Private I Find It Kinda Funny, I Find It Kinda Sad

[Velzari Tharn]

BLACK SUN SYNDICATE
I FIND IT KINDA FUNNY, I FIND IT KINDA SAD​

​

As Velzari traced over the lines of his own reflection in the window with his eyes, he found his features curling into a grim smile. Below the surface of his bilious skin, feelings of pride and power were shaping his expression. The Underlord—Prince of Crime, Lord of the Cartels, Governor of Nar Shaddaa—had been contemplating the many ways in which the galaxy chooses to cope.

Cope with the fact they they allowed a crime syndicate to blockade entire planets, to kidnap a chancellor, to murder senators, to aid in the dismantling of the Alliance, and to wrest control of the Hapes Cluster.

If the superpowers of the galaxy had any gumption, they’ve have flown straight to Hutt Space with their capital ships and fleets to pull Black Sun out by its roots. But they didn’t. They wouldn’t. They couldn’t. Prince Velzari’s empire had grown too powerful to be flattened with a hammer. He controlled senators, had Sith Lords wrapped around his finger, honored accords with Mandalore, and employed half the galaxy’s pirate lords and bounty hunters in some fashion or another. No, Black Sun could not be brute forced. It had to excised, brought to blade with precision and intent, like the cancer that it was.

But a revelation came to the Underlord, perhaps unfortunately too late to remedy easily: though Black Sun would require tactile work both politically and militarily to eliminate, the sheer size of his criminal empire did no favors in the department of discretion. A syndicate so large it could be mapped on star charts would not last long. As much as he was pleased by proverbially gazing upon all the light touches, it was clear that anything living in the light can be seen by all. Black Sun needed to abandon its own grandeur to survive. It must dive below the surface once again, a dark creature below the tide, a cancer beneath the skin, a shadow in the dark corners of the galaxy.

And so, from his palatial tower on Nar Shaddaa, Prince Velzari watched his reflection haunt the horizon of the Smuggler’s Moon—a physical embodiment of Black Sun’s new mantra: ghosts cannot be killed.

A hiss at the automatic portal behind him pulled the Underlord’s grin even wider. He was expecting her, his favorite Vigo Majore. Velzari turned, hands folded neatly at the small of his back. Across the room, he saw the neon glow dazzle over rose-colored skin.

“Good evening, Miss du Vain.” He greeted her with much the same respect as usual, though it was decorated with a tone of enthusiasm. A rarity in his voice that Mauve would surely notice.

Tags: Mauve du Vain​

 

[Mauve du Vain]

A dark purple brow rose at the note in the tall Falleen's voice.

"Underlord. You seem... giddy."

Mauve du Vain walked through the door and eyed the Falleen from beneath her wine-dark bangs. She wore black pants, tunic, and sash after the fashion of the Hapans, with a gun of command stuffed into the sash at her waist. The fabric of her clothes was spun shellspider silk. And the bangle on her wrist hosted a miniaturized personal shield generator.

Trust had never come easily to someone raised in the gutters of Nar Shaddaa, but after the betrayal by Fenn... well.... Mauve would never be taking chances like that again.

Still, she had always held the Underlord's favor. If he had wanted to invite her to kill her there would have been other signs. Other whispers.

No.

This was something else.

"You got this month's cut from Club Vertica?"

Velzari Tharn

 

[Velzari Tharn]

BLACK SUN SYNDICATE
I FIND IT KINDA FUNNY, I FIND IT KINDA SAD​

​

A low chuckle from the Underlord filled the shadowy room. He stepped forward, letting the same neon light that shone over Mauve land upon his own skin. “As always, and not a credit short.” With a manicured hand, he gestured for the Vigo to sit.

“A new age is upon us,” Velzari said, lowering himself into the throne-line chair at the head of the table. “Black Sun’s presence has been more than felt in the galaxy. It’s been witnessed. But a dark heart such as ours can’t beat in the light if it hopes to beat for long.” This was a simple fact made even simpler by recent galactic events. The Underlord could see that Mauve understood this as well. Moves had already been made to ensure Black Sun’s influence would persist undetected, resulting in a shift that caused the other Vigos of the Shadow Council to scatter to the winds. Only Mauve remained, and only because she was wise enough to smell the roses.

From a disk-like device embedded in the surface of the table’s polished surface, a series of holographic maps and charts flickered to life. Each represented a different region of the galaxy, but they all shared one commonality—where once there were roughly mapped borders of what galactic civilization called “Syndicate space,” there was now… nothing. No borders, no hyperlanes, no smuggling routes, no points of interest. It was as if Black Sun’s empire had never existed. And that was by design.

Velzari leaned forward. With a black-taloned finger, he now controlled the cycling charts on the holoprojector. He flicked through them slowly at first, then with excited gusto. “A great amount of time, expertise, credits, were expended to withdraw Black Sun from the galaxy’s notice. Star charts rewritten, databanks erased, hyperlanes rechartered. Our infrastructure remains, but recorded evidence of it does not exist.” Sharp teeth peeked through a toothy smile.

“Naturally, our enemies will find keeping tabs on our organization much more difficult without a map leading them to our gates. And by the time they do recover from this unfortunate loss of data,” he went on, “they’ll find it utterly useless.” Find Nar Shaddaa or Hapes would obviously be a nonissue for even an unskilled pilot, but triangulating the position of Kwenn Station or Port Nowhere would be nigh impossible without Black Sun dispensing the information.

It was a clean slate, an opportunity to restructure and reorganize, to embed into new systems and swim through the veins of galactic society like poison. Unseen, until it’s far too late. A fingertip killed the projection, removing its light from the room. Through his ridged eyebrows, Velzari looked over the table at his sole Vigo.

“I’d ask if I can depend on your continued service to the syndicate, but you wouldn’t have come back if you had intentions of refusing.” He gestured to a pair of empty glasses on a gilded cart nearby. It was adorned with the pointed emblem that had given them both more power and money than most star systems possessed. Atop it were a half dozen bottles of various shapes and colors.

“A celebratory drink? For old times sake?”

Tags: Mauve du Vain​

 

[Mauve du Vain]

"Hmmm," she mused, drifting to the star chart, then to the bar cart where she ran her fingers along the bottles.

"Who would I be to turn down the Underlord offering a drink from his personal collection?" she chuckled, her laugh a silvery thing, like windchimes.

To her, the borders of the Syndicate territory had never really mattered. If they could be called borders at all. The only real benefit Mauve saw in them personally was where she could do business without having to worry about the Republic's exorbitant taxes, or the meddling Mandalorians. As it turned out, the Republic did not care about borders either, which Mauve discovered when they kicked in the door to her apartment on Nar Shaddaa and bagged her up like she was some common bounty.

Appalling.

"Back to business as usual then... No more crowning new Queen Mothers and pressuring governments into allowing secessionists?"

A smile curled the corner of her mouth. Velzari would not be able to help himself. Sooner or later they would be in conflict with one of the great powers again. It was just a matter of time.

"I have a few ideas. The Jedi and the Sith should be at each other's throats, but they're stuck in a Corellian Standoff. Imagine we help tip that over the edge with a push. Intelligence dossiers on every single Jedi and Sith over worth. Bounties would follow, I'm sure."

War profiteering had not been her business, but it paid to expand her horizons.

Velzari Tharn