6Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, Empire at War, Forces of Corruption, or EAW Remake
Thoughts and flashbacks
Regular Conversation
Powerful and Force-Enhanced Dialogue
9 BBY: M5
(AN: This chapter contains Huttese, I will put a number in parentheses and a translation at the bottom.)
Chapter 6: Interlude Crime and Punishment
(Over Nal Hutta)
It was a good time to be a Hutt. True the Galaxy was tearing itself apart and it looked like the last 20 years were set to repeat themselves, but that was good for business. Jabba The Hutt was lounging on his command throne aboard his personal Tarrada Frigate, Blood Diamond. He was attending a meeting of the Criminal Alliance heads. Across from him were the holoprojections of a Human and a Falleen.
"Ka nudcha guru ko ba moulee-rah che oba ooval, may u Tyber Zann naga nabata," Jabba Rumbled (1).
The Human in the hologram smirked at the leader of the Hutt Clans, "Of course Jabba, our alliance may have free reign in the outer rim, but this is an opportunity to control the galaxy itself."
Xizor nodded and added, "Our influence is spreading even further, Zann has convinced me with a plan that should allow us to sweep from the Outer Rim and take power in the Core itself.
Jabba sensed an opportunity, "Pleno ka shudda" (2).
"It's simple Jabba, each of us will carve a section of the galaxy for ourselves. The Hutt Empire will be restored to its ancient glory, Black Sun will rule the Core and Mid-Rim, while I rule from the Expansion Region to the Unkown Regions. There will be obstacles, understandably, but they will be taken care of. The Rebellion is too nascent, the Republic already failed once, the Droid Armies can be subverted, and the Empire is too weak to intervene. What better place to start your Hutt Empire than a triumphant return to Kessel?"
Jabba thought it over for a moment before bursting into laughter, "Ho, ho, ho, Kasu Tyber rah doe kankee kung! Beecha kospah Kessel grandio Hutt esewan" (3)!
Zann smiled, "Excellent! Then we shall leave you to make the necessary preparations." The hologram sputtered out.
(Ryloth)
Tyber Zann turned from the holoprojector to his most trusted associate Urai Fen.
"Well Urai, the plan is in place. Jabba will send the Hutt Clans' fleets into Kessel."
"And they will run headlong into the Imperial Defenses there, costing a great deal of resources." Urai Fen, the Talortai second in command of the Zann Consortium, also seemed pleased with the outcome.
"Exactly, once Jabba's forces are weakened our associate Popara the Hutt will be able to seize control of his assets. Jabba will be furious, but reliant on us. Then all we need to do is make Xizor's little plan go awry and we will have total control of both the Hutts and Black Sun."
"We should be wary Tyber, there is a very good chance Popara will turn against us. There is also the Sith Army to consider, they may be beneath the Empire's notice for now but are gaining ground in the region and might disrupt the plan."
Zann wasn't worried, "I fully expect that Popara will turn on us. That will give us excuse enough to destroy him and most of his assets to keep Jabba under our thumb. As for the Sith; if they wipe out the Hutts, the Empire, or both we still stand to gain."
Zann turned back to the holo display and keyed in a map of galactic holdings, Criminal Alliance territory was a fairly unbroken swath of planets in the outer rim, and each faction around the territories was highlighted in different colors. Zann gestured toward the map.
"We only have to directly worry about the Republic Forces up near Kamino, and the Droid Armies down by Mustufar. As for the rest of the Galaxy, let these petty factions fight their wars. Corruption fuels my fleets, we'll bide our time gathering wealth and power beneath everyone's notice until the time is right. The Galaxy will not be ready."
"What of Xizor," asked Urai, "He is cunning enough to spot any assassination attempt. How do you plan to subvert his control over Black Sun?"
Tyber turned back to the holotable and brought up a projection of the Hypori System. "Hypori," he said as he worked the machine, "Is of particular interest to Xizor, he's had Black Sun slicers working for months to take control of the droid factories there. My spy network on Mustufar tells me that Gizor Delso has been working with his programmers nonstop to keep control of the factory, but its only a matter of time before they make a mistake and Xizor's slicers win."
Urai, whose mind was highly attuned to Tyber's inclinations, began to see the outlines of an opportunity. "Xizor wants a droid army and you want to take it away from him."
"Exactly Urai," Tyber was pleased his second was on the same page. "We shall let Xizor waste time, troops, and resources to make the factory his. Once the time is right we will take it from him. We will need your stealth abilities to compromise the factory's remote mainframe and allow Xizor to take control of the facility."
"And how will that allow you to subvert Xizor and take the factory?"
"Simple Urai, Xizor won't be able to resist seeing his prize in person. Once he has control of the production lines, he'll begin shipping in resources and munitions to manufacture into an army. Of course, he won't be able to resist the chance to see his investment pay off in person. We'll use the opportunity to turn the factory against him once he is inside. Switching the factory to manual control and resetting their targeting parameters will turn every droid in the factory hostile. We simply allow the droids to kill Xizor, take the factory for ourselves, and begin fortifying it for the eventual counterattack from Delso. Once that's out of the way we can take direct control of Black Sun. The Zann Consortium will rule the underworld from Dantooine to Bakura!"
Two weeks after conversing with Zann and Xizor, Jabba the Hutt attacks Kessel from Sleheyron. His fleet is comprised of modernized designs reminiscent of the ancient Hutt Empire, but despite these advancements, 4 separate attacks are overthrown. With his fleets and armies exhausted Jabba retires his campaign to an ancient clan leader by the name of Popara Anjiliac Diresto. He is then promptly betrayed by Popara, who claims that he will restore the Hutt Empire of old. This fractures the Hutt Clans, and Jabba returns to his seat of power on Tatooine to find Zann waiting for him. Zann promises Consortium aid in overthrowing Popara and a guarantee to maintain the Hutt's lavish lifestyle in exchange for Jabba's subservience. The alternative is that Zann would simply take what's left of Jabba's empire and feed the Hutt to his own rancor; Jabba quietly abdicates his power and turns his talents to managing the more administrative aspects of Zann's growing criminal Empire.
Approximately 6 weeks later Prince Xizor of Black Sun is killed while touring the Black Sun's newly acquired droid foundries on Hypori. Xizor was inspecting the first production run of Black Sun's new droid army but met a grisly end when he and his bodyguards were gunned down by the very Droidekas they were inspecting. Urai Fenn quietly slipped away in the commotion to signal Zann's forces who took immediate possession of the factory and the Black Sun Troops protecting it. A retaliation fleet sent by Gizor Delso lands its droid army but falls prey to a highly illegal and expensive Repulsorlift Jammer. This strips the droid army of most of its logistics and heavy armor.
With no heavy tanks to support them, Delso's newest designs fall into the hands of the Zann Consortium. A unit of Consortium Defilers, who had traveled with the droid fleet from Mustufar, hijacked the armada. Delso is now down a fleet, an army, a lot of valuable production data, and a fully functional droid factory, and is facing widespread sabotage efforts on Mustufar which prevents him from effectively mounting any serious retaliation. By the time he has regained order, Consortium agents have melted into the shadows and the factory on Hypori has become a veritable fortress.
In the chaos of Xizor's death, Tyber Zann was able to subvert the Falleen clan's practices and absorb Black Sun into the Zann Consortium entirely. Zann is particularly pleased that it could be done with only minimal executions. Black Sun's knowledge of Imperial holdings, particularly the rumors of Emperor Palpatine's private vaults, hold Zann's interest for the immediate future.
The criminal alliance is never formally disbanded, but the underworld is well aware that the Zann Consortium is the true power now. Some of the remaining pockets of order in the Galaxy claim these events are proof that the sin of greed will always be punished. Tyber Zann and a few others know the truth.
(1)- This war has been profitable for us all, but you Tyber Zann want more.
(2)- Explain this plan.
(3)-Ha ha ha, You Tyber are my kind of Scum! We shall take Kessel for the glorious Hutt Empire!
(AN) So here is a short little interlude featuring everyone's favorite crime lord! Or at least my favorite crime lord. To those of you who have played Empire at War Forces of Corruption, you all know Tyber Zann's special brand of criminal operations. I wanted to pay homage to that as well as sprinkle plenty of easter eggs into his chapter. For anyone curious, I spliced the Huttese together using a database of every instance of Huttese being spoken in the Star Wars universe. It's a mix of cannon and legends games, shows, cartoons, and side projects. I took individual words and cut them into new sentences. I read them aloud and tweaked them some more until they sounded decent in my head. Hopefully, it does the language justice.
By the way, Repulsorlift Jammers are a thing in both FOC and Legends; to prep for this story I was perusing my copy of the Imperial Handbook Commander's Guide, with annotations from our favorite rebels, and that little gem popped out to me courtesy of General Reiekan.
Our next chapter deals with the fallout of Motti's attack on Brentaal IV, the momentum has shifted against the Empire and we'll get to finally peak into the mind of Thrawn, I'm equal parts terrified and excited.
Thanks again to everyone who's followed, favorited, and reviewed! I'll see you next time in Chapter 7: Defensive, Rendili