikstus still displayed a bit of gentlemanly grace. He ordered everyone to cease fire and welcome Darth Malthael to the bridge. At that stage, Jikstus should already have used his mind-control powers. In other words, everyone aboard the warship should have lost their sense of self and become puppets of the Grysk.
Later, during the battle between Darth Malthael and Jikstus, the Grysk realized that defeat was inevitable. So he once again used his mind control, ordering every crew member aboard the warship to converge on the bridge and prepare to besiege Darth Malthael.
But immediately afterward, Darth Malthael transformed every living being aboard the ship into undead and once again issued the order to besiege the bridge. And this time, the assault on those Grysk lasted for at least five minutes!
There had been two separate orders to head for the bridge, neither of them brief. Under such circumstances, it was impossible for anyone to still be inside an escape pod located in the middle section of the warship.
And since he had already become an undead creature, he clearly had not been able to resist Darth Malthael's Death Force.
That made the situation clear—this person had not been controlled by the Grysk! When Jikstus used mind control to order everyone aboard the warship