By Plif Hondi
When the Covenant of the Black Rose showed up in the Outer Rim, people were skeptical- a natural response when a coalition of separatist Sith establish a government named after specifically colored flora. When rumors circulated that the Covenant of the Black Rose had indeed allied itself with the Republic, the galaxy's fast-receding bastion of democracy and the rule of law, one could have imagined that these Sith would be a little different from the rest. That is to say- less violent, less capricious, and more fiscally responsible.
Boy, were we wrong.
Records of a recently concluded auction show that one of the Covenant's leading power players, Sanya Val Lerium, has purchased a lightsaber that purportedly belonged to a "Darth Revan" for a total of fifty-six billion standard galactic credits. This is with the additional bid of ten "Voi" airspeeders, five "Dynamic-class" freighters, and 6 "Udarnik" frigates. By the assessment of Val Lerium's corporation, Inquisition Industries, the additional of these vehicles totals to upwards of an additional seven million.
This isn't the first time that Val Lerium has engaged in this kind of whimsical spending. After action reports of a slave auction disrupted by the ever-vigilant members of the Obsidian Order place none other than Sanya Val Lerium at the scene. Testimony given by captured slavers confirm that Val Lerium bid upwards of one-point-five billion credits on an adolescent Mirialan female. This slave, as with all others present, were released by the Obsidian Order and allocated temporary housing. Unfortunately, Val Lerium and many other high-profile "guests" whose identities have yet to be released by the Techno Union managed to evade capture.
We can only speculate as to the motivation behind the purchasing of a Miralian child for the price of a fleet of warships. Given the nature of slave girls as utilized by criminals, one can easily assume the worst. And when we factor in that Val Lerium placed more value (approximately fifty-five billion credits worth) on a trinket of dubious authenticity no bigger than a drinking glass than a living, breathing, sentient being, things certainly don't look bright for any other slaves Val Lerium may have purchased since then.
However, Sanya Val Lerium does not solely have the revenue of her company to rely on for making these purchases- not that a corporation of its size would be very helpful in making such heavy payments. Very recently, Val Lerium became the anointed monarch of the Rusya System, and so has likely drawn upon public funds in order to feed her ludicrous spending habits. Though little is known about the Rusya System, it must be a very wealthy world indeed. Otherwise a withdrawal of fifty-six billion credits would certainly cripple at least part of its economy and place undue tax burden on her constituents.
As I mentioned earlier, there were hopes that the Sith sect currently squatting in the Outer Rim would somehow be better than its parent in the Core Worlds. So long as Sanya Val Lerium remains a welcome member of this sect, we can clearly see that will never be the case.
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